Romans 1:24-32: A Map for Sodom

Scripture Reading

2 Thes 2:13-17 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

Intro

How should Christians navigate Pride Month?

What does God’s Word say?

That is the big question we are trying to answer.

And its a crucial question, because this is the battlefield of our day.

The testing ground of Christian faithfulness and churches that either honor God or fall away from him.

And while homosexuality, transgenderism, and the whole LGBTQ+ ideology is rampant every day of the year…the month of June is particularly challenging because during Pride Month, the pressure gets ratcheted up to an 11.

Its in the grocery store when you go to buy milk.

Its at your coffee shop. On TV.

In sporting events. Public Libraries

Ads as it seems like everyone everywhere is racing to the bottom to prove just how much of an ally they can really be.

Pride flags fly over front lawns...neighbor's houses.

They even desecrate town squares, public spaces, and government buildings for everyone to see, as if to say, “Conquered territory.”

The war’s been won…Get on board or be on the wrong side of history because you’ve already lost.

Everywhere you look homosexuality is in a full frontal assault, and Pride Month is their blitzkrieg.

And if that weren’t enough, many of you even have to face the war at your job.

The place you try to provide an honest living for you and your family.

You go to work and you face pressure at the price of your paycheck to get on board and conform to the rest of the world or face the consequences.

What do you do?

Unfortunately many Christians have chosen to take the path of least resistance.

Some professing Christians outright support it while other have just opted to go along to get along.

Either way they’ve compromised their faith and the Bible’s teaching.

But what would God have us do?

How should we navigate living in Sodom…a city in the Bible famous for a homosexual culture that God ultimately destroyed under His wrath judgment.

Because, make not mistake, Pride Month, more than ever, shows us just how much of a Sodom our world truly is.

So what do we do?

What does faithfulness look like?

How, if possible, are able to fight back?

More than ever, Christians need a map for Sodom.

They need clear teaching from God’s Word for how to see our world, and how God would have us live in it.

What encouragement does God’s Word have for you today to give you map for Sodom and help you stay faithful to Christ?

Let’s go to Romans 1.

I want to start with what the Bible says about homosexuality, and more specifically, more specifically, what homosexuality says about a culture in general that has embraced it and celebrates it as much as our own.

And then I want to look at five applications, five biblical principles for how to navigate living in Sodom.

How to glorify Christ, stay faithful to Him, and not allow ourselves to be conformed to the pattern of this world.

Let’s start in Romans 1:18.

Romans 1:18-20 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

The main idea of what Paul is getting at here is that sinful men are justly condemned as sinners under God’s wrath.

The wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

That truth, according to verses 19 and 20, is the glory of God.

That He is the Creator of the world and worthy of all worship, adoration, and praise from all creatures.

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

The created world, general revelation, the things that God has made, bear witness to the glory of God.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork (Psalm 19:1).

The things God has made bear witness to our soul that there is a God and He is worthy to be worshiped.

Clouds

Let me give you just one example. Take clouds.

Clouds show the glory of God.

They show His creativity and beauty.

His grandeur and majesty.

No two clouds are the same and some are immense and overpowering.

Overwhelming.

And then you add to that the glory they have when they reflect the light the sun highlighting every plume and billow in such a way they literally take your breath away by their beauty in their peace.

They can also show God’s strength, power and terrible judgment as a storm, dark and terrible, rolls in on the clouds.

Clouds reveal God’s wisdom that is so magnificent and infinitely higher than our own that He can make these giants balls of dust, water, and air that weigh literal tons sail lazily through the sky floating lighter than air.

They show His goodness…kindness…and mercy bringing rain on the just and the unjust alike.

In every way, clouds declare the glory of God.

They proclaim His eternal power and divine nature.

And they are always preaching. They are always telling us there is a God behind these clouds and that God is worthy of all of our praise.

What can be known about God is plain to them…and have been clearly perceived.

And that’s just clouds…not to mention, the mountains, water falls, forest glades, the human eye, the ocean waves...

All creation speaks about the glory of God and invites us to join in the chorus of His praise

But sinful men, by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

They ignore the glory of God, and push it down.

They suppress the truth because they love their sin.

And so the Bible says, they are without excuse.

Romans 1:21-23 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Notice they did not honor God or give thanks to him.

That honor is going to come up here in a second because God’s judgment on sinners for dishonoring Him is that He gives them over to sins that dishonor themselves.

The other thing I want you to notice is that worship is inevitable. There’s no escaping it.

God created us to worship, and so we are always going to worship something.

We are either going to worship and serve the God of the Bible through Jesus Christ, or something else.

And sin is how we try to serve the idols we have made for ourselves in our own hearts to ultimately give us something God has forbidden or something that God alone can give.

That’s why all sin, at its root, is idolatry.

It is looking for life, purpose, meaning, joy, and peace in something, anything other than God himself.

If obedience is worship of the One True God…then sin is worship of all the false ones.

And what happens when people reject God and refuse to give Him the honor due to His Name?

One of the most terrifying verses in the Bible and one of the reasons God’s grace is so amazing to save us even when everything in us was running headlong toward our sin.

Verse 24...

Romans 1:24-25 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Notice how God’s judgment fits the crime.

Therefore, because they did not worship God and honor Him, God gave them up to the dishonoring of themselves.

And the dishonoring that is specifically in view here is sexual immorality.

Paul talks about God giving them up to the lusts of their hearts to impurity and even the dishonoring specifically of their bodies.

Warning Against Sexual Immorality

Sexual immorality is the first sign of a person or a culture abandoning God and not giving Him the glory due to His Name.

That puts new weight, men, not that women can’t sin this way too, to when Job says Job 31:1 I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?

No wonder Paul tells us to Flee sexual immorality (1 Cor. 6:18).

Sexual immorality is the siren call that tells us, beyond a shadow of a doubt, we are on the wrong path.

There is something in us not honoring God that must be put to death.

And notice that sexual immorality itself is the judgment.

God gives them over to their sin. You want sin, have your sin.

Let it dig its cords into you. Bind you in its fetters.

Devour you as God warned Cain and make you its slave (Gen 4:7).

And Paul says that God gives them over to this judgment because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie.

Literally in Greek that is exchanged the truth of God and His glory for the lie.

What lie?

The one all the way from the garden.

You will be like God knowing good and evil (Gen. 3:5).

You don’t have to listen to God. Trust what He says is good and evil. You can decide for yourselves.

Be your own God. Be your own authority. Determine for yourself what is right and wrong.

That’s what sin is…rebellion against God.

Then verse 26.

Romans 1:26-27 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

There again you hear that theme of dishonoring.

They did not honor God so God gave them up to dishonor themselves.

And now there is a progression.

God doesn’t just give them up to the dishonoring of their bodies, and He even gives them up to dishonorable passions, specifically referring to homosexual desires and behavior.

We’ve seen this progression in our culture.

First you had the sexual revolution in the 60s and 70s and now because there’s been no repentance, but only sin on top of sin, God has given our culture over to homosexuality.

So there’s two things I want to say from this passage as it refers to where we are in our culture today.

Number 1...

1. Homosexuality is a Sin

You would not think you would have to say that, but there is unfortunately a lot of the confusion in the church today.

The Bible is clear: 1 Corinthians 6:9 - homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of God.

That does not make it the unforgivable sin, that is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

In fact, 1 Corinthians 6 lists homosexuality with a litany of other sins: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor thieves, nor greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers.

Its not just homosexuality, but every sin without repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, will keep you out of the Kingdom of God.

But why homosexuality gets highlighted as a sin because it is the major battle of our day.

The place where the world is pushing with all its might to try get us to compromise on Christ and conform.

So one thing I thought would be helpful would be to give you answer to common arguments to try and get Christians to move on the issue of homosexuality so that you can be well equipped and give a defense.

Pork and Shrimp

The first is obviously attacking Scripture.

Leviticus 18:22 which says You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination, one of two arguments will usually come up.

First, that’s just an Old Testament command.

A few problems with that...

The Old Testament is still the Word of God.

And the New Testament repeatedly confirms the testimony of the Old Testament that homosexuality is a sin in multiple places, such as the two we’ve already looked: Romans 1 and 1 Corinthians 6.

Related to that, someone will point to other Laws of the Old Testament and say if you are going to say homosexuality is a sin, why don’t you follow all those.

Why do you eat shrimp and pork or wear clothes made of two different kinds of fabric?

This is why we need a high and robust view of the Law. And more specifically the general equity principle the Law is trying to command.

The food laws of the Old Testament relate to being clean and unclean in regard to worship.

Those commands are fulfilled and put away in Christ who makes us clean by His blood on the cross.

Other commands regarding sexual morality and murder are still in effect because they are how we love our neighbor to the glory of Christ.

I Was Born This Way

Another common argument you’ll here is I was born this way, as if someone is a homosexual by nature and it is impossible for a leopard to change its spots.

This is why you get many Christians affirming Same Sex Attraction.

That homosexual desires are not sinful but homosexual acts themselves.

That’s a lie. All sinful desires need to be put to death.

We would not say the same thing to the murderer who has hate in their heart or the adulterer who lustfully desires to cheat on their spouse.

But even if we were to grant that someone could be born homosexual, which there is no proof whatsoever that is the case, that wouldn’t validate homosexuality as a lifestyle at all because all that all it would confirm is that we are born in original sin.

That we are sinful from birth and all of us need God’s grace and forgiveness no matter what that sin is and come to Christ.

Jesus was Loving and Accepted Everyone

Finally, proponents of homosexuality will point to Jesus and say He was loving and accepting of everyone.

Christians should be more like that.

Amen. Isn’t it wonderful that Jesus is loving and accepting of everyone.

Whoever comes to Him He will never cast out. That’s the good news of the gospel.

But what does He say? Go and sin no more.

Its not loving to see someone drowning in their sin on the road to Hell and do nothing to try and help.

Love is not defined as full blown affirmation of someone’s sin, whatever that might be.

Love is defined by speaking the truth, and telling someone the good news of Jesus Christ and how they might be saved, like we all need to be saved.

Homosexuality is a sin and we must affirm it is a sin, because if we don’t we rob people of the good news of the gospel.

And number 2...

2. Celebrated Homosexuality and Pride Month are the Manifestation of God’s Judgment Against Our Culture

Notice Paul says they receive the due penalty for their error.

What’s that error? Not honoring God or giving thanks to Him.

And here’s where I really wanted to get to in this sermon.

Homosexuality is not the greatest problem of our culture.

Pride Month exists because our culture has rejected God in every way.

Sexual Immorality and Homosexuality is God giving us over to judgment for not honoring Him or giving thanks to him.

Our culture did not get here because of Homosexuality.

Our culture is here because people hate God.

Pride Month is only the manifestation that our culture has rejected God in every way and that God has given us over to show us the broken cisterns of our sin.

We have a bigger problem than homosexuality. That’s just the symptom.

The real problem is our outright rejection of God and love for our sin.

If you keep reading Romans 1, Paul doesn’t stop there, once homosexuality goes, it all goes.

God gave them up to a debased mind and they were filled with all manner of unrighteousness.

They become so debased in mind that the whole culture is given over and no one knows what’s even right or wrong anymore.

The call good evil and evil good.

And then they not only give themselves to all manner of sin, but actually give approval to those who practice such sin too.

Sound familiar?

Our culture has rejected God in every way and for that God has given us over to judgment manifesting itself in all kinds of sexual immorality culminating ultimately in homosexuality.

And the reason God’s judgment against sinful man for dishonoring Him is sexual immorality is because sexual immorality in particular dishonors sinful man.

God says, “You don’t want to honor me? Then you will dishonor yourselves.”

All sexual sin is shameful.

1 Cor. 6:18 Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

And the more perverse sexual sin is the more shameful and dishonoring it is.

And the reason this judgment culminates in Homosexuality is because Pauls says its unnatural.

Its as unnatural for us as male and female as not worshiping God and honoring Him is for us as human beings made in His image.

God created us in His image for His glory and when we don’t honor Him and live for Him and worship Him we run counter to our nature and who God made us to be.

The same way homosexuality runs counter to our nature of who God made us as male and female.

We need to stop hacking at the fruit and get at the root.

Our culture has rejected God. They hate God and Pride Month is just a symptom of it.

The answer is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our culture needs the gospel as never before.

And as the pressure ramps up to compromise, shrink back, or smooth out the edges of our faith, we need to determine to stand resolute and stay faithful to Christ.

And this is where I want to get to the application, a map for Sodom, to help us as Christians to honor Christ and live faithfully in our world today.

We are going to have four...

Number 1...

I. Know Your Enemy

Here is the temptation we can face when enemies of the gospel start to raise up against us.

When they start pushing us, hating us, maligning us...

We can start to hate them in return.

To see them as the enemy and start to curse them in our hearts, instead of having the heart of the Father who loved us even while we were His enemies and sent His only Son to die for us.

People living in the LGBTQ+ lifestyle and their allies who, following the language of Romans 1, give approval to those who practice such things and demand or coerce us to do the same...

They are not the true enemy.

We need to remember what the Bible says about sinners...

They are slaves to their sin.

Blind, lost, and dead.

They are of their father the devil following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit, that’s Satan, now at work in the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2).

Everyone pushing this sinful ideology may be our enemy in this spiritual war, but they are not our ultimate enemy. Our chief enemy.

They are nothing more than Satan’s slaves...slave-soldiers…2 Timothy 2:26 trapped in the snare of the devil, captured by him to do his will.

Because Paul says...

Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Sinful men in rebellion against God need to be saved.

They are not the enemy. They are the mission field.

They might work against us, push against us, but outside the grace of God there goes eye.

They need the gospel and they need to be set free.

As Puritan William Gurnall says: When reproached and persecuted by wicked men, look beyond them. Spend your wrath on Satan, who is your chief enemy. Men are only his puppets…We are not to bend our wrath against them, but against Satan who rides them and spurs them on. Let’ us pray fervently, as Christ did on the cross, that the devil will be dismounted and these miserable souls delivered from him (Complete Armor Vol. 1, Banner of Truth, 140-141).

And thankfully, God has given us the very weapons to do it.

2 Corinthians 10:3-4 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

Preaching, Prayer, the Power of the Holy Spirit.

Those are our weapons that can destroy strongholds like Pride, and bring people out of sin into light.

And particularly important for our discussion, what did Jesus tell us to do for our enemies?

Luke 6:27-28 But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

Christ prayed Father forgive them and so should we.

God bring repentance. Bring revival. Save these people from their sin.

What’s so sad is how often are we praying for the repentance of our nation?

We talk about the wickedness of our nation.

We grumble about it. Bemoan it.

But do we pray about it?

Let me give you a challenge. One I want to take up myself.

Peter tells us that while he was living in Sodom, Righteous Lot grieved and tormented his soul over the lawless deed that he saw and heard (2 Peter 2:8).

We know that feeling well.

It punches us in the gut every time we see a rainbow or a pride flag.

But remember what the rainbow is.

Its God’s promise to never destroy the earth again for the wickedness of men, and in their wickedness, sinful men have taken God’s promise and thrown it in His face to mock Him.

But every time you see one of those flags and your grieved in your soul...

Don’t grow in anger. Don’t give into despair.

Don’t just complain and bemoan the wickedness of our day.

Pray.

Father in heaven, hallowed by your name. Your kingdom come. You will be done. On earth as it is in heaven.

Don’t give up one of the most powerful weapons we have and let it rust in the corner.

Pray for God to remember His promise and save sinners by the blood of Jesus Christ.

And that takes us to number 2...

II. No One is Outside of God’s Power to Save

The Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16).

No one is beyond the grace of God.

Look at...

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

But what’s the good news...

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Homosexuals are included in that list! They are not outside the grace of God.

The blood of Jesus is powerful enough to cleans us from all sin.

Maybe you have a friend or relative that struggles with homosexuality. There is hope in Christ.

Maybe you’re here today, suffering in silence.

Afraid someone might find out that you struggle with this sin that you wish you could be freed from.

Let me encourage you…come to your pastors.

Don’t be afraid that if we really knew we would just get rid of you.

Let us pray for you. Weep with you. Encourage you of God’s amazing grace and power to save.

He can free you of your sin.

He can change your inner heart’s desire.

He does it with all of us.

All of us can tell you the sin we once loved we don’t love anymore, and Christ can do that for you.

Because remember His promise in John 8:36 If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

And we need to remember that as a church as we take the gospel out to the world trusting in God’s power to save even the most hardened sinners that we might think are too far gone.

Number 3...

III. Refuse to Be Conformed to the World

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world...

Pride Month is all about making you conform. Fall in line. Get on board.

The whole thing a satanic blitzkrieg designed to demoralize you and make you think resistance is futile so that you just give up the fight.

But Paul says that we are to be wise to Satan’s schemes (2 Cor. 2:11).

We need to know His playbook that we may be able to stand firm (Eph. 6:11).

So what is his playbook with Pride month and LGBTQ+ in general to make you conform to the world so that you can see the plays being run on you and stand firm?

Voddie Bauchem is exceptionally helpful here.

He references a book published in 1989 called After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the '90s, and it had a strategy that if you read it today reads like a history book for what we are seeing today.

1. Desensitizing

This is getting homosexuality and transgenderism out there and making it seem normal.

Commercials, shows, movies, education.

Use everything you can to make them desensitized and see it as just a normal, alternative way of life.

2. Jamming

This is associating negative things with being against homosexuality or transgenderism.

Your a bigot. A Nazi.

Filled with hate.

Things designed to make you embarrassed of your convictions so that you every time you confronted with them you’re tempted to distance yourself.

And as a note, this is why it is so important that your identity be in Christ and not the opinions of the world or fear of man

3. Conversion

This is not making people themselves gay.

Its about turning people into allies. Fellow soldiers on their crusade

and I’ll add in a fourth...

4. Coercion

Where the culture has been so turned and converted, that anybody that stands up for a biblical view of marriage is shamed, fired, or canceled.

But you must choose to stand for the gospel no matter the cost.

Work Application

Let me speak specifically to some of you in really difficult work situations.

I can’t tell you what to do in every circumstance, but what I can tell you is you cannot bend the knee to Baal.

You need to do whatever is necessary to be able to stand before God with a clear conscience.

The Holy Spirit will guide you…and it might cost you.

I’ll be honest with you…You might lose your job or miss out on that promotion or raise if you go along with what they want you to do.

But remember Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

When Nebuchadnezzar built that statue, they didn’t bow.

They didn’t even pretend to bow just trying to go along to get along telling themselves they weren’t really worshiping this false God in their heart.

No they stood firm. And when they stood firm, they had no guarantee they were going to make it out.

Facing the fiery furnace they looked at Nebuchadnezzar and said, God is able to deliver us, but even if not, we are not going to bow down to that idol you set up.

Their mentality was if we die, we die.

And that needs to be yours as well. If I get fired I get fired. I’m going to have a clean conscience before the Lord.

And do so in such a way that you give no one anything evil to say about you (Tit. 2:8).

This is true about work in general. If you are going to be a light for the gospel, you better be Christians all the way down.

Be a hard worker. Respect your boss. Show up on time.

So that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame (1 Peter 3:16).

IV. Sharpen the Arrows

We need to prepare our kids.

Barring another Great Awakening this is the world they are growing up in, and they need to be prepared.

Psalm 127:4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth.

Our kids are the next generation we are shooting down range to influence the world with the gospel.

Whoever controls the kids controls the future

That’s why there is so much debate surrounding kids today.

By nature the whole sexual immorality worldview produces less children with homosexuality, transgenderism, birth control and abortion.

So they have to get the kids of the future from somewhere.

And that’s why we need to prepare our kids.

Here’s what I did with Owen when he started asking me some questions.

I took him back to Genesis and how God made Adam and Eve and what I’m trying to teach him is the goodness of God’s design.

When God made everything He said it was good. But when God made man in his own image - in the image of God He created them, male and female He created them - God said it was very good (Gen. 1:27, 31).

We need to show them and teach them the goodness of godly manhood and womanhood.

That includes appearance. Our boys need to look like boys and our girls need to look like girls.

The way they dress and cut their hair should be distinctly and overtly masculine and feminine in contrast to our androgynous culture.

And we need to teach our sons to be strong, courageous, protecting of others.

And we need to teach our girls to be wise, modest, gentle, and how God has given them ability to conquer the work by how they build their homes and set their family tables. .

And men that all starts with us. How we lead our families.

Its on us to do all that we can to build godly marriages and strong Christian families with the help of our wives to show our kids to goodness of God’s design.

Families are the foundation of the culture and this ware is going to be won at the dinner table, at bedtime, in the yard.

As go the men so goes the family and as goes the family so goes the world.

The fights not out there. Its right here with our families first.

Number 5...

V. Hold Fast to Christ

Matthew 5:11-12 Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

There are worst things than dying and that’s dying like a coward who coincidentally will also not inherit the Kingdom of God (Revelation 21:8).

When we suffer for the sake of Christ, Jesus tells us our reward is great in heaven.

And when need to remember that in everything we don’t live for the approval of man, we live for the approval of Christ and Him alone.

Conclusion

It can seem like Pride Month and the whole LGBTQ+ ideology is a giant that will never fall.

We almost can’t imagine it.

But remember the spies who came back from the land.

Most of them said what?

We ‘ll never take it. They are giants and we are like grasshoppers in their eyes (Numbers 13:33).

But that was unbelief.

Faith spoke with Joshua who said, They may be giants, but they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us (Numbers 14:9).

Or as Jesus said, the gates of death will not prevail against the church (Mt. 16:18).

All Pride Month does is show us how much our world truly needs the gospel, and how our only job is to remain faithful to Him.

I think it will be encouraging, given how dominate Pride Month and everything with it seems in our culture, to leave you with a quote from Puritan William Gurnall about the assurance of God’s victory over the strongholds of Satan even when everything around us seems dark...

But all the plots of hell and commotions on earth have not [in the least] shaken God’s hand to spoil one letter or line He has been drawing. The mystery of His providence may hang a curtain before His work so that we cannot see what He is doing, but even when darkness surrounds Him, righteousness is the seat of His throne…Where is our faith, saints? Let God be wise, and all men and devils be fools. Even if a Babel seems more likely to go up than a Babylon to be pulled down, yet believe God is making His secret approaches and will besiege Satan’s stronghold…Do not be too quick to bury the church before she is dead. Be patient while Christ [works] His skill before you give it over. [And] By your prayers, bring Christ to its grave to speak a resurrection word.

Gurnall, Complete Armor, Vol. 1, 122-123.

Let’s Pray