Okay, again good evening and a warm welcome to our service. Normally here at Northside we have an emphasis upon verse-by-verse preaching through books of the Bible and we just recently completed a series through the book of Titus on Sunday evenings but occasionally we do just need to pause and give attention to certain topics as the Lord leads and so I think it'd be good for us tonight to just consider this whole matter of marriage from the scriptures. Turn with me please just as a verse to start off with, Isaiah chapter 5 and verse 20 please. Isaiah chapter 5 and verse 20 Just a verse to get us started tonight. It says, why don't you read it with me actually on the count of three. One, two, three. Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil, that put darkness for light and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. And that's really the situation we find ourselves in today in our nation. The further we get away from the word of God and absolute truth, then we have the redefining of what is good to make it evil and that which is evil to try and make it out to be good. And that's really the situation we have tonight, as we consider this whole matter of gay marriage and the attempts to redefine what is an absolute in the Word of God. All right, so tonight I want to just give you some Bible reasons to vote no, and you might say, well, Pastor, you're preaching to the converted tonight. We're all Christians. We're Christians here. We're already coming from that standpoint. But it is important that our minds be sanitized by the Word of God. And when we are constantly bombarded with the argumentation of the world on this matter, we can become confused, we can lose our way, we can become desensitized to just how serious this issue is. And so it's always good as a Christian to lay aside the opinions of man just come back and open our minds to the Word of God. We know that the Word of God will not change, praise the Lord, from forever says the psalmist, thy word is settled in heaven and as Christians we unashamedly begin with God. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, that is our presupposition and we make no apologies for that and we affirm that the Word of God is true in every detail, every jot and tittle, every word, and so we make no apologies for making scripture the basis for our views on marriage. Now, before we get any further, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we look to you tonight to help us as we just seek to look at this subject from the Word of God. Lord, I pray tonight that you would be with my tongue, Lord, with my mind, that you would enable me to speak what you would have me to speak. Lord, we pray that each one of us tonight would yield our thoughts to the Word of God We pray that we would be strengthened, Lord, to stand in an evil day, Lord, not to waver on the truths of your word, but to stand firm. We pray that you would place a hedge of protection about us as a church, Lord, as it becomes increasingly unpopular and increasingly difficult to maintain a stand for the word of God in our society and to to preach what your word says. So help us tonight. We pray for the filling of the Spirit of God for the preacher, but also for the hearer tonight that you would be our instructor, that you would give us understanding in thy word. For it's in Jesus' name we do ask it. Amen. Right, there's many good arguments have been put forward in the recent weeks as to why people should vote no in the postal survey. And of course, we're probably aware of some of these things like freedom of conscience and religion, freedom of speech, the fundamental right of children to have both a mum and a dad. There are many things at stake. As much as the media would like to brainwash people into thinking that there are no flow-on effects, The reality is there are, and just looking at other nations will attest to that fact. Wherever the marriage laws have been changed, the increase in persecutions to Christians is evident. You have Christian business people going before courts and tribunals I followed a case for some time of a very sweet Christian couple, the Ashes Bakery in Northern Ireland, who simply refused to bake a cake with the slogan, support gay marriage. And they didn't make a big hullabaloo about it. They simply refunded the amount that was paid and refused on the basis of their conscience. They were hauled to the anti-discrimination tribunal, forced to pay fines. It went all the way to, I think it was, right up the high levels of the courts, and the courts still ruled in their favour. So there are, when the marriage laws are changed, there are definite impacts on freedom of speech and freedom of conscience. And our former Prime Minister John Howard was right when he said recently, changing the definition of marriage is not an exercise in human rights and equality, it is an exercise in deauthorising the Judeo-Christian influence in our society. Now, I don't believe the man is saved, but I do appreciate that he sees that issue clearly, that this is a far bigger issue than just emphasising human rights, so-called, or equality. These are all misleading terms that are there to confuse people's minds and to rally support for a cause that actually has a much bigger agenda to push. And so we would support the current definition that marriage is the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life. And it's a blessing that the Howard government back in, I think it was 2004, correct me if I'm wrong there, made sure that those words were inserted. The amendment was made. It passed