Participants: Pr. Dwight Nelson
Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP101709
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00:26 "He is mighty to save
00:29 This is our God. 00:37 This is the One we have waited for 00:44 This is the One we have waited for 00:51 This is the One we have waited for 00:57 Jesus, Lord and Savior 01:04 Jesus, Lord and Savior 01:10 Jesus, Lord and Savior 01:17 Jesus, Lord and Savior" 01:28 "How marvelous, how wonderful 01:35 And my song shall ever be 01:42 How marvelous, how wonderful 01:49 Is my Savior's love for me 02:01 I stand amazed in the presence 02:08 Of Jesus the Nazarene 02:15 And wonder how He could love me 02:22 A sinner condemned unclean 02:28 Singing. 02:29 How marvelous, how wonderful 02:37 And my song shall ever be 02:44 How marvelous, how wonderful 02:51 Is my Savior's love for me 03:03 He took my sins and my sorrows 03:10 He made them His very own 03:17 He bore the burden to Calvary 03:24 And suffered and died alone 03:30 Singing. 03:31 How marvelous, how wonderful 03:38 And my song shall ever be 03:45 How marvelous, how wonderful 03:52 Is my Savior's love for me 04:04 And when, with the ransomed in glory 04:11 His face I at last shall see 04:22 It will be my joy through the ages 04:29 To sing of His love for me 04:36 Singing. 04:37 How marvelous, how wonderful 04:44 And my song shall ever be 04:51 How marvelous, how wonderful 04:57 Is my Savior's love for me 05:04 Singing. 05:06 How marvelous, how wonderful 05:13 And my song shall ever be 05:21 How marvelous, how wonderful 05:29 Is my Savior's love for me" 05:45 "Lord, prepare me 05:49 To be a sanctuary 05:54 Pure and holy, 05:58 tried and true 06:03 With thanksgiving 06:07 I'll be a living 06:11 Sanctuary 06:17 Lord, for You" 06:27 Let's pray. 06:34 And so Father, we pray the words. 06:38 We pray the prayer. 06:41 Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary, 06:46 pure and holy, tried and true, 06:52 with thanksgiving 06:55 I will, we will be a living sanctuary for You. 07:03 Through Christ Jesus please answer that prayer, amen. 07:10 So here's a question, what kind of sex 07:16 should we have in this sanctuary, 07:19 in this temple? 07:22 Heterosexual sex, 07:26 homosexual sex, no sex? 07:34 I asked that question 07:36 because Andrew's University in the theological seminar 07:38 this weekend are hosting 07:41 national conference entitled marriage, 07:43 homosexuality and the church. 07:46 So we have their permission to talk about sex. 07:51 Obviously, David Letterman 07:53 didn't need any permission at all. 07:57 I'm talking about the David Letterman 07:59 who a few days ago got himself 08:01 into a heap of trouble sexually, 08:06 because he has been the most popularly late night 08:10 host on American television. 08:11 Letterman surely knew 08:14 that he would own the headlines for days 08:17 after that now famous Mayakoba 08:20 confession live audience 08:24 and the late show with David Letterman. 08:26 Thanks to YouTube, 08:28 I've had the chance to listen 08:29 to the over 10 minute monolog confession. 08:34 I'm gonna play right now for you, just a snippet, 08:38 seven minutes into his confession 08:41 this is what he said on national television. 08:52 "Now of course we get to, what was all the creepy stuff, 08:59 that he was gonna put into the screenplay 09:01 and the movie? 09:03 And the creepy stuff was that I have-- 09:07 had sex with women who work for me on this show. 09:12 Now, my response to that is, yes, I have. 09:19 I have had sex with women who work on this show. 09:28 And would it embarrassing if it would made public? 09:32 Perhaps it would, 09:33 perhaps it would, especially for the women. 09:42 You can't believe it, can you? 09:45 Human sexuality, it is an amazing reality. 09:51 You can laugh over it 09:53 and I tell you what every time I hear that clip, 09:55 and I hear the audience laughing I just-- 09:57 to me it is utterly inexplicable he's just confess. 10:04 You're gonna laugh over like the audience 10:05 with David Letterman, you can weep over it 10:07 as I suppose Mrs. Letterman still is 10:11 and all the women working for David Letterman, 10:14 whom he took one by one into that secret studio 10:19 above the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City, 10:22 took them there to have sex with them. 10:27 You're gonna laugh over it, 10:29 you can cry over it but you cannot escape it. 10:32 Can you? 10:33 This roiling force within us that drives us our sexuality. 10:39 That's right you got to take your head of 10:41 to the Holy Scriptures on a bashed 10:44 in plunging into this earthy, earthly human reality. 10:51 Take our passage today X-rated. 10:55 Paul ensures his passage right into the middle 10:58 of a letter to a abandon 10:59 a brand new loyal Christ followers living 11:02 in the licentious sex capital of Corinth. 11:06 I tell you what, taking about Paul and no punches, 11:09 I'm gonna apologies in advance 11:11 for all that blushing you're gonna do. 11:13 Open your Bible with me please to 1 Corinthians Chapter 6, 11:16 1 Corinthians Chapter 6 you didn't bring a Bible 11:19 your gonna want to track this one grab 11:21 the pew Bible in front of you, 11:23 it's the New King James Version 11:24 it will be page 770 in that pew Bible. 11:29 I'm in the New International Version this morning, 11:32 1 Corinthians Chapter 6 one of the great, 11:35 great human sexuality passages in all of Holy Scriptures. 11:39 1 Corinthians Chapter 6, pick it up at verse 9. 11:43 1 Corinthians 6:9, 11:45 "Do you not know" question don't you guys know, 11:51 "that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? 11:56 Do not be" hold on "Do not be deceived." 12:00 Don't let the culture pull the wall over your eyes, 12:03 don't be snookered by society, 12:05 don't be doped 12:10 by politically correct thinking. 