LOVE WITHOUT COMPROMISE

 Pastor George W. Black, shared with Rejoice Church 7-19-15

I know you want my words today to be the right words, words of wisdom and compassion, but also words of Biblical accuracy with no compromise.

I am painfully aware that no matter what I say today, some will feel I didn’t go far enough, and others will feel I went too far. But my objective is not to please anyone here today, for I truly fear God more than I do you. As TD Jakes has famously stated, I don’t get to have an opinion in this matter. All that matters is what God thinks.

And that my friends is the role of the preacher. To carefully and dispassionately convey to you the heart and mind of God as clearly and concisely as possible. I believe people want to know what the will of God is, and when given the truth, they often will choose to let go of their small-minded thinking and embrace God’s great big thinking.

But not everyone wants to the truth of God’s Word.

“Following Jesus doesn’t mean everyone will like you, but it guarantees that some will hate you.” – Lecrae

Opening Scripture:

1 Tim 4:1 NLT “Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons.”

2 Tim 4:3-4 NLT “For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. ⁴ They will reject the truth and chase after myths.”

Rom 11:2-5 NKJV “Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, ³ “Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”? ⁴ But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” ⁵ Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.”

Introduction: On June 26 of 2015, in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court struck down state bans on same-sex marriage, making marriage between same-sex partners legal in all fifty states.

Justice Antonin Scalia, one of four dissenting Justices from the ruling, filed a scathing dissent in which he called Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion “rootless and shifting,” “confusing,” and “perplexing” and that the ruling “threatens American Democracy.” He also said that it consists of “nonspecific hand-waving,” and that it demonstrates “real cheek.”

His concern was that five men had not interpreted the law, which is the limit of the power of the Supreme Court, but rather they had stepped over into the legislative side of the separation of powers and had actually made law, which is reserved for the States and Congress.

His actual comment was “A system of government that makes the People subordinate to a committee of nine unelected lawyers does not deserve to be called a democracy.”

WOW!

Black Christian News Network One, quoted the President of Russia: “President Vladimir Putin, former KGB agent of a once-atheist nation, rebukes America, a once-Christian nation by saying that by forsaking traditional Christian values and putting same-sex marriage on the same level as traditional marriage with a man, woman, and children, the nation is forsaking God and believing in Satan and will be led into degradation and chaotic darkness.”

Mega Church Pastor Rick Warren said, “I fear God’s disapproval more than man’s.”

The bottom line is this failed decision has been made and is now the law of the land. That doesn’t make it right or moral, and we don’t have to agree with it any more than we have to agree with abortion. But this decision does makes it a reality we now have to deal with. As a church we must also begin to prepare for the horrible fallout that will follow in terms of destroyed lives.

Many people are angry, not just Christians. Our cherished landmarks are being removed and we often do not recognize our country anymore. But as Christians we have to be careful about who we are angry at. Far too much hate speech has occurred in the name of God, and God doesn’t put His name on any of it. Our anger should be turned to saving the lost, not condemning them.

Rick Warren stated “while I may disagree with you on your views on sexuality, this does not give me the right to demean you, to demoralize you, to defame you, to turn you into a demon.”

Homosexuals as a percentage of our population are estimated at 2%, with Bloomberg offering a generous estimate of 4%. What we have to realize is that this gay marriage decision was driven by a lot of heterosexual people as well, including our White House draped in rainbow colors, and many politicians, as well as giant corporations like Microsoft and Apple.

In other words, we now live in a Post-Christian America where basic Christian morals and values based upon the clear teaching of the Bible are no longer the accepted norm.

Newsflash: America has been the exception. This non-Christian era we are now entering has actually been the normal environment in which the Christian faith has historically had to contend.

In the grand scheme of things, rarely, if ever, has the Christian Church existed in a more supportive environment than the United States of America. Our nation was founded by those fleeing religious persecution and seeking a new world where they could practice a Biblical, protestant faith. For over 200 years America has been known as a Christian nation with Christian values. Our first text book was the Bible. Our great universities were founded by ministers. And so we have enjoyed the benefit of a city set upon a hill, one that has given its light to the rest of the world.

But those days have been coming to an end for many decades. As our Christian morality as a nation has slowly leaked away, so too has our blessing and protection. When we took the original textbook, the Bible, out of our schools, the safety and protection of our children left. Seventy five years ago some of the worst offenses in school were shooting spit-balls and pulling girls pig-tails. Today it is guns and drugs.

Fifty years ago most folks didn’t lock their doors at night, or take the key out of their car. And guess what. They slept safe, and their car was never stolen.

But today with the moral erosion that has continued, helped along by an increasingly humanistic educational system that has produced todays adults, including the theory of evolution that robs the Creation from its rightful Creator, and along with it the moral consequences of ignoring His commandments, we now have one of the highest crime rates in the world. I will never forget the time I was in New Orleans and saw the evening news reported the nightly murder rate. The idea of a nightly murder rate rocked my safe world. I was so shocked that I remember that moment till this day.

Fifty years ago teachers still led their class in daily prayer and the pledge of allegiance. Now we hand out condoms, the pill, and allow abortions without parental consent. And I recently learned that there is one state that is actually attempting to make it possible for teenagers to elect gender reassignment without parental consent.

The point of this look-back is to let the younger people in our congregation know that our America has not always been the way it is today. There has been a cause that has brought us to this effect.

What happened to America? The enemy sowed tares while the church was sleeping.

Matt 13:24-26 “Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; ²⁵ but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. ²⁶ But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.”

The boiling frog story is an anecdote describing a frog slowly being boiled alive. The premise is that if a frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. The story is often used as a metaphor for the inability or unwillingness of people to react to threats that occur gradually, such as the slow erosion of morals and Christian values in America.

Generally the Church has had to exist in anti-Christ and pagan society that has persecuted true Christians and the true church. Christianity had a good run in America, but that run is over. We now live in a post-Christian society that has largely gone pagan. What we need to understand is that the true church still exists, and will overcome all of these challenges and distractions as a remnant church.

My job as a minister of the Gospel, and your job as a follower of Christ, is to help people understand what the Word of God is still true, and says they can repent of their sins and turn to Jesus Christ.

3 Jn 7. “No greater joy than children walking in truth.”

How are we going to do this?

 

1. First of all, LOVE WITHOUT COMPROMISE is about recognizing that we are all born into this world as sinners in need of a Savior.

Rom 3:23 NKJV  “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

We are born with a sin nature that is bent. That is what the world “iniquity” means. This is why Jesus had to die for us, to deliver us from our fallen or “bent” nature.

Is 53:6 NKJV “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

Some say gays are born that way. While this is not genetically true, it is true that we are all born sinners in need of a Savior.

 

2. LOVE WITHOUT COMPROMISE means we look to the Bible as our final rule of authority for what love and compromise actually are.

2 Tim 3:5-17 NLT “You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. ¹⁷ God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.”

Christianity is based upon the Bible, or else it is not Christianity. If it is not based on the Bible, it becomes some other religion. But only the Bible is the Book of Jesus Christ, and only Jesus Christ has died for our sins and can therefore save us from the penalty of our sins and give us eternal life.

We therefore must affirm that the Bible determines what we believe and how we behave. The Bible is our all-sufficient rule for faith and practice. The Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, are verbally inspired of God and are the revelation of God to man, the infallible, authoritative rule of faith and conduct.

 

3. LOVE WITHOUT COMPROMISE means that we must lovingly hold to the truth of Scripture when it defines marriage solely in terms of the union of a man and a woman.

The Bible opens and closes with a wedding. God is the author of marriage, and no one can redefine it. To God there is no such thing as gay marriage, for His blessing can never be attached to it.

When it comes to same-sex marriage, Scripture prohibits what the Supreme Court permits.

Matthew 19:4-6 NLT “Haven’t you read the Scriptures?” Jesus replied. “They record that from the beginning ‘God made them male and female.’” ⁵ And he said, “‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. ⁶ Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.”

Also Mark 10:5-9; Genesis 1:27-28, 2:20-24; Ephesians 5:21-32.

Not only that, Scripture prohibits same-sex intercourse.

Romans 1:24-28 NLT “So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. ²⁵ They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. ²⁶ That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. ²⁷ And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.²⁸ Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done.”

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 NLT “Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality,¹⁰ or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. ¹¹ Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

Also 1 Timothy 1:10; Leviticus 18:22, 20:13

God’s Word makes it clear that homosexual sex is a perversion of God’s design. It is also apparently a choice we make, as with all sinful behavior, that God will judge us for. To say this is not condmening, it is speaking the truth in love. Truth is a warning of judgment.

 

4. LOVE WITHOUT COMPROMISE means that despite the chatter to the contrary, no one is born gay; there is no “gay” gene because God created us male and female.

A. Identical Twin Studies Prove Homosexuality is Not Genetic

June 24, 2013 by Mark Ellis –orthodoxytoday.org

Eight major studies of identical twins in Australia, the U.S., and Scandinavia during the last two decades all arrive at the same conclusion: gays were not born that way.

“At best genetics is a minor factor,” says Dr. Neil Whitehead, PhD. Whitehead worked for the New Zealand government as a scientific researcher for 24 years, then spent four years working for the United Nations and International Atomic Energy Agency. Most recently, he serves as a consultant to Japanese universities about the effects of radiation exposure. His PhD is in biochemistry and statistics.

Identical twins have the same genes or DNA. They are nurtured in equal prenatal conditions. If homosexuality is caused by genetics or prenatal conditions and one twin is gay, the co-twin should also be gay.

“Because they have identical DNA, it ought to be 100%,” Dr. Whitehead notes. But the studies reveal something else. “If an identical twin has same-sex attraction the chances the co-twin has it are only about 11% for men and 14% for women.”

Because identical twins are always genetically identical, homosexuality cannot be genetically dictated. “No-one is born gay,” he notes. “The predominant things that create homosexuality in one identical twin and not in the other have to be post-birth factors.”

The predominant things that create homosexuality in one identical twin and not in the other have to be post-birth factors.

Dr. Whitehead believes same-sex attraction (SSA) is caused by “non-shared factors,” things happening to one twin but not the other, or a personal response to an event by one of the twins and not the other.

For example, one twin might have exposure to pornography or sexual abuse, but not the other. One twin may interpret and respond to their family or classroom environment differently than the other. “These individual and idiosyncratic responses to random events and to common environmental factors predominate,” he says.

 

B. There is also evidence to support that some gay adults were molested as children.

There is a growing body of evidence to support the idea that some gay adults were molested as children. It’s not a gay gene that gets passed down from our parents, but it can be a gay demon that gets passed from the adult molester to the molested child. No child wants to be molested, but once they are, that violation has conditioned them for further experimentation with same sex relationships. The Bible calls this an unclean spirit.

 

5. The good news is that God is still in the saving business for all sinners, including gays.

Former Lesbian Turned Christian: ‘We’ve Made God Little if We Believe He Cannot Change People’

November 28, 2014 | Filed under: Highlights,Life & Society,Top Stories | By: Heather Clark 

SAINT LOUIS, Mo. —A former lesbian turned Christian is coming out about her conversion from living as a homosexual, and is testifying about the power of God to change a life.

Jackie Hill Perry, 25, is a spoken word poet, and is expecting her first child, a girl, next month along with her husband, poet Preston Perry.

“I think we’ve made God very little if we believe that He cannot change people,” Perry declared on Wade-O Radio last year. “If He can make a moon, stars and a galaxy that we have yet to fully comprehend, how can He not simply change my desires?”

Perry has become increasingly outspoken about her testimony, as she was once in romantic relationships with other women. The poet says that she was sexually abused at age five, and as a result, developed gender confusion throughout her youth, not knowing if she wanted to identify as a man or a woman. However, she hid her urges as her family attended a church that had biblical beliefs about morality.

In her late teen years, Perry began experimenting with homosexuality, and became sexually active with a girl. She continued in this lifestyle, moving on to a second girlfriend, who encouraged her to dress more masculine. Perry also frequenting “gay” clubs and attending homosexual pride events.

But in 2008, at age 19, she became convicted about her behavior, and she knew that she was heading down the wrong path. Perry said that God spoke to her one day as she lay in bed, the day after she had engaged in sexual activity with her girlfriend.

“The girl who you’re with will be the death of you,” she recalled Him saying. “At that time, my eyes were opened to that it wasn’t just homosexuality that would be the death of me. It was my complete and entire lifestyle. It’s not just, ‘You’re gay. You’re [also] lustful, you’re prideful, you’re a thief, you’re rebellious, you’re a masturbator and you’re a porn addict.’ I saw all of these things that deserved Hell and I really believed and saw that God would be just in sending me there.”

“The Scriptures came alive to me,” Perry told the Christian Examiner. “They said for the wages of sin is death, and I perceived it as real. But [Scripture] also said those who repent and believe will inherit eternal life. And I thought, ‘Ok God, I trust you. I believe You.’”

She knew she had to walk away from her girlfriend and stop giving into whatever her flesh wanted. Perry then sat down and penned a poem called “My Life as a Stud.”

“Instead of me dying to myself, I was willing to die for myself,” she wrote. “There was no fairy whispering in my ear/Only me and the devil telling me what I wanted to hear.”

“The more my will to sin would grow, I could see it in my face …. I could see Him stretched out on the wood…/Being the disgrace for the sin I was committing in His face,” Perry continued. “Seeing Him take on the wrath of the Father on the wood in my place/I still spat in His face.”

Perry has performed the song at numerous outlets nationwide, and has sometimes faced resistance for her stance. Her video performance of the poem, first performed live in 2010, now has over 400,00 views.

“No, my friend, you were not born gay,” she declares. “You were born into sin and shaped in iniquity/When Eve ate that fruit, we were cursed to do anything/ We were open for murder, we were destined to lose/We were given free will/You chose to choose/You chose to defy God’s rules ’cause inside of you, you wanted to be like Him and make them.”

Perry has since gone on to sign with Humble Beast Records, where she released her debut album “The Art of Joy” this month, which is also available for free online. Earlier this year, she married fellow poet Preston Perry. But she said that marriage isn’t the panacea—Christ is.

“That’s so not true,” Perry said. “What’s true is that when you’ve been united with Christ by faith, when you know Him and have been made righteous in His sight, that is your goal. Working from that, it’s going to be to live a life that is pleasing to Him whether through marriage or singleness.”

Don’t believe the lie that people can’t change. The new birth is a miracle of change in the heart and life of every person that submits to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

 

6. Ten Mistakes People Make with Same-Sex Marriage.
   1. Forget that despite all the sins that existed in Sodom and Gomorrah, God only destroyed these two cities because of the sin of homosexuality.
7. 2. Miss how it devalues God’s plan that a man be wedded to his wife. (Matthew 19:4-6)
   3. Don’t realize it is a degrading of Christ and His union with the Church (which is what Biblical marriage is a picture of). (Ephesians 5:31-32)
   4. Think that just because it “feels good” and two people are “in love” it must be right.
   5. Miss that lust is very different than love. (1 John 2:16; John 15:13)
   6. Forget that homosexuality is a sin in God’s eyes. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)
   7. Overlook the primary function of marriage which is procreation, and to bond an man and women in marriage all of their lives. (Mark 10:8)
   8. Turn a blind eye towards its unnaturalness (“against nature”).
   9. Miss that if marriage is redefined, where then is the line to be drawn? (three women? a man and his dog?).
   10. Don’t realize the ruined lives because of it (due to depression, disease, etc ~ the media hides this truth)

 

7. LOVE WITHOUT COMPROMISE compels us to tell our gay friends or family members that Jesus Christ loves them so much that He not only died for their sins, but He arose from the dead so they can have a new life of deliverance and wholeness.

The kindest, most loving thing we can ever do for a person trapped in homosexuality is to share with them that God has a better way through Christ. That if they fully submit their lives to Jesus Christ, God can do a miracle in their lives, God can deliver them, God can heal them, God can restore them to the image He has for them.

 

8. Closing Thoughts:

Despite the growing influence of paganism in our western society, I am not discouraged. We can never have Christ’s Kingdom on earth without the King Himself. The growing darkness is merely a backdrop for the sons and daughters of righteousness to shine like the stars.

A lot of Christianity we have in America has been cultural Christianity, which does not save. Just because a person was raised in a Christian culture, or even a Christian home, does not make them a Christian. Jesus said you must be born-again to be a Christian, which implies a repentance of our sinful life, and the embracing of a new kingdom and rulership, which is following Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

God is stripping the masquerade masks off of cultural Christianity. The defections of various groups, organizations, and even whole denominations from the true faith has not hurt real Christianity. These groups have exposed themselves for who they really are. The choice between the true church and the imitation one is becoming easier.

The true church in America will be persecuted by religious people, and the government, just as it has in so many other countries from Jesus time until now. The wake-up call is upon us. The next few years will separate the men from the boys. Jesus said by their fruits shall you know them.

This is really good news. While the modern church has been content to go chameleon by blending in and adapting to the world’s culture…in so much so that we often can no longer tell where one ends and the other begins, God has another plan. He is forcing a difference so the lost can find their way to the real churches, the ones that still stand for the old ways, and that have not begun worshiping at the altar of compromise.

I believe the greatest revival in the history of the world is still ahead of us. It will come during intense persecution. It will come without the help or support of the Whitehouse or government. It will be a sovereign last-day move of the Holy Spirit to sweep the hungering and thirsting into the Kingdom, and then the end will come.

We are the generation God has chosen for this last-day harvest. What an honor to suffer for Christ, if need be. God has kept the best until now. Now go let your light shine for Jesus. We have come to the kingdom for just such a time as this. GO GOD!

Jesus said in John 2:10 “A host always serves the best wine first,” he said. “Then, when everyone has had a lot to drink, he brings out the less expensive wine. But you have kept the best until now!”

Love without compromise means we keep sharing the joy of God’s love with everyone so everyone can be saved.

Our mission is not hate, or anger. Our mission is to speak the truth, and speak it in love. Telling someone that God’s plan for them is better than theirs is not hate speech; it is the only truly loving we can tell them. And if we don’t, the Bible says their blood may be our hands when they die.

Ez 3:18-19 NLT “If I warn the wicked, saying, ‘You are under the penalty of death,’ but you fail to deliver the warning, they will die in their sins. And I will hold you responsible for their deaths. ¹⁹ If you warn them and they refuse to repent and keep on sinning, they will die in their sins. But you will have saved yourself because you obeyed me.”

Our vision is RED, R. E. D., and acronym that stands for Recover, Empower, and Deploy. What does this mean?

Recover the lost by sharing the joy of God’s love & salvation through Jesus Christ (the gospel) with everyone;

Empower them to become fully devoted Christ-followers (disciples) who embrace God’s purpose for their life;

Deploy them into their ministries in the church, & their mission in the world, so they can glorify God everywhere.

This vision statement means more to us today than ever before.

The point of today’s message is that while we are living in an eroding society that is becoming more and more alien to the Bible believing Christian, we have been called to the Kingdom for such a time as this.

If we will embrace this season as an opportunity to be a church that is a city on the hill, sending out the light of hope and salvation all those that are lost and in darkness, our benefit will be fulfilling the Great Commission, our final assignment on planet earth.