with a lot of support from both sides of parliament. in order to just firm that up. Now it's interesting, I watched an interview, you may have seen it with, just before this postal survey was approved, between the former Deputy Prime Minister, what's his name? Anderson? John Anderson. Yes, and ABC presenter. And you know, the argument they make is that, you know, the 1961 Marriage Act didn't specifically stated in such detail, in a detailed way as what the Howard government brought in. But as he pointed out, he said it was never on anybody's mind that you would actually have to clarify what marriage meant. But this is the day in which we live, that we have, things are changing. Those are all very important considerations and I do appreciate those who are putting those forward. But again tonight, I just want to present to you what the Word of God has to say on this issue because at the end of the day, Scripture is our authority. As Christians, we make no apologies for that and we just want to look at three reasons tonight from God's Word as to why we should, of course, vote no and stand against this. Firstly, because of God's design of marriage. God is the designer of marriage. And so we go right back to the beginning. So important that we go back to the foundation. This is why, by the way, a literal understanding of Genesis is very, very important to this whole issue. There are Christians out there, and praise God for them, who affirm biblical marriage, but at the same time want to, you know, insert evolutionary theory into the first few chapters of Genesis and want to do away with the literal understanding of Genesis. But we must understand that a literal understanding of the first few chapters of Genesis are foundational to this whole issue. Okay, if we don't believe in literal Adam and Eve and the literal events that took place, then we undermine the whole basis for marriage. So we go back to the beginning. And you know that Christ did this, didn't he? When he was confronted about the divorce question in Matthew 19 in verse 4, he went straight back to the beginning. He cited a quotation from the book of Genesis. He said in Matthew 19 4, and he answered and said unto them, have you not read that he which made them at the beginning, at the beginning made them male and female and said, and then he goes on to quote further from Genesis. Genesis 1, turn over there if you will please, Genesis chapter 1 and verse 27 and 28. God is the designer of marriage, it is not for us to mar and break that design. But Satan loves to reverse and to pervert, doesn't he, God's order. Genesis chapter 1 and verse 27 and 28 says, so God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female, underscore please, created he them. That is not politically correct anymore even to read that. It seems preposterous, doesn't it, to think that we would actually have to affirm something so basic that there are two genders, male and female, and that you were born one way or the other. Verse 28, and God blessed them and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. So God created quite clearly two distinct genders, he brought them together and in this verse, in verse 28, for the purpose of procreation, for the purpose of being fruitful, of multiplying and replenishing the earth, the word replenish has the idea to fill, to fill the earth with godly children. So right there we have God's purpose, God's divine purpose for marriage. He brought two distinct agendas together, united them for the purpose of multiplying. Now there were other purposes involved as well in God's design for marriage. It was to provide companionship, Genesis 2.18, Also, we find in the New Testament that it is a deterrent to sin, 1 Corinthians 7 and verse 2. And of course, most probably importantly, the marriage between a man and a woman pictures so beautifully the relationship between Christ and His church. Now, if we're going to say as Christians that two men or two women can marry, doesn't that do violence to the picture? What a heinous picture that paints if marriage is intended of God, as the Word of God says, to picture the pure and holy relationship between Christ and the Church. It just confuses things terribly. So that was God's divine purpose. And this is the type of definition that we would find in regular dictionaries. Webster's Dictionary, 1828, it defines the word marriage this way, and it's very biblical. says the act of uniting a man and a woman for life. Wedlock, the legal union of a man and woman for life. Marriage, he says, is a contract both civil and religious by which the parties engage to live together in mutual affection and fidelity till death shall separate them. He says, marriage was instituted by God, God-fearing man who wrote that dictionary, himself for the purpose of preventing the promiscuous intercourse of the sexes, for promoting domestic felicity, and for securing the maintenance and education of children. And these are all fundamental aspects that are bound up in the word marriage. To change or to attempt to redefine marriage requires us to do violence to the etymology of the word. It really does. It basically requires us to rewrite the dictionary. I mean, this is the most fundamental understanding of the very word marriage and it's just, that's the way things are going though. They're trying to assign a new definition and a new meaning to the word which really is impossible to do because marriage implies the coming together of two distinct entities with the possibility of children being born through that relationship and raised and nurtured