12:12 "Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral," 12:16 now hit the pause button right there 12:17 because the Greek word is pornos 12:20 from when's comes our word pornography, 12:22 four or five major translations rented at fornication, 12:27 sex performed outside of marriage all right, 12:32 "Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral 12:35 nor idolaters nor adulterers," 12:39 pause button again that would be sex performed 12:42 with someone who is not your spouse 12:45 you that are married. 12:47 "Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral 12:51 nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes" 12:55 hit the pause button right there. 12:56 Those are the young boys 12:58 that service the pageant temples 13:00 that dotted the landscape of Corinth. 13:05 In fact, the Corinthians had a proverb, 13:08 Paul quotes back to his readers that proverb, 13:10 a little later I'm gonna give it to you in advance. 13:12 "Food for the stomach and the stomach for the food." 13:17 Rob Bell his book Sex God, 13:20 describes how the ancients would come up 13:21 to the gates of those shrines 13:23 and there would be the male prostitutes 13:25 or sometimes female prostitutes 13:27 and they would quote that proverb 13:29 "Food for the stomach's, the stomach for food." 13:31 I'm hungry for sex, can I have some sex from you? 13:35 How much will it cost me? 13:38 "Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral 13:43 nor idolaters nor adulterers 13:45 nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders" 13:48 the New American Standard simply says nor homosexuals, 13:52 the New Revise Standard renders it nor sodomites. 13:56 "Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral 13:58 nor idolaters nor adulterers 14:01 nor male prostitutes not homosexual offenders 14:03 nor thieves nor the greedy" 14:05 halleluiah he is off a sex finely. 14:08 Verse 10 "Nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards 14:11 nor slanderers nor swindlers 14:13 will inherit the kingdom of God." 14:14 Don't you know that? 14:16 And then in a stunning declaration 14:18 one line verse 11, I'm gonna let that one line 14:21 hang on the screen all by itself, 14:24 "And that is what some of you were." 14:30 Isn't that amazing? 14:33 And that, Paul writes 14:35 is what some of you are essentially-- 14:37 here's what Paul is saying, 14:38 I know, I know, that some of you 14:41 were sexually immoral, 14:43 I know that some of you were idolaters, 14:45 I know that some of you were adulteress, 14:47 I know that some of you were male prostitutes, 14:50 I know that some of you were homosexual offenders, 14:52 I know that you were thieves, 14:53 you were greedy, you were drinkers, 14:54 you were slanderers, swindlers and slanderers 14:58 whatever you are I knew you were that. 15:04 Isn't it amazing? 15:07 That is what some of you were. 15:11 Something radical has happened to you 15:15 and what you were you know longer are. 15:21 That's the first bookend-- two bookends 15:23 to this great sex passage. 15:24 That's bookend number one 15:26 and I wish you scribble that down before we forget it. 15:29 Grab your study guide right now, will you? 15:30 Thank you ushers, for making sure that 15:32 everybody here gets a study guide. 15:33 If you got in three of you with one bullet or four of you, 15:36 you got to have your own. 15:37 There is some great quotations coming up, 15:39 you want this to brood over, hold your hand up. 15:41 We got friendly ushers up into the balcony. 15:43 Those of you who are watching 15:44 in overflow in youth chapel 15:45 make sure that you get this study guide as well. 15:48 And while you are getting the study guides here 15:50 I want to say to those of you watching on television 15:51 we're delighted to have you. 15:53 This as a significance study. 15:54 I hope you are plunge into it with us. 15:55 Go to our website, 15:57 let me put it on the screen for you 15:58 www.pmchruch.tv that's our website 16:02 you are looking for a series called The Temple. 16:04 This is part seven in The Temple. 16:06 By the way, if you haven't heard the first six parts, 16:09 that website podcast at your pleasure 16:13 available to you 24/7, all right. 16:15 But you are looking for the teaching 16:17 "Sex in the Temple, What So Gay About That?" 16:20 All right. Sex in the temple. 16:23 When you find that title 16:24 it'll say study guide right beside it, 16:25 you click it you'll have it. 16:27 Let's fill it in, bookend number one, 16:28 there are only two bookends. 16:29 Bookend number one, 16:31 what is the teaching of the bookend number one? 16:33 Jot it down. 16:34 Both bookends begin with the identical words, 16:36 don't you know, here we go 16:37 bookend number one, don't you know 16:40 "What you were, you no longer are." 16:44 Jot that down please. 16:45 "What you were, you no longer are." 16:48 Because something very radical has happened to you. 16:51 Hey, come on Paul, tell us what is it? 16:53 What is it? 16:54 He said all right, I'll tell you, 16:55 I would tell you. 16:56 Let's read verse 11 again " 16:58 And that is what some of you were. 17:00 But" but, write it down "you were washed." 17:05 Write it down, you were washed. 17:08 Isn't it amazing that in this list 17:11 of predominantly sexual sins the very first word 17:14 the Bible just opposes against it is washed, washed. 17:19 Come on, those who engage in sexual sins know 17:25 the desired to obey the way or shower away 17:29 a numinous sense of impurity 17:30 is a natural instinct even among the godless 17:34 whether it is personal sex or forbidden consensual sex, 17:37 the instinct to wash it away is strong. 17:41 It's no accident the God puts the word wash, 17:44 right up beside that list of sexual sin. 17:48 Everybody knows the story of, David Bathsheba, 17:50 David and Bathsheba, that's not David Letterman 17:51 that's David the king and Bathsheba. 