Dr. John Goetsch: A Biblical View of Homosexuality Part 1

well it's good to see it tonight I want you to take your Bible turn to psalm 119 if you will psalm 119 you have a stack of notes in front of you or should and that's just half of them this is going to be to Wednesday nights on this topic tonight and next week if you're choosing to come tonight or next week I would come next week but you can do whatever you wish well let's start tonight in psalm 119 and I want you to look at a verse that really is a foundational verse for any topic Psalm 105 psalm 119 verse 105 thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path I am NOT an expert on the topic of homosexuality now there are a lot of opinions about this topic there's a lot of controversy a lot of controversy socially there's much controversy politically there's controversy religiously and certainly individually as well as we think about our own personal morals and ethics after World War two Alfred Kinsey a pioneering sexologist reported that one out of ten men were more or less exclusively homosexual 60 years later using Gallup data four percent of Americans identify as LGBTQ so that's quite a difference 60 years ago we had a man saying one out of 10 men were exclusively homosexual two years ago according to Gallup data less than 4% Gary J gates of Williams Institute approximates 10 million Americans as lesbian gay bisexual or transgender so 10 million out of 325 million those are 2017 statistics so statistics would say that relatively speaking there's a small my jaw a small minority of people who claim this lifestyle yet this issue seems to drive the policies of our governments our religious organizations and seems to touch every individual even in this room in some way or another so where do we go for answers if the experts are all over the board on this if statistics are saying one thing and people's opinion is something else and our government and religion weighs in and and the morals of our countries seem to be going somewhere in a direction well where do we where do we land where we as God's people where do we as Christians develop our thinking with respect to this issue well like any other issue Isaiah said in chapter 8 verse 22 the law and to the testimony if they speak not according to this word it's because there's no light in them Jeremiah said the wise men are ashamed they are dismayed and taken lo they've rejected the word of the Lord and what wisdom is in them Jesus said in Matthew 22 29 you do err not knowing the Scriptures so for me as a Christian I hope for you as a Christian the Bible is your sole authority for what you believe and how you practice those beliefs now you may disagree right now and that's okay if you if you're an atheist or you're you're someone who denies the authenticity of the Bible my premise is is not going to it's not going to make you happy tonight but the number one distinctive of a Baptist Church is that the Bible is our soul or our only authority for what we believe and how we practice those beliefs and I don't believe that just as a Baptist I believe that as a Christian because God's Word would teach me to make the Bible my authority for any issue of life way back in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 8 after God gave the children of Israel manna from heaven when they were excited about that manna but God said verse 3 of chapter 8 of Deuteronomy man shall not live by bread only but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God shall men live so the way that we decide how we're going to live is not based on our opinion or our experience or even the statistics of culture how we believe as a Christian must be based on the Word of God so over these next two weeks let's go to the scriptures and get some answers with respect to the past the present and the future in this critical area of behavior now I apologize that it is in two parts because I may leave you without all of your questions being answered tonight next week those that may come in that did not here tonight will lack some foundation and I apologize for that but hopefully with the work of the media people we can we can put it all together notice first of all in your notes number one the development of the species the development of the species what is our origin where do we come from well some would say creation the creation of God some would say evolution many would say nobody knows well the Bible gives me an answer to where I came from and that answers letter A creation now if you want to go through the notes most of the verses we're gonna look at tonight from the Bible and again it's gonna be our lamp it's gonna be our light most of them are in your notes but if you want to go to the book of Genesis we'll be primarily in chapters 1 to 4 of Genesis tonight but let's look at letter A creation in the beginning Genesis 1:1 God created the heavens and the earth now again if you're not a creationist if you're an evolutionist tonight then you're gonna work from a different premise but as a Christian I'm gonna work from the premise of God's Word and God's Word and the very first verse of the Bible tells us that God created the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1 verse 26 God said let us make man in our image after our likeness so God created man in his own image and the image of God created he him male and female created he them so we see the creation of man Genesis 2 and verse 7 God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul now why did God make male and female says there in verse 27 that God made the male and female why why did God make two distinct genders well verse 28 the next verse it says and God blessed them these two genders male and female he blessed them and God said unto them be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth so in creation God created the male he created the female he created these two distinct genders and they're his command to them was to be fruitful to multiply and replenish the earth so that brings us letter B - conception God made two genders male and female for the purpose of procreation God purposely created two distinct genders so that in marriage they could reproduce children