and all those things that God has created. Now it's interesting, isn't it, that the activists have really hijacked a number of words. We hear so much today about marriage equality but they've actually really hijacked both of those words and assigned new meanings to them. As I've just mentioned, marriage, is quite clearly a union between a man and a woman and to call unions between same-sex couples marriage means to attach a new definition to the word and rewrite the dictionary. I mentioned that before. The word equality has also been hijacked too and it's intended to instill fear into those who would dare to speak against it because what is implied is that if you hold an alternative view therefore you mean these people are not equal to you and you're demeaning to them and you're discriminatory and all of that. But it's not discrimination. You can't say that when something is different. If you're going to say that something that is quite distinct and different is the same as this over here, that's not actually equality. That's confusion, okay? And again, you can just study even the etymology of the word. It has the idea of those things which are very similar and it can be used in mathematical terms, for example, when you talk about equal proportions of things or this size being equal to that size and that sort of thing and that's the concept there. It's interesting as well, isn't it, that the emblem that they have embraced or used to advocate their whole agenda is the rainbow. Now I believe that this is clearly satanic because in the Bible we find that the rainbow is actually a precious symbol. And isn't it just like the devil to take something that's in the Word of God as a symbol of purity and holiness and a symbol of that which is wholesome and use it as a banner for something that is so evil. And there's two main mentions of the rainbow in the Bible. Firstly, you remember in Genesis 9, after God had destroyed the world with a flood, God placed a rainbow in the cloud to be a reminder of his promise that he would never again destroy the world with a flood like he had. And so when we look out and we see a rainbow in the sky, it was never intended of God to remind us of anything so perverted and filthy as what has been advocated today. It was placed there to remind us that God is a promise-keeping God. and a covenant keeping God. It says here, God said, I do set my bow in the cloud, Genesis 9, 13, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. and it shall come to pass when I bring a cloud over the earth that the bow shall be seen in the cloud and I'll remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. So that's the first main use of the rainbow in scripture. Isn't that just like the devil to take something like that and to use it as a symbol for evil? You can't see Satan's hand behind that, I'm sure you can. Then we see the rainbow actually in heaven as well. Revelation 4.3 is John sees that glorious vision of heaven when he sees the throne and the thunderings and the lightnings coming out and tremendous vision. Read about it sometime there in Revelation 4. It says in Revelation 4.3, and he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone and there was a rainbow round about the throne in sight like unto an emerald. So we have the the rainbow encircling the throne of God, its appearance seems maybe a little distinct from the one we see in the clouds, it looks like an emerald, but nonetheless God refers to it there as a rainbow. So anything that's close to the presence of God is a symbol of holiness, isn't it? I mean what's happening there in the presence of God. The four beasts are crying out concerning God's holiness day and night. We have the four and twenty elders and the multitudes of angels falling down and worshipping, casting crowns. And so it is a satanic thing that has happened where the rainbow has now become a symbol of that which is unclean, that which is against God, that which is offensive to God. And this is what Satan loves to do. He loves to take what God has created, that which is wholesome and pure, and he likes to pervert and to corrupt it. And that's what's happening to marriage. It's not progress. We need to progress, they say, be progressive. It is not progression in the right direction at all. It's progression into that which is evil and depraved. So that's the first reason. God has designed marriage. It is clearly between a man and a woman to, and the Bible makes that so clear, male and female, created he them Christ, reiterated that in the New Testament. Let's look at that just quickly actually in Matthew 19. People say, oh I believe, I believe what Jesus said. Well the Lord Jesus believed in a literal Genesis. He did because he quoted it and used it in his defense. this whole subject of marriage in the context of divorce of course. Matthew 19 and verse 4 and he answered and said unto them that's the Pharisees have you not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female and said for this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh what therefore god hath joined together let not man put asunder so christ takes us right back to the beginning to the foundation to genesis three and four Genesis 1 and 2 and says, have you not read in the beginning that God made male and female and said? Isn't that interesting? The New Testament brings this out that the quotation that we read in the Old Testament there about a man leaving his father and mother was actually something that God pronounced over the new couple. So there was a wedding ceremony that took place. Wedding