Let Us Press On To Maturity

I've been preaching through the Gospel of Luke lately, and this morning I'm going to be taking a break from the Gospel of Luke just for one week, and I'll be preaching from Hebrews, end of chapter 5 and on into chapter 6. But before we get to our scripture lesson this morning, or scripture reading for our sermon, I want to observe something that provides context for our text. And if you look at a family, you recognize that a family is made up of people of all different ages, right? Very, very obvious. You have parents, you have children, you have older, they're younger. And as such, because they have different ages, they also have different needs. And they can't all do the same things. They don't all think the same way. They also don't all eat the same things. They don't eat the same food. So when you have a young child in their infancy and they're growing up, they have to make this transition to solid food. And if you've had a baby, you understand this transition, and it's often a difficult transition, especially for your first child. They don't know how to chew, and they don't know how to eat, and they kind of spit it out, and they don't know what a spoon's for, and it's a hard transition. And so they don't want to eat that food. They want to continue with what they've had previously. And yet they need to start eating the family food. They need to be trained.

They can't be allowed to eat what they want to indefinitely. And so if you have children, you know this process. You've gone through it. This process doesn't happen overnight, and it's often met with resistance from the child. The child can drink milk for as long as they're infants, but the goal can never be that they would remain infants and that as such they would continue to just have milk for their whole lives. That would not be good for them. They have to grow up, and they have to begin to eat what everyone else eats. Now, this principle is found in the Scripture. We as children, children of God, we are to grow out of infancy into maturity. In the same way that an infant has to learn to eat solid food, we too have to learn to eat spiritually solid food. We can't drink milk forever. And in the same way that children are opposed to this growth when they're supposed to be transitioning, we also are opposed to this growth. Satan doesn't want us to grow to maturity. And so he opposes this growth from within us.

This morning we're going to be studying the necessity of this growth. And then I want us to see something that's actually going on in our society right now. And I want to teach us to discern what's good and what's evil about it. Would you please stand for the reading of God's word from Hebrews chapter 5 on through the first verses of chapter 6. This is the word of the Lord and it is eternally true. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. Therefore, leaving the elementary teachings about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instructions about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits.

This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. And so here we see that the author of Hebrews is using this analogy of children and how they eat. And he says, you know, babies, they eat milk. And they're to grow to maturity and they're supposed to be able to consume solid food. And I want us to begin by saying, so what is the milk? What is the milk that infants consume? Speaking of our faith, speaking of Christianity, it's the most basic elements of the Christian faith. There's obviously lots of room to grow in the same way that kids can grow and expand their palate, but it is the most basic, nourishing doctrines that we need to know. And Paul in chapter 6, when he tells us, let us now leave behind the elementary teaching of Christ, what he's referring to is this milk. He's saying, we're to leave this stuff behind.

And then he says something else about infants. He says that they're not accustomed to the word of righteousness. They're not accustomed to it. And if you think of giving a child some new food, you've witnessed with your own eyes what it means to not be accustomed to it. What do they do? They rear back and they turn their heads and they spit it out. They're not accustomed to it. They don't like the thing. Is it too hot? Is it too cold? Is it the wrong texture? What is this thing that it's on that's being put in my mouth? They're not accustomed to it. And so they reject it. They want their milk. What I want you to understand at the very beginning is that God's word also has simpler things in it, milk, that are more palatable to us and are more desirable for us, especially in our infancy. And that means that also there are things in the scripture that are not as palatable to us, at least if we're infants.

We have the same sort of reaction that an infant would to food where we want to spit it out of our mouth and go, oh, I don't know about that. That's foreign to me. I don't know what to do with that. So some parts of God's word are more palatable than others. So what is the more palatable part? Well, nowadays the more palatable part is God's yes. What does God affirm? What does he say good and amen to? What is the less palatable part of God's word? The places where he says no, and you may not. Those are the places that are less palatable to us. These are the words of righteousness. And these are the things that are difficult for infants. The infants are not accustomed to them. Now, if you think of a family, remember, everyone in the family, we eat different kinds of food. At my house, we happen to like spicy food. It's enjoyable. Now, do kids like spicy food? Do you get spicy food at your house, Ian?