that was God's design that was God's plan when the sperm from a male unites with the egg of a female the conception of a two celled zygote is formed let me just spell a myth we've never had any one celled organisms there's no such thing when the male sperm female egg come together in conception it forms a two celled zygote this doesn't happen every time there's sexual activity because it's God that gives conception again we go to the Bible Ruth for verse thirteen so boaz took ruth she became his wife and when he went in unto her the Lord gave her conception and she bare son Psalm 127 tells us little children are in heritage of the Lord and the further womb is his reward so it's God that gives that conception just because there is a sexual union between the male and the female just because there's sperm and egg present doesn't mean that this to sell zygote will form in every situation because it's God again the Creator who has this hand in this process and brings about conception now let's go to letter C chromosomes chromosomes the two cell zygote formed at conception contains all of our human DNA now we didn't know this rights of biology we even know how many chromosomes there were at that time we were wrong about the number but a lot of studies have been done about conception a lot of studies done about chromosomes 23 pairs of chromosomes 23 pairs 23 from the male 23 from the female 46 total 23 pairs of chromosomes are present in that to cell zygote they're already all there and those 23 pairs of Saiga of chromosomes half from dad half from mom make up your human DNA your hair color your eye color your gender are all determined by your DNA which is present in the two cell zygote now that may seem shocking to you but it shouldn't be if you know the Bible because that's exactly what God says in Psalm 139 and verse number 15 he says my substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth thine eyes speaking of God thine eyes did see my substance people like to call it a fetus my substance yet being unperfect in other words it wasn't it wasn't completed it wasn't developed it was it was still being formed at one point just a two cell zygote but God saw that substance he saw that that that conception and in thy book God's book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them you see God tells us in his word that everything about us was there at conception it was there in that - cell zygote when we were being formed in that womb when God allowed that egg and that sperm to come together and and you came into existence everything about you was already there God already had it all written down in the book now letter D characteristics because of the large number of chromosomes 46 23 pairs 23 from each mom and dad the combinations of these formed in the womb now make us very unique creations of God through our parents because of the fact there are so many chromosomes 46 23 pairs the combinations are quite varied our skin tone our height our weight our personalities our creativity our athleticism all may be different in each of us even in the same family most of you have siblings and you're quite different than your siblings hopefully if you're male you don't look like your sister probably you're taller or you will be if you're not yet you can take the same family and one person may have amazing musical ability another person couldn't hold a tune in a paper bag another child may be gifted athletically whereas another person in the same family may have no interest in athletics or sports as we would say we see this by the way in the Bible our interests are different our personalities are different think think of the difference between between Cain and Abel same family first children born Genesis chapter 4 reveals that Cain was a tiller of the ground Abel was a keeper of sheep totally different interests occupations and I think if we study the brief account that we have of Cain and Abel we would see two very different personalities certainly two different attitudes toward God and attitudes toward each other we see the same thing in Jacob and Esau I think that's a kind of a very contrast an example of two young men born of the same parents Isaac Rebecca and yet here you have Jacob and Esau Jacob the Bible says was a was a smooth man Esau was very hairy man that we might we might say that that Esau had kind of a rough exterior he was an outdoorsman a hunter he he enjoyed kind of the manly things we might say whereas Jacob was a smooth man we might save as more of a softer kind of a personality in fact you remember late in life when Isaac was going blind Jacob and his mother were going to steal the birthright for that and Jacob said mom this is gonna work I mean if I go in there with this venison yeah you've made it taste like the deer that Esau is out hunting for but he's gonna know that I'm not Esau and so Rebekah helps him to put some goat skins on his arms and some goat skin on the back of his neck because she knows that's where Isaac will be feeling when he when Jacob comes in and so she can or Isaac it's interesting he says he says in verse 22 of Genesis 27 the voice is Jacob's voice but the hands are Esau's hands even as he was blind he recognized the difference there in the exterior so to speak of these of these two boys so our characteristics our interests our personalities are our gifts our talents they're all different but none of these characteristics changes our gender which leads us letter e choice choice we have been created with an ability to choose we can choose to love we can choose to hate we can choose indifference we have a free will God did not make us robots God's creation for the most part does whatever God tells it to do if God tells it to rain it's gonna rain if God tells the oceans they have to stop at a certain place they have to stop but man was given a free choice a free will and that so that man can choose to love God God doesn't want to force your love to him you know what he doesn't want to dictate your love to him that would that would be a love that would be worthless if you force someone to love you that really wouldn't be love when someone chooses to love that means something to us when our children or our spouse or someone chooses to love us that's a big deal and God gave us this ability to choose because he wants us to make those choices for him we're gonna see more of this matter of choice a little bit later tonight but understand something gender is not a choice gender is already there gender is there at the moment of conception gender is designed by God as part of the created process again Psalm 139 the psalmist said I'll praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvelous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well you know the honest truth is we know right well what gender we are but we have choices now that leads us to number two the declaration of the sovereign the declaration of the sovereign as we think back through creation just a little bit for a moment we see letter a a pleased creator as God created the heavens and the earth it's amazing how with each day that he made something God saw that it was good and he makes man and the Bible says in Genesis 1 verse 31 and God saw everything that he had made and behold it was very good and the evening in the morning were the sixth day so God was pleased God God was pleased with this creation of man but there was something missing so number let her be a planned companionship in Genesis 2 verse 18 God said it's not good for the man to be alone so the creation of man was good God saw what had made God God was pleased with that and he saw it was good very good but he said it's not good for man to be alone so I will make him an help meet for him so God decided that he was going to not only create this man but he was now going to bring this help meet this human relationship into place and so in Genesis chapter 2 verse 21 the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept and he took one of his ribs from the fleshly route and closed up the flesh thereof and from the rib which he took made he a woman and brought her unto the man and Adam said this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh she should be called woman because she was taken out of the man so we see God in this in this creation act making the man realizing he needs not only God relationship and needs a horizontal relationship without with a woman if so he creates the woman out of the man and we see this companionship now and with it comes letter C a purposeful commitment this relationship between the man and the woman in marriage from the very beginning has a purposeful commitment to it notice verse 24 the next verse of Genesis 2 therefore based on what he just said about creating the man creating the woman to be the helpmeet therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave and his wife and they too shall be one flesh we often used the verse at weddings in Matthew 19 and verse 6 wherefore they are no more Twain but one flesh what therefore God has joined together let no man put asunder right other words we believe that the marriage that God ordained the instituted the home we believed it's a permanent relationship and no man is to put that asunder now the act of sex is designed by God and placed within this boundary of marriage Hebrews 13:4 marriage is honorable in all and the bed word bed as though is the Greek word coit a it's very graphic means the planting of the male sperm into the female what we casually call sex he says the bed coit a is undefiled done don't let the devil tell you that sex is dirty and filthy and wicked it's God ordained God created it but he placed it in the boundary of marriage because later in that verse chapter thirteen verse four Hebrews but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge so God created this man this woman he brings them together in this companionship with the command to be fruitful multiply replenish the earth he made them separate genders he made the male and female so that they could in His divine plan reproduce children and he places this matter of a sexual intimacy within that boundary of marriage they take it outside that boundary you're out of bounds you are gonna be punished just as if you're playing a game a basketball of you step on the boundary line you're out of bounds you forfeit the ball no longer have the opportunity to advance the ball you you've stepped out of bounds and God says the boundary of the sexual intimacy is marriage and literally it's a pleasurable cause what an amazing privilege and responsibility to come together in marriage as a husband and wife not all to create a body a human body that's an amazing thing in itself I mean it's it's pretty amazing when you have children and you are there at the birth of your child and you see that which you've produced it's amazing you have the privilege of producing this this person but not just a body a living soul an eternal soul God lets us be a part of that somebody's gonna live somewhere forever we get to create that through the marriage opportunity of sexual intimacy it's a pleasurable cause no wonder God says whoso findeth a wife finds a good thing and obtaineth favor of the Lord let thy fountain be blessed rejoice with the wife of a youth God has a great plan here for his creation and and God God says I know the thoughts that I think toward you thoughts of peace not of evil to bring you to an expected end in other words God created this whole thing this whole thing called human life and God has an expected end with respect to that human life and that is that that person is going to live in heaven with him forever that's God's plan and he lets you as a male or female come together with the opposite and create a child that likewise has that human soul within them that someday can trust Christ as Savior and live with God forever well that's a privilege that's an awesome privilege and it's an awesome responsibility so the development of the species the declaration of the sovereign but notice thirdly the depravity of the soul so how did we get so confused with respect to sexual identity how have we gotten so confused with respect to sexual orientations how have we gotten sold off the path how have we gotten so far out of bounds we could say in this culture how did we get to this point in this sexual revolution well letter a a bold