So when we come to deal with homosexuality, we've got to deal with it from a biblical perspective. So what does the Bible say? The other argument is, very often, it's an Old Testament issue, not a New Testament issue. Therefore we ought not to be so concerned about it in modern times.
It is an Old Testament issue, but it's also a New Testament issue as well. Because Paul deals with it in Romans chapter 1, Paul deals with it right into Timothy. So it's there in the New Testament, and we've got to keep that in mind. It's also in 1 Corinthians 6. So the question is, what does the Bible say about homosexuality?
1 Corinthians 6 speaks of it and says, those who engage in this, those who are homosexual, will not inherit the kingdom of God. But Paul goes on to say, such were some of you, but you've been washed and justified and sanctified. So is it a sin that can be cleansed and washed and people can be saved from it? by all means. And the church has got to view it that way. It's not the unpardonable sin, but it is a sin.
Can a Christian be homosexual? That's often a question that comes up in this whole thing as well. Well Paul talks in that passage that such were some of you, but they have been washed and cleansed and sanctified and justified. So a believer cannot follow a homosexual lifestyle. We are saved from our sin, not saved in our sin. And people need to remember that as well.
A society takes a different view. It's what you want to do, do what you want. That's not what scripture teaches. So the church has got to keep that in mind. We do have to evangelize, we do have to show to them the gospel. We ought not to come with hatred. We've got to come with the view they need the gospel, they need Christ.
I don't think that's true. The church has always spoken against sin wherever it appears. At least it ought to do that. Homosexuality is a dreadful sin, though, because it was the issue in Sodom. It's why God punished Sodom. So there are... And the Catechism, our Catechism teaches that some sins are more heinous than others.
I do think people think that Christianity ought to be loving and embracing of everything and tolerant of everything, to a point. We've got to remember, though, that we ought not to be tolerant of sin. Sin is to be condemned. In a quest to be loving, we've got to be careful we still maintain scriptural principles. God is love. He's also a God of justice. He's also a God who'd give His law. We can't divorce His love from His law or His love from His justice.
And if a person goes to the extreme of everything, has to be viewed in a loving way, and we leave out the word of God, then that's not true love. It is true love to say to someone, your homosexuality is wrong. That is true love. To say to someone, the path you're going on here, as it is to someone who engaged in adultery, or someone engaged in pornography, or someone engaged in theft, or someone engaged with murderous intent, it would be wrong to say, well, we love you, keep going. It's more true love to say, you're wrong here. Because this is what the Bible says.
We need to keep in mind that in the Old Testament times there were ceremonial laws, civil laws and moral laws. The moral law summarised in the Ten Commandments, that still stands. Christ came and said, I've come not to destroy the law but to fulfil the law. Civil law was for Israel in their own circumstances. Ceremonial law was abolished when Christ died on Calvary.
So, we're not living in that Old Testament era, we're living in the New Testament time. But the moral law spans both Testaments, because Christ has come to say He has come to fulfil that. So we can't... While the ceremonial and civil law doesn't apply to us, the moral law still does. And those laws are there in the New Testament as well.
The Church looked after the salt of the earth. and we lose that when we lose something very, very important. And you're right, we're in a politically correct age, people aren't afraid to say anything. In case you're seen to be intolerant, unloving, judgmental, but scripture speaks against those things and the church has got to, the ministers have got to preach the whole counsel of God and therefore they've got to speak against sins that are there and sins that are common. That politically correct has affected many, many aspects of ministry.