Generally speaking, do kids want the spicy food? You've got the chili that's got the chipotle peppers in it to actually make it yummy. And then what happens with the kids? Oh, well, they get macaroni. Well, what's the difference between macaroni and spicy chili? Well, one of them's more palatable to a child than another. Now, do the young children ever have to eat the chili? In my house, they do. Now here's another question. Do the parents ever have to eat macaroni? Yes. And so I want you to see from the very beginning that when you have a household and you have people of varying maturity levels, they both end up eating the other one's food from time to time. And that's as it should be. Sometimes we're going to have a meal that's more palatable to the children. And sometimes we're going to have a meal that's more palatable to the adults.

And yet everyone's got to eat dinner, right? And so sometimes we're going to, if we apply that to the teachings of Christ, the word of righteousness, sometimes we're going to have sermons on the milk of Christianity. And those sermons, for some of us, aren't going to be new or exciting. We're not going to go, oh, I never knew that. I never thought about that. That's, whoa. And other times we're going to have spicy chili. And some of us are going to go, whoa, I don't know about that. That's the difference between a child who eats milk and an adult who eats solid food. The immature versus the mature. The infants are not accustomed to the word of righteousness, to the solid food. Because solid food, as we read in verse 14, is for the mature. Now, how is it that the mature come to eat solid food? How do they come to appreciate it? How do they come to have it be palatable to them? Well, think again of children.

Do children just outgrow their desire for simple food? No, they don't. I know plenty of older people who I don't like that. And they're grown. And they say, well, I don't eat that. I don't like that kind of food. Well, sometimes that's legitimate, and sometimes it's simply because their parents never made them eat it. And they come over to your house, and you serve green beans, and they go, you don't like green beans. And I say, that's too bad. And it's not because I absolutely love green beans. It's because you should be accustomed to eating what's put in front of you. So how do you get a child to expand his palate? You train them. You train them. You say, you're going to eat this. I don't like it. That's okay. One of the things we say in our house is, you don't have to like it. You just have to eat it. You can choose what you like, but I'm going to choose what you eat. And as you get older,

you'll have more freedom to choose your own food. And so solid food is for the mature who, because of practice, because they've been trained against their will. Think of a child being trained to eat. It is against their will to eat the new food. Who, because of practice, have their senses trained to discern good and evil. This means that there are parts of God's Word There are truths that are essential to our faith that are not palatable to us, that we have an aversion to, that we want to spit out of our mouth like a child wants to spit out bananas or whatever it is you're feeding them. They go, I don't want that. And we have to be trained to receive those things, to understand those things. And this requires effort. Growth and maturity requires practice, that our senses would be trained.

that we would become stronger in our areas of weakness, that we wouldn't forever be like a baby on milk. We ought to seek, we ought to pursue growth. If it was food, I would say you ought to try new food. That's what you ought to do. You've never had it before. Try it. One of the things I like telling people, I've gone the last couple of years and I've picked these mushrooms. These neon orange and yellow mushrooms. They're called chicken of the woods. And I went out in the woods and I got them. I didn't spend $30 a pound for them in the store. You can do that. But that's not what I did. I went to the woods and I found a dead tree and I cut them off of there with my own knife and I brought them home and we eat them. Now, who wants to eat them? You want to eat them? He does, he does. Some of you are going, I don't want to eat those.

You'll try it. That's good. But you understand that all I'm trying to do is expose our aversion to new things. Well, where did it come from? I've never eaten that before. I don't know that I want to eat it because I haven't had it before. And I say, try it. It's good. And this comes from someone who doesn't like mushrooms. I don't like mushrooms. And I'll eat these things. I'll try them. Okay? And so one of the things I like to do when people come over to my house is if we have some sort of strange food, I like to get you to try it. Because I think it's good for your soul to try it. Because I think it's good for you to move from milk to solid food. That happens through practice. Our palate is trained through practice. You have the same thing going on with wine. Some people are beer. There's a progression. What is the superior wine? Is it sweet or is it dry? It's dry. Now, it's also nasty.

Says me, who doesn't like wine that much. But I know in my mind that that's what the real mature connoisseurs of wine, that's what they like. And when it comes to beer, it's either really hoppy, bitter, nasty, hoppy beer. Or it's like the kind of beer you eat with a spoon because it's so thick. But it's not the kind of beer that you buy in 24 packs or 30 packs of cans for eight bucks. That's for the people who don't know about beer. Okay? And what we want to do is grow in maturity. We want to have our senses trained. But not about beer and not about wine and not about mushrooms. About the things of God. What does a mature understanding of God's word look like? Well, it looks like discernment. It looks like us understanding the difficult things of God. Us not turning away from them or shying away from them or pulling our punches.

