Open your Bibles with me, if you would, to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1, verse 60. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, But the righteous man shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made. So they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks. But they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. professing to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. And therefore, God gave them over, in the lusts of their hearts, to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and they worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions. For their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural. And in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another. Men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper. Being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossips, slanders, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful, And although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them. Lord, we rest in Your power. We rest in Your truth. We rest in the assurance of the certain fulfillment of Your promises. And Lord, we have been ordained by You, after receiving the truth, to stay behind in this world. To be witnesses of Your glory. To be witnesses of Your truth. To be witnesses of the good news of forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus Christ and His cross. And Lord, we come before you in unity with thousands of other brethren to look into your word and what you have to say about human sexuality, about transgenderism, about the things that constitute sin and unrighteousness against you. And Lord, we pray that as this Word is preached and heard by You, that You will act. That You will intervene in this world. That You'll revive Your church. Call her back to fidelity to Your Word. And that You will revive this and other nations. In Christ's name, Amen. Well, I'm going to begin this morning with brief reading from the Washington Examiner about six weeks ago. December 2, 2021. I suspect you're all familiar with this event, this story. University of Pennsylvania swimmer, who calls himself Leah Thomas, smashed university records in the 200-meter freestyle and 500-meter freestyle. Also winning the 100-meter freestyle and helping University of Pennsylvania win the 400-meter freestyle relay in a recent meet. Now what's news about that? Well just two years ago, Mr. Thomas was competing as William Thomas in men's swimming at Penn. He was a second-team all-Ivy League swimmer for three different events. Ivy League canceled its 2021 season because of the virus. But he returned in 2021 to compete against women where he's had great success. And this is going on now in sports leagues, educational institutions. Other organizations are rejecting human biology and God's design for His creation of mankind in favor of what is obviously an unbiblical and unscientific gender ideology. The article goes on, this movement toward gender insanity continues to grow. The Olympics have now signaled their support for more men to compete in women's events. And while transgender activists continue to promote the idea that men can be women by simply saying they are such, Major corporations are refusing to grow a spine. They instead opt to stay silent. This cultural power has been exerted against sports leagues. And rather than stand up for their female athletes in biological truth, league after league chooses to fall to this pressure. Well that's the article. A satanic philosophy has permeated our entire civilization at this point. Our entire culture. It's been going on for a hundred years, maybe a little more. It's called existentialism. And it holds that you're not what God created you to be. You're first, you come into existence and then you decide what you will be. What you are. And in much of the world today, this has come to mean that people, not God, decide whether they are men or women. I mean, people believe this. People in power believe this and are acting upon that belief. All of this, of course, is contrary to Scripture. All of this is of Satan, as our brother prayed this morning. But this isn't merely a matter of who can participate in what sporting events. This is the underlying philosophy today of those now in power in the Western world. In Canada and in the United States and elsewhere. We have a man who dresses as a woman as the assistant secretary of health human services in this country. We have parents who are buying for their little boys dresses. This has infiltrated our society, our culture. It may be infiltrating our churches. Now an illustration of just how far this has gone, folks, landed in my email a few days ago. It contained an email from a pastor in Canada sent to John MacArthur, pastor in California. And there was also then an email from John MacArthur to ministers all over the country. And MacArthur's letter, I want to read you a brief portion of it here. Dear Minister of the Gospel, I write to you to call your attention to an urgent matter in which the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is under attack. On December 22nd, MacArthur writes, I received an email from Pastor James Coates of Grace Life Church of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. You may remember that he was recently imprisoned for keeping his church open during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Pastor Coates has already been imprisoned simply for keeping his church open and defying a falsely claimed government authority to prohibit gathering for worship. Pastor Coates' recent email, MacArthur says, gave me insight into the Canadian government's decision to pass Bill C-4, which directly comes against parents and counselors who seek to offer biblical counseling to people lost in homosexuality and in this transgenderism. And