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Chapter number one, second Kings chapter number one, the Bible reads, then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab, and Asaiah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria and was sick. And he sent messengers and said unto them, go inquire of Baal-Zeba, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover of this disease. But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbei, arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and say unto them, is it not because there is not a god in Israel that you go to inquire of Baal-Zeba, the god of Ekron? Now therefore, thus saith the Lord, thou shall not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And Elijah departed. When the messengers turned back unto him, he said unto them, why are you now turned back? And they said unto him, there came a man up to meet us and said unto us, go, turn again unto the king that sent you and say unto him, thus saith the Lord, is it not because there is not a god in Israel that thou sendest to inquire of Baal-Zeba, the god of Ekron? Therefore, thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And he said unto them, what manner of man was he which came up to meet you and told you these words? And they answered him, he was an hairy man and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, it is Elijah the Tishbei. Then the king sent unto him a captain of 50 with his 50. And he went up to him and behold, he sat on the top of an hill. And he spake unto him, thou man of God, the king hath said, come down. And Elijah answered and said to the captain of 50, if I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven and consume thee and thy 50. And there came down fire from heaven and consumed him and his 50. Again also, he sent unto him another captain of 50 with his 50. And he answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, come down quickly. And Elijah answered and said unto them, if I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume thee and thy 50. And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his 50. And he sent again a captain of the third 50 with his 50. And the third captain of 50 went up and came and fell on his knees before Elijah and besought him and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life and the life of these 50 thy servants be precious in thy sight. Behold, there came fire down from heaven and burnt up the two captains of the former 50s with their 50s. Therefore, let my life now be precious in thy sight. And the angel of the Lord said unto Elijah, go down with him, be not afraid of him. And he rose and went down with him unto the king. And he said unto him, thus saith the Lord, for as much as thou hast sent messengers to inquire of Baal-Zeba, the God of Ekron, is it not because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word? Therefore, thou shalt not come down off that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. So he died according to the word of the Lord, which Elijah had spoken. And Jehoram reigned in his stead in the second year of Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, because he had no son. Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah, which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? Let's pray, O Lord God. Thank you again for everything you've blessed us with. Thank you for this church and our pastor. Just ask that you would fill in with your Holy Spirit now. Please bless the preaching of your word and we pray, amen. Amen. Okay, we're in 2 Kings chapter one. Although we will eventually go to Leviticus chapter 20, we're gonna start off in 2 Kings chapter one and look at verse number two. It says, And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria and was sick. And he sent messengers and sent it to them, go inquire of Baal-Zeba, the God of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this disease. But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and say unto them, is it not because there is not a God in Israel that you go to inquire of Baal-Zeba, the God of Ekron? At the time of my sermon this morning is the biblical perspective on sodomy, the biblical perspective on sodomy. You know, there's a lot of perspectives that are being given out today regarding the subject of homosexuality, sodomy, and you know, you got the left with their unhinged ideologies, right? Promoting a lot of weird stuff and trying to get people to adhere to a lot of perversion and accept it. And then you got the far right conservatives that you think would have the proper view and unfortunately often propose a safe alternative for Christians where they can be against the culture of sodomy, all the while still condemning biblical statutes in that regard, right? You know, they'll say they're against LGBT and they'll say they're against the perversion. But then when you actually quote scripture from the Bible, in context of sodomy, what the Bible says about it, they condemn those portions of scripture, kind of providing a safe alternative for those who don't want to go all in into the Bible. Now here in 2 Kings chapter one, you have a really interesting story. And as Isaiah is the king of Israel, and he's in Samaria and of course he ends up, it says there verse two, that he falls from his upper chamber and he injures himself extensively to the point where he's very sick. And obviously the implication here is that he's probably gonna die, okay? He has an injury unto death. And so he takes messengers and he wants them to go inquire of the Lord? He wants them to go inquire of God? No, he sends them to go inquire of Beelzebub, a false god of Ekron, whether he shall recover of the disease. So he has this disease, he has this grave injury, he has this thing that's possibly gonna kill him, and instead of looking to the God of the Bible for the answer, he goes to some devil, he goes to some false prophet instead to get the answer and it says in verse three, that the angel comes to Elijah the Tishbite, who's the man of God, he's the prophet, and he basically preaches him and he says, hey, are you going to Beelzebub because there's no God in Israel? Is there not a Bible that you can inquire of? Is there not a church you can go to to ask them what the Bible says about this specific topic, about this specific subject, about this specific disease, about this specific problem? Why do you go to other sources? Why do you go to other gods, other podcasts, other YouTube channels? Why don't you go to the God of the Bible? You know, that's the question we need to propose today, right? You know, people in this world and the United States of America and this culture have a tendency to go to every other source other than the word of God itself for the answer. And you know, as Christians, it should be non-controversial to say, well, what does God have to say about it? To say, you know, what does the Bible say about it? Not your opinion, not what you think, not what you feel is the right thing to do. What does the Bible actually say? And you know, a lot of times, people don't want to know what the Bible says because the Bible is very offensive. The Bible goes against our grain. The Bible goes against popular ideologies. It goes against our perspective, our worldview. And the Bible seeks to change the way you think. It seeks to change what you believe. It seeks to radicalize you, right? And bring you into alignment to the doctrines and statutes of the word of God. But so be it. You know, we should be open as Christians. If we're believers, we believe in Jesus Christ. We believe that the Bible is the word of God. We should have no issue with having God reform and change our minds, renew our minds, and bring it into alignment with God's standard, okay? And so we have the story here. And of course, Ahaziah would represent many, even Christians in America when it comes to the subject of sodomy. We need a biblical perspective. And in order to get a biblical perspective, we don't need to go to the Republican party. We don't need to go to the conservative party. We don't need to go to some podcast. He said, what then? We should go to the Bible. The Bible tells us that the house of God, listen to this, is the pillar and ground of truth. And so in order for us to have and develop a proper biblical perspective regarding the topics of 2024, we need to come to the house of God and see what the word of God has to say about that specific topic. You know, the Bible tells us, you don't have to turn there in 2 Timothy 4 and verse one, it says, I charge thee, referring to Timothy, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom. Listen to this, preach the word, be instant, in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long suffering and doctrine. What is he telling us here? You know, he's commanding Timothy as the preacher of the congregation, make sure you're preaching some of