Rev. David Holwick ZI
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
November 5, 2006
Romans 1:21-32
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I. Is sex that big a deal?
A. Civil unions is getting New Jersey a lot of attention.
1) Potent political issue.
a) President Bush began touting it this week.
b) It has been a "wedge issue" in past elections.
2) Some say the government shouldn't even deal with it.
a) They argue should recognize civil unions, period.
b) Marriages should be something only churches do.
B. It is not just an issue in the United States.
Dr. Peter Jensen is the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney,
Australia.
He recently wrote:
The crisis over human sexuality is a very deep one indeed.
The idea that we are somehow to blame for making so much fuss
about sex is ludicrous.
Human sexuality is so powerful a gift and so basic to our human
nature, and so fraught with both good and ill, that it is
bound to occupy a large part of our thinking.
Indeed, it is all part of our cultural reappraisal of the
roles of men and women.
It has vast consequences for the quality of family life and
the good of the begetting and nurturing of the race.
#33550
1) Sex is powerful.
a) It can be very good, and very dangerous.
b) It is never a small issue.
2) Christians must know where they stand.
a) Stand up to the social pressure to conform.
b) Honor God with your personal values.
II. The joy of theocracies.
A. God's law and human law are the same.
1) Ancient Israel.
a) After installation, the king was presented with the
Book of the Law.
b) The real king was God himself.
2) Puritan New England.
a) You could be arrested for not attending church.
b) All citizens were taxed to support the local
Congregational church.
c) Baptists were tied to wagon wheels and whipped.
3) Modern Iran.
a) Islamic mullahs (preachers) can veto the legislature.
b) Religious nuts whip boys for wearing shorts.
B. Something usually gets missed in translation.
1) Enforcing a divine ideal does not work well for humans.
2) Hypocrisy is often rampant.
a) Note Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter".
b) This week's example: NAE's Ted Haggard resigns.
3) Religion becomes a set of rules rather than a lifestyle.
4) Contrary to statements by pundits, Evangelicals do not
seek to make America a theocracy.
C. Nevertheless, society cannot ignore religious principles.
1) Truth must come from somewhere.
2) The alternative is to establish truth by majority vote.
a) The pundits would hate that!
III. Societies which mirror Biblical standards will prosper.
A. The Bible expects morality of all societies.
1) Blessings and curses of Deuteronomy 28.
a) Moral behavior is key, as is religious dedication.
2) Daniel demanded moral integrity of the Babylonians.
3) Jonah preached repentance to the citizens of Nineveh --
and got results!
B. Romans 1 shows the results of a God-denying culture.
1) Think how many of these qualities we see today!
2) The final straw seems to be sexual degeneration.
C. We can make everything legal - but that does not mean
there won't be consequences.
Back in the 1930's, British anthropologist J. D. Unwin
scrutinized the sexual behaviors of 86 cultures through
5,000 years of history.
His observations are sobering.
Freud maintained that sexual repression was the root cause
of a society's problems.
Unwin found the opposite to be true.
He discovered that societies which practiced a modified
monogamy or a form of polygamy were never healthy and growing.
Also, once a society ceased to value marriage and sexual
restraint, it began to decline.
The key to a flourishing society was a strict sexual ethic.
His study concluded, "I know of no exceptions to these rules."
Once a society utterly rejects a sexual ethic that values
restraint and monogamy, its days are numbered.
In modern America, sexual license is celebrated daily in
the popular media.
Baptist pastor Kelly Boggs asks, will this be the generation
that throws off all sexual restraint?
Will our next generation inherit a sexual ethic of
ambiguity?
How long can America last if she rejects a moral compass that
points toward sexual purity before and after marriage?
According to Professor Unwin, not long.
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D. All of society should be concerned about marriage.
1) Our issue over homosexual marriage is what will happen
to the family, and childrearing.
2) Marriage should not be based on whims.
a) The principles that undergird homosexual marriage,
would also undergird polygamy.
1> They argue it is a separate issue, but the
foundation is the same.
2> If marriage is what individuals want it to be,
how can we deny them?
