So now we come to the list of sexual relations that were (and still are) considered to be abominable in the sight of our Lord. And yet, there are some today who look upon one of these perversions with favor, and who do not understand why there are some of us who preach against such perversion. And, I might add, there are some who are growing in their determination to wipe out not just one, not just a couple, but, rather, they seek to wipe out all the lines between man and these sins. First, let us deal with the sins of incest. Leviticus 18:6-20—“‘6 None of you shall approach anyone who is near of kin to him, to uncover his nakedness: I am the LORD. 7 The nakedness of your father or the nakedness of your mother you shall not uncover. She is your mother; you shall not uncover her nakedness. 8 The nakedness of your father's wife you shall not uncover; it is your father's nakedness. 9 The nakedness of your sister, the daughter of your father, or the daughter of your mother, whether born at home or elsewhere, their nakedness you shall not uncover. 10 The nakedness of your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter, their nakedness you shall not uncover; for theirs is your own nakedness. 11 The nakedness of your father's wife's daughter, begotten by your father—she is your sister—you shall not uncover her nakedness. 12 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's sister; she is near of kin to your father. 13 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister, for she is near of kin to your mother. 14 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's brother. You shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt. 15 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law—she is your son's wife—you shall not uncover her nakedness. 16 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife; it is your brother's nakedness. 17 You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, nor shall you take her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter, to uncover her nakedness. They are near of kin to her. It is wickedness. 18 Nor shall you take a woman as a rival to her sister, to uncover her nakedness while the other is alive. 19 Also you shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness as long as she is in her customary impurity. 20 Moreover you shall not lie carnally with your neighbor's wife, to defile yourself with her. ’”
So, here is the rundown of the family relations with whom God prohibited His people from having sexual relations:
· Father and mother (or stepmother)
· Sister (or stepsister)
· Granddaughter
· Your aunt (neither of them)
· Your uncle (or his wife, who is your aunt)
· Your daughter-in-law
· Your sister-in-law
· And woman and her daughter (or any of her granddaughters)
· The sister of a woman that you want to make jealous
Now, as I said, I think anyone with a rational mind would not find too much fault with any of these prohibitions. I think we would all agree that it’s yucky to have sex with mom or dad (although Lot's daughters thought they were doing something right in Genesis 19:30-38). Or your children or your grandchildren. There are some, though, who wouldn’t think twice about their stepmother, or their in-laws. And there are some who would be quite emboldened to approach the last two, and would think of it as quite the conquest. But therein lies the corruption of the human heart. It is set solely on the things which gratify it, regardless of the indecency and immorality of the act. Amnon, a son of David, took his own sister Tamar by force in 2nd Samuel 13:11-14—11 Now when she had brought them to him to eat, he took hold of her and said to her, "Come, lie with me, my sister." 12 But she answered him, "No, my brother, do not force me, for no such thing should be done in Israel. Do not do this disgraceful thing! 13 And I, where could I take my shame? And as for you, you would be like one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore, please speak to the king; for he will not withhold me from you." 14 However, he would not heed her voice; and being stronger than she, he forced her and lay with her. And for these, God’s wrath was kindled against Israel, and He allowed her to be taken into captivity. And, alas, the princes of Israel would not escape falling into these monstrous deeds. Ezekiel 22:6-11—"6 Look, the princes of Israel: each one has used his power to shed blood in you...10 In you men uncover their fathers' nakedness; in you they violate women who are set apart during their impurity. 11 One commits abomination with his neighbor's wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; and another in you violates his sister, his father's daughter."
In the New Testament, we see John the Baptist rebuking Herod for laying with his sister-in-law. Mark 6:17-18—17 Herod himself had sent and laid hold of John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife; for he had married her. 18 Because John had said to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." Later on, Paul would have to rebuke some in the church at Corinth for laying with their stepmothers. 1st Corinthians 5:1-2—1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father's wife! 2 And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. And we could go on even further detailing the sexual atrocities perpetrated by depraved human hearts. But you get the idea.