the word, parts of the word, percentages of the word. No, he just says preach the word. And then he tells them how to deliver that message. He says, reprove and rebuke. That means correct them and correct them harshly. And then he says, reprove, rebuke and exhort. So you build up, but listen to this, with all long suffering and don't miss this and doctrine. Meaning, yeah, we're supposed to preach the word of God, but we should actually have biblical proof as to why we're saying what we're saying. It's not just an emotional opinion. No, it's obviously an emotional opinion based upon doctrine though. And God wants people to be God's people, to be educated on what the Bible says regarding specific topics. Now, why is that important? Well, he goes on to say, for the time will come when they will not endorse sound doctrine. What does that mean? You know, people can't really take the truth anymore. And not just people, just Christians. You quote a verse and it's just like, oh, you're taking it out of context. It's like, but I just quoted the verse though. I didn't even give an interpretation. Your mind developed the interpretation and you just don't agree with the interpretation. You know what that's called? Not being able to endorse sound doctrine. He says they would not endorse sound doctrine, but after their own lust, own desires, shall heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. In other words, Christians today in 2024 will look for the people that say what they want them to say, not what the Bible says. Heap to themselves teachers means you're gonna pile up false teachers that will tell you what you wanna hear and not what you need to hear. And folks, let me just say this. You need to hear what God wants you to hear and not what you want to hear. He says, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth. I don't wanna hear that. I don't wanna hear what you have to say in Leviticus chapter 20. I don't wanna hear Romans one. What does it say? It says they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables, meaning lies, deception. God wants us to be highly educated when it comes to the truths of the Bible, especially when it comes to the abominations and sins of the land, because he doesn't want us to not only not be a participant of those abominations, but he doesn't want us to accept it, embrace it or advocate for it as well. The Bible tells us in Romans chapter seven, you don't have to turn there. Wherefore the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good, was then that which is good made death unto me, God forbid, but sin, that it might appear sin working death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. Now I can stand up here and say, homosexuality is a sin, and I'm sure the vast majority of people would say, yeah, amen. But you know what, we need to go to the commandment to make it exceeding sinful, the Bible says. In other words, obviously we know that sodomy and perversion is sinful, but you know what happens when we actually open up the word of God and see what God's standard is about homosexuality and sodomy, we then realize, oh man, it's not just sinful, it's exceeding sinful. This is grotesque in the eyes of God. This is something that God detests, he abhors, he hates, and this is the biblical perspective that we need to have this morning. This morning, I want to give you a comprehensive study on the subject of sodomy in the Bible. Why? Well, because it's June, okay? And you know, we need sermons like this every once in a while to keep us up to date on what the Bible says and to keep our minds renewed and make sure you're not falling for the deception, the fables, and the lies that the culture tries to promote to you, and for you to realize, you know what, I didn't know that the Bible actually says things like this. I didn't know that the Bible was specific about this. My favorite podcaster says this. My favorite Christian influencer says this. Well, forget them, just go to the Bible. Let's see what the Bible says. Now, if your favorite Christian influencer matches up with what the Bible says, then amen. But you know what, we always side with the Bible. Thy testimonies, oh Lord, the Bible says, are my delight and my counselors, okay? So let me give you a couple perspectives here that we should have on sodomy, biblical sound perspective on the subject of sodomy. Turn with me, if you would, to Romans chapter four, Romans chapter number four. Romans chapter number four. Number one, and by the way, let me just, before I get into my points, you know, I think the vast majority of people in our church have a proper perspective on sodomy, but sometimes even Christians who are in church can have an excessive view on this, where it actually surpasses the boundaries of what the Bible actually says. So again, a sermon like this is important to kind of give us balance here, okay? And the first thing I want to say is that when it comes to sodomy, it's not an unforgivable sin. Sodomy is not an unforgivable sin. You say, how do you know? Well, let me give you a couple points here. Contrary to the various accusations thrown around about me and our church, okay, we don't believe, nor does the Bible teach, that sodomy is unforgivable. Now, there might be people in this church that think that. Like, oh man, I thought you said that, you know, people who commit sodomy can't be saved or they can't be forgiven or something. Well, here's the thing is that the individual who has made a reprobate is unforgivable, but the act itself is forgivable. You say, why? Because not everyone who has been involved in sodomy is a reprobate. Why? Because there are people who have been forced into this perversion against their will or even those who have been coaxed into it by others. You know, these are called victims, right? There are various individuals in this world, listen to me, who have been molested, they've been raped, they've been manipulated and coaxed into a relationship or a perversion of sodomy against their will or even been manipulated into thinking that it was okay. And you know what, they weren't happy with it. They didn't like that. They were forced into that. And just because they participated in that particular act against their will or because they were manipulated doesn't make them a reprobate. So just because a person has participated in sodomy, whether against their will or by manipulation doesn't mean that they are beyond the hope of salvation and it does not mean that they are unforgivable because the reality is this, a lot of people who are molested by sodomites, by pedophiles, listen, often grow up confused. And I'm sure you've met people like this who were unfortunately taken advantage of, they were violated as children maybe for years on end and then later on they're very much confused even about their own sexuality. Why? Because sodomy just destroys the mind, that's why. It destroys the mind of the person participating in it but it also destroys the mind of the person who's a victim of it as well, okay? So we need to be able to differentiate this person from the reprobate, you understand? Because we are all for and advocate for the innocent and those who were taken advantage of, those who are manipulated, those who fall into the trap of the reprobate who seeks to take advantage of them, rape them, molest them, et cetera. Let me give you just a really basic verse here when it comes to the forgiveness of sins. It says in Romans 4 verse six, Even as David also described it, the blessedness of the man unto whom God impudeth righteousness without works. Now that's a really good verse there, amen? Righteousness is what we need to get into heaven but the Bible says that there's none righteous, no, not one. That our righteousness are as filthy rags in the eyes of God and you know what? You cannot get to heaven based upon your righteousness or as the Bible would also put it, your works. Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing, regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost the Bible tells us. The Bible says for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works that any man should boast. So what do we need? Well, when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, his righteousness is given to us, it's imputed unto us without our works. We don't need to participate in our salvation to have eternal life. All we have to do is trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and we can be saved and have our sins forgiven past, present and future. How do you know that? Well, look at verse seven. Saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. This is referring to the fact that once you get saved you are 100% exonerated of all transgressions and sins past, present and future. He doesn't just pay for the percentage of a little bit of sins, maybe before you're a Christian. He doesn't just pay for all the sins that you know about. He doesn't just pay for the sins that maybe you don't know about, he pays for it all. The check is paid in full, amen. Once you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you're the person who believes on Jesus but you also wanna add a couple works, you can't be saved. Because the offer only is valid for those who exclusively trust in Jesus Christ to be saved. And you know what, this is a great hope for those who have fallen victim to the reprobate. Because you know what, a lot of those people feel guilty, confused, feel like they're maybe hated by the Lord. Because God allowed that to happen to them, that's often how they feel. They feel confused and they feel disgusted sometimes. But you know what, once the message of salvation is brought to them and they realize I'm actually forgiven of all these things, God's not gonna hold me accountable to these things because I believed on Jesus Christ, they have that hope. And you know there's plenty of people in this world who are Christians who went through something like this, they believed on Jesus Christ, and you know what, they were made whole. They were not only forgiven but they were given hope, they read the Bible, they realize that they're not monsters, they're not wicked, they love the Lord and they can move on with their lives and not have this cloud hanging over them of molestation that took place where maybe when they were children or later on they can actually live a godly Christian life and move on from that. Now let me just make another point in that regard, because sometimes people are molested or taken advantage of, they get saved, amen? But then later on they have leaders who say you need to forgive that person, right? I don't believe that for a second. And you know what, a lot of people become bitter towards churches, bitter towards pastors, bitter towards religious leaders, because they constantly are coming down on them saying well you need to forgive the person that molested you, you need to move on from that, forgive them because God forgave you. Wrong, that's not what the Bible teaches. You say well how do you know? Because if God didn't forgive that person, he doesn't expect for you to forgive them either. You know one of the most damaging things that you can do to the mentality of a person who's fallen victim of a reprobate is forcing them to forgive that reprobate. Doing that mental gymnastic to say well I guess I gotta forgive them and love them and pray for them or something like that. Folks, that's nonsense, it's not in the Bible. You know a far greater way to rehab someone who's been in that situation is telling them not only do you not have to forgive that person but just rest assured that God will punish that individual one day on your behalf. Because the Bible says vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay. Avenge not yourselves. And you know what, that provides a great deal of consolation to the victim. And I've spoken to people who they find consolation and comfort in that because then they realize God is just, he's not just some God in heaven who's just saying I don't care what happened, you need to forgive them, you need to move on from that, you need to love them. He's not saying that. He's on the side of the victims, my friends. Go to Genesis chapter 13, Genesis chapter 13. But keep in mind, point number one is that it's not an unforgivable sin. The person that's unforgivable is the reprobate, but the victim who's fallen prey to the reprobate and has participated in those actions can still be forgiven. So when people say oh you think sodomy is unforgivable, we don't teach that. The reprobate is unforgivable, and I'll explain what I mean by reprobate in just a bit. But the person who participates in it, whether against their will or they were manipulated, coaxed into it by some perverse boyfriend or girlfriend or some person in their family, it doesn't mean that the victim is automatically unforgivable, they cannot be saved. That's not what the Bible teaches. Now secondly, let's talk about this. When it comes to the subject of sodomy, here's the good biblical perspective, and that is it is exceeding sinful and abominable in the eyes of God. Let me just say this is that sodomy should not just be viewed as a sin that's common to man. And that's unfortunately the narrative that a lot of churches promote. The Bible categorizes it, listen to this, along with incest, bestiality, and pedophilia. Those sins are not common to man. They're not something that people just frequently do, just a common man involved in these things. These actions require a level of depravity and gross perversion, okay? Now look at Genesis chapter 13, if you would, and look at verse number 10, it says, Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the plains of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east, and they separated themselves the one from the other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent towards Sodom. So what's going on here? Well, Lot is choosing him the area that gives him the best view of Sodom. He's pitching his tent towards Sodom, so the first thing he sees when he gets up in the morning is Sodom. The last thing he sees before he goes to sleep is Sodom. And because he's placing Sodom before himself constantly, eventually he's gonna live in Sodom. It says in verse 13, But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly, the Bible says. Now, why is that? Well, we'll see later on, it's because of the fact that their culture involves gross perversion of Sodomy. And in fact, the text seems to imply that the men of Sodom, the reason there's many men in Sodom is because they were recruiting others via molestations. Because the Bible talks about the young crying out into the Lord in the land of Sodom. What are they crying out for? Because they're being molested. They're being violated. And this is one of the reasons why God ends up raining fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah because of their violation of the innocent. And of course, these young people end up growing up becoming Sodomites, participating in the same violations of the reprobates who violated them, and then ultimately, God had to destroy that entire city because of it. It's not just a sin, folks. It's an abomination in the eyes of God. And look, if that bothers you, if you're just kinda like twitching a little bit when I say that, then you, it's in the Bible. So you gotta ask yourself, well, do you agree with the Bible, or do you rather just agree with what the culture has taught you, what your friends have taught you, what your family has taught you, what your favorite teacher, high school teacher has taught you? Stick with the Bible if you're a Christian. And the Bible says it's an abomination. What is an abomination? Something that makes you sick, something that makes God sick, okay? Go to Leviticus chapter 18, Leviticus chapter 18. Let me read to you from 1 Kings chapter 14. And verse 22, you're going to Leviticus 18. I'm gonna read to you from 1 Kings 14, 22. It says, and Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins, which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done. For they also built them high places and images and groves on every high hill and on every green tree. And there were also Sodomites in the land. Listen to this, and they did according to all the abominations of the nations, which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. Now, if you've read the Bible cover to cover, specifically in the Old Testament, you see that the abominations of the nations that he's referring to is sodomy, bestiality, incest, adultery, infanticide, every criminal act that you can think of, these nations were responsible for. And the Bible says that sodomites were dwelling in God's land, committing these abominations, committing incest and bestiality and sodomy and rape, this is exactly what they were doing. And God says, that's an abomination, that's evil, that's exceeding wicked. The Bible says in Jude 7, even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. So how does the Bible describe sodomites? Or the act of sodomy, it's the act of going after strange flesh. It's when a man goes after another dude. The Bible says that's sodomy. Well, you know, the term sodomy was actually coined a couple hundred years ago, it doesn't mean what you think, no, it says it in the text. The reason he calls homosexual sodomites is because they are inhabitants of the land of Sodom who wanted to rape a man, who wanted to rape two men. And in fact, in Judges chapter 19, they wanted to rape a man and because they couldn't get the man, they settled for his girlfriend and raped her and killed her. That's not a Sunday school lesson you're gonna get at just any church. When's the last time you had a Sunday school lesson on Judges 19? Never. You will never have that Sunday school lesson. And we don't have Sunday school here, but you know what, if we did, Judges 19. They go after strange flesh. See, a normal human being, a dude, is attracted to a woman. A woman is attracted to a dude. A man, a strange flesh would be a man attracted to a child. Right? Strange flesh would be a woman attracted to a child. That's weird, that's strange. And here's another word for strange, queer. Well, you shouldn't use that, they use it. That's literally why they call themselves LGBTQ, the Q is queer. So how come they could call themselves queer, but when we call them queers, they get mad about that. That's what you call yourself. You say you're strange. Look it up in the dictionary, queer means strange. Because even they understand, folks, listen to me, they understand that what they're doing is strange. It's foreign, it's against the Bible, it's not correct. They go after strange flesh and it goes on to say they're set forth for an example, listen to this, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. That's pretty interesting, isn't it? It says that they're given to us as an example, right? In other words, they're an object lesson for everyone else. They suffered the vengeance, vengeance, who's vengeance? Well, doesn't the Bible say vengeance is mine, saith the Lord? So it's God's vengeance on them, suffering the vengeance, listen to this, of temporal fire? No, eternal fire. And what is eternal fire? Hell. We'll get into that a little later. Look what Leviticus 18, 22 says, thou shall not lie with mankind as with womankind. I like how discreet the Bible is, amen. Doesn't pervert the mind, but you know exactly what he means when he says that. Why? It is abomination, the Bible says. He says, thou shall not lie with mankind as with womankind, it is abomination. Again, describing the fact that God is disgusted with that act. Look at Ezekiel chapter 16. And look, men, don't be ashamed of the fact that you are disgusted by sodomy. It should be that you're disgusted by sodomy, because God has placed within each and every one of us that emotion to be disgusted at that which is perverse. I said this in a sermon, I can't remember a couple weeks ago, but they did a test on a group of men. And what they did was they showed these men images of rotting flesh with maggots and everything. And what it did is it produced these enzymes in their mouth, like this saliva enzymes that are associated with like throwing up, okay? So they looked at them and just like, you know. If you've ever thrown up before, you know what I'm talking about. You know, you get that little thing going on here and you feel like you're about to, those are those enzymes that are produced. Like God gave you those, okay? So that you don't do something disgusting. That's why when you look at a dog like eating their own feces, you're just like, ugh. You can't do, you won't do that. It doesn't matter how hungry you are, you would never do that, right? You're never gonna be like, maybe, you know? You're not gonna look at something like vomit and just be like, appetizing or something. God gave you that boundary. So when you look at it, it just disgusts you so you stay away from it, you understand? So when they looked at these images of rotting flesh with maggots, it produced those enzymes and then they flipped the images. Later on, they showed them images of sodomites doing sodomite stuff and it produced those same enzymes in those dudes. So the same enzymes that were produced when they looked at rotting flesh is the same enzymes that came out when they looked at sodomites kissing or something. Why, because within everyone, whether you're a Christian or not, by the way, you don't even have to be a Christian to be this way. You just have to be not strange. And when you look at it, you're just like, ugh. So here's the thing, folks, is that it's normal to be disgusted by it and if you're not disgusted by it, you may have been desensitized to it because of movies and Hollywood and the public school system and all these things that try to normalize perversion unto you. You need your mind to be renewed because at the end of the day, the God-given reaction to every human being when it comes to the subject of the sodomy is ugh. Look at Ezekiel, go to Ezekiel chapter 16, if you will, Ezekiel chapter 16. I'm just giving you a biblical perspective on sodomy. Okay, and by the way, I'm trying to be nice about it this morning. My church members know that I'm being nice right now because every year, I always say like, I'm gonna preach a subject on sodomy, but it's gonna be like a well-tempered one, so it's a sermon that you can share with your family and friends and they won't get offended at me or something, but I fail every year, though, because I end up going off and all that. But this year, I plan to succeed in this area and I think I'm doing a fairly decent job, all right? Look at Ezekiel 16, verse 49. Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom. Pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. Now, a lot of people who advocate for sodomites, even within Christian communities, will often bring up this passage to refute what we say in the verses that we show from the Bible regarding sodomy, though often people always say, the iniquity of Sodom wasn't sodomy, it was that they were prideful, they had too much bread, they were too idle, and they didn't really help the poor and the needy. That really is the reason why God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, not what you guys are saying, but it's always good to keep reading, amen? Verse 50 says, and they were haughty, another word for prideful, and committed abomination before me. Now listen to me, pride is an abomination, but fullness of bread is not an abomination. Neither is abundance of idleness. Neither is not strengthening the hand of the needy, that's not an abomination according to the Bible. But when you look at the context of what an abomination is in regards to Sodom, we know exactly what an abomination is. So aside from their perversion, they have all these extra accessories that they're participating in, pridefulness of bread, idleness, they're not helping the poor and the needy, and in fact, what are they doing? They're taking advantage of the poor and the needy is what they're doing. And it says, they committed abomination before me, don't miss it, therefore I took them away. That's another way of saying he destroyed them. Now don't miss these last four words, as I saw good. It's not like I regretted doing this. He's like, it was a good thing to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Because aside from their pride, aside from their gay pride, aside from their fullness of bread, aside from the abundance of idleness, and the fact that they did not take care of the poor and the needy, they committed abominations before me. And that's why, rained fire and brimstone upon them and took them away as I saw good. Do not call evil what God says is good. Do not call wrong what God says is right. Do not say, well, I don't agree with that when God says I sanctioned it. What's my point? My point is, you know, sodomy is not only a sin, it's an abomination before the eyes of God. And you know what, in our eyes, sodomy should always be exceedingly sinful. You're like, well, you know, I just think other sins are just as bad. We'll get into that in just a bit. Here's another thing I want to say. You're in Leviticus, go to Leviticus 19. Leviticus 19. So number one is that sodomy is not an unforgivable sin. Many people have been manipulated, coaxed into, taken advantage of against their will and committing sodomy. And they're disgusted with it, they were violated. It can be forgiven through Jesus Christ, amen. Not only that, but it's not just a sin, it's exceeding sinful and it's an abomination in the eyes of God. But let's get a little deeper. Number three, sodomy is a criminal act. Punishable by death, according to the Bible. Now, most Christians would agree with my first two points. They're like, oh yeah, of course, you know. But then when we get to this point, they're like, well, you know, that's taken a little too far. No, it's literally what the Bible says though. You see, sodomy is not just sinful. There's a lot of things that are sinful, but according to the Bible, it's actually a capital crime, according to God. You're like, well, not in the United States of America. Well, yeah, obviously not in the United States. Have you looked at Hollywood? Of course not. No, they're not going to jail. But you know what? Just because something isn't criminal today doesn't mean it's no longer criminal though. I mean, you have countries out there that are accepting a pedophilia and it's not criminal to them. Does that mean it's no longer criminal? Of course it is. Sodomy is not just a sin or simply an abomination. The Bible categorizes it as being a capital crime punishable by death. And because it's criminal, listen to this, it should not be loved, embraced, excused, or tolerated. And here's what people say. Yeah, but murder is also a capital crime and adultery is a capital crime too. Are you going to say they should be put to death? Well, according to the Bible, yeah, they should be put to death. But here's the thing though, let me just say this, because people say this all the time. What about murder? What about adultery? The last time I checked, I haven't seen a parade of murderers saying give us July the month of murder, right? Raise your hand if you've seen a bunch of adulterers and say, you know, adultery pride. I like to cheat on my spouse. That's what adultery is. Adultery is when you essentially are unfaithful to your husband or wife. And you know, I just don't see people saying, hey, can we celebrate murder? You know, I think it's okay to murder and that's how I identify. I identify as a murderer. That's how I show people I love them because they're just through murder. You know, we don't really see that. But you know what we do see? Is sodomites wanting to celebrate sodomy. And why does it always involve children? Last time I checked, an entire month wasn't dedicated to murder and or adultery. And yes, those are capital crimes punishable by death and we talk about that as well. We preach about that as well. But here's the thing, one of the reasons why we do focus on sodomy so much is because it's literally celebrated. The nation literally exalts it. It upholds it. It rubs it in your face. It puts it at target. Puts it on all the clothes. It makes the cereal gay. For like, they're always getting like a box of cereal. You know, what cereal this year is gay now? Does anybody know? Anybody seen any cereal with the rainbow on it? How about Skittles? I can't eat Skittles anymore. You know, they have a, by the way, let me just say this. You go on July 1st, that same cereal box is still there. And it's actually cheaper now. You know why? Because people are ashamed to buy it. They probably like the cereal, but they're like, I'm not gonna be caught, walking this box of cereal out. Kidding me? Give me off brand or something. And here's what they'll say. They'll say, well, you know, I get what you're saying, but we should love everyone though. We should love everyone. And to that I say, amen. You know why? Because our default setting should be to love everyone. We approach people. We automatically love them. We don't automatically detest them or hate them. But here's the thing is that, you know, they'll often say, we should love everyone. And the Bible says, love thy neighbor. And to that, we say what? Amen. But here's the thing though. Love thy neighbor is not just a New Testament passage. Something that Jesus quoted from the Old Testament. The Book of Leviticus. And chapter 19 is where you actually find love thy neighbor, which actually comes before chapter 20. And chapter 20, verse 13 is the death sentence on Sodomites. So how do you reconcile both? When God is commanding you in Leviticus 19, love your neighbor. But then he says in Leviticus 20, oh, but put these people to death. You have to reconcile the two. Well, the New Testament teaches love thy neighbor. No, that's an Old Testament teaching. So if you are to properly love your neighbor, you have to remove the Sodomite, right? So that the Sodomite doesn't molest your neighbor and children. And you're like, well, you know, the Bible says love my neighbor. Yeah, but if Leviticus 20 was instituted, you wouldn't have to worry about having a sodomite neighbor though. We don't live in a perfect world, I get it, but I'm just trying to help you to reconcile these passages. Because yes, we're supposed to love everyone by default. By default, that is our disposition toward this world is that we love the people of this world until they give us an iron-clad reason that they're haters of God, that they're reprobates. And in fact, let me read to you from Hosea chapter nine, verse 15. All their wickedness is in Gilgal. By the way, this is God speaking here. For there I hated them. For the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out out of mine house. I will love them no more. All their princes are revolters. You say, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on, where is that? Hosea nine, verse 15. So he not only says that he hates them, but he's also saying, I will love you no more, meaning that he loved them at one point. And then that love stopped. So don't have this mentality that God just perpetually loves everyone until the end of time. Can we really say logically that God loves people who are in hell today? No, that's why they're in hell. You don't burn people for all of eternity that you love. That's weird. That's strange. Okay, how about this? You know, people who bring, well, you should love them. Okay, do you love Hitler though? You think God loves Jeffrey Dahmer? You think God, what about all the pedophiles that this world has had that has destroyed and killed millions of children? You think God loves them? Come on, let's just be honest here. We can say of them that God did not love them anymore. And in fact, we could actually say with legitimacy that he hates them. Because how can he love the children that they molested and love them equally? The Bible says that thou hate, listen to me, Psalm 5 says, thou hatest all workers of iniquity. And you can go to the Hebrew and it'll say the same exact thing. And I know you, you know, there's a lot of churches out there that try to misconstrue these things, that try to make excuses for the Bible. We're not here to make any excuses for the Bible. I'm just here to tell you what the Bible says. Bring your thoughts and your mindset into alignment with the word of God. And you know what, if it rubs you the wrong way, you know, maybe you just got a little bit of a knot, muscle knot in your spiritual backbone that you need to get moved a little bit, because it hurts a little bit. You gotta massage that thing a little bit with the word of God to help you to realize, oh, I should side with what God says. And you know what, obviously, you know, a lot of this stuff is just not palatable to a lot of people who don't read the Bible, and I get that. It's a little potent. It's like, whoa, that's strong. That's strong. Brother Vitor will often, every couple of months, will bring us like juice, like grape juice, but it's not like your average, it's like, you can't even see through it, it's just like, you gotta eat it with a spoon or something, you know? It's so thick, and then you sip it, and it's like, whoa. And I have to admit, I have to water it down sometimes. But you know what, that's how some Christians like their preaching too, though. They need to water down. But you know how God wants us to drink the word of God? Just as is. 100% potency. And if you have to sip it, you gotta sip it, amen? But don't say that it's wrong just because it's too strong for you. Leviticus, did I have you turn into Leviticus? Look at 19, verse 18, thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudges against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, I am the Lord. So don't have this misconception, oh, the Old Testament is just bad God, strict God, angry God, New Testament, good God, it's Jesus, you know? Old Testament is God the Father, raining down, judgment, New Testament is the Lamb of God who should take away the sins of the world. No, in fact, the Lamb of God is gonna destroy this world even far more extensively than he did in the Old Testament. Like in the Old Testament, and by the way, the Old Testament, you got the flood, well, the New Testament, he's just gonna burn the entire world. I mean, read the book of Revelation. More people die in the book of Revelation than anywhere else. And so you have, it's saying here, love thy neighbor as thyself, Old Testament principle, go to Leviticus chapter 20, Leviticus chapter 20 and verse 13. Says Leviticus 20 verse 13, if a man also lie with mankind, as he lies with the woman, both of them have committed an abomination, they shall surely be put to death, their blood shall be upon them. Now, let me just clarify some things regarding this particular passage that a lot of people misconstrue and twist. This is not saying that the victim is also put to death. There is no victim here in Leviticus 20, 13. Both of these adults are consenting individuals involved in the act of sodomy. And the reason I gotta clarify this because you have false teachers out there who say, yeah, well, according to their interpretation, even the victim would be put to death because the Old Testament says that even, whoever lies with mankind, therefore, the victim, the innocent person who's manipulated, who's taken advantage of, who's raped, they get put to death. That's not what it's saying. These are two consenting individuals participating in the act of sodomy. Both of them have committed an abomination, they shall surely be put to death. And here's the thing, you say, well, how do you know? Because of the fact that the Bible also teaches in Deuteronomy that if a man finds a woman and rapes her in a field, he shall be put to death, not the woman. And the Bible likens sodomy to rape. So the victim is never punished. Why would God punish the victim? He doesn't. The victim is only punished in the minds of people who hate the Bible. Now go to Genesis chapter 19, Genesis chapter 19. So there you have it, Leviticus 20 is the death penalty on sodomites. Now let me further clarify some things, okay? This does not mean that Christians are putting homosexuals to death. Nowhere has anybody ever taught that in our church or churches that are like-minded that we should go out and commit violence against any perpetrator, against any person who commits murder, you know, we've never taught that. And in fact, what we teach in our church is to be subject unto the higher powers, to obey the law of the land. He said, then why do you preach this? Because we're telling the government what they should be doing. And obviously it's probably never gonna happen, but does that mean we shouldn't preach it? Let me give you a prime example here. The apostle Paul lived in a place worse than what we have here in 2024. It's called the Roman Empire, where sodomy was rampant. And you know what? It wasn't a theocracy. God wasn't over, you know, the nation of Rome. And in fact, Christians during that time were the off scouring of that world, right? They were the minority. Yet the apostle Paul in Romans chapter one talks about sodomy and he says that they're worthy of death. He's not saying, hey, let's go change the governor's mind. Let's go see if we can change the emperor's mind, or let's go see if we can get Caesar to change his mind on this. No, he's preaching this because he wants to instill in the minds of Christians what their perspective should always be. Sodomy is not just a sin. It's not just an abomination. It's a capital crime that according to the Bible merits the death penalty. Now, why would God take such an extreme view? Why would he institute the death penalty for sodomy? Because if sodomy is left unfettered, more people shall be violated and then you have a Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19. You notice that if you don't take care of a disease right away, it just keeps spreading. That's what happened with Sodom and Gomorrah. And not just Sodom and Gomorrah, how about Pompeii? Sodom and Gomorrah is in the Bible, right? You have Judges 19 with the sons of Belial, the tribe of Benjamin, but then how about Pompeii? It's filled with sodomy, filled with perversion, and because no government was there to put them to shame or to destroy them, God just erupted Mount Vesuvius. Rain down fire and burn, that's historical documentation right there. Where he wiped them out completely, and you know what? There's a lot of documentation of what took place in that city. Some of the worst grotesque perversions, even to the point, and I'm not trying to pervert the minds here, where even their door handles were sculpted in a perverse manner. Even their door handles. And God said, I've had enough. Mount Vesuvius. Look at Genesis 19 verse 23. The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah, brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities and all the plain and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. So not only did he destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them, but he even destroyed the ground so that nothing would ever grow on there anymore. Because according to the Bible, when sodomy is permitted and gone just unfettered, it literally just poisons everything. And in fact, the Bible specifically says, listen to me, the land wants to vomit. That's literally what the Bible says. Oh man, God is exaggerating. No, he's trying to help us to understand what our view should be. And folks, if the land wants to vomit, you should want to vomit too. The land is not living. It's not like God's not, you know, he's not like for green power. He doesn't think like the land has a soul. He's trying to communicate the fact that if the land just wants to remove these people from the vicinity because of their perversion, how much more should we have that view as being God's people with the Spirit of God and the Bible with us? You're in Genesis 19. Here's my next point, which I've kind of already hinted towards this, but here's the biblical perspective on sodomy. It leads to greater acts of violence. You see, a lot of times they'll say, well, just accept us. But then it's like, well, embrace us. And then they say, well, we want you to be like us. And then they say, well, we want you to teach your children. And it just progressively gets worse. And it leads to greater acts of violence. Reprobation degenerates a person exponentially. Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse. Now, why is that? Well, because the moral boundary of the mind is removed when a person becomes a reprobate. The reprobate is capable of committing some of the most incredible acts of violence and perversion without a conscience, listen to me, the reprobate has no moral governor to restrain them. This is why the Bible states that there are incontinent. Meaning, when a person is a reprobate, their moral compass is removed, they're capable of some of the most heinous crimes known to mankind. And it's terrifying what they can do. Just look throughout history. The vast majority of famous serial killers of this world were sodomites. Now, the public doesn't want to tell you that, but when you start actually researching those individuals, you realize, oh, these people are homosexuals. Well, how about the fact, how about all these shootings that have taken place over the last couple of years in churches and in schools? Homosexuals. Why? Because they're capable of greater acts of violence. That's why. Well, you're just kind of, you know, you're just saying that because you're a Christian. Well, how about I just give you a personal testimony? Our church in 2021 was bombed by homosexuals by homosexuals. Beat that. Like, what do you mean? Like, you guys are the bomb? Like a glitter bomb? Like, what kind of bomb? Like, they put an IED in our church building and blew it up because of what I'm preaching. 2021, they rallied the troops in a city called El Monte. That's where our church first started. And the community, they started protesting against me and, you know, they took this to the mayor and the chief of police. They tried to get me booted out of the city. They had all these petitions signed. I think it was like 15,000 signatures, which petitions don't do anything. For me, it was just like, you know, like right on, you know, 15,000 people. And then they held a protest. They protested outside of our church during our church service, okay, yelling and screaming some of the most ridiculously vile and disgusting things to our children, okay? And a lot of things happened that day. You know, they even had a heavy metal band outside of the church building with the transvestite singing, or if you call that singing, saying some of the most blasphemous things about Jesus Christ. I can't repeat what he said on a microphone through a speaker. I mean, people who are like are pro homos, most of the time, they're just like, okay, that's a little excessive. Yeah, yeah, just a little bit. That's just a little bit excessive there. He said, what did you do? I just told him, I said, you guys can do all this, but I'm just never gonna stop though. It's never gonna happen. And I said, if you succeed at kicking me out of the city, it doesn't change the message, as proven by today. Here we are in another city still preaching the same thing. So then, when they realized that they could not intimidate me or force me to stop or do anything about it, they resorted to violence. And so on the following Saturday, you know, I was sleeping. It was like two o'clock in the morning, was it? One or two o'clock in the morning. And I jokingly said to my assistant, you know, because he always calls me with problems, you know what I mean? Like if there's like an issue, and then, you know, people are saying this or, you know, and I told him, I was like, don't call me unless like the church is on fire or something. Or unless the church blows up or something like that. Something to that effect. So he called, he doesn't call me, he calls my wife at like 1.30, two o'clock in the morning. And then I get the phone, he's like, hey, pastor, you told me not to call you, unless someone blows up the building, well, they blow up the building. I'm like, all right, I'll be there in a couple minutes. They blew it up. FBI got involved, bomb squad got involved. There's still a $25,000 reward for the capture of the perpetrators, which I don't think the FBI even wants to capture them because we gave them all the info, we have cameras, we had all the info. I mean, we did our own private investigation and it's like we found the people, we gave it over to the FBI and they still didn't do anything about it. He said, what did you do? They blew it up on Saturday, what did you do? We went to church, just in a different park. And we would have met in that building, by the way. Even with the hole right there, but the city wouldn't allow us to. So they blew it up and then they wouldn't allow us to go into the building for weeks, I think it was even months after a while, and I was like, well, we just need to look for a new building because we're kind of wandering in the wilderness right now, and that's just, that's only a small portion of it, by the way. Threats made to our children, threats made to our families, I mean, even prior to the bombing, they said, we're gonna do a drag queen contest in front of your church, and the flyer, this is what the flyer literally said, let's make them throw up. You know what that means? They know what kind of enzymes they produce in a person. That's literally what they said, and so my wife and I was like, well, let's just buy blinders for the children, because I don't want my kids seeing that, but they're willing to do that in front of the children. And let me just say this, is that the city was not in accordance, the majority of the people were not in accordance with what they were doing. And in fact, many of the neighbors came out and yelled at them and rebuked them, and even they went on the news and said, this is ridiculous, I can't believe they did this to a church, they were on our side, okay? Just a small fraction that yells louder is what it is. And so, greater acts of violence, and as far as I know, there hasn't been, throughout American history, a church that was bombed by sodomites, doesn't exist. We're literally the first one in America to get bombed through an IED. And to that I said, amen. You know? This church is the bomb. So what's your point? My point is, I'm not the one responsible for violence. Look at my track record, have I ever blown up a church? Have I ever blown up an LGBTQ community center? Did we ever, in the three years that we were there, do any acts of violence to anybody? Never. We've never done it. And yet they're like, they're claiming that we're the violence, and even to the point where they try to gaslight the community, and try to blame me for the bombing. I'm like, I didn't bomb the church. They bombed it. Yeah, but you're preaching. My preaching does not blow things up. I wish it did sometimes, you know? But it just doesn't have that capability. I'm not like the two witnesses in the New Testament, you know? And they're just like, so they're literally blaming the bombing on me. It's like, why don't you blame the people who actually put it there? What's the point? The point that I'm saying here, and I don't have time to expound on Genesis 19, but you have the account in Genesis 19 where literally two angels who are coming disguised as physical human beings come into Sodom. They come to dwell at Sodom's, at Lot's house in order to save him, deliver him and his family from the judgments that's to come. And then the men of the city from every quarter surround the house wanting to rape these men. And then Lot goes out, and he says something really dumb, because he's Lot, okay? And then the angels come and they blind the Sodomites who are trying to rape them, and in spite of the fact that they're physically blind, they're still trying to find the door to rape the men. Isn't that crazy? So then the angels are just like, they get them out, and then they tell Lot, we can't destroy this place until you and your family get out of here, and then we're gonna destroy it. And that's exactly what happens. We have another account in Judges 19, and I've already talked about it, where you have the similar story, the difference is is that they're not called Sodomites, they're called sons of Belial, which means children of the devil, and they try to rape a man who's visiting the city, they do not succeed, so then they take his concubine, his girlfriend instead, they gang rape her to the point where she dies. I mean, that's a heinous crime. And so I don't buy into this love is love, that doesn't even make sense anyways. What is that? Hate is hate, love is love, like church is church. Well, thank you for reiterating what that first word was as if it really describes and gives a broader definition. Thank you for expanding the definition of that word, love is love. It's nonsense. Go to Romans chapter one, Romans chapter one. I got two more points. Talk about a biblical perspective on sodomy. Let me say this also is that sodomy is a trait of a hatred for God. This is what the Bible actually says. The smoking gun, listen to this, the smoking gun that a person is a reprobate, which a reprobate is a person who's beyond the hope of salvation, the smoking gun that a person is a reprobate is their insatiable desire for perversion and hatred for the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, don't miss what I just said though. What is the smoking gun? The insatiable desire for perversion. We're not talking about someone who's confused because they were molested or something. We're talking about someone who has an insatiable desire for that perversion, where they will literally fight tooth and nail to do story time with five-year-olds at a library. What? Where they literally will fight tooth and nail to have children involved in these perverted acts. They'll kidnap children, they'll molest children. That is an insatiable desire for perversion. We're not talking about people who are confused. You might know someone who's confused. You might know someone who they were violated and they're just confused, they're depressed, they're sad. We're not talking about that. We're talking about the people who literally, the Bible says this, that they burn in their lust one toward another. What does it mean to burn in your lust? Well, here's the thing is that the Bible talks about a man, it's better for a man to marry than to burn. And what that's saying is it's better for you to get married than for you to just have these innate desires for a woman than you might do something you're not supposed to do. Like fornicate. Well, here it says that they burn in their lust one toward another. So just as a man would physically desire a woman, just naturally, because that's how God made us, in like manner, these reprobates will have that desire for a man. It's an insatiable desire. It's a lust towards the same sex. And it's against nature. Romans 1 29 says being filled with all unrighteousness, let's talk about the sodomite, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers, backbiters. You say, well, you know, I know some Christians who are kind of guilty of some of those things. Okay, how about this? Haters of God. Christians don't hate God. That's weird. He's our Father. He's our Heavenly Father. He's our God. He's our Lord. So this is referring to a percentage of people in this world who actually have a vitriol against the Lord. They despise him. And you know what? There's unsafe people out there who don't like Christians. They don't like Christianity, but they're not haters of God. They're just like, you know, just like whatever, you know, they may not like Christianity because of Christians, or maybe they got a bad taste in their mouth because of a Christian, whatever it is. But there's people who are literally individuals who in their heart, they despise the Lord Jesus Christ. They hate God. This says, despiteful, proud, bolsters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding covenant breakers, listen to this, without natural affection. What is natural affection? You know, when a father feels love for his children, not sexual desires for his children, right? Without natural affection, natural affection is when a mother loves her children, not wants to kill her children. Natural affection is when a man loves a woman, woman loves a man, physically attracted, not when a dude loves a dude, and a girl loves a girl, because they're physically attracted one to another. That's not a natural affection according to the Bible. Implacable, unmerciful, the Bible tells us. And so according to the Bible, there comes a time in a person's life where they're given the truth, and then they begin to hate the truth. That hatred for the truth becomes a vitriol, a vitriol against the Lord Jesus Christ. They hate the truth, they become haters of God, and then they essentially become a reprobate. God removes their ability to believe. You say, well that, why would God remove their ability to believe? He's only given them what they want, because they don't want to believe to begin with. So then God essentially just removes that capability, and along with that is their ability to have a moral boundary, which is why they commit these things, which leads me to my next point. It is a punishment