02 - When Light Is Dark And Dark Is Light 2010 By Pastor Jeff Wickwire Notes

Is. 5:20 “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”

Isaiah the prophet is pronouncing a woe.

“Woe” means sorrow, tragedy, or terrible consequences.

Isaiah is stating that sorrow and tragedy will be the lot of any person or culture that calls evil good and good evil.

When a society begins calling good evil and evil good, it has reached the height of confusion, the depths of depravity, and the profoundest darkness of all.

Isaiah is directing his warning at the "moral relativism" of his day, where men were perverting God’s moral standards by INVERTING what He’d said.

When a society inverts God's principles for a blessed life, it provides carte-blanche permission to the ungodly to carry out all types of unrighteous behavior with impunity.

David observed, “The wicked freely strut about WHEN what is vile is honored among men.”—Ps. 12:8

FACT: Reversing God's standards of right and wrong characterizes times of apostasy and precedes divine judgment.

Example--Homosexuality

One inversion of truth that is currently ripping our nation apart is the homosexual controversy.

We are now being told that it is “normal” for two members of the same sex to be involved in an emotional, sexual relationship.

In fact, if we don’t agree with this we are labeled homophobic, bigoted, judgmental, ignorant, or all of the above.

And adding profundity to absurdity, we’re now being told by a SMALL MINORITY of people—with the help of the ever dependable mainstream media—that we should not only agree with, but sanction same sex marital unions—man to man, woman to woman.

A QUICK HISTORY:

All of this has recently been brought to a head with the controversy swirling in California over PROPOSITION 8.

Prop 8, or (The California Marriage Protection Act) was a ballot proposition and constitutional amendment passed in the November 2008, state elections.

It passed with 52.3% of the popular vote.

The essence of PROP 8 is "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

Seven million Californians said, “We believe that marriage is exclusively and only between a man and a woman.”

That should have ended the dispute, but it didn’t.

Several lawsuits were filed against PROP 8, which brought the case before a federal judge—U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker—who also happens to be openly gay.

This week Judge Walker, one man, ruled that PROP 8 was unconstitutional.

One man overturned 7 million votes!

So under Judge Walker, it's no longer 'We the People,' it's 'I the Judge.”

The case will now move through the very liberal ninth circuit court in San Francisco and will certainly end up in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Now…What is wrong with all of this?

STOP AND THINK A MOMENT: A same sex marriage union totally inverts—turns inside out, upside down—God’s original intent for the two genders.

In my opinion, and the majority of American’s opinion, it is a brazen attack against the traditional family that was ordained by God all the way back to Eden.

Let’s go back to the beginning of all things, the Garden of Eden, to the first man and woman:

Gen 2:18-22 “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the MAN to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for HIM…21 So the Lord God caused the MAN to fall into a deep sleep…

“While the MAN slept, the Lord God took out one of the MAN’S ribs and closed up the opening. 22 Then the Lord God made a WOMAN from the rib, and he brought HER to the MAN.”

God brought a woman to the man.

Genesis goes on to say:

“This explains why a MAN leaves his father and mother and is joined to his WIFE, and the two (Man and Woman) are united into one.” Gen 2

Jesus expounded on this Genesis passage in Matt. 19: 5

“Haven’t you read the Scriptures?” Jesus replied. “They record that from the beginning ‘God MADE them male and female.’

Jesus is pointing out that God made two distinct genders for the purpose of bringing them together.

In light of that, let’s consider what Judge Walker wrote in his decision against Prop 8:

“Today, gender is not relevant to the state in determining spouses' obligations to each other," Walker said. "Gender no longer forms an essential part of marriage."

Which is right, Judge Walker or the Bible? Judge Walker or Christ Jesus?

The Bible says God made them male (eesh) and female (Ish-shaw).

Listen closely to Jesus’ next word:

“This explains why a man (eesh) leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife (Ish-shaw), and the two are united into one.”

Then He said, “What God has joined together…”

God is the one that joins together EESH—man, and ISH-SHAW--woman.

And for what purpose? Jesus said MARRIAGE!!

Nowhere in all the Word of God can we remotely find anything on any other arrangement!

This is an undeniable, irrefutable, inescapable, non-negotiable truth in both scripture and the testimony of nature.

Now, I know it’s not popular to quote the passages I’m about to read, but again—let’s be faithful to God’s Word, His instruction manual for life and living.

Because the churches that pierce the darkness in these dark times will be those churches that stay with the Word of God, whatever the consequences.

How does God view homosexuality?

In 17 sexual prohibitions found in Leviticus 18, God adds personal commentary to only 3 of them:

Incest, which He calls “Wickedness.”

Bestiality, which He calls “Perversion.”

And Homosexuality, which He calls “Detestable.”

Now, I know the retort offered by the other side: That’s Old Testament! We don’t live in the O.T.!

Okay, let’s follow that logic:

Does that mean then that incest and bestiality are now okay, since prohibitions to those practices are also found in the O.T. in the very same chapter?

You can’t have it both ways!

You say, “But Jesus never directly condemned homosexuality! He never said the word about it!

But He never said anything about Bestiality or Incest either. He didn’t have to.

One of the laws of Biblical interpretation is that we should interpret a passage in light of what the rest of the Scriptures say on the topic.

The Bible agrees with itself. If something is true, the rest of scripture will support it.

So what does the Bible say about homosexuality in the N.T.? One example would be:

1 Cor. 6: 9-11 “Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, 10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.”

Then the Apostle points out:

“Some of you WERE once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

Paul says when they came to Christ, they forsook those things!

In Romans 1, the Bible says:

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

FOR THIS CAUSE God gave them up unto vile affections:

What were these “vile affections?”

…for even their women did exchange the natural use into that which is against nature:

And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.”

“Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a REPROBATE mind, to do what ought not to be done.”

Reprobation means the inability to distinguish right from wrong; it actually means the inversion of right and wrong.

What is Paul saying here?

He's saying something that every Christian, every Jew, and every American should pay close attention to:

God has revealed to all men the difference between right and wrong. You may not like God's rules, but we are all without excuse as to what those rules are.

If you don't obey God's rules, your heart becomes darkened to the truth. You might think you know better than God, but you are actually a fool if you do.

When a whole society rejects the One True God and begins worshipping false gods, it opens the society up to judgment.

Those judgments include more unrighteous behavior, sexual immorality, meanness, greed, envy, violence, conflict, lies, gossip, hate for God, pride, self-centeredness, mercilessness and disrespect for parents by children.

And No. 1 on the list is homosexuality.

Also notice, it's not JUST homosexuality, but an increase in those who take pleasure in the exhibition of homosexual behavior.

….they not only do these things themselves but approve and applaud others who practice them.”—vs. 32

Does this sound like any societies you know?

If Romans 1 is true, then it’s telling us that America is right now under God’s judgment.

We are already being judged in the here and now for rejecting God and one of those judgments is the explosion of homosexuality in our culture and the absolute explosion in the number of people accepting it, condoning it and even rejoicing in it.

Whether you are a Christian or not, this affects you.

It shapes the world in which you and your children live.

And if you think our society is depraved now, you haven’t seen anything yet if the church doesn’t stand up.

WHAT NOW?

Lovingly speak up to those seeking to mainstream homosexuality that it is wrong.

“Whoever says to the guilty, "You are innocent"— peoples will curse him and nations denounce him.

But it will go well with those who rebuke the guilty, and rich blessing will come upon them.”—Proverbs 24

Do what you can in your circle of influence to turn the tide.

In your children’s schools, in your churches, in your towns and cities, wherever this attack lands near you, be a voice of sanity and boldness.

Say, “You’re going to have to get past me for this to happen here.”

Do not fear being persecuted for your stand.

“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”—Matt. 5:11

The church that Pierces the Darkness will be the church that stays with the Word of God, no matter what.

Related Media

Related Sermons