ceremonies are biblical. In the Garden of Eden, God created man, we know that. Then he put man to sleep, took a rib and made the woman. He brought them together and he said some things. Made them male and female and said, he that made them in the beginning, made them male and female and said. So God said something. There was a pronouncement made for this cause, shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh. So marriage, God's design for marriage will always be the same and it doesn't matter if how many parliaments in the world say otherwise, God will not change his definition. word of God will remain the same. Number two, second reason is because God abhors this sin, God's abhorrence of this sin, God's design for marriage, number one, is clear, so we should vote no. But number two, God's abhorrence of this sin is clear in Scripture. Turn to Romans chapter 1 please, Romans chapter 1, I noticed that those, the apostate theologians that try and twist the scriptures on this subject conveniently skip over Romans 1. You won't find them talking about Romans chapter 1 and it's because language cannot be plainer. Romans 1 and then in verse, I'll just read from verse 23, and change the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image of Sorry, hang on, verse 21 and down. 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 and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Wherefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonour their own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections. For even their women did change 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 with men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meat. even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. We notice that God abhors this sin and he describes it in a number of ways. Notice firstly it's described as unclean lust, verse 24. We covered this in our Roman series but let's remind ourselves particularly in light of what's happening in our nation. Unclean lust, God gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts and as the verse versus progress, we see that it is an uncleanness of a perverted kind, a uncleanness of a moral kind. And so, this is what the Bible refers to it as, it's unclean lust. It is interesting that unclean lust brings about unclean activity and this sin is filthy. It is dirty physically and that goes hand in hand with an unclean heart. It's dishonorable to the body, verse 24, wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. Dishonors the body, it's not an honor at all. It's interesting, the language the Word of God uses elsewhere, again describing this sin, 1 Corinthians 6, 9, it describes it as being an abuser of oneself, abuses of themselves with mankind. 1st Timothy 1 10 defile says uses the phrase defile themselves with mankind so It's self-abuse. It's dishonourable to the body which has been made and crafted by God in a special way to ultimately glorify Him, but in that particular area to be used within the confines of marriage to His honour. vile affections verse 26 for this cause God gave them up unto vile affections vile affections depraved passion depraved passion and that is what the Bible refers to it as now it's interesting isn't it that the the mainline propaganda is it's all about love it's all about love it's all about Love, but it's not, it's vile affection, the Bible says. It's depraved, it is dirty, it is wrong, vile, unclean. The Bible tells us quite clearly that it is an abomination. Leviticus 18, 22 says, Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, it is abomination. Whenever you read the word abomination in the Bible, just think, God hates this. God hates this, it is offensive to him, it is something that is repugnant to him, something that is repulsive to him. It seems in the Bible that God has very little tolerance for this sin and we know that God is long-suffering, we're going to get to that later, there is hope for salvation for even those tangled in this sin but God hates this sin, loves the sinner but hates the sin. It's unnatural practice, verse 26 and 27, refers to the men leaving the natural use of the woman, and then men with men working that which is unseemly. Verse 26, just before that, the women changing the natural use into that which is against nature. Now, isn't it interesting that, again, one of the main line lies that are pushed is that people are born this way. The Bible says it's actually unnatural. is unnatural, it is against nature, you have to push past the barriers that God has instilled into you as an individual to get into this sin and those who have done study, you won't hear about these types of studies, will confirm that it is a learned behavior. It is a learned behaviour and there are many studies as well, secular studies, that disprove that theory. You won't hear about it in the mainstream media that people are born that way. One example was the John Hopkins University group of academics did research in 2016, released a paper and summarised in that paper this this statement, there is virtually no evidence that anyone, gay or straight, is, quote, born that way if it means that their sexual orientation was genetically determined. And there's many other quotes I could give you, you can research that for yourself, but just take God's word as true, we don't need to have the backing of secular studies anyway. God says that it is that which is against nature, it's unnatural. unnatural, I mean the animals can work it out, the difference between male and female and this matter of procreation, it is man's wicked heart that drives him to push past the inhibitions that would normally be in him against these types of sins, unnatural practice. Burning lust, verse 27, It says that they burned in their lust one toward another. The word burned there means to inflame or to set on fire as Kenneth Woust says in his commentary, it is the rage of lust and there is a certain ferocity and a certain intensity that accompanies this sin. Studies show that it is not uncommon for homosexual males in the USA and other Western countries to have 300 partners per year. Why would you really want to get married? Why would you want to get married when the whole concept of marriage is faithfulness to the other person? Now, I know that not everyone in those types of relationships would do that, but this is commonplace. And it's because of the unrestrained lust of man has been just heightened and to a bizarre and terrible degree. And bizarre, it's interesting as we think about this matter of it being a burning lust, that research again shows that bizarre acts often accompany this sin and mutilation is common. Let me just read you an excerpt here from a book I read. In his biography, Where Death Delights, 1967, the New York City forensic expert, Dr. Milton Halpern, who makes no claim of being a Christian and avoids making moral judgments about homosexuality, nevertheless comments that, after having performed thousands of autopsies, he would warn anyone who chooses a homosexual lifestyle to be prepared for the consequences. He said, when we see brutal, multiple wound cases in a single victim, we just automatically assume that we're dealing with a homosexual victim and a homosexual attacker. And so this is a man, he's not a Christian, and he's not looking to be unpopular, he's just stating a fact. As a man who dealt with multiple homicides and had to examine thousands of, perform thousands of bodies, autopsies on bodies, he said that just with their experience and their expertise, there are certain types of mutilations and brutality inflicted on victims that they could just simply put down to being associated with that lifestyle and with that sin. So the Bible is true, it is a burning lust, there is an inflaming of lust in such a life. A San Francisco coroner also estimated that 10% of his city's homicides were probably related to sadomasochistic sex among homosexuals. It's interesting, isn't it, that violence seems to accompany this sin. Just read, again, the account of Sodom and Gomorrah, and you'll understand why there's so much violence out there amongst gay activists. Why they, you know, all the death threats and the violence and those sorts of things. Well, it goes hand in hand with this sin. It does. Read the account of Sodom and Gomorrah, what they said to Lot. They said, get out of the way, pal, or it's going to be real bad for you. And even when they had been smitten with blindness, you'd think that would wake you up and sober you. Even when they had been smitten with blindness by the hand of God, they still groped like animals to find the door. That's what the Word of God presents. So it's a burning lust. It's unseemly activity. Verse 27. Working that which is unseemly. The word unseemly means want of form, disfigurement and shame. It refers to that which is obscene, that which is indecent and that which is disgraceful. it is, it is obscene and it is indecent, it is not wholesome and pure like people would try and make it out to be. It's error, verse 27, receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meat. So you say why should I vote no? Well God hates this sin, very simple, God hates this sin and we should be more concerned about offending God than offending man. God's not going to change his word, God's not going to change his perspective as the eternal God on this sin. The example of Sodom and Gomorrah I mentioned before is another clear example where God rained down judgment upon a city that was given over to this sin. Now it's interesting that attempts are being made to reinterpret that. And they say, oh, the main sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was not the fact that they were Sodomites. The main problem was that they weren't hospitable. So it was the sin of not being hospitable. Let me just read you an excerpt of a theologian, so-called. She's a woman, so she shouldn't be a preacher anyway. And you may have seen this, I hope, don't bother reading it, it's just, it makes your stomach turn, but she wrote an article for the ABC recently entitled, What Does the Bible Really Have to Say About Same-Sex Marriage? And she tries to redefine and to twist the Genesis 19 account among other key scriptures on this topic. She says, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19 is well known. This is where the term Sodomite and sodomy originate. Right there, stop right there please. Exactly, that's the point isn't it? But anyway, she goes on and she says, and it has long been associated with biblical condemnation of male homosexual sex. It is, however, actually about gang rape, she said. It is a deeply problematic and complex story. It's not very complex at all, actually. Just read the plain English. But it's a deeply problematic and complex story that warrants an article of its own, she says. But what is clear is that sexual violence and rape is harshly condemned. She says, despite the linguistic history of the word sodomite, Genesis 19 has nothing to say about homosexuality or mutually consenting adults of the same gender expressing their desire and love. That's evil isn't it? She quite conveniently in that article misses Romans 1 and she also misses very key scriptures that single out Sodom and Gomorrah clearly because of this sin. Now it wasn't their only sin, we know that there was pride and fullness of bread and other things but that's all linked to this type of sin when people are just given over to lust and pleasure and But let me just read for you back in Genesis 13, 13 what God said about Sodom and Gomorrah. It says, but the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. In the New Testament, this verse was also conveniently absent from the article, Jude 1 verse 7 clearly singles out Sodom and Gomorrah as an example. says, even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner giving themselves over to fornication and going after, listen, strange flesh, it sounds pretty plain to me what the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was, are set for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. The Bible says quite clearly here, don't be confused, that Sodom and Gomorrah is set forth as an example, an exhibit by God in his word as a place that came under God's judgment because they were sold out to fornication and immorality of a particular kind, a pursuit of strange flesh, flesh of a different kind. And this is not politically correct at all, but the Bible says that the inhabitants of those city are suffering, present tense, the vengeance of eternal fire. So there's a lot at stake, isn't there, with this sin? it will take a person to hell except they repent and trust in Christ to cleanse them and to wash them. So Genesis 19, the example of Sodom and Gomorrah should be a reminder to us and never mind the attempts to redefine this, it is quite clear in Scripture that their primary sin was this sin, they were depraved and given over to the pursuit of perversion And so we shouldn't be afraid to use that example. So that's the second reason. And the first reason, God has designed marriage. It's clearly between a man and a woman. That's God's model. It will not change. You cannot change, or you can try to, but you can't in reality change the definition of marriage as God would have it. To do so, you have to do violence to the dictionary. Secondly, God abhors this sin, therefore we should also have a similar attitude. Does it mean we hate the individual? No. Does it mean that we don't extend the gospel net to them? No. We'll get to that in a moment as we summarize. But number three, and briefly, we should also vote no because of God's sure judgment of rebellious nations. And I really do fear for our nation if we continue to stubbornly persist in the Romans 1 progression downwards. It's progressive alright, but it's Romans 1 progression and it's not up, it's right down, the staircase to hell. And God is not a neutral bystander, that's what Romans 1 really shows us, God is not a neutral bystander. when men persist in their stubborn rejection of Him. That's the starting point. Read Romans 1. There's the rejection of the Creator. And in that vacuum, there's the worship of nature. It's interesting, isn't it, that the most vigorous and violent advocates of this whole agenda are the Greens people or people that hold really the worship of the environment. It goes right hand in hand with this. Read Romans 1. But God's judgment, God will surely judge our nation if we are so foolish as to think we can legislate a law that is contrary to his law. And we owe a lot to the fact that our nation was founded in many respects upon the Bible. Now, it hasn't had a perfect history, but this book has shaped the Western world, has shaped the English-speaking world in more ways than people even realize. In fact, really what we're doing now as a nation, we are spending up the capital that was that's been handed down to us. That's what we're doing at the moment. We're still enjoying freedom but we're spending up the capital, we're spending up the reserve that has been fought for, that has been left there for us by our forefathers who at least would uphold some of these most fundamental principles. But turn with me to Psalm 917 as we're just thinking about God's response to a nation. And this is a sin on a national level. Psalm 9 and verse 17. Powerful verse. Let's read it together on the count of two. One, two. The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. so God will not only judge individuals but God will judge nations and history will attest to that fact. Read the Old Testament and see the judgment that God brought upon the nation of Israel for their rebellion against him. God will not allow us to persist forever in our rebellion against him. Proverbs 14 34 says, righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. It's interesting, isn't it, that people are very concerned at the moment that we're not up with the rest of the Western world and that somehow that's a reproach to us. We need to be respectable and we need to have an Australia that's caught up with places like America and these other places and Ireland and England. Because it's so shameful that we haven't caught up. No, it's a reproach to legislate that which is contrary to the Word of God. Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. And God's Word is true. If we continue to legislate and enshrine into our system of law things which are wrong and sinful, and there's already a whole basket of them there already, it will continue to be a reproach to us as a nation. Again, history will attest to the fact that God will judge a nation if it persists in rebellion against him. Israel in the Old Testament. Many ancient empires no longer exist. Read history. They simply rotted and decayed morally and broke, broke down. Rome is an example. Just the ancient Roman Empire collapsed, I understand, largely due just to the rampant immorality and wickedness of its citizens. So we have been blessed in Australia with a Christian heritage. Think of men like Samuel Marsden who came out on the first fleet and preached that sermon on the shores there from Psalm, I forget the Psalm now, but giving thanks to the Lord, what will I render to the Lord for all his benefits towards me, and so on. We have been blessed. And having Christian principles embodied into our society and our laws. But it is a grief to us that we see our nation even debating such things. It should grieve your heart. And I guess what's particularly sad is that it could be an indicator that we are coming under God's judgment at a new level because you read Romans 1 and God is the one that removes the restraints and says, okay, you've rebelled against me for so long, I'm now going to give you up. I'm going to give you over. So, three reasons tonight. There's probably many others, but I believe these take us to the heart of the issue, particularly the first two points. Number one, God's definition of marriage is found in the Word of God. We need to hold to that as Christians. Number two, God's perspective on this sin. And then number three, God will certainly judge a rebellious nation. And so these should all be very sound biblical reasons for us to vote no. So in conclusion, three things. Number one, vote no. Number two, share the gospel. Turn to 1 Corinthians 6, please. And this is where we do insert a light of hope for those who are entangled in this sin. So pastor, can anybody who is a homosexual be saved? Yes, I believe they can, absolutely. And we read that here in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 9 to 11. It says, no you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, notice the next phrase please, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, that's homosexuality. Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. Okay, there's a whole list there. Fornicators, adulterers, thieves, covetous. There's many other sins that'll keep you out of heaven as well. In fact, any sin will keep you from heaven. But notice verse 11, And such were some of you, but ye are washed. but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. They say, oh, these people are born that way, they don't need any sort of conversion. They need conversion. They need to be washed in the blood of Christ. They need cleansing. They need true hope in Christ. So share the gospel. God can save. People entangled in that sin. Corinth was notorious. The city of Corinth where Paul ministered for some time was notorious for this type of sin. they can be saved, it just depends on how far down Romans 1 they've gone. Eventually they will reach, according to Romans 1, the state of a reprobate mind where they pass the point of no return. But you and I don't know when that is, so our job is to faithfully present the gospel and knowing that God would desire all men to be saved. So vote no, share the gospel and love the sinner, hate the sin. The answer is not to become a gay basher, okay, as a Christian. There are some groups that go to unscriptural extremes in their denunciations of this sin. We need to just see it seriously as the Word of God presents and not dim our flag in any way in that regard but just proclaim the truth in love, love the sinner but hate the sin and that's what God does, doesn't he? He loves the sinner But he hates the sin. The problem we have today is people want you to condone them as an individual and their activities and their sin. But we cannot afford to do that. We must maintain that distinction. Above all else, number four, pray. Pray for our nation. Pray for our families. Pray for our children growing up in a confused society and that God will help us as parents to raise them in the fear and the admonition, the nurture and the admonition of the Lord, the fear of God. Let's pray. Lord, you've said in your word well unto them that call good evil and evil good. And Lord, we confess publicly tonight that this is the great sin of our nation. Lord, not just with this sin, but with sin in general, Lord. With so many sins, Lord, we just lighten them. We fail to see them so often as you see them. Lord, forgive our nation for even having this debate. Lord, we pray for our Prime Minister. Lord, it grieves our heart to think that the leader of this nation would so publicly and openly campaign for something so wicked and so sinful. We pray that you'd have mercy upon him. Lord, he needs to be saved. He needs salvation. Lord, our parliamentarians, many of them need conversion. Lord, we pray for those who are trapped in the Sodomite lifestyle. Lord, we pray that the light of the gospel would shine into them. We pray for the breaking of Satan's chains in their lives. Lord, we thank you for testimonies of those who have been wonderfully delivered from that sin, wonderfully delivered and cleansed and washed and given new hearts and, Lord, new lives in Christ. Lord, we pray that you would enable us as a church to use this time to remind people of the Word of God. We humbly, Lord, acknowledge your Word as truth and it is the supreme authority And Lord, we pray that you would enable us to somehow use this situation that is very dark and very black for the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the cause of the gospel. We ask these things in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen.