Foundations of Faith: God's Judgment on Lies

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Ministries. This is part of the message, which was first preached on September 3, 2023 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds. Three times he uses the word righteous.

I'm sorry, some of you were counting, weren't you? You were going to set the record straight. To engage on belief, Lot was, he was, this was hard on him, living amongst incredible self-indulgence and self-preoccupation. To be one who is a follower of Jehovah God, the self-existent one who calls us to follow Him and resign ourselves to Him. For Lot, that was very difficult as he lived among them.

But you remember the story from the Old Testament, the book of Genesis, you know, when the angels came, there's no indication that he knew they were angelic beings. But what did he do? In this, in his culture that was utterly self-absorbed, what did Lot do?

He practiced what? Hospitality. Church, learn from this. Our culture today is becoming more and more and more self-absorbed. And I believe the church calls us, his people, to exercise hospitality.

It's commanded numerous times in the New Testament. He exercised hospitality and restraint in the slew of self-absorbed behavior. He was light.

Light is effective by contrast. He was salt. Salt is effective by what? Contact.

Salt's no good unless it touches the food it's supposed to go on. You see, it wasn't easy. He was greatly distressed.

He's tormenting his righteous soul. But listen, we are indwelt with the spirit of truth and of power. We have an advantage over what Lot had in his day. The full canon of scripture, written authority, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. That's powerful, folks.

It's powerful. So, we are called to engage unbelief. We are called to engage false teachers. Are we prepared to do that? Do we have the discernment to do that?

Instead of just going along with the lies or letting somebody boldly tell a lie and we don't challenge them on it. In conclusion, let me give a couple of warnings, if I may. Two things to be aware of.

The first one, I'm going to simply use an illustration from a blogger and an author. You may have heard this name before, and I think I've referred to it before, but she was a popular blogger, still is. Her name is Jen Hatmaker and she was asked, quote, do you think an LGBT relationship can be holy?

And Hatmaker responded, I do. And my views are tender. This is a very nuanced conversation and it's hard to nail down in one sitting.

I'm quoting her, okay? I've seen too much pain and rejection at the intersection of the gay community and the church. Every believer that witnesses that much overwhelming sorrow should be tender enough to do some hard work here. Again, false teachers blending self-exalting school of thought with biblical truth.

Okay? Now, let's talk about another author, a former lesbian college professor, Rosaria Butterfield. Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert is her very well-known book. I highly recommend that if you're experiencing or encountering anyone with this kind of lifestyle dilemma.

Rosaria Butterfield responded and reproved Hatmaker for this, and here it is. This is the first warning. Number one, tenderness that leaves people in sin.

This is a huge temptation for many who call themselves Christian today. This is the first warning. Number two, tenderness that leaves people in sin. This is the first warning. Number three, tenderness that leaves people in sin. Rosaria Butterfield, Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert is her very well-known book. I highly recommend that if you're experiencing or encountering anyone with this kind of lifestyle dilemma.

Rosaria Butterfield responded and reproved Hatmaker for this, and here it is. This is the first warning. Number one, tenderness that leaves people in sin. This is a huge temptation for many who call themselves Christian today. They want to be tender, they want to be caring, they want to be loving, and we should, but not to the point where we tell people it's okay for them to remain in their sin. And I'm not just talking about sexual sin and sexual orientation. You name the sin. It's not okay for me to be tender to someone who is an alcoholic and say it's okay for you to be drunk.

Okay, so let's not take a particular sin and put a hierarchy up there. We say often, come as you are, but what? Don't stay that way. And it could be, you know, for me, it's impatience and anger. It's not okay for me to claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ and then on the other hand say, well, I'm an angry person, it's just the way I am.

It's not okay to do that. Listen to what Rosaria Butterfield said. If this were 1999, the year that I was converted and walked away from the woman and lesbian community I loved, Jen Hatmaker's words about the holiness of LGBT relationships would have flooded my world like a balm of Gilead. I would have thought, yes, I can have Jesus and my girlfriend.

Yes, I can flourish both in my tenured academic discipline, queer theory and English literature and in my church. Maybe I wouldn't need to lose everything to have Jesus. Maybe the gospel wouldn't ruin me while I waited, waited, waited for the Lord to build me back up after he convicted me of my sin and I suffered the consequences. Today I hear Jen's words and a thin trickle of sweat creeps down my back.

If I were still in the thick of the battle over the indwelling sin of lesbian desire, Jen's words would have put a millstone around my neck. To be clear, listen to this please, to be clear, I was not converted out of homosexuality. I was converted out of unbelief.

Church, do you see where the need is? Let's not turn this into culture wars. This is not about culture wars. This is about the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ.

He came to reconcile enemies. I was converted out of unbelief. I didn't swap out a lifestyle.

I died to a life I loved. Conversion to Christ made me face the question squarely. Did my lesbianism reflect who I am, which is what I believed in 1999, or did my lesbianism distort who I am through the fall of Adam?

It's good perspective, isn't it? I learned through conversion that when something feels right and good and real and necessary but stands against God's word, this reveals the particular way Adam's sin marks my life. Our sin natures deceive us. Sin's deception isn't just out there.

It's also deep in the cavern of our hearts. That's a whole sermon right there. So that's the first warning this morning. As we read what Peter writes, the assurance of God's justice, the assurance of God's deliverance, let's make sure we're not just going to us versus them mentality. But let's also not capitulate and say, well, you know, we just need to be kind and loving and leave people in their sin and tell them it's okay.

Here's the last warning. Beware of the Pharisee syndrome. Beware of the Pharisee syndrome.

What do I mean by that? Remember the parable that Jesus said? The Pharisee and a publican, a tax collector, not a Republican, but a publican.

He could have been a Republican. Remember what the Pharisee prayed? Lord, I thank you.

What? And I am not like these filthy, disgusting sinners. Christian, listen to me. To the degree that you have that attitude, you ruin the gospel and any opportunity you have to share it. Thanks for joining us here at Delight in Grace. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in Him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.