17:54 And look at it its not-- is it a sin to walk on a roof? 17:57 Of course not. 17:58 Is it a sin to look over the edge of the roof 18:00 as long as you don't get too close? 18:02 To look into neighbors yard? No problem at all. 18:04 To happen to see your neighbor's wife 18:06 bathing in the backyard? 18:07 Still no sin. 18:08 That was no more a sin for David than it was sin 18:11 for Joseph to be handsome, be loyal 18:13 and attracted to Mrs. Potiphar, 18:15 who bats her false eyelashes 18:17 and tries to beckon the boy into the bed. 18:20 Was that a sin for Joseph? 18:21 Are you kidding? 18:22 Was that a sin for David? 18:23 No, but it is the next response 18:28 that is the tragic twist 18:30 to separate the tale of those two young adults. 18:32 The next response here's the difference between 18:35 their two responses. 18:37 Joseph, Joseph fled, David fed 18:44 and there is a universe of difference. 18:48 Joseph fled the website, gone. 18:51 David fed at that website, 18:53 Joseph fled the laptop, David stag at the laptop. 18:56 Ladies and gentlemen, 18:58 all this talk about homosexuality this weekend, 19:00 I'm gonna tell you something as a pastor I happened to know 19:04 that much greater than homosexual sin 19:05 and heterosexual sin is pornographic sin, 19:08 pornographic sex, 19:10 its what's have chained this generation. 19:13 I know because you've come and told me. 19:19 Joseph fled, David fed 19:23 and there in lies the difference, 19:24 two very different endings. 19:26 And by the way, of course you know the story 19:27 after the David has impregnated 19:29 his neighbors wife God sends prophet Nathan 19:32 with the word we know the gigs up 19:36 and David breaks down, you remember 19:37 in that bitter remorse and repentance. 19:41 And in his prayer to God, here's where we're going, 19:44 in his prayer to god David uses the very word 19:48 Paul just opposes beside that list of sexual sin. 19:51 Of course David is right in Hebrew and Paul in Greek. 19:53 But here, here is David's prayer Psalm 51 19:56 the great penitential Psalm verse 7, 19:58 cleanse me oh, God, "Cleanse me with hyssop, 20:01 and I will be clean, wash me, 20:03 and I will be whiter than snow." 20:07 Wash me, you got to wash me, 20:08 I need a shower, I need a bath, 20:11 I need to cleaned, 20:12 wash me now, wash me. 20:19 But you were washed. 20:20 You used to be but you were washed. 20:24 Washed by what? 20:26 Its not rocket science when you consider 20:28 the New Testament record, in this series The Temple 20:31 we've been going to Gods temple, 20:33 His throne in the universal. 20:35 We're looking at what the Bible teaches 20:36 is the final strategic chapter in salvation history, 20:39 namely the day of at onement, the Day of Atonement. 20:42 Yom Kippur up there in that temple being cleansed down here 20:46 in the temple here also being cleansed. 20:50 And one of the passages we have returned to often 20:53 is the Day of Atonement chapter in the New Testament, 20:56 its Hebrews 9 and we've read this before, 20:58 I want to put it on the screen for you--, 20:59 Hebrews 9:14 21:00 "How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, 21:03 who through the eternal Spirit offered himself 21:06 unblemished to God, 21:07 how much more will his blood cleanse 21:09 our consciences from acts that lead to death, 21:13 so that we may served the living God!" 21:16 Would you write that down please? 21:17 What do we cleanse Bible, 21:18 how does that washing take place 21:20 we are washed by his blood 21:22 and there is a strength of the New Testament 21:24 confirmation behind that in you study guide. 21:27 You're washed by His blood. 21:28 We are washed by His blood 21:29 but not only that, this is amazing, 21:31 take a look at this Acts 22.16. 21:34 By the way correct your study guides 21:35 so that it reads 16 instead of six that was my mistake. 21:38 Acts 22:16 "And now what are you waiting for? 21:42 Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, 21:48 calling on his name." 21:49 Would you write that down? 21:50 We are not only washed in His blood 21:51 we are washed by our baptism. 21:54 If you've been baptized in Christ 21:55 there was a washing that washed your past away. 21:57 If you have not been baptized yet plan on it, 22:01 that's how the washing will happen. 22:03 You must be baptized for that washing. 22:08 This is what you were, but you are no longer 22:11 what you were for you have been washed. 22:15 What you were you no longer are, why? 22:18 Because you have been washed. 22:21 What's the next one? 22:22 You have been washed but you were sanctified. 22:27 Would you write that in please? 22:28 The NIV reads out the conjunction but. 22:32 But you were washed 22:33 and it says while we had enough of them leave not. 22:35 No, no, it's got to be there in the Greek 22:37 but you were washed, but just supposed to 22:39 what you were before, but you were sanctified. 22:43 Do know what the Greek means for sanctified? 22:46 It literally reads but you were holized. 22:50 You've been made holy. 22:52 I was fascinated, intrigued with clinical cytologist 22:55 and researcher Mark Yarhouse observation. 22:57 Thursday night, this has been an incredible conference. 23:01 But in this key note address Thursday evening 23:03 he observed at this marriage homosexuality 23:06 in the church conference that Exodus International 23:09 which is a ministry targeted to lead young men and women 23:12 from homosexuality to moral purity. 23:17 He observed "Exodus International's 23:19 greatest strengths appears to be its ability 23:22 to lead its clients closer to Christ 23:24 whether there is orientation change or not." 23:28 What you were you no longer are 23:33 because something happened to you 23:34 when you came to Christ. 23:36 You were washed. You were sanctified. 23:39 You have become more and more like Jesus. 23:43 I sure heard his testimony last night 23:44 this church was full on this level last evening. 23:48 Robert Gagnon's lecture, we'll hear that in a moment. 23:51 But we had a parallel discussion 23:53 and had the privilege of leading 23:54 and I wish you could have heard his testimony. 23:55 He also gave yesterday afternoon. 23:56 I'm talking about Wayne Blakely 23:59 who for 37 years lived the homosexual lifestyle 24:03 and within the last six months has come back to Jesus Christ 24:06 and has been re-baptized 24:07 and joined the Seventh-day Adventist church. 24:09 So he was here as a beautiful testimony. 24:11 Wayne said this in his testimony Friday afternoon 24:14 with the pastor Ester, 24:15 the opposite-- and I scribbled it down. 24:17 "The opposite of homosexuality 24:20 is not heterosexuality, but holiness." 24:24 Oh, he nailed it. 24:27 But you were washed, 24:29 this is what you were but you were washed. 24:31 But you were sanctified. 24:33 But-- here comes the third one, 24:34 but you were justified, write that in please. 24:38 But you were justified. 24:40 That's a term taken straight out of the court room 24:43 pauses-- hey guys, 24:44 I want you to remember, do you remember 24:47 when you arraigned before the divine judge, 24:49 almighty God the holy one, 24:50 do you remember when you were in Gods courtroom 24:53 and they read that long list of charges 24:55 that included all your guilty sexual sins. 25:00 Do you remember that when you by faith embrace 25:04 the Lord Jesus Christ as you Savior, 25:06 remember how the divine judge brought the gavel down 25:09 and it surprised you almost to death 25:11 because when that gavel slammed 25:15 down in that courtroom, rather than pronouncing guilty 25:19 he declared pardon, acquitted of all charges, 25:23 innocent, innocent, innocent. 25:27 That's the meaning of the Greek word justified. 25:31 The problem is those of us who live, 25:34 hung around a Christian community for a while, 25:37 we heard that word unpacked theologically 25:40 we heard that word unpacked theoretically, 25:42 but it makes no sense to us because nobody can show me-- 25:44 they said well, its just forensic event in heaven. 25:47 I better differ with you. 25:49 I'm gonna show you right now. 25:50 Let's take the same David, not Letterman, David king. 25:55 Notice what happens. 25:56 Watch this, he dies all right, 25:58 he dies after David dies, God is talking to another king, 26:04 you can't believe this verse is in the Bible, 26:05 you just can't believe it but its there. 26:08 God is talking to another king 26:10 and listen to what he says about his friend David. 26:12 I'll put it on the screen for you. 26:13 1 Kings 14:8, 26:15 God's talking to this other king 26:17 and I put the numbers in their. 26:19 God is saying, hey, hey, 26:21 "You have not been my servant like David, 26:25 who 1 kept my commandments." 26:29 Time out, time out, time out. 26:31 God you talking to me? 26:32 Are you talking about King David? 26:33 What is this? 26:34 Alzheimer's is a divines reflection as well? 26:38 Have you forgotten? 26:39 What do you mean he kept your commandments? 26:41 He broke the seventh commandment 26:42 than he covered it up, he broke the sixth commandments, 26:44 killed her husband and to cover that up 26:45 broke the eighth commandment, bore false witness, 26:47 he broke all of the commandments 26:49 by the time he was through. 26:50 Don't you-- you got another David surely in mind? 26:52 Shh, God says you're interrupting me. 26:55 I'm talking about the king. 26:59 "You have not been like my servant David, 27:02 who 1 kept my commands 27:04 and 2 followed me with all his heart." 27:06 Wait, time out. What are you saying? 27:12 Followed you with all his heart? 27:14 Rubbish, he gave his heart to a woman 27:16 who wasn't even his wife, another man's wife. 27:19 Followed you with all his heart, 27:21 shh, I'm not finished yet. 27:26 "You have not been like my servant David, 27:29 who kept my commands 27:30 and followed me with all his heart, 27:32 doing only" write it in, 27:34 "doing only what is right in my eyes." 27:40 Ladies and gentlemen, can you believe that? 27:44 David is dead and gone, 27:46 his book his life book has shut 27:48 as it were it is already gone to the judge, 27:50 something about the divine memory 27:52 and the divine record apparently is able to erase, 27:57 erase sexual sin from the record 28:02 and declare the guy, 28:05 that girl has only done right in her life with me. 28:09 Amazing grace. How sweet the sound. 28:15 You can't believe that the verses is in your Bible 28:17 but I've rest my case its there. 28:21 What's going on here? 28:22 It's called the "everlasting gospel," 28:25 that's what's going on. 28:26 It's what Paul is trying to describe to us. 28:29 It's the good news, listen to this 28:30 those of you that understand the Bible teaching 28:33 that we are in the final strategic chapter 28:35 of salvation history. 28:37 It's the good news that you had nothing to fear 28:39 from an end time judgment. 28:41 If you put your life 28:43 in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ 28:45 it says if you have never sinned at all. 28:49 I would call that a fairly cleansed record, wouldn't you? 28:53 In fact, I love this, 28:54 this is from the classics Steps to Christ, 28:56 you have to fill it in. 28:57 "If you give yourself to Christ, 29:01 and accept Him as your Savior, 29:04 then, sinful as your life may have been, 29:08 for His sake you are accounted righteous." 29:12 Now hold on "Christ character stands 29:14 in place of your character, 29:15 and you are accepted before God just as if you had not sinned." 29:20 Write in it. 29:21 "Just as if you had not sinned." 