temptation Lucifer the fallen angel from heaven rebelled against God and he's been on a mission to destroy the creation of God the Bible tells us that Satan is a liar he's the father of lies the same verse it tells us he's a murderer he was a murderer from the beginning so the devil's planned the devil's purpose the devil gets up in the morning if he gets up in the morning with one thing in mind and that's destroy what God's created the thief coming out for to steal to kill him to destroy Jesus set so the devil wants to destroy everything we've just said from the Bible about man and woman and so in Genesis 3 we read where the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made and the serpent said of the woman if God said you should not eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden and the woman said we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden but of the fruit of the tree that's in the midst of the garden God says not eat of it neither salt to touch it lest you die and the serpent said you shall not surely die for God doesn't know and the day you eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened he shall be as God's knowing good and evil and when the woman saw the tree was good for food pleasant to the eyes tree to be desired to make one wise she took of the fruit thereof and gave also her husband with her and he did eat the eyes and them both were opened they knew that they were naked now in this bold temptation we see let her be a beguiling trick this is very important understand Satan's trick is to make us think that God is withholding something good from us the very first temptation in the Bible Satan comes to Adam and Eve here they are in this Garden of Eden I don't know how many trees were there I don't know how how many trees they had the choice of every day as they sought their food or whatever all this fruit these things that they could eat and the devil comes along says has God said you shall not eat of every tree in the garden in other words he's planting this seed of doubt that God might be withholding something and and and Eve says well yeah we can have all of it except for that one in the middle oh boy God must must know you're really gonna miss something here why would God forbid that tree why is he hiding that from you you're obviously gonna miss something by listening to God this was the devil's plan and by the way the devil's tricks haven't changed he wants to convince you and me tonight that God isn't good if he can convince you that God is not good you'll seek an alternative to that good and Adam and Eve knew they had it good they knew they had all these wonderful trees they had tasted of the bay it enjoyed that fruit they were healthy they were they were they were enjoying life but the devil got them to think God's holding something back from you safe and wants you to believe that there's a better and more pleasurable way to live than God's Way which brings us that choice we see letters see a brazen transgression the Lord had commanded in chapter 2 verse 16 of every tree of the garden amiss freely eat but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it from the day though eatest thereof thou shalt surely die so that was the command but in chapter 3 when the woman saw the tree was good for food pleasant to the eyes treated be desired to make one wise she takes of the fruit did eat here was a direct disobedience to God's command the Bible calls this sin a direct disobedience to God first John 3:4 says who suffer commit a sin transgresseth also the law for sin is the transgression of the law when Adam and Eve took that fruit they became lawbreakers because God the Creator had set the rules he had set the law so when Adam and Eve they didn't just make a little mistake here they didn't just you know kind of have a you know you know senior moment or something they know they broke the law lawbreakers transgressors sin and when we choose to disregard and disobey God letter D there's a binding trouble you see this original sin of Adam and Eve caused the entire human race to fall into sin we're sinners tonight because of that sin wherefore is by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned you don't have to be a you don't have to commit sin to be a sinner you were a sinner before you before you knew what sin was you're born a sinner I was shapen in iniquity and sin did my mother conceive me all of sinned and come short of the glory of God there's none righteous no not one none the seeketh after God they're all gone another way they're together become unprofitable there's none that is good no not one now sin separates from God and if we don't have a Savior if we never get saved it'll separate us from God for all of eternity so sin has eternal ramifications but sin also has earthly ramifications Jeremiah said in chapter 5 verse 25 your iniquities have with Holden good things from you see the devil said hey God's withholding something of you he's keeping something bad from you he's shortchanging you you're missing out on something he's denying you that fruit because he knows it's good and it was just the opposite as soon as they took that fruit the good things were withholding earthly consequences which leads us to our final point tonight number 4 the defilement of simplicity the defilement of simplicity there's interesting verse in 2nd Corinthians 11 verse 3 I think it's in your notes Paul writes to these folks at Corinth and he says I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ you know God's plan is pretty simple it's really not complicated now we like to make it complicated we like to thank oh man how can you ever read all the Bible and figure all that out but you know really when you study the Bible and you study God's plan for us it's pretty simple it's really pretty simple but the devil loves to corrupt the simplicity of Christ God has placed within us letter a a sacred compass a sacred compass in Romans chapter 1 verse 19 God says because that which may be known of God is manifest in them in us for God has showed it unto them for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead so that they're without excuse you know what he's saying there he's saying every man knows there's a God say well I'm an atheist okay I'm just telling you what God says God says you know who I am because I put it in you the invisible things about me the things you don't even can't even understand I put him in you when I created you in in John John chapter 1 verse 9 talking about Jesus Christ that John 1 talking about Jesus being the word in the beginning was the word with God all things created by him formed all that stuff verse seven that was the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world every man surfer come to this world knows there's a god now I know you like to play your little hypothetical games about all the people in Africa they've never seen a missionary I'm just telling you what the Bible says the Bible says I God placed in you a sacred compass you know in yourself that there is a God and he's placed within man's conscience a compass of his expectations if you go to Romans chapter 2 look at it your notes verse 14 for when the Gentiles now he says Gentiles he's talking about people that aren't saved when the Gentiles which have not the law what's he saying he's saying you find some Gentiles in this world that have never seen the law they've never seen the Bible they've never seen the Ten Commandments the Gentiles which have not the law do by nature the things contained in the law CS Lewis said there's never been a civilization discovered anywhere uncovered anywhere whose laws did not mirror exactly the Ten Commandments said there's never been a society discovered anywhere that said it was okay to steal to to to murder to take another man's wife every civilizations laws there have been uncovered all mere the Ten Commandments how is that possible when they never saw a Bible they never saw a missionary they never heard the gospel because God put it in them says so it's a secret compass and he says he goes on with show the work of the law written in their hearts their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another man knows he knows there's a God people who take a gun and kill people and Gilroy or El Paso and Dayton they know what's wrong they know what's wrong now notice let her be a seared conscience we have this sacred compass gods pull within us the the knowledge of God and and he's written on our hearts the very law of God the right and wrong of God but the conscience can be seared the sinful nature of men enables him to sear his conscience of the truth God is placed there we sometimes would say you can develop a heart and heart toward God you can develop a mindset against God in fact Paul alludes to this in 1st Timothy 4 verse 1 he says the spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and the doctrines of devils speaking lies in hypocrisy having their conscience seared with a hot iron now this is a direct reference to branding the searing of the flesh with a hot iron this was very well known to the writer to the readers of Paul's letter there because in those days they branded with an iron their slaves to identify them that's long been declared inhumane in fact we don't even brand animals with hot diners anymore today we tattoo them or put things in their ears or something to identify them but back in Paul's day when he's writing this you know what it is to brand so take an iron that's hot and place it on the flesh and it it Sears the the flesh and it leaves it so that nothing grows there it's hard it's brittle and it's unaffected by anything and Paul is saying that's what can happen to your conscience you can sear your conscience you you can you can become as Steven called it uncircumcised in your heart and in your ears see in Titus 1 Paul says under the pure all things are pure but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure even their mind and their conscience is defiled that's why we're so far out of bounds that's why we're so far away from what God says in his word in our culture because we've seared our conscience and lastly let her see it boils down to a selfish contention what are you fighting with God about tonight maybe it's not this topic but what has God made clear in his word and by his spirit in your conscience in your heart that you're saying no to are we smarter than our Creator well Paul spoke of that neighbor oh man who art thou that repliest against God shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus hath not the Potter power over the clay Jobe said if I contend with him he can if 1 contend with him he cannot answer him one in a thousand shall he that contend a--the with the almighty instruct him we think we're gonna have our argument with God and somehow we're gonna shed light on God we're gonna we're gonna help him to understand us woe unto Him Isaiah said that striveth with his maker Isaiah 47 in verse 10 thou has trusted in thy wickedness now said none cieth me thy wisdom and I knowledge it if perverted thee and thou said in thine heart I am and there's none else beside me today we have a lot of experts a lot of things on the opinion page a lot of commentary on the news a lot of religious people speaking out on the subject but God says your wisdom and your knowledge it's perverted you and you're claiming to be God you're saying I am there's only one I am it's not anybody in this room we like to think I am I am the expert my experience what I like what I prefer what I think folks it all comes back to whether we're gonna trust God's Word to be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path or we're gonna trust our own wisdom and knowledge now for me as a Christian I don't think there's really a choice there the choice is always to the law and to the testimony if they speak not according to this words because there's no light in them I don't have the right answer I'm not getting it from here

Channel: Lancaster Baptist Church

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Keywords: lancaster baptist church, lancaster baptist, baptist church, paul, chappell, paul chappell, pastor paul chappell, Psalm 119, Dr. John Goetsch, biblical, view, homosexuality

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Length: 42min 44sec (2564 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 08 2019