from God. Sodomy is a punishment from God. Reprobates cannot be saved. This is why the Bible states that we should not cast our pearls before swine. Now you say, well, I've heard all your points. I just don't agree with it. I still think they could be saved, okay? Well, let me make a couple statements right now, okay? And then I'm gonna get into, I'm gonna get into that. Let me say this, is that there were plenty of Sodomites during the time of Christ. There's a lot. Talk about the Roman Empire. There was a lot of stuff happening, a lot of perversion during that time. His ministry took place during the Roman Empire, yet, listen to this, there were no former homosexual apostles. You know, the apostles so and so, you got the publican, you got the tax collector, you don't have the queer. He didn't tell queer, like, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. Not that kind of fisher of men. You don't see any examples of that. There were no former homosexual apostles, disciples, or anyone remotely connected to the ministry of Jesus. And it's not like there wasn't enough homosexuals in the land. There's tons of them during that time. It's the Roman Empire. I mean, Greek culture was rampant during that time. And there's a lot of sodomy in Greece. Yet, you have no homosexual associate or connected with the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's another point, Jesus never encouraged winning them. You ever notice that? You never find a verse where Jesus says, reach out to them, or that he's ministering to them. You see him reaching out to the harlots, the publicans, the fishers of men. There is no homosexual convert in the Bible. You won't find it. Pointing to a sinner being saved in the Bible is not an example. Yeah, there's homosexuals, there's all kinds of sinners being saved. That's not an example. Pointing to an adulterer being saved is not an example. Pointing to Jesus sitting with publicans and sinners is not an example. You say, well, how so? Because those are very specific, aren't they? He says publicans, sinners, harlots, adulterers, prostitutes. I mean, he's specifically saying who they are and what they did. And so if he was that specific, he would have told us homosexual, sodomite, but he doesn't. You know why? Because it's nonexistent in the ministry of Jesus Christ. Could it be that Jesus was a homophobe? Actually, he wasn't, because he's not afraid of anything. Notice that the Bible gives specific examples of people, groups of different backgrounds and sins being saved, but never once a homosexual. Now, if you listen to this and you think to yourself, well, I still think that they could be saved, go to John chapter 12. You say, I still think that they could be saved. You know, I just don't agree with what they do. I do find it disgusting. I'll take it. I'll take it. Now, I think you're just ignoring a lot of what the Bible says in regards to the salvation aspect of it. But let's just say you're just stubborn. You're just like, I still think they could be saved. Okay, you can think that, but just don't lose your disgust of it though, because that's where it starts. Because I've known some people who are just like, well, I still think they could be saved, but it is nasty, it's disgusting, and there is an agenda against our children. Like, they recognize all the actions and the agenda of Sodomites against the innocent and children, they understand it completely, even though they may not agree with this. But you know what, at the end of the day, the Bible's right, you're wrong when it comes to that. They cannot be saved. You say, well, how can you say that there's certain people that cannot be saved? Well, I don't say that, the Bible says it though. And let me give you an example. Look at John 12, verse 38. That the saying of his eyes, the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Listen to this, therefore, they could not believe, because that as I said again, he, referring to God, hath blinded their eyes. So why is it that they can't believe? Because God blinded them. He hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. Here's a prime example where God takes full responsibility for making a person not being able to believe, removing their capability of believing. And this happens to people who blaspheme the Holy Ghost. This happens to people who add to or remove from God's word. This happens to people in the end times who take the mark of the beast, all of which, by the way, were never saved to begin with. And it happens to reprobates, which the reprobate spectrum ranges from sodomites all the way to false prophets, which I'm gonna talk about tonight. What's the message? Well, I'm sorry, one more verse, okay? And I'm done, and I'll leave you guys alone. Go to Matthew 11, because this is a really important passage right here, okay, in this regard. I was taking the plane down, and I just went back up again. We're just gonna make one more round, and then we'll land it. Same context, same point that I'm making here that they cannot be saved. Listen to what Jesus said, okay? Matthew 11, 20 says, Then began he, Jesus, to abreight the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not. Woe unto thee, Corazon, woe unto thee, Becedah, for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, you shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at that day of judgment than for you. So what is he saying? You know, if the works that were done in these cities were done in those cities that I destroyed in times past, they would have remained. They would have repented, he said. Repented of what? Of their wickedness, of their sin. So keep that in mind. He says, if the works that were done here were done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented. That's the result of the works that were being done. Look at verse 23. And thou, Capernaum, which are exalted unto heaven, in other words, prideful, shall be brought down to hell. For if the mighty works which had been done in thee had been done in Sodom, they would have repented? No, it says it would have remained unto this day. He said, why is that significant? Well, in Genesis 19, Genesis 18, actually, you have Abraham going to God, and he says, and he says what? What if there be 10 righteous people? And God says, if there's 10 righteous, I will not destroy it. Notice Abraham didn't say, what if I win those Sodomites to the Lord, right? He didn't say, what if we preach them to the gospel? He said, what if there's 20? What if there's 30, what if there's 40, what if there's 50? And it's all based upon how many righteous people are there in order to impede the judgment of God. So when Jesus says here in Matthew 11, 23, if the works that have been done in Sodom would have been done in Capernaum, excuse me, if the works that would have been done in Capernaum would have been done in Sodom, it would have remained. Meaning, if Lot would have actually been a light, one people to Christ, it would have remained. He didn't say they would have repented because according to the Bible, Sodomites cannot repent. And in fact, you can look at this statistically, pedophiles always reoffend. They can't stop from doing it. And the Bible is consistent with that. They would have not repented. It says that they would have remained unto this day because the only thing that was necessary to keep Sodom alive was how many righteous people were in that city. And it was only Lot and his family. Now, therefore, that's why it did not remain. Not because they didn't repent because they could not repent, but because there wasn't enough righteous people in Sodom to keep it alive and well. What's the message today? It's time for us to just have a biblical perspective on Sodom, okay? And a sermon like this is needed yearly just to kind of remind us, but also we got new people in our church who may not know a lot about these passages. And if I said something that rubbed you the wrong way, reread it. And this is what you... Pray and say, Lord, if I'm wrong about this, then when I read it, show me, show me. Help me to come into accordance with what the Bible actually says. Because it's right there in black and white. It's on the page. It's what you said. Maybe I've been deceived regarding this subject and I need to bring myself into alignment with your word. Let's pray. Thank you for your word and thank you for the very comprehensive teachings on reprobation and sodomy in the Bible that helps us in 2024 to discern between good and evil, Lord. And I pray that you'd help us as your people to continue to maintain this biblical perspective in spite of what the culture does and what it promotes, what it says, in spite of the philosophies that are being espoused and promoted. I pray that you'd help us as your people to maintain the word of God before our eyes and in our minds, even if it's not popular. We love you. We thank you. Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.