A Sin Is a Sin
ICS Daily Devotions
Romans 1:26-28,32 (NKJV) For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; …….who, knowing the righteous judgement of God, that those who practise such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practise them.
The Bible starts with a marriage between a man and a woman and ends with the church being the bride of Christ. Therefore, the God ordained marriage is always between a man and a woman. Homosexuality is an abomination in the eyes of God and punishable by death in the Old Testament. However, the sin nature in man and the influence of the devil causes man to continue to practise what is unnatural in the sight of God and man.
The debased mind is one that has gone below the kind of life that God intends for mankind. One reason why the law was introduced in the Old Testament was to teach mankind what sin is. A debased mind could be the result of disappointment, disillusionment, anger, rejection, vengeance, and all kinds of lies placed there by the devil. It could be anger and outright rebellion towards God, or anger towards our parents or spouse. In any case, a root problem in the lives of these people has opened the door to the devil to work in their lives. The natural creation testifies of God’s existence, so these people may have knowledge of Him, but they wilfully disregard God, His plan for them and the Word, and God must give them up because He respects the will of man.
Shameful lust is mentioned here because it goes beyond the lust of the eyes and the flesh when one is tempted by the opposite sex, but is an unnatural appetite where all-natural instinct is left behind. It is when people have completely abandoned God and gone into something beyond the natural—it is absolute darkness.
Man is made to be the head of the household, the provider and protector of the family, and to take on spiritual leadership, but when a man reduces himself to become a woman, the leadership in the family is lost. When a gay couple adopts children and forms a family, the sons will not have a clear role model of a father, nor the daughters have a clear role model of a mother. When the family unit, which is the most basic nucleus of society, breaks down, the society suffers.
Christians need to call homosexuality a sin even when the society is forcing us to conform to their standard, and hold onto to the standard that God has put in place as salt and light of the world.
Sermon Series: Natural or Unnatural
