The Supreme Being vs The Supreme Court


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The Supreme Being vs The Supreme Court Pastor Jeff Smart * East Leesville Baptist Church * Wednesday, July 8, 2015 Everything has changed, and nothing has changed. The highest court in our country has passed its judgment. Headlines everywhere proclaim (that by a 5-4 vote,) the Supreme Court has legalized gay marriage on a national scale. To anyone who has been watching, the para-dine shift of values in our country over the last 30 to 50 years, this ruling comes as no surprise at all. The US has now become the 20th country out of the world's 196 nations to refine marriage. The reactions vary. Our president has held it as a victory that all Americans ought to be very proud of. One conservative pundit stated that June 26, 2015 will be a date that will live in infamy, and compared it to Pearl Harbor. My concern as a pastor isn't how the politically left or the politically right react. My concern is…how do we as Christians respond to events (like the one) that transpired this last week. Dallas Theological Seminary FB page: "As our culture begins to look more and more like that of the New Testament times, we need to remember and take heart that the message and mission of Jesus was birthed and flourished in such times. May God do it again in our lifetime." Carl Henry said years ago, "The early church didn't say ‘Look what the world is coming to?’ They said, ‘Look who has come into the world?’” With that in mind, I just want to make a few observations to help you with your reaction. The first one is this, 1. The definition of marriage has been established by the Supreme Being, not the Supreme Court. Open your Bibles to Genesis 2, you know the story--it's so familiar. Eve is created out of Adam. I want to look at verse 24—the last verse of the chapter. Moses then writes this: He says, Genesis 2:24-25 NKJV Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. What's so striking about that passage is that when Moses wrote it, when he was writing about the first two people who ever existed, they had no parents. And yet, Moses uses it to describe the very first marriage, the very first union. "…a man will leave his father and his mother and join to his wife." God was doing something there: He was establishing something that was consistent and He wanted to establish it right in the beginning from the very first two. Watch how this carries through scripture. Let's go to Matthew 19, and Jesus is speaking. Matthew tells us context first. He said, Matthew 19:1-6 1 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2 And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there. 3 The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?" 4And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' (He's very specific here) 5 and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? 6So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate." Jesus picks right up on what Moses writes in Gen. 2, and He establishes this idea of marriage. One flesh, One relationship between a male and female. Jesus is very clear about that. Paul, by the way, when he talks about marriage, in Eph. 5, picks up on this same Genesis passage and uses it again. And so, you have it all the way through scripture this idea that the definition of marriage has been set by God between a man and a woman. 1

Second observation is this: 2. Judgment follows when a nation reclassifies evil as good. Isaiah 5:20, Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! That's what they do. This has been coming in our culture for a long, long time. We call evil good. And this isn't something that just happened the past couple of weeks. I mean, we stated calling abortion good in the 1970s, which is infinitely worse than what we're talking about now. But we called it good. We called it "your right over your own body." It's an astounding thing. The cultural slide has been around us for some time. He said, "Woe, that's what they do. And now, he says, "Here's why they do it...." Isaiah 5:21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent (cleaver) in their own sight! That's why we do it. We’re a culture that’s so rampant with narcissism, and materialism and heathenism. We’re a culture that really believes with all of our heart that everybody has the right to do things that they want to do. Everyone does what is right in their own eyes. But that's not new! But that does bring judgment. In fact, where do you read that line in scripture? The book that would lead you right into the book of the Judges. Judges 21:25 "…everyone did what was right in their own eyes." That's America! In fact, he goes on and describes America in… Isaiah 5 verses 22-23 Woe to men mighty at drinking wine, Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink, 23 Who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away justice from the righteous man! Wow! Beer commercials and political gain--isn't this America? This is what he's talking about. Isaiah 5:25 Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, And the flame consumes the chaff, So their root will be as rottenness, And their blossom will ascend like dust; Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. You reap what you sow. And It's happened to culture after culture after culture. This isn't just an Old Testament idea. Romans 1:21, in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul is talking, and again describing his culture. It’s very different from Isaiah's, and very different from ours, but in some ways, exactly the same. Romans 1:21-32 21 …although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man--and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Becoming wise in their own eyes, they said, "but we don't owe God anything, we'll make a God in our own liking." That's America! We’ll have a god of our own liking. Whoever is god to you is god. Really! I mean, would a thinking person really think that? but you see That's America. Then he says this in vs 24, when it happens….

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Romans 1:24-25 24Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. This is how the judgment works, and one of the first signs that God is giving over a culture is He gives them "over to the lust of their own lusts and impurity." What He would say there is basically “sexual sin”, but He's not implying homosexuality at all here. He's describing here in the first stage what we would call… A. Heterosexual sin. He says That's the first sign of a society; that it begins to justify (in its own mind) things like: premarital sex, extramarital sex, pornography which are staples in America. you see, That's the first stage. The second stage, he says in vs 26: Romans 1:26-27 “For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 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 we'll stop right there). The second stage: B. Unnatural sex. That's what Paul calls it. Women with women and men with men. That's simply the second stage of God's judgment. Then the third stage. (Back to verse 28) C. Unrighteousness Romans 1: 28-32 28 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; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. I think that's us! What's alarming to me among the evangelical community is that we want to think that the second stage is the bad stage, and the first and third stages are okay stages. But that's not true. What he ends up saying happens here is that cultural, not only participates in sin without any thought of the repercussions of it, but even if they don't, they give hearty approval to people that do. That's what we call political correctness and tolerance in America. “It's ok. You do what you want to do.” It's a slippery slope. Judgment follows when a nation reclassifies evil as good. Ever since the 1960s, I think you could define America as a country of practical atheism and moral relativism. now I'm not talking about what we Americans SAY we believe, I'm talking about the way Americans LIVE their lives. The court’s decision is simply a mile-maker of our descent. That's all that's happened. Everything has change, and yet nothing has changed. Judgement follows when we reclassify evil as good. Here’s the third observation: Go with me to John 15 (in the upper room, and Jesus is speaking). John 15:18-19 18 "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

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The third observation is this: 3. Religious liberty is never promised in the Bible. Yes! We’ve had it in America for years! And frankly, it’s probably in very real sense spoiled us. But we're losing it now—and we've been losing it for some time. And the ramifications of this will continue to play themselves out within our culture in the days ahead. And Jesus says "Look! There's a reason for it. They hated me, so why in the world would you think that they are going to love you?" Dave Barrett, who was a researcher. (And these are hard numbers to find. He seems pretty credible.) But Dave Barrett says he believes that in the last 300 years, 70 million Christians have been martyred! Wow! “You mean there's a price to pay for believing this?” Yes! There always has been! And there will certainly going be in the future. In fact, depending on what stat you believe, right now; this is a pretty big fluctuation, but you can go online and read these articles, but in the world right now between 10,000 and 100,000 Christians are martyred every year. And it depends upon how they do their research and come up with their numbers, but what I'm saying is this: Ever since Jesus Christ ascended, Christians have died because the world hated them. You see, I think for so many of us this is just so frightening, “How could this possibly happen?” We've been so fortunate and so blessed in one way—in the way that our faith was so easily adaptable to our culture. But I'm not so sure it's ultimately a blessing for us. I really don't know if we're really prepared to stand against the culture or not. Turn with me to 1 Peter 2. I want you to see another set of verses that might be helpful. Peter’s talking to us about how we need to live our lives, but he wants to remind them, because they're under tremendous persecution. This whole letter is about suffering. And they did suffered! And I don't mean they're suffering because they have illness, I mean they're suffering because they are hated. They're really suffering. and so They're trying to get a perspective of this thing, Here's what Peter says to them in 1 Peter 2:9a 9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people… That's who we are! We’re a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. When we sing a song that says like "Heaven is my home" it's nice to sing it, but it's true. We ARE citizens of somewhere else. Boy, that's a good thing. AND That's what Peter's trying to motivate them with. He said, “Look who you are: you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession!" For what purpose? 2 Peter 2:9b-10 so that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. That's who we are! And he defines exactly what we need to do there: "so that you will proclaim the praises of Him." Everything has changed, but nothing has changed. We preach Christ! (That's what we do!) Even to a world that may hate us. We live in America and have still a political voice. and we should take advantage of that the best that we can. When you look at the early church you see they had no political voice. We don't need a political voice to do all that God has called us to do here. Religious liberty isn’t promised in the Bible. My final point is this... 4. Marriage is not the ultimate battle ground 2 Corinthians 4:1-5. 1 Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it 4

is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. 5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake. The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they won’t see the truth. What does that say to you? It says to me that those people are not my enemies, those people have fallen victim to my enemy. Those people were blind. Our enemy is real. Before I came to Jesus Christ, I was blind to the truth—and so were you. When we see somebody who’s been blinded to the truth, why are we appalled and angry and filled with hate toward them when they’re simply the victim. 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing than exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. What strongholds? We’re destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. We’re taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. That's where the war is. The strongholds that we’re to knock down are simply this: destroying speculations and every lofty thing. One thing I know for sure, whenever a culture decides to make evil things good, they reap what they sow, and there are consequences to that! And we see it all the time. No matter what the media tells, they'll make you say a thing like: "all the millions and millions abortions in our country haven't had any repercussions whatsoever on anybody except to make them happy.” But that's a lie. You see, that's a lie. This whole idea of divorce—it’s the key to happiness. That's a lie. This whole idea now of gay marriage--it'll be the key to happiness. It's a lie. You reap what you sow. I cannot sow sin and reap blessing. It doesn't work like that. So when people face the consequences of their action, where do they go? They ought to go to you. They ought to come to me. That's where they ought to go. We should be the people there. We should be the spiritual red cross. you know, “Here we are. We're here to help!” But how many of us are really in the helping mood? Marriage is defined by the Supreme Being, NOT the Supreme Court Judgment falls on any nation that reclassifies evil as good. Religious Liberty is not promised to us in the Bible. Marriage is not the ultimate battle ground. Of all the things that I read this past week after the ruling, for me (by a mile), the thing that was the best, was written by a man named Russell Moore. Russell Moore is the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty of Southern Baptist Convention. He wrote an article, (of all places), in the Washington Post. And The title of the article was this: “Why the church should neither cave or panic about the decision of gay marriage. And I just want to read some excerpts: He writes: As I write this, the Supreme Court has handed down what will be the “Roe v. Wade” of marriage, redefining marriage in all 50 states. This is a sober moment, and I am a conscientious dissenter from this ruling. The Court now has disregarded thousands of years of definition of the most foundational unit of society, and the cultural changes here will be broad and deep. So how should the church respond? First of all, the church should not panic. The Supreme Court can do many things, but the Supreme Court cannot get Jesus back in that tomb. Jesus of Nazareth is still alive. He is still calling the universe toward his kingdom. Moreover, while this decision will, I believe, ultimately hurt many people and families and civilization itself, the gospel doesn’t need “family values” to flourish. In fact, the church often thrives when it is in sharp contrast to the cultures around it. That was the case in Ephesus and Philippi and Corinth and Rome, which held to marriage views out of step with the Scriptures. As we do so, we must not just articulate our views of marriage, we must embody a gospel marriage culture. We have done a poor job of that in the past. Too many of our marriages have been ravaged by divorce. 5

This gives the church an opportunity to do what Jesus called us to do with our marriages in the first place: to serve as a light in a dark place. Permanent, stable marriages with families with both a mother and a father may well make us seem freakish in 21st-century culture. We should not fear that. We believe stranger things than that. We believe a previously dead man is alive, and will show up in the Eastern skies on a horse. We believe that the gospel can forgive sinners like us and make us sons and daughters. Let’s embrace the sort of freakishness that saves. There are two sorts of churches that will not be able to reach the sexual revolution’s refugees. A church that has given up on the truth of the Scriptures, including on marriage and sexuality, and has nothing to say to a fallen world. And a church that screams with outrage at those who disagree will have nothing to say to those who are looking for a new birth. We must stand with conviction and with kindness, with truth and with grace. We must hold to our views and love those who hate us for them. We must not only speak Christian truths; we must speak with a Christian accent. We must say what Jesus has revealed, and we must say those things the way Jesus does — with mercy and with an invitation to new life. Some Christians will be tempted to anger, lashing out at the world around us with a narrative of decline. That temptation is wrong. God decided when we would be born, and when we would be born again. We have the Spirit and the gospel. To think that we deserve to live in different times is to tell God that we deserve a better mission field than the one he has given us. Let’s joyfully march to Zion. The witness to marriage will be, like the pro-life movement, a long-term strategy that is multi-pronged. This is no time for fear or outrage or politicizing. We see that we are strangers and exiles in American culture. We are on the wrong side of history, just like we started. We should have been all along. Let’s seek the kingdom. Let’s stand with the gospel. Let’s fear our God. But let’s never fear our mission field. Everything has changed. The Supreme Court has redefined marriage… and nothing has changed … the scriptures have not changed … the gospel of Jesus Christ has not changed … the church's mission has not changed. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever! Amen. Show Video on Hope here: https://www.facebook.com/WoodlawnMovie?fref=nf __________________________________________ Scripture references: All scripture references are from the New King James Version Bible Quote references: http://www.dts.edu/read/response-to-supreme-court-ruling-same-sex-marriage/ (Dallas Theological Seminary) http://www.azquotes.com/quote/1070194 (Carl Henry) http://www.gordonconwell.edu/resources/documents/TheDemographicsofChristianMartyrdom.pdf (Dave Barrett) http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/06/26/why-the-church-should-neither-cave-nor-panicabout-the-decision-on-gay-marriage/ (Russell Moore) Contributors of influence for content and structure of this message: Jim Daly, Bil Gebhardt, Franklin Graham, Greg Laurie, John MacArthur, Al Mohler, John Piper 6