Or, you know, I'll eat it, but I don't like it. That's not a mature understanding of God's word. I'm not happy when my kids sit at my table and scowl as they eat the food they don't like. I want them to learn to appreciate it. I want them to learn to like it. And the reason is because when we come to God's word, I don't want us going, well, I'll eat it, but I don't like it. That can't be our disposition towards God's word. Not any of it. And there are parts in God's word that are less palatable. to us than other parts. And we, as God's people, are to grow through practice, to have our senses trained to discern good and evil, to be able to see what's right and what's wrong. This is what we practice. Now, it seems easy, doesn't it? It should seem easy. The goal of growing to Christian maturity is being able to tell the difference between what's good and what's evil. And is there anyone here who would say, I don't know the difference between good and evil?

Every one of us knows the difference between good and evil, we think. Every time we see a situation or we see something going on, we go, that's right. Or we go, that's wrong. Or we say, it's right, but they didn't say it the right way. That part was wrong. We all hit things in our lives and we make judgments. It's good or it's bad. That's not the issue. The issue is, are we right in our judgment? Is our judgment in line with what scripture teaches or is it in line with something else? Another way of saying this is, you are susceptible. to lies. So am I. Every one of us is susceptible to being led astray, to believing something that's not true, that's not good. In Jeremiah 6.14, speaking of the priests and the prophets and the nation of Israel, the prophet says this, they have healed the brokenness of my people superficially, saying, peace, peace, but there is no peace. So what are they doing? They are lying to God's people.

He goes on a little later and says, and my people love it so. My people love it so. There's something in each one of our hearts that is attracted to being misled. You ever look at something and you know what's true and you know what's right, but you don't want that to be what's true and what's right? You see a problem and you go, that's a problem. I know it's a problem, but I wish that it wasn't a problem. I wish that that wasn't wrong. I wish that that was okay. Because if it's wrong, then I have some obligation to deal with it, where if it's right, I don't. Each one of us has a desire to be misled. And in large part, it's unconscious. You don't even know that it's there. You know, part of my work is to talk to people for a living and listen to people. And one of the things that's always interesting to me is when I talk to people,

They say something, but they know that they have some sense that what they're saying is not right, and so they will qualify it. They'll say things like, I'm not angry, but this is what's going on. I forgave them, but this. I'm a hard worker, but there's always a qualification. And when I hear that, my ears perk up and I go, you're about to tell me a lie you believe. That's what 90% of the time you're about to do. Because you wouldn't cross your, somewhere in your head, you've gone, that thing is not right. You know, I understand that I was angry, I am angry, so I'm going to tell myself and you that I'm not angry. And you're lying to yourself. And so my work is to help you through time realize you believed a lie. And you can repent of that. And Jesus can forgive you for that and heal you for that, but you believed a lie. And in part, it's because you wanted to believe that lie.

We've wanted to be told, peace, peace. In Isaiah 5, verse 20, Isaiah writes, Woe to those who call evil good and good evil. Woe to those who lie, who mislead, who deceive, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Now, if you were baking a cake and you were supposed to put sugar in it, and instead of putting sugar in it, you know, however many cups of sugar, you put that many cups of baking soda in it or baking powder, which is basically salt and it does not taste good. Would you notice it? Would you like the cake? No, right? It'd be nasty. And he says, woe to those people who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who lie. And woe to those who believe them, who are misled, who haven't had their senses trained to discern good and evil.

Is this true of you? Is it true of me? Do we believe lies? We all want to, in our hearts, we want to carve out this little corner to stand on and say, I'm right here and I hear what you're saying, Pastor, and that's true over there. But it's not true right here. It's not true of me. That's a general truth, not a particular truth. And I say, no, it's a particular truth for you and for me. In 2 Timothy 4, when Paul's writing to Timothy right at the end of his life, he says the time will come when they, the people, we, will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. And so as we begin to open this issue up, we have to face the question, Do we believe lies? Do we want to believe lies? The scripture tells us we do. And so it will be prudent of us to say, I do. And you can also say, and I don't know quite how I do that yet. Could you carry on, pastor? And I'd say, yes, I will. Each one of us is susceptible to being misled. Each one of us, to some extent, wants to be misled through immaturity. What would you say of a child?