IV. Biblical standards are not the same as laws.
A. Christians know that a law approach has limits.
1) Laws cannot force people to do good.
2) Grace and mercy are more important than legalism.
B. Those who reject the Bible cannot have it forced on them.
1) Even the Bible concedes that those who obey only due
to a law, will strive to break that law.
2) This is one of the reasons God gives us laws!
a) The knowledge that we are lawbreakers, and weak,
should drive us to plead for salvation.
C. The Bible allows for concessions to human sin.
1) Divorce is not God's ideal, but it is allowed. Matt 19:8
"Jesus replied, 'Moses permitted you to divorce your wives
because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way
from the beginning.'"
2) Adultery is a sin that God will punish, but governments
can decide if it requires a prison sentence.
3) Where do civil unions fit in?
a) An acceptable concession, or an abomination?
b) Whatever happens, the Christian view of marriage will
always be higher than the government's.
V. The Bible makes sense on sex.
A. We are not animals - self-control is possible. 1 Thess 4:3-5
1) All have temptations, but temptations can be resisted.
2) It is important to avoid tempting situations or
relationships.
3) Paul's charge to believers:
"It is God's will that you should be sanctified:
that you should avoid sexual immorality;
that each of you should learn to control his own body
in a way that is holy and honorable,"
B. Human behavior needs boundaries.
1) Sex is confined to marriage. (Ten Commandments, etc.)
2) Outside of marriage, you get burned.
C. Ideals are doable.
1) The Bible permitted polygamy, but extolled monogamy.
2) As Jesus says, this was God's original intent.
3) Millions of Christians have found contentment by being
faithful to one spouse.
D. Forgiveness is available for sexual sin.
1) Even Christian leaders often fall short here.
a) And these examples are always noted by the other side!
2) No less a leader than King David sinned sexually, but
God forgave him, and he can forgive you.
E. Consequences may remain.
1) Sex affects us physically, emotionally, relationally.
2) Therefore honor God with your body.
VI. God's truth is at stake.
A. The issue is hardly limited to sex.
Australian Archbishop Jensen also makes this point:
"In the end, it is also a crisis over biblical authority....
Here is a crucial sticking point.
To accept various contemporary ways of reading scripture will
leave us vulnerable at all points.
We will not defend the uniqueness of Christ, if we will not
defend the plain teaching of Scripture on human sexuality."
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B. Who sets the standards?
1) Archbishop Jensen hits it on the head: Christians take a
stand on this issue because of what the Bible says.
2) What do we do when society stands against us?
a) God is still God.
b) We can follow him, even if no one else does.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#26310 "A Glimpse of the Future From a Ghost of the Past," by Rev. Kelly
Boggs, Baptist Press, http://www.baptistpress.org/,
December 19, 2003.
#33550 "Why Is Sexuality So Important To The Church?," by Dr. R. Albert
Mohler Jr., President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary,
http://www.albertmohler.com, October 31, 2006.
These and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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Other illustrations on this issue:
Report of special committee in Presbyterian Church (USA)
all the way back in 1991.
The report recommended that the church reassess its
attitude toward sex.
"Fundamental to the committee's argument is the assumption
that sexual gratification is a human need and right that
ought not to be limited to heterosexual spouses or
bound by 'conventional' morality."
Sex is allowed between "responsible" teenage lovers.
The church should reach out to gays and accept them.
The report was hotly debated, but it is amazing it was even
presented.
Newsweek author Kenneth Woodward commented:
"The issue is how far any Christian denomination can go in
comforting its people without losing the integrity
that makes the church the church."
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In June 1995, a panel of the Church of England recommended
that the phrase "living in sin" be abandoned.
Johann Arnold served on a parent-teachers' committee at a
local high school.
He was able to observe firsthand just how powerful the
movement to accept homosexuality has become - how it
has crept into almost every aspect of public life.
The school district's Health and Safety Advisory Committee
was so afraid of alienating gays and lesbians that it
was hesitant even to define "family."
Finally, it settled on defining "family" as "two people
with a commitment."
Arnold is no prude - he lived as a homosexual for years
before giving it over to the power of Jesus.
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