29:25 By the way, that's what it means to be justified, 29:27 just as if I'd never sinned. 29:30 That's what it means to be justified, 29:31 just as if I never sinned. 29:35 As if you never ever sinned, 29:39 you once were but what you were, 29:43 you no longer are, because you've been washed, 29:48 you've been sanctified, you've been justified. 29:51 How's the verse go? 29:52 Read it again verse 11 29:53 "And that is what some of you were. 29:54 But you were washed, you were sanctified, 29:56 but you were justified 29:57 in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ 29:59 and by Spirit of our God." 30:01 Bookend number one, what you were, 30:04 you no longer are and that ladies and gentlemen, 30:06 is the gospel truth. 30:14 Let me read to you a few sentences 30:17 from a letter I received from one of our graduates 30:23 here at Andrew's University. 30:25 Dear Pastor Nelson, 30:28 last year I graduated form Andrew's University 30:30 and moved to and he names the graduate school 30:32 for professional school. 30:35 A good friend of mine told me I needed to listen 30:37 to one of your most recent ceremonies. 30:40 I imagine as a pastor you appreciate feed back 30:43 form those who have listened. 30:47 My heart is burdened, I'm homosexual 30:51 but I have never had sex with another man 30:53 because I'm saving myself for the one 30:56 I'm to be monogamous with even 30:59 and he names the city 31:00 which is one of the easiest places 31:02 to find fake sex. 31:03 I wait for just one, why? 31:06 Because to me it is so much more important 31:09 that I find someone who will love me 31:10 analogical, emotional, social and spiritual levels 31:13 before all caps, 31:14 before he loves me on a physical one. 31:18 I have not had sex with another man 31:19 because I value the establishment 31:21 of a solid base before physical action. 31:25 I do not put lust over love contrary 31:29 to the stereo type." 31:33 I tell you what, my heart goes out 31:36 to the young adults in this university 31:41 who are homosexual, 31:45 who attend classes here, 31:48 who worships in pews right here 31:54 and who wonder to themselves 31:59 if God and the church 32:02 have any place for them? 32:07 You know, the danger of a conference like this, 32:11 it seeks to affirm that biblical teaching 32:12 regarding homosexuality and marriage and the church, 32:15 is that the human struggle 32:17 can be in advertently sublimated 32:19 to the theological correctness of biblical interpretation. 32:23 And we forget until letters like this 32:26 and conversations like this become a painful remainder 32:29 of how deeply are humanities struggles 32:32 to comprehend the will of God 32:33 for our fractured lives in a society 32:35 that is essentially guard less and voiceless 32:38 when it comes to sexual purity and morality. 32:42 So here is this young adult pleading pastor, 32:46 what if I chose to save myself 32:47 for a single monogamous homosexual relationship, 32:50 will this not count onto God as pure 32:53 and right and moral? 32:59 What are you gonna say? 33:02 What are you gonna write back? 33:06 Richard Hays, 33:08 the eminent New Testament ethicist 33:10 from Duke University in his magnum opus, 33:15 great book, Moral Visions 33:17 for the New Testament tells of his own struggles 33:21 having a gay friend name Gary, who eventually dies of AIDS. 33:26 Spends a lengthy chapter in the Moral Vision 33:28 of the New Testament, a lengthy chapter 33:30 wrestling over the biblical witness 33:32 regarding homosexuality 33:33 and then Hays, comes to this conclusion 33:36 and I put the words on the screen for you. 33:38 "Though only a few biblical texts 33:41 speak of homoerotic activity," all that do mention," 33:48 all that do mention it express unqualified disapproval. 33:53 Thus, on this issue, 33:54 there is no synthetic problem for New Testament ethics. 33:57 In this respect, the issue of homosexuality 34:00 differs significantly from matters 34:02 such as slavery or the subordination of women, 34:05 concerning which the Bible contains 34:06 internal tensions and counterposed witnesses." 34:09 But we do not find that he writes, 34:11 with the issue of homosexuality. 34:13 "The biblical witness against homosexual practice" 34:16 and that's the key word by the way 34:18 "the biblical witness against 34:19 homosexual practice is univocal." 34:23 That means one voice. 34:26 There are not scholars cannot gain say, 34:30 that bright minds observation 34:32 there are not multiple voices in scripture, 34:35 the Bible speaks univocally, one voice. 34:39 So the question is not 34:40 what is God have against homosexuality 34:42 but rather why is God so insisted 34:45 on his sexual blueprint. 34:47 Paul before we get to the last book 34:49 and just dives into that, you got to see this. 34:52 Your Bible's open at 1 Corinthians 6:12, 34:56 he is quoting some proverbs 34:57 he's heard from the Corinthians. 34:59 "Everything is permissible for me" 35:01 he's talking about the third millennium. 35:02 Anything goes man, its okay. 35:04 Talking about the postmodern plurality. 35:10 "Everything is permissible for me " 35:12 that's the proverb, Paul shoots back, ha, 35:14 "but not everything is beneficial." 35:16 No "Everything is permissible for me," 35:18 Paul shoots back, 35:19 "but I will not be mastered by anything." 35:21 Now here comes that proverb verse 13. 35:23 "Food for the stomach and the stomach for food" 35:27 that's the proverb. 35:28 Paul has listened God will destroy them both, 35:30 now as they both temple. 35:31 But now here's the punch line, 35:32 "The body is not meant for sexual immorality, 35:36 but for the Lord, 35:37 and the Lord is meant for the body." 35:40 Hold on Paul, Paul, out right 35:42 rejects platonic dualism some good spirit, bad body. 35:46 No way Paul's are you kidding, its good body made by God body. 35:51 But let me tell you what the body is for jot this down. 35:53 Your body was created by God solely 35:56 for the purpose of relational pleasure. 