it now can be used to criminalize evangelism. So Pastor Coates forwarded an email to MacArthur from Pastor Andrew DeBartolo in Canada. He says, Pastor John, thank you so much for your willingness, not only to shine a light on the situation here in Canada, but also your partnership in calling other men to preach on biblical sexuality on January 16th in unity and solidarity with ministers here in Canada. That's why we're preaching this today. We are joining with thousands of preachers to preach this message in America and Canada and other countries. And we're praying that God is going to hear and respond to our prayers. Because this business of homosexual practice and transgenderism is an attempt to destroy the family unit and destroy the culture. It will fail. We're asking God to make it fail now. This bill in Canada. It has already been passed by the House and Senate. And you know there was not a single vote against it. Not even by these so-called conservatives in Canada. Not one. Received royal assent December 8th. Came into law last week, January 8th. This came into law. Now here's what it says. Here's the preamble of the bill. It says the belief that heterosexuality, gender identity, and gender expression that conforms to the sex assigned to a person at birth are to be preferred over other sexual orientations is a myth. It's a myth to say you are what you were born. According to Canadian law, belief in God's design for marriage, sexuality, will now be seen as a myth. Now this is official policy, folks, in the whole nation of Canada. And I think you've heard and seen the story of Pastor Arthur Posolosky, who's been arrested at least twice now for preaching the gospel. So the law now in Canada is to ban what's known as conversion therapy. Wherein people try to help homosexuals to come out of that sin. It now criminalizes causing another person to undergo conversion therapy. That's now a crime. If you participate in it. If you promote it. If you advertise it. If you preach Leviticus 18. If you preach 1st Corinthians 6, 9. Now the bill defines conversion therapy as a practice, treatment, or service designed to change a person's sexual orientation to heterosexual. Or to change a person's gender identity to the gender he had at birth. You can't teach that anymore. You can't seek to help people out of their condition. This definition they use can be used against any preacher. I'm still reading the letter from Pastor DeBartolo. The definition can be used against any preacher or elder who either speaks against homosexuality or transgenderism. Or who counsels a person to obey Christ and abandon their lifestyle. The homosexual lifestyle. The transgender lifestyle. So as of January 8, as of last week, it's now against the law to preach, teach, counsel regarding God's design for marriage and sexuality in Canada. What's the price to pay if you do? Everyone who knowingly causes another person to undergo conversion therapy, including by providing conversion therapy to that other person, is guilty of an indictable offense and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than five years. Five years. Everyone who knowingly promotes or advertises conversion therapy is guilty of an indictable offense and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years. Pastor DeBartolo went on in his letter to MacArthur. On January 16th, faithful men in this country and many in the United States as well will be preaching on God's design for marriage and a biblical ethic of sexuality. We, he says, will be doing so illegally. This sermon that I'm about to preach is illegal now in Canada. But they're going to declare to the state, there's one God, one Lord over His church. And that Christ alone has the authority to define marriage and dictate what is required in the pulpit. We are honored our American brothers will be joining us in this. Well MacArthur then writes to us, I'm eager to support our Canadian brothers. Preach on biblical sexual morality on January 16. And I invite you as a faithful pastor to do the same. Our united stand will put the Canadian and U.S. governments on notice that they have attacked the Word of God. We are all well aware of the evil power and destructive influence of the homosexual and transgender ideology. Our government is bent not only on normalizing this perversion, but legalizing it. And furthermore, criminalizing opposition to it, as they have in Canada. And lest you think this is only Canada, folks, 2012. I don't know if you noticed this or not. California passed Senate Bill 1172, banning gay conversion. So did New York. So did New Jersey. So did Nevada. And they sought in these bills to prohibit any correction of an unbiblical view of sexual identity. And the one law says because California has a compelling interest, not in the salvation of souls, no, in protecting the well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals. I don't know the current state of the law in any of those states. I don't know if any of you watched the Democrat Convention. And this isn't a political thing. This is a kingdom of God or kingdom of Satan thing. But the Democrat Convention, August 18, declared that it would ban harmful conversion therapy practices. They want to ban trying to help rescue a person from a practice that is certainly going to send him to hell or her to hell. So MacArthur asked, will you stand with me and our Canadian brothers and confront in a spirit of love and mercy, and those things matter, the damning sins legalized in our culture? Pastors, will you join in the nationwide effort to preach on a biblical view of sexuality on January 16, 2022, and proclaim the gospel of salvation that is now criminalized? Canada, at least four American states, have made or are trying to make it illegal to help rescue people from sins which, if not repented of, are going to send them to eternal misery. So this morning, as faithful Canadian pastors are preaching on this issue at the loss of their own freedom. Some of them are going to be jailed today. Some of them may have already been jailed. And the media will try to cover it up. But they're being joined by faithful preachers of the Word of God in America. And we are joining them this morning. So I hope you will indulge me in a one-week departure from our study in Luke that we might all join in this declaration. This issue, sexual and gender perversion, is potentially more destructive of the culture of Western civilization than anything else. Why? Because its end is to destroy the family unit. If you have two men in a relationship, or two women. You don't have a father and a mother. You don't have children, at least of that relationship. If everybody turns into men, you don't have two genders anymore. This is a movement of Satan. It's a movement in clear opposition to Jesus Christ and to His Word. It seeks to destroy the family unit. And it's had significant, powerful, and very wealthy organization and backing. Black Lives Matter is not a racial justice organization. It is an LGBT organization. Go look at its website. It openly declares that destruction of the family unit is one of its aims. That's what all this has been about. Just creating chaos, ultimately to destroy the family. As believers in the Word of God, We know there will be horrifying consequences for people who engage in these sins. There isn't any question about that. The Bible says it at least four different places. Nonetheless, the Canadian government has made it illegal to call people to repent of such sins. And those in power in America today support the enactment of these laws. Now I'm not suggesting we all get down to the Capitol and march. I'm suggesting we get on our knees and ask God to deal with this. To deal with the hearts of these people. We want to see these people who are promoting and purveying this saved from this. We want to see the work of Satan stopped. So as people who stand for the Word of God, we all must stand in opposition to them. And in doing so, we have to always look to where? Where do we look for our wisdom? The Word of God. The Word of God. Well Scripture tells us God is the creator of all things. God's the creator of all humanity. All of this belongs to Him. We're not free agents who just came from somewhere else and can do what we want and have no duty to God. And His wisdom and His ways are found only in His Word. His righteousness, His righteous standard for mankind is set forth where? In the Ten Commandments. The reality is those who don't believe in and don't submit to God's ways and God's wisdom will of necessity invent their own wisdom, their own morality. And this is what's happened. This is what's happened since the beginning of time. But now it's infiltrating America and Canada and the whole Western world in ways so bizarre I had difficulty finding passages dealing with transgenderism in Scripture. It's that far out. But because they deny God and His Word, the unbelieving do invent their own standards of morality. And when they do, three things are certain to follow. Chaos, suffering, and destruction. It's inevitable. Now the Word of God is clear regarding His design for men and women. Genesis 2, 4 through 8, God created a man from the dust of the earth in His image for what purpose? To enjoy Him and glorify Him forever. To have fellowship with Him. Genesis 2, 18, God looked upon Adam. And what did He say? He said, it's not good for a man to be alone. But what did He do? Did He make another man? No. Now he'd made Adam from the dirt. But he said, I'm going to make a helper suitable for him. So he then formed the woman from the man to be a helper for the man. And God brought her to Adam. 223 Genesis. The man said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Now somebody might say, well that's 6,000 years ago. Well, let's move up in time a couple, 4,000 years. Jesus affirmed that Genesis account, Matthew 19, verse 4. He said, Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female? You're defying Jesus. when you deny God's design. He said, for this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Jesus quoting Moses. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate. This is God's design. And all those who deny the Genesis account of creation are limited to whatever wisdom they can find in the fallen world. emanating from fallen human minds. So what we learn here is God instituted marriage to provide a helper for man and for procreation, to populate the earth. Genesis 127, God created man in His own image. In the image of God, He created him. Male and female, He created them. God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply. How are two women going to be fruitful and multiply? How are two men going to be fruitful and multiply? And fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, over every living thing that moves on the earth. God defined the roles of men and women in marriage. He said through the apostle that the marriage of the man and a woman is to be a reflection of the union of Christ and His church. If you have your Bible out, turn to Ephesians 5.23. Ephesians 5.23. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is also the head of the church. Notice the parallel. He himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. This is a design of God. Paul goes on to write, Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word. This is the design of God. Marriage is to be a reflection of the relationship between Christ and His church. It's not just some arrangement for whatever might give you pleasure. God's design for marriage is not without purpose or direction. It's part of and a reflection of that relationship. And it's a vital part of His eternal plan, which will culminate in heavenly glory. See all these people that he's going to save have to be born first. That requires the union of a man and a woman. This is all a heavenly plan. In God's design, as we read here in Ephesians, the roles of men and women are not interchangeable. Yet the idea that they are interchangeable, that mankind can improve on or alter or change God's design, has taken root out there. Has taken root in Canada, in the United States, all over Western civilization. The rejection of God and His Word and His design for mankind, His design for marriage, all around us. And so we, the people of God chosen by Him, must stand for His design. We have to. No one else is going to do it. We have to stand in opposition, whatever that may bring upon us, to everything that opposes Him. To everything that opposes His will for mankind. We have to stand against it. So we're going to say to the Lord when we come to judgment, well, we didn't want to offend anybody. We'll read from 1 Corinthians 6, 9 later. But we have a similar passage in Revelation. Those who live in unrighteousness and refuse to turn away from it will not inherit the kingdom of God. We have the calling to call people into the kingdom of God, to call people to repentance. Not to look down on them. Not to condescend to them. But somebody has to tell the sinner that he has a way out. So as we come to these subjects, human sexuality and gender identity, it's absolutely vital that we affirm that God in His Word is our authority, our only authority. He's our sole authority whether the culture acknowledges it or not. And whether unfaithful apostate churches acknowledge it or not. God created human sexuality for one institution, for marriage. And only for the institution of marriage, of one man and one woman. Look at these words again, be fruitful and multiply. That can only apply to a man and a woman. As He's creating the woman and instituting marriage, He's saying be fruitful and multiply. That cannot apply to two people of the same gender. The bearing of children can only occur as the result of a man and a woman. I know I'm not telling you things you don't know. Hebrews 13, 4 says sexual intimacy between a husband and wife is honorable. But God explicitly prohibited any sexual relationship outside of the marriage of a man and a woman. Exodus 20, 14, you shall not commit adultery. Jesus explained, you commit that sin by lusting after a woman in your heart. Hebrews 13, 4, marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled. For fornicators and adulterers God will judge. God will judge, condemn. Under the old covenant in Israel, violation of the marriage union was a capital offense. Because God views adultery as an evil in the land. How's our land doing? How are we doing in the land of adultery in terms of our righteousness? Deuteronomy 22, 22. If a man is found sleeping with a married woman, then both of them shall die. You shall eliminate the evil from Israel. And God still views adultery as an evil in the land. And not only adultery, but all sexual relations outside of a marriage of a man and a woman are crimes against God. Old Covenant Levitical law. Look at Leviticus 1820. Leviticus 1820. Here's some prohibitions of our Lord. You shall not have intercourse with your neighbor's wife to be defiled with her. See the marriage bed is undefiled. You shall not lie, verse 22, with a male as one lies with a female. It is an abomination. Verse 23, you shall not have intercourse with any animal to be defiled with it, nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is a perversion. These things aren't new, folks. Homosexual practice and bestiality are abominations to God. All sexual immorality is a very serious matter. Although it's not taken seriously in this country, in this civilization at all. It is promoted relentlessly. But it represents a departure from and a perversion of God's design. Not only for marriage, but for humanity. And all sexual unions outside of marriage profane that which God has given only for marriage. How's our civilization doing in God's eyes? This is why we come before Him this morning. Scripture speaks of unions between two men or between two women as unnatural and as abominations. Now this perversion that's now known as transgenderism. And I can't recall that that word even existed in our language ten years ago. Maybe it did. Men pretending to be women. and vice versa. Even some having themselves mutilated in order to carry on this pretense. And I have to tell you, it's difficult to know where to start with this subject. This is a subject and a kind of conduct that is so bizarre, so antithetical to common sense and human reason. Not to mention any notion of morality that it's difficult to imagine anyone participating in it or condoning it. And there are thousands, tens of thousands, millions, I believe, condoning this, at least in what they say today. How is that possible? It's made our way into our culture, folks. And it's pressing against the Word of God and the people of God. Both the Bible and nature itself show us that men and women are different. We've been created by God to be different. To have different roles in the home, in the church, in the society. Look what God said, Deuteronomy 22. Deuteronomy 22, verse 5. A woman shall not wear man's clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman's clothing. For whoever does these things is... What? ...an abomination to the LORD. We took a walk one day. Might have been two years ago, three years ago. And here's a little boy in a dress. Parents are out there buying dresses for little boys. What kind of sickness has infected our culture? God's Word, Deuteronomy 22, 5, would seem to reflect basic human reason and understanding. But too many have departed from basic human reason. Again, mankind cannot engage in this depravity without there being great consequence, great harm to the whole of humanity. Not to mention what they're doing to children. The truth is humanity could not survive without both genders. That's why God made two genders. Both genders have to fulfill the role God made them for or humanity will go out of existence. The first woman came from the man, but every man since Adam came from the woman. There could be neither without both. Man and woman are dependent on one another for their very survival. Neither could exist or live apart from one another. Apart from the will of God. It's God's will and His design that this very interdependence be manifested in the way we live with each other. That's what the passage in 1 Corinthians 11 regarding the women wearing of hats in the church in Corinth was all about. All of Scripture and nature itself affirm the distinctiveness and the interdependence of man and woman. We read in Ephesians 5, that loving interdependence is beautifully expressed by Paul there in Ephesians 5. So in the very nature of things, it ought to be clear to everybody that we know and recognize the distinctions between what is masculine and what is feminine. Men and women are different, always will be different. We look different. We should look different. The marks of a masculine appearance and a feminine appearance are different. Have been in every age, in every culture. And both men and women must conduct ourselves according to what nature and the Word of God, more importantly, tell us is appropriate to our gender. Or this civilization is going to die. And people are going to suffer eternal punishment for these sins. When we understand God's design, we can plainly see why God says intimate same-sex relationships are an abomination to Him. They've got nothing to do with His plan. They're completely outside of His plan. And that depravity is so clearly evident in transgenderism. And we can see why that is such an abomination to Him and to the whole order of creation. These two sins are the greatest threat to the survival of the family unit. And therefore, the greatest threat to human civilization. I trust we realize Satan desires to destroy the family. Because he believes if he can destroy the family, he can destroy the church of Jesus Christ. Again, this is the mission of Black Lives Matter. It's an LGBT group. It's not a civil rights group. It's falsely masquerading as a civil rights group to push this agenda. But God's design stands forever. To ignore God's design or to set it aside is always a grave error. All attempts to abolish His design will ultimately end in vain. We sang some songs. We read some Scriptures this morning, reminding us God will not be defeated. Turn to 1st Timothy chapter 3. And I'm going to show you an illustration. The absurdity of this transgenderism. And what it leads to. 1st Timothy 3, 1, an overseer, an elder, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. Verse 4, he must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity. Well that's God's design. We're familiar with that. Now look at Titus 2.3. Titus 2.3. A couple pages to the right. ...Older women are likewise to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips, nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored. ... If you take this transgenderism out to its logical conclusion, what do we do? Should we now simply defy God, allow women to declare themselves men, and now take on the role God has assigned to men in His church? Is that what we should do? And shall we now have men declare themselves to be women and have them now teach the younger women to love their husbands? How to be good wives. See, departure from the Word of God always leads to senselessness and depravity. The unbelieving, those lost in these sins, have some pat answers they like to throw out. Some say this is my orientation. Well folks, all men are born of the sin nature. All men are oriented to sin and to want to sin. But to this day, despite numerous and intense efforts to find some evidence that some people have a genetic orientation toward these sins, none has been found. Because there isn't such a thing. There may be a sinful desire. We all have sinful desires. And would we say that if one claims he has an orientation toward, say, robbery and murder, we ought to just overlook that. and should not count those sins as crimes because he says he's got an orientation to want to assault people and kill them and rob them. That's my orientation. That's no answer. Others say, but we love each other. Well what you mean is, you have an attraction to one another. It's an aberrant attraction. You're saying you find pleasure being with that other person of the same sex. That person makes you happy. But love, as taught by God, isn't about someone making you happy. Here's what God says about love, 1 Corinthians 13, 6. Love does not act unbecomingly. Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness. So the love answer doesn't work either. God has declared all forms of sexual perversion, including sodomy and other homosexual practices, to be unrighteous abominations. Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness. The problem with all of these abominations, as God calls them, They have no place for the Word of God. They have no place for the authority of the Word in society, in the home, in the church. They don't look to God or to His Word for guidance. How would we live without God's Word to guide us? We'd be out there on our own. And that's what's happening with the unbelieving. They reject God's ways and their philosophies are not for the ultimate salvation of people. They're not even for the benefit of the society. They are merely philosophies of sinful self-indulgence. Now we all have sinful desires. They're not alone in that. But we would never say we ought to practice our sinful desