What does the Bible teach about homosexuality?
Hi, welcome to today's little lesson.
Thank you so much for joining me.
We're going to begin exploring the subject of what Scripture, the Bible, has to say about
homosexuality.
It's going to require more than one little lesson, so I hope you'll stick with me through
the entire series.
This is a big topic.
Big in our culture, big in the world, big in Scripture, because homosexuality is not
a new phenomenon.
It's something that's been around since almost the dawn of humanity.
Scripture's been talking about it for hundreds of years, and so it's worth our time to take
our time and look at what the Bible says.
May I say from the outset here, what I'm going to be sharing is not a bunch of ideas that've
been drudged up from my antiquated, traditionalist, bigoted mind.
We're going to be talking about what the Bible says about homosexuality.
And although some might label what I'm going to be talking, what I'm going to be saying
as hate speech, it's not hate speech at all.
It's freedom of speech, and it's also freedom of religion, because this is a deeply held
religious conviction of everyone who believes what the Scripture says.
And it's not hate speech because I'm doing it in love.
I love every homosexual, and so does God.
I'm sure of that.
And homosexuality is portrayed in Scripture as something that God is displeased with,
but it's not the only thing, oh my goodness.
And to single out homosexuals as being the only bad guys, well, that'd be totally wrong.
Because you're looking at a bad guy right here, and God transformed me, delivered me
from a lifestyle that was very displeasing to him.
I was never involved in a homosexual lifestyle, but certainly sexually immoral on a number
of levels.
And I'm a different person because of God's amazing grace, and his amazing love.
And homosexuality is no different, in that respect, than any other sin that God mentions
in Scripture as being displeasing to him.
It's a sin he can forgive, and it's a sin from which he can deliver.
Amen.
And we'll be reading some scriptures that prove that.
But there are hundreds and probably thousands of people who could say amen, testifying to
the fact that they once were involved in a homosexual lifestyle, they came to a faith
in Jesus Christ, and they were transformed and delivered from that lifestyle that they
knew, in their hearts, was displeasing to God.
I just read a news article, just not too many days ago, about 200 people who had a little
march in Washington, D.C., all people formerly involved in a homosexual lifestyle, men and
women, marching to say, "Hey, we exist.
They say you can't change, we've been changed.
Not by our own power, not by our own strength, but by the mercy of God and by the grace of
God, through Jesus Christ."
And they marched around Washington, just to say, "Hey, we're here."
And in this day and age, when homosexuals are marching for their rights, and so forth,
and marching against discrimination, and so forth, these folks said, "Let's have our own
little march."
And a couple of them were actually at that nightclub in Florida, the Pulse Nightclub,
when that man came in and started shooting people, and all those people died.
It was a gay nightclub.
And one of them, I think, in his testimony, said he gave his life to Jesus lying on the
floor of that nightclub, saying, "God, if you'll get me out of here alive, I'll serve
you."
And he said it wasn't a gay and straight issue, it was a sin and holiness issue.
It was a lost and found issue for him, and he was transformed.
So anyways, lot more to say on that.
So let's go to some of the classic scriptures in the Bible about homosexuality, and just
talk about them, and talk about them with calmness, and with love and compassion, okay?
And without pointing the finger at others when we, ourselves, know that but for the
grace of God, go I.
So, here, in Leviticus chapter 18, the children of Israel, the people of Israel, whom God
delivered out of Egypt, God was bringing them in to the land of Canaan, and they were going
to dispossess all the tribal people that lived in Canaan's land, and people think that doesn't
seem to be so fair, but it was, you read the story in the Bible, you find out that there's
more to the story.
That God had been patiently waiting for the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, modern
day Israel, Palestine, to turn from their wickedness, because they were involved in
every kind of depraved and wicked thing that you could be involved in.
And God waited hundreds of years for them to come to their senses and turn around.
They didn't.
So God said, "Well, judgment is going to come," and it came in the form of Israelite armies
that were empowered by God.
So anyways, God's giving instructions to the people of Israel in the law.
Moses, here, we found a passage in Leviticus chapter 18, listen to this, now.
Leviticus 18, verse 20.
See if you agree with what God said.
See if your own heart resonates with the truthfulness of this moral standard.
God said, "You shall not have intercourse with your neighbor's wife to be defiled with
her."
So there's one of the commandments, in Leviticus chapter 18.
I think everybody watching this would agree with me, "Yeah, it's wrong to have sex with
your neighbor's wife, because it's your neighbor's wife, and they made vows to each other, and
sex is something reserved just for their personal relationship, and it's this very special,
very intimate, and it's a sin against her spouse to have sex with her.
It's a sin against her.
It's a sin against my spouse, if I'm married, to have sex with somebody other than the one
I'm married to."
And it's interesting, across cultures, around the world, throughout history, people have
believed that what I just read is truthful, that adultery, what we call adultery, is wrong.
You could find that in the oldest moral codes, ones that even predate the law of Moses.
Yeah, like the law of Hammurabi.
It's the oldest moral code known to humanity, and it's in a museum somewhere.
Maybe it's in Paris, or somewhere.
But you could read the translation, or you can go online and find all the law, look for
the law of Hammurabi, and then search for the passage, the part about adultery, what
they did to adulterers prior to the law of Moses.
[inaudible 00:07:19].
Because God has written his laws on people's hearts, okay?
So God has something to say about sexual immorality, and it's his right.
He invented people, and he invented sex.
He gave them their parts.
He's the one who came up with the idea of marriage, and two people of the opposite sex
being committed to each other till death do us part, and raising children.
All these were his idea, so he has a right to regulate it, and everybody in the world
agrees with what I've just read.
Just about.
There might be a few perverts.
We'd all call them perverts if they don't agree that adultery is wrong.
In some of the most vile movies that you can watch, even in those movies, it's very plainly
intimated and it's crystal clear, adultery is wrong.
When you do that, you're doing wrong.
Okay, oh my goodness, we're out of time already.
Well, so, we're going to keep reading this passage in the next little lesson, and look
at other things that God regulates when it comes to sex, and what he considers to be
wrong and immoral.
All right, so don't miss the next little lesson.
Hope to see you.
Bye bye.