35:59 The body was made for the Lord 36:00 and the Lord was made-- the Lord is for the body, 36:03 relational pleasure. 36:06 Listen folks, come on, 36:08 we could have been created disembodied spirits, 36:11 but God shows instead of make us bright 36:13 thinking, living bodies with minds, 36:15 that thrive on relationship. 36:17 We just love relationships. 36:18 What's that word? 36:20 Relationship, by definition and by necessity 36:22 is a focus outside of self and onto another. 36:26 Isn't that right? 36:27 Has to be or you don't have a relationship. 36:29 Sexual sin whether heterosexual or homosexual is sin 36:34 simply because it turns the human appetite in on itself 36:41 and a life consumed by appetite sexual or dietary, 36:45 is a life that consumes itself 36:48 feeding off of itself, robbing itself 36:50 with the simple pleasure and un unbridled joy 36:52 of a loving relationship with its Creator 36:54 and with the neighbors around it. 36:56 That's why sexual gratification, 37:00 wanting sexual gratification 37:02 is thus making love to yourself. 37:07 It's what it is, 37:09 whether you use a man or a woman or yourself. 37:15 Wanting sexual gratifications making love to yourself 37:17 and thus is a sin against yourself, 37:19 your body and the bold rejection of the Creator 37:22 who made you to enjoy this life, 37:24 in tandem with Him. 37:29 The question is not 37:30 what is God have against homosexuality, 37:32 but rather why is God so insistent 37:35 on His sexual blueprint? 37:39 Hey, take a look at this verse 16 Paul goes on, 37:43 "Do you not know that he who unites himself 37:46 with a prostitute is one with her in body? 37:50 For it is said" now, Paul quotes directly 37:51 from Genesis 2 37:52 "The two will become one flesh." 37:55 But Paul goes on "He who unites himself 37:57 with a Lord is one with him in spirit." 37:59 As Robert Gagnon raised last night I mean-- 38:01 what is wrong with this picture? 38:03 I mean, you have someone who's one spirit with Jesus, 38:06 but you have that same person, one flesh with the prostitute. 38:09 Is there something wrong here? 38:11 Something isn't matching up, 38:14 that's Paul's point, how can it be? 38:16 How can you be one with Christ and one with her? 38:18 One with him? 38:20 You can't. 38:22 You be one with neither, you lose. 38:26 Isn't that something he quotes 38:28 from Genesis straight out of the creation account 38:31 over those words in Genesis 38:32 where God defines human marriage for all time 38:35 as a union of a man and a woman quoting Genesis 2 38:38 "For a man shall leave his father and mother, 38:40 and be joined to his wife 38:41 and the two shall become one flesh." 38:45 Sexual expression between two human beings is defined by 38:50 and confined to the marriage of a man and a woman 38:56 only, only. 39:02 The high octane of our human sexuality 39:04 by divine design is to be shared 39:08 only within the protective confines of man woman, 39:11 husband and wife marriage 39:16 suggest other wise is to flagrantly reject 39:19 the Creators temple for human happiness 39:22 and replace it with a fallen substitute at both humanly 39:24 and divinely cannot protect, cant preserve our human family 39:28 nor satisfied our human long. 39:29 You won't be happy, 39:31 you will not be fully fulfilled, 39:34 as Robert Gagnon spoke last evening idolatry 39:37 and same sex intercourse 39:40 are a frontal assault on the work 39:42 of the Creator in nature, in nature. 39:50 And by the way, the moment that conclusion is established 39:53 and I'm telling you the truth, 39:55 scholarship has not been able to gain 39:57 say that conclusion. 39:59 It's univocal and it stands like a rock. 40:03 You can walk at it, you can't change it. 40:06 But the moment we established that 40:08 then cry, the heart cry 40:11 of this young adult in his letter. 40:14 But wait a minute, please, that's not fair. 40:17 I'm what I am, 40:18 shall I be punished for a lifetime 40:20 because of my orientation? 40:22 Here's the deal, 40:23 I promise I will be monogamous 40:24 in my homosexuality. 40:26 I will be faithful to one man till I die. 40:30 Admirable desire. 40:33 Now Richard, Richard Hays 40:35 it says if he got the letter himself 40:36 and he writes to respond, 40:38 I put Hays words on the screen for you. 40:40 The italics are his. 40:42 "Is it Christianly appropriate 40:45 for Christians who experience themselves 40:47 as having a homosexual orientation 40:50 to continue to participate in same-sex erotic activity? 40:55 No. No. 40:58 The only one who was entitled 41:01 to cast a stone instead charged the recipient of his mercy 41:05 to 'go and sin no more.' 41:09 It is no more appropriate for homosexual Christians 41:11 to persist in homosexual activity 41:13 than it would be for heterosexual Christians 41:16 to persist in fornication or adultery." 41:19 Ladies and gentlemen, heterosexual sinners, 41:22 homosexual sinners it does not matter, 41:24 the gospel of God declares you can be delivered 41:27 and set free in Christ, washed, holized 41:32 declare pardon forever and ever, amen. 41:36 Heterosexual, homosexual it does not matter. 41:42 Hays writes and for me this is one of the clearest 41:46 and most compassionate pieces of counsel 41:48 I have read for homosexuals 41:50 who encountered the biblical witnesses 41:51 and discovered there is no way, 41:52 you can't change it, you can't retro apps, 41:55 you can't rewrite it, it stands. 41:58 But he writes very compassionately 42:00 put the words on the screen for you, 42:02 "Despite the smooth illusions 42:07 perpetrated by mass culture in the United States, 42:10 sexual gratification is not a sacred right, 42:13 and celibacy is not a fate worse than death. 42:18 Surely it is a matter of some interests 42:20 for Christian ethnics that both Jesus and Paul 42:23 lived without sexual relationships." 42:25 Guess what, it wasn't only Jesus and Paul, 42:27 Jeremiah lived without a sexual relationship, 42:31 Elijah no sexual relationship, 42:33 John the Baptist no sexual relationship, 42:35 Anna the prophetess no sexual relationship, 42:37 Jesus no sexual relationship, Paul no sexual relationship. 42:43 It can be done. 42:46 "Heterosexually oriented persons," 42:49 Hays goes on, "are also called 42:51 to abstinence from sex unless they marry. 42:58 The only difference, admittedly a salient one 43:01 in the case of homosexually oriented persons 43:04 is that they do not have the option 43:06 of homosexual marriage." 43:08 It just cannot be. 43:10 "So where does that leave them? 43:12 It leaves them in precisely the same situations 43:15 as the heterosexual who would like to marry 43:17 but cannot find an appropriate partner 43:19 and there are many such," I have such friends. 43:25 What position that does that leave you in? 43:27 Hays, concludes "Summoned to a difficult, 43:30 costly obedience, while 'groaning' 43:32 for the 'redemption of our bodies' 43:35 Romans Chapter 8." 43:45 I'm gonna read the ending of this letter. 43:52 In conclusion I understand 43:55 that the church has severe struggles with this issue, 44:00 I however plea-- listen to his heart, 44:03 I however plea that even greater care be taken 44:07 to not push gay youth out of the church 44:11 and inadvertently encourage a life of promiscuity. 44:16 We need to hear that, 44:18 because if the church is not a place 44:21 for gay youth, or not so young, 44:25 there is only one other place to go 44:27 and that's outside the church. 44:30 He's saying please, don't push us out. 44:41 So what salvation is there for gay youth 44:42 and straight youth for homosexual sinners 44:44 and heterosexual sinners? 44:45 Paul concludes with the final bookend, simple appeal. 44:50 Jot down the end of this sexuality passage, 44:52 pick it up at verse 19 begins the same ways verse 9. 44:54 "Do you not know" there's the other bookend. 44:57 "Do you not know that your body 45:00 is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, 45:03 whom you have received from God? 45:06 You are not your own." 45:07 Verse 20 "You were brought at a price. 45:09 Therefore honor God with your body." 45:13 Bookend one good news, 45:16 What you were, you no longer are. 45:18 Bookend number two, 45:20 even better news, write it down. 45:22 What you are now, you can forever be. 45:27 Forever be what? 45:30 But Paul has just announced, 45:32 it is the stunning declaration shared 45:34 by no other religion on earth, 45:36 the Bible proclaims that the Creator of humanity, 45:39 has through His own death 45:41 purchased with crimson currency, 45:43 His earth children body and mind 45:46 and has not only purchased us, 45:48 but get this He bought the house 45:50 so that He could move into the house, 45:53 and live with us. 45:54 And having moved into the house, 45:57 He turns our human bodies 45:59 into His sacred shrine, hallelujah. 46:03 Hey, ladies and gentlemen, 46:05 you know what, the mystery is not that Gods moves in, 46:11 the mystery is that He even wanted to in the first place 46:16 that's the mystery. 46:20 You know what that means? 46:23 That means we must be, I tell you what, 46:25 we have to be of infinite value to God. 46:30 I mean, how else can you explain this? 46:32 You have an infinite God spilling 46:33 His blood to purchase us, 46:35 an infinite God choosing a tabernacle 46:36 and so finite temple it must mean, 46:39 we are of infinite value to Him. 46:42 So what's that mean for sex? 46:44 Piece of cake. 46:45 Here's what it means, sex belongs in the temple. 46:51 Homosexual temple? 46:52 Nope. 46:53 Heterosexual temple? 46:55 Nope. 46:56 Holy temple. 46:58 Sex belongs in the temple, 47:02 remember that, remember that. 47:06 Because that means all the sexuality 47:08 that you are right now 47:10 and all the sex you might practice in the future, 47:14 all of it will take place 47:16 in the physical presence of God himself. 47:22 Everything 'cause it's His temple, 47:27 He's sitting there, He's sitting there. 47:32 Remember you are the temple of God. 47:43 Sex in the temple, the holy temple, 47:45 but of course that's precisely where God wants it. 47:48 I mean, you think about after all 47:50 can you think of a safer place for sex to take place 47:57 than in the temple, in the temple. 48:03 I want to pray, will you? 48:06 Oh God, the mystery is not that You could come in, 48:12 the mystery is that You would even want to. 48:16 You know here is the compelling proclamations 48:23 our bodies, our sexuality, 48:27 us we are Your sacred shrine, 48:32 we are Your temple. 48:35 Oh, God, please, what a high destiny. 48:41 Call us to that destiny right now I pray. 48:49 And while every head is still bowed in prayer 48:51 I can't walk out of here 48:55 without making an invitation. 49:00 I want to make an invitation 49:01 to the young men, who are here. 49:03 Heterosexual, homosexual it doesn't matter to me. 49:07 I want to make invitation to the young men who are here, 49:11 would you be willing today 49:15 to reopen your temple 49:20 to the occupancy of the God of this universe. 49:25 Would you be willing to say, 49:29 this is Your house, my house is Your house, 49:34 come in today and hold this temple, 49:39 hold this house for me, for the rest of my journey. 49:45 Is there a young man here 49:47 who would like to stand at his feet, 49:49 he may be single, he may be married, 49:52 he maybe a dad, is there a young man here 49:56 who would like to stand to his feet 49:58 and say I give this body to you, oh God, 50:04 Your temple, my body, Your temple. 50:09 My body, Your temple. 50:11 If there is a young man here 50:12 who would like to pray that prayer 50:14 I want to invite you to stand on your feet right now, 50:17 in the balcony at the back, you're in the sanctuary here, 50:20 you are in the overflow room, you're watching on television, 50:23 just stand and by standing you say 50:28 I'm Yours, I'm Yours. 50:33 You say, Dwight, how can I stand, 50:36 I mean please, you don't know my story. 50:39 The story is immaterial. 50:42 You know something that word washed, 50:46 do you what it means? 50:47 It obviously means 50:50 that when you come to the Lord Jesus Christ 50:52 and you say my body is Your temple, wash me now, 50:54 it means you are endowed with spiritual virginity. 51:00 It's all over, whatever the past was is immaterial now. 51:06 You get it, young, may the temple of God, 51:13 your past covered. 51:16 Any other young man would stand to your feet 51:20 as I'm standing on mine 51:22 and say oh, Jesus, 51:24 I renew to You, my desire. 51:28 This is Your temple, my body, your temple. 51:34 I want to make an invitation 51:35 to the young women who are here, 51:38 how about you? 51:40 Nevermind the story past heterosexual, 51:43 homosexual it doesn't matter 51:46 would you too wish to stand at your feet 51:49 and by standing declare my body Your temple, 51:54 you can have me forever and ever, amen. 52:01 My body Your temple, 52:06 spiritual virginity and being washed in Christ 52:09 I receive it. 52:11 My body Your temple, 52:16 my body Your temple. 52:19 I'm proud of the young this is the wave 52:22 that God will send forth into this planet 52:25 to reach the broken who surround us. 52:29 Healed young men and women, 52:32 I'm proud of you but it needs to be all of us. 52:37 If you're a not so young man, 52:40 married, father, grandfather, 52:43 not married, divorced 52:47 but you want to declare my body Your temple, 52:51 like these have declared it, 52:52 would you stand to your feet, 52:54 if you're a man 52:56 and say Jesus, you can count on. 52:59 My body Your temple, 53:03 one with You, how about of ladies, 53:08 society so much looks to the women 53:11 to set the pace morally. 53:14 If your not a young women but you're a women 53:15 and you wish to say as single as you are, 53:18 married as you are, divorced as you are, 53:22 heterosexual, homosexual, what is it matter now, 53:24 my body Your temple. 53:27 And you're a women would you stand to your feet 53:29 if you wish to say that, pray that prayer as well. 53:35 Right, we got to sing that song again, 53:37 it's such a beautiful prayer, 53:41 Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary. 53:46 It's a prayer to be the temple, 53:48 we've just responded 53:51 but now let's sing that prayer Greg, lead us. 53:54 He sure does, please. 53:58 Lord, prepare me 54:03 To be a sanctuary 54:09 Pure and holy 54:15 Tried and true 54:20 With thanksgiving, 54:26 I'll be a living 54:31 Sanctuary, 54:37 Lord, for You 54:41 I want to sing that one more time 54:42 but I want to drop the decibels way down now, way down 54:46 and I want us to sing that just as a breezed prayer. 54:50 Lord, prepare me. Let's sing is again. 54:53 Lord, prepare me, 54:59 To be a sanctuary 55:06 Pure and holy, 55:12 Tried and true 55:18 With thanksgiving, 55:23 I'll be a living 55:30 Sanctuary 55:37 Lord, for You 55:43 And so the Holy Father, that is our prayer, 55:45 seal upon us now Your benedictions, 55:47 seal this offer 55:52 our body Your temple, 55:56 seal it we pray. 55:58 And now to Him, 56:01 who has freed us from our sins by His blood, 56:06 made His to be a kingdom of priest for His glory 56:13 to the only wise God our Savior, 56:16 be glory in majesty, dominion and power 56:20 both now and forever more 56:23 that all the people say, amen. 56:28 I'd like to take a moment here at the end of the service 56:30 to tell you about one of the most important groups of people 56:33 that make this ministry possible. 56:36 There're team of people, 56:37 they're not afraid to get down into the thick of life itself 56:41 which is why you're gonna find them. 56:42 You will find them moving forward on their knees. 56:45 They're prayer partners, 56:47 a group of men and women and young adults 56:50 who believe that this humble television ministry 56:53 has been raised up by God for such a time as this. 56:56 And so they pray earnestly that God will use the preacher, 56:59 that God will use me, that God would use 57:00 the countless other volunteers 57:03 to spread the everlasting gospel 57:05 and the Word of God in ways 57:06 we could never have imagined before. 57:08 There are the ones who are praying 57:10 that God is gonna open up the hearts of people, 57:13 open up the hearts of viewers around the world 57:15 for the message, the critical message 57:18 for this end time generation. 57:21 And what I would like to do is ask you 57:23 would you be willing to be a prayer partner with us, 57:25 a prayer partner with New Perceptions? 57:27 You don't have to call it toll free number. 57:29 You don't have to go online to register. 57:31 All I need to know is that you'd willing 57:33 to lift this little ministry up day after day after day. 57:39 Pray that somehow through radio and television and the web 57:43 God will open up new doors, 57:45 new-- new regions on earth 57:48 where the everlasting Gospel can be proclaimed. 57:50 There is no question the power of prayer 57:53 has potential to take this ministry to places 57:55 we could never have imagined before. 57:58 So that's it. 57:59 Would you please be willing to partner with me in prayer? 58:03 The times are urgent, the need is critical 58:06 and I hope you'll say, yes. 58:08 Till we're together in next time 58:10 may the prayer answering God 58:12 accompany you every step of the way. |
Revised 2015-02-05