Who refused to get off the milk. What's going to happen to that child eventually? They're going to start losing weight. They're going to lose energy. They're not going to be healthy. And yet they want to be unhealthy. But they don't know they want to be unhealthy. They just want to have milk and not meat. And so the work is to train them and to teach them and to do what's best for them. To move them on to solid food. Therefore, we have to have our senses trained so that we won't continue to be in the dark. We won't continue to be children. We won't get a spiritual stomachache every time we encounter the word of righteousness. So Paul carries, in Hebrews 6, we carry on and it says, therefore, leaving the elementary teachings about Christ, which, does that sit strangely with you? We're going to leave the elementary teachings of Christ. Where are we going to leave them?

I didn't know we were supposed to leave these things behind, but it's not like lose it. It's like those things, the elementary teachings of Christ, if you continue on and read, he says, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation. Those elementary teachings of Christ are the foundation of our faith. And the whole point of a foundation is to build on it. If you know anything about building, when you put a foundation in, when you put the footers in, you don't leave them exposed because the trench will wash in, the footers will kick and heave. If the frost gets down underneath them, the goal is dig the trench, pour the footer, and get the house on top of it. Because if you don't, the foundation will fail. So you don't put a foundation with regard to building a house. You don't do it when the ground's soaking wet because the ground's not solid.

And you also don't do it when it's about to rain. And you don't do it a month before you get your lumber package to actually build the house. You do these things on purpose, intentionally and close together so that the foundation isn't compromised. And so when he says we're to leave behind the elementary teachings of Christ, we're to build on top of them. We're not to forget them. We're to use them for what they were designed for, which is to be the foundation. the solid rock of our faith, and then we're to build on top of it. We're to grow to maturity. A foundation by itself is useless. It's not competent. It's not helpful in the same way that an infant who only has milk is incapable of doing most things in life. They're not productive. And so what do you want to see your child do? You want to see them grow. You want to see them become more competent. You want to see them learning to crawl, learning to walk.

learning to run, learning to speak, right? This is what you want to see your children do. You want to see them mature. And that's the same work that we have to do, to go from infancy, from milk, to maturity, to solid food. These elementary teachings about Christ that Paul lists here, repentance from dead works and faith toward God, that's something that we build on. That is not the thing that we rally around forever. Is it sometimes what we What we learn about or what we're instructed about, yes. In the same way that sometimes the whole family has macaroni and cheese, sometimes that is the topic of our discourse. That is the thing we're instructed about. And yet we realize we're talking about the foundation. We're talking about what God designed to be buried down under the ground and to be built on top of. These are the things that are the milk of Christianity. We must press beyond them to maturity.

And so my hope is that so far you're all with me. And in theory you're going, yes, that's right and that's good and we should do that. But our reality must follow as well. It can't just be that we theoretically grow in maturity. It has to be that we actually grow in maturity. That we grow in discernment about what goes on and around us. Each one of us has need to grow in discernment. Discernment's a spiritual gift. And yet all of us need to grow in it, just like hospitality. Would you ever say to someone who was... didn't have the gift of hospitality that it was okay for them not to be hospitable. You'd say, no, you need to learn to be hospitable. Will they be as hospitable as someone who has that gift? Probably not. But they need to grow in hospitality. And the same is true with discernment. Some of us have the gift of discernment. Some of us don't. Regardless of that, we all need to grow in it. We need to be practiced in it.

We need to be taught in it so that our senses are trained. Now, discernment. What is discernment? What is discernment? It's being able to look at a situation and see through the smoke and mirrors to see what's really going on. I've told you that when someone comes and they qualify their statement from the very beginning, I'm not angry, but through discernment, I've learned that they're lying. That they've believed a lie. That's what discernment has taught me. Because I've seen it again and again and again. And the thing they're trying to convince themselves and me of isn't true. They are angry. Most times, they are still angry. And so discernment requires us to see what's right in front of us. And to act based on what we see. Not to see it and go, rose-colored filter, that's going to be okay. We're going to go back to the milk. No.

Discernment requires us to see and to understand and to act. And for that reason, discernment's hated today. Anyone who has discernment and calls things the way they see them is not popular because it's not seen as being Christian. Think for a minute, and I don't think for a second that Donald Trump is a Christian, but think for a minute, what makes him so attractive? to the general populace of America. He's not politically correct, which put another way is, he calls it like he sees it. Whether he's right or whether he's wrong, I'm not making any determination. But the thing that makes him attractive, especially to men, is that he calls it like he sees it. He goes, that's a lie, and you're a liar, and I'm going to tell everyone you're a liar. And we go, a man who sees.