Now, as I started to say, when we hear about people involved in many of these relations, we would say something like…“Eeeewww.” We would be rightly mortified by them. We would agree that having sex with your parent or your child is a gross act that should be rightly outlawed. But there is one act that God is about to mention, lumped in with all these others and coming on the heels of His warning to not offer their children to Moloch. And that is, Leviticus 18:22—“You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.” This is, of course, the forbidding of homosexuality. When we hear someone had sexual relations with their child, we shrink in disgust. When we hear of someone mating with an animal, we cannot bear to hear the details. When we hear about a perverted uncle who sodomized his niece, we are outraged. When we think of going in to a woman during her monthly cycle, most men get squeamish. When a man commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, we are saddened. When a man sleeps with his brother’s wife, we don’t always begrudge the wronged brother from taking the matter up with the guilty brother. And in this country, when a family adopts a child of either gender, they must provide a separate bedroom for any children of the other gender. And we are rightly outraged by these acts.
But let someone stand up and say, publicly, “Homosexuality is a sin” and they get whisked off to “sensitivity training” or they get large fines, or they have to make some “apology” because they “offended” someone. Yet these people will not apologize to the One who is truly offended by their support of homosexuality. They will blindly spit in God’s eye and say He is “mean” or “intolerant” or some other such nonsense. Or, rather, they will direct their bile at those of us who stand up and say homosexuality is a sin. Even though the only One whose opinion really matters lumps it in with adultery, incest and child sacrifice. They will say something like, “Well, that was just the Old Testament. Where does Jesus say anything about homosexuality?” And this question is wrong for two reasons. First, we don’t know everything Jesus ever said or did. John 21:25—And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen. But I doubt that there were many people running up to Him and asking, “Teacher, my son is sleeping with another man. What do You say to this?” Because I think they would know the answer. He would say, in whatever way He chose, to tell them to “go forth and sin no more.” I do not dare speak for my Lord, but knowing that He did not tolerate sin, that would have probably been the gist of His response.
However, that question is wrong for another more obvious reason—Jesus DID speak against homosexuality. What is fornication? Is it not sleeping with someone you are not married to? And, contrary to what the spin doctors of the homosexual movement try to say it, marriage is between one man and one woman. Period. The late Walter Martin, one of the most brilliant biblical minds of the 20th century, said this about the New Testament use of the Greek word that we translate as ‘fornication’:
You say, “Where in the New Testament did Jesus ever mention homosexuality?”
Open your Bibles and find out; because contrary to what the gay church says, He not only spoke against it—He went out of His way to make it very clear so nobody would misunderstand Him.
Of course, you do have to study your Greek New Testament to come up with it. Most homosexual theologians that I have talked to don’t even know the Greek alphabet, much less their Greek exegesis, so they miss it completely – but it’s here in the passage and it should be looked at. Matthew, chapter 15, Christ is speaking, verse 19, “For out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts, murders”, notice the differentiation, “adulteries, fornications”, plural, “thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile”
You say: “The word homosexual is not there; what are you arguing about?”
I’m arguing about the use of the word porneus, which was found written over the wall, and the doorway, and the arches, in excavations by archaeologists of Roman brothels. And the word porneus did not mean “sex before marriage” alone.
It meant homosexuality, bestiality, and all forms of degraded sex. And it became well known to everybody in the culture, that porneus referred to “anything goes”.
Jesus well knew the Roman brothels. He well knew the culture of His time; and when He said “adulteries and fornications” – plural – He was making a direct reference to the practices of the Romans and the Greeks and the pagans of the time who prostituted themselves to all forms of evil.
He knew it; He condemned it. It’s not just the matter of the word, it’s a matter of the culture; and Jesus certainly understood the culture of His time. And therefore, when He used the word “fornications”, He obviously was making reference to all forms – all forms, inclusive forms – of that which was the deviation from the norm of Jewish law. (Source: http://apprising.org/2011/03/21/jesus-does-condemn-homosexuality/)
So, yes, Jesus did speak against homosexuality. And so did Paul. I believe many of us could quote the following by heart, having used it enough times in arguing against the sin of homosexuality. But, let us see it again. Romans 1:24-27—24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And again, another familiar passage, 1st Corinthians 6:9-10—9 Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. Let’s look at a couple words that are germane to our discussion. First, the words translated homosexuals (‘effeminate’ in the KJV), which is the Greek μαλακός (malakos). Now, you will often hear the (ludicrous) argument that “That word simply means male prostitutes.” Not so fast. Let’s look at the full range of meanings for that word. From Thayer’s Greek Lexicon: “1) soft, soft to the touch; 2) metaphorically in a bad sense: a) effeminate, 1) of a catamite; 2) of a boy kept for homosexual relations with a man; 3) of a male who submits his body to unnatural lewdness; 4) of a male prostitute.” In short, a μαλακός (malakos) was one who played the role of the “woman” in a relationship between two men. These would not inherit the kingdom of God. The second word we will discuss is “sodomites” (or, ‘abusers of themselves with mankind’, KJV), the Greek being ἀρσενοκοίτης (arsenokoites). In short, this is the one who plays the “man” in such a relationship. Paul is not using these two words just for dramatic repetition. He is saying that in a relationship between two men, it does not matter which one plays which role. Both of them will be shut out of the kingdom.
The prohibition against homosexuality is not one that is limited to Old Testament Israel. It carries over into the church under the new covenant as well. Furthermore, this prohibition (like many others) did not simply spring up at Sinai. Perverting the natural order comes with the price of death, and that goes all the way back to the book of Genesis. And what subject do you think we’ll pick up here? Ah yes, the origin of the word ‘sodomite.’ Without going back over the story, we know that the men of Sodom wanted Lot to bring out the two angels who entered his house, “So that we may know them” (Genesis 19:5). And, as you well know, the word “know” does not mean, here, “to get acquainted with.” If that’s what they meant, then why did Lot respond as he did, “Do not do so wickedly!” (Genesis 19:7). Let’s think here: if the men of Sodom only wanted to “get acquainted with” these men, why did Lot call that “wickedness”? And we know that, even after Abraham pleaded with God to spare the city if he could find 10 righteous men—which, by the way, he could not find—that the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of the heavens (Genesis 19:24).
And in case you haven’t heard it yet, the argument from the pro-homosexual will say something like this: “God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because they were inhospitable to their guests!” They arrive at this conclusion from Ezekiel 16:48-50—"48 As I live," says the Lord GOD, “neither your sister Sodom nor her daughters have done as you and your daughters have done. 49 Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50 And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit.” And so they say, “See! It was because of their pride they were destroyed—not for any of that stuff you read in Genesis! In fact, ignore all that; it never happened!” However, their argument fall apart in light of the words of Jude, the brother of our Lord. Jude 1:7—Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. The men of Sodom were destroyed because their cravings for male flesh were so overwhelming that even after they were struck blind, they still groped for it (Genesis 19:11). Matthew Henry—
“To put an end to their attempt, and disable them from pursuing it. Justly were those struck blind who had been deaf to reason. Violent persecutors are often infatuated so that they cannot push on their malicious designs against God's messengers. Yet these Sodomites, after they were struck blind, continued seeking the door, to break it down, till they were tired. No judgments will, of themselves, change the corrupt natures and purposes of wicked men. If their minds had not been blinded as well as their bodies, they would have said, as the magicians, ‘This is the finger of God,’ and would have submitted.”
When men’s hearts are hardened, their eyes blinded to the truth, and when men have not the Holy Spirit stirring their conscience to repentance, they will most gladly and stubbornly grope for that which their flesh desires most, not fearing—not anticipating—and not believing that there will ever come a day when they will face the Judge of the living and the dead.
Next week we will look at the people allowing their children passing through the fire to Molech
Jesus Christ is Lord.
Amen.