We all know that they're liars, but now we finally got someone who says they're a liar to their face in public. Isn't it nice? He has some level of discernment, some willingness to see what's right in front of him and then to say, this is what I see. And so is Donald Trump a loving man? I don't think very many people would describe him as a loving man, but that's one of his gifts. They say, well, he's a mean, harsh, brash. calloused man. Why? Because he has some level of discernment. His eyes aren't completely clouded over. And he sees, and he says what he sees. I want you to know that in the Christian world, discernment and love are at odds with one another. Discernment is not seen as a gift that produces or is fueled by love.

It's seen as the gift that squashes love because it doesn't go along with the line that it's being fed. Is it loving for one of you to come to me and say, this and this happened, but I'm not angry about it. I just wanted you to know. What feels loving? What feels loving is for me to say, well, I'm really sorry that that happened and that was wrong and it really shouldn't be that way. And I wish that it hadn't happened to you like that. Is it loving for me to say, what did you do to cause it? I understand that that happened and I'm not justifying what happened. But what did you do to contribute to it? Because generally speaking, men don't just punch women for no reason. I was having this conversation a long time ago. I don't know how many months ago this was. And I said, the man is absolutely wicked and wrong and I have no sympathy for him.

But I asked the woman, I said, have you ever hit him? Well, yes. Wasn't that helpful to know? Isn't that helpful to know? Does that mean it's okay for him to behave that way? No. It's suspicable. It's wicked. But it is helpful to know that she's punched him too. So is that question loving? Is it loving for me to ask that question? What would the culture tell you? They'd say, no, what I'm doing is victim blaming. And I've just said to you now twice, and I'll say a third time, I'm not justifying the behavior. It's wicked for a man to hit a woman. It's also wicked for a woman to hit a man. It's more wicked for a man to hit a woman. It's wicked. Have you ever hit him? That is loving. And it's loving because it's discerning. Because it wants to know the difference between good and evil. And it takes training to learn to ask that question.

And that's just an example. We have to be trained to ask the questions that should be asked, that are right in front of us, that discernment would reveal to us. And I want you to see that discernment is loving. That should be the end of it. Can people who are discerning be cynics? Absolutely. And it's inappropriate for discernment to be turned into cynicism. Discernment ought to fuel love. It ought to help us love people better. Part of the reason that discernment is so unpopular in our day is because discernment carries with it, we feel in our bones that discernment carries with it the potential for conflict. And when we see conflict, what are we supposed to do? Run. Run away from the conflict. Don't engage the conflict. Don't have the difficult conversation. Just slowly back away and smile. And speak in such a way that you cannot be agreed, but you can act like you are.

Love and discernment are not at odds with one another. The scripture tells us that we're to press on to maturity. And by maturity, we're told discernment. We're to press on to maturity. We're to press on to being able to see the difference between good and evil. That is what it means to be mature, is to grow in discernment. Discernment sharpens our ability to love others. If we can't discern the difference between good and evil, Or when we're being lied to, fed a line, we won't be able to love other people as well as we ought to. We will end up contributing to their destruction. We'll end up leading them astray. We will end up carrying water for Satan because we're ignorant, because we're not discerning, because we don't realize when we've been misled. And so then we in turn mislead others. And that's not as it should be. We ought to lead others, but we ought to lead them in the ways of Jesus Christ, not away from them.

So we have to do that. We have to grow in maturity. We have to grow in discernment. At the end of verse 3, the author says, and this we will do, growing in maturity. This we will do if God permits. Unless God prevents it, that is what we will do. We will not remain infants. We will grow to maturity. God desires that we would grow to our maturity and that under normal circumstances, we should be able to grow to maturity. That's his will. That's his desire for his people, that we would not be babes in Christ forever. So our work as God's people is to grow in discernment, to have our senses trained to see the difference between good and evil, to smell a lie when it's right in front of us and to say, I don't think so. Something doesn't sit right with me. You ever have that feeling when you're...

talking to someone or you hear about something and just something inside of you says, I don't think that's right. You should pursue that and figure out why it is you feel that way. So what is the current event that requires discernment of us? How many of you have heard of the statement that was released this week called the Nashville Statement? Anybody heard of it? One, two, three, a couple of you? Five? Okay, maybe ten. Okay, so the Nashville Statement is a statement of affirmations and denials. that was put out by a group called CBMW, Center for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. They've put out statements in the past regarding men and women, marriage, sexuality, these kinds of things. And so the Nashville Statement is the latest iteration, the latest statement that they've put out. And the point of it is that these men, these evangelical conservative Christians, are working to record the historic biblical position regarding human sexuality, particularly with regard to the topic of homosexuality. What does the Bible say about homosexuality? What do we affirm? What do we deny? This is the basic premise of this statement. Now, it shouldn't surprise you that there's lots of conflict around this statement. And the disagreements are flying in every direction. The unbelievers, what do you think the unbelievers' disposition toward the statement is?

Boo! No! Bad! That's what they think. Wicked, mean, unloving. That's what they think. That's what they tell the Christians. Okay, what do the liberal Christians have to say to the conservative Christians? That's not loving. It's not kind. You can't say things like that. What do the heterosexuals say to the homosexuals and vice versa? You understand there's accusations and conflicts surrounding this thing. They go in every direction. And here these men are putting out a statement. about what the Bible teaches regarding a very important issue of our day. The underlying question or motivation beneath this statement is this. Where does the Bible draw the line with regard to homosexuality? What's the Bible have to say about same-sex marriage? What's the Bible have to say about same-sex intercourse? What does the Bible have to say about celibate gay Christians? What does it have to say about same-sex attraction. What's the Bible say about all these things? This is what everyone in our society, we're all talking about. And this is good and this is bad. How far do you have to look to figure out that some people think that same-sex marriage is a good thing and some people think it's a bad thing? Who's right? Another way of putting the question is how much must someone tempted by same-sex, by homosexuality, how much must they change before they're accepted, before they can be saved?

Now we could talk about this for a long, long time, but I want to move quickly through the backdrop and get to the meat of the statement. There are two scriptures that we're going to start with. The first is Genesis 1, 26 and 27. It says that God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth. And over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, God created man in his image. In his image he created him. Male and female, he created them. And so, in a nutshell, what does this passage teach us about men and women? Well, it teaches us that men, the race of man, is made in God's image. And that that image is reflected through both the male and the female. We also learn that as men and women, our anatomy indicates to us

what God has intended for us to do. If you were to think for a minute about the differences between a male anatomy and a female anatomy, you understand how things fit together. That's God's design, and it's written into our anatomy. And things that go against that design are against God's design. We can follow that. That's easy enough. It's uncomfortable. We can consume that out in the culture all day and talk about body parts and sex and all that stuff, but in here, we're not supposed to. And I say, no, and here's where we need to have we need to get rejiggered and understand what's right and true and good. So God's made us in his image. He's made us male and female, and our bodies reflect his design. And when we do things with our bodies that are contrary to the design that he's written into us, it's evil. It's wrong. And then you move into the New Testament, the second passage I want us to focus on. 1 Corinthians 6, 9 through 11, Paul writes this.

Such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our God. Here, in this passage, we see that those who give themselves to homosexuality won't inherit the kingdom of God. They will not because God said so. It's his heaven. He can declare, he determines who's welcome and who's not. And he says, those who give themselves to it, they're not welcome. And on top of that, Paul teaches that homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of God. On top of that, he says, well, let me say it a different way. It's very, very simple. And yet to say this is very uncomfortable.

Do you feel uncomfortable for me to just read scripture to you and say, it actually means what it says. Homosexuals will not be in heaven. They won't. And that feels so wrong and so wicked and so unloving for me to say. But did you listen to the rest of it? Paul then says, such were some of you. Such were some of you, but you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified. You were changed. You are no longer defined by this list of sins. And by the way, it's not just homosexuals who won't inherit the kingdom of God. There's a whole host of other sins that prevent us from inheriting the kingdom of God. And so do we believe what God's word actually says? Can we say positively? Is it palatable to us to say homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of God? And that is a shame because if they repent, they can.

Just like every other sinner. Just like every other sinner on that list. Homosexual sin is not different than any other sin in terms of its consequences. If I asked you, should murderers be allowed into heaven? We'd all kind of go, no. I don't think murderers should be allowed into heaven. Because that's bad and that's wrong. And if we thought about it, we could make a biblical case for it and say, no, they shouldn't. And I'd say, good. You're with me now. God's word also says that homosexuals shouldn't. And we're like, well, wait a minute. That's not loving for you to say. Somehow this is a special sin. It's a special circumstance and it must be viewed and handled with its own set of rules. And I say, no, we can't do that. We have to have our senses trained to trust God's word, to discern the difference from good and evil according to God's word so that we're better able to love those caught in sin. To this point, the things I've said, if you deny what I've said,

You don't believe the Bible. Anyone who would deny what I've said so far simply doesn't believe the Bible. It's not their authority. It's not what they listen to. It's not what they're about. And the Nashville Statement, the thing that was produced, affirms exactly everything I've just said to you. And to that extent, it's good. It's very good. It's biblical, and I'm thankful for it. Because these men didn't shy away from saying what I just said. But I didn't say it. Really, God said it. All I did was say it to you and explain what it meant. And so these men who've composed this thing say what the Bible says, and I say praise God for that. Because there's lots of disagreement, even among those who call themselves Christians, about what I've already said. But there's more to the issue of homosexuality than what I've said so far. Here's the way it works. If I gave you a test, and it had 100 questions on it, and you answered 80 of them,

and you got all 80 of them correct, is that good? Well, I gave you a test with 100 questions, and you only answered 80 of them, because you ran out of time, or you didn't know the answers to the other ones. And so you only answered the ones that you knew you could get right. And so you answered 80 questions, and you got all of them right. Do you get an A? No, you don't, because you didn't answer all the questions, right? My gripe, my only concern with the Nashville Statement is that it stops short of everything that God has to say about it. And when you stop short of saying, we affirm this, this is right and good, and we deny this because it's wicked and evil and bad, when you leave some things unaddressed, you end up teaching that it's okay, that it's good, that the Bible doesn't have anything more to say about it.

And so if we're going to affirm truth, if we're going to teach what the Bible teaches, we have to proclaim, we have to profess everything that the Bible teaches, not just part of it. And that's what the Hebrew says. It says, we're going to press beyond the elementary principles. Is all of that stuff good that was brought up? Repentance from dead works and faith toward God and instructions about... laying on of hands and hand washings and the judgment and all that. Is that all good stuff? Yes. Is that all there is to the faith? No. We have to go as far as the scripture goes. And we have to affirm everything that the scripture says, not just a portion of it. So the question really is regarding homosexuality and what has been, what the contention is, is same-sex attraction. That's the question.

If someone says, you can't tell a homosexual they can't get married, that's unloving. You can't make a case to me biblically that says that I have, I should. It's just not there. And they say, okay, well, someone tempted by homosexuality wants to be a Christian and they repent of the act, the physical act, the copulation. And they say, I won't do that because I affirm with you that Scripture says no to that. Is that enough? That's the question. Is that enough? Is celibacy enough? So I want to read to you the article that addresses this issue. It's Article 8. If you haven't read the Nashville Statement, you should read it. There's a lot to be encouraged by in it, but it's deficient in this area. Here's what it says.

Article 8, it says, We affirm that people who experience sexual attraction for the same sex may live a rich and fruitful life pleasing to God through faith in Jesus Christ as they, like all Christians, walk in purity of life. We deny that sexual attraction for the same sex is part of the natural goodness of God's original creation or that it puts a person outside the hope of the gospel. So even in this statement, which I take issue with, There's a lot of good truth said there. But at the issue of attraction, it's weak. And it refuses to say what it should say. You go, well, what do you mean, pastor? I don't know, what do you mean? What doesn't it say? It sounds good. I say, okay, just let me change a couple of words and let me read it to you again and you'll understand what it's missing. So here I'm going to read it to you again. I'm going to change the object of the attraction.

So instead of, we affirm that people who experience sexual attraction for the same sex may live a godly life, try this. We affirm that people who experience sexual attraction for animals may live a rich and godly, fruitful life. Do you all of a sudden go, wait, no, they can't. No, they can't. They can't. Or we affirm that people who experience sexual attraction for children, you say, wait, no, that attraction's not okay. That action's not okay and that attraction's not okay. What about the denials? We deny that sexual attraction for animals is part of the natural goodness of God's good creation. Okay, right. And we also deny that this attraction puts a person outside the hope of the gospel. Are you comfortable with that? Are you comfortable with a church that would say that about the children, that we're okay with, it's okay if they have attraction for children, as long as they don't act on it?

Would you want your kids in that nursery? You understand it. And it's conflict now because it's like, well, what are we going to do now? And I say, we have to be discerning because there's something missing there. Isn't it strange to you that for most of us, you read the statement as it's written and you go, I think that's right. I understand what they mean. There's this like... There's this statement at the end. It says, as long as they, like all Christians, walk in purity of life. What does that mean? To some, that could mean as long as they don't act on it, but the desire is untouchable. And to others, it might mean, no, you make no provision for the flesh with regards to its lusts. They actually have to kill their desires. You realize how that wording is vague in a very unhelpful way.

Because it allows people who don't actually agree to think they agree. You remember when the election was going on and I talked about slogans and I said, Trump's slogan is great because it allows you to fill it with meaning. Make America great again. Wonderful. What is great? Because great's different to me than it is to you than it is to them. And that's the same thing that's going on here. As long as they walk in purity of life, what does that mean? Can someone have an attraction for... every woman that walks by them a desire, a sexual desire, lust. For every woman that walks by and walk in all purity of life with that attraction left unchecked. No, they can't. And so when we substitute in the sin or the temptation, the object of the temptation, when we substitute it with something that we haven't been taught, we're not allowed to be discerning about. All of a sudden it makes sense to us.

And this affirmation, this part of the statement doesn't ring true. It's not helpful. It's not loving. Because it doesn't say to the man caught in sin, you can't continue to desire wickedness. You can't. Now, do Christians struggle with ongoing temptation to sin? Yes. Should we affirm them in that struggle or should we strengthen them to continue to fight? We should strengthen them to continue to fight, to continue to put to death their evil, wicked lusts because Jesus died for them. That's actually what's loving. But you have to have discernment to see it, to catch it. You have to look at it and you have to go, that doesn't sound quite right. Why doesn't that sound quite right? And you have to pursue it out and figure out why, according to God's word. You have to practice discernment.

so that you will grow in love. So when I say homosexuals can't inherit the kingdom of God, and I say, that's what the Bible says, I say, does that mean there's no hope for homosexuals? No. They, like you and like me, and like every other sinner, can have their sins forgiven through the blood of Jesus Christ. And that ought to be what we want. We ought not lie to those who are caught in the sin of our day and say, well, actually, You get special treatment. You don't have to repent. They do have to repent. They do have to love Jesus and they do have to submit their whole life, including their desires, to his word. Just like you and I do with all of our sinful desires and lusts. And the most loving thing that could be said to us is don't desire wicked things. That's not an okay desire to have. Repent of the desire.

So if you don't know what's going on with this statement, just go on Facebook and look it up or just Google it and you'll find all kinds of stuff. I mean, the mainstream media is covering this statement and having their opinions about it. I think on Tuesday or Wednesday, it was like the number one topic trending on Twitter. I'm told. I don't have a Twitter account. It's in the news and everyone's talking about it. And so that's why we're talking about it. Because you're going to run into it at some point and somewhere. And I want you to have your feet planted underneath you biblically when you see it so that you're prepared to act Christianly. That's what I want. That's what you ought to want. I'll end by reading you this verse from Psalm 119, verse 103. David writes, How sweet are your words to my taste. Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth. We ought to love God's words, all of them.

And some of them, we're going to have to cultivate an appetite for them. But this verse is about the law of God. It's not about grace and forgiveness in Jesus. It's about the law of God. And David says, how sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth. You can cultivate a desire for all of God's words. You can move from infancy to maturity. That's what God requires of you. He requires that you would have your senses trained to discern good and evil so that you'll be able to love those around you better. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. It is truth. We thank you for your love in sending us your son and in giving us your word and your Holy Spirit to save us, to instruct us, to guide us and protect us. We pray, Father, for your mercy.

that you would not grow weary of our weakness. We ask, Father, that you would teach us your ways, that you would cause us, like David, to treasure them, to store them up, to delight in all of your statutes and your ordinances. Father, I pray that you would increase our faith and help us to administer your word to those who are caught in the bondage of sin. And we pray, Father, that you would bring about repentance and faith, that the foundation of repentance and faith would be built in their lives, and that on top of that, the solid food of Christian faith would be built. Father, have mercy on us. Have mercy on our brothers and our sisters and on our countrymen and on those caught in the wickedness of homosexuality and its lusts. Help us to be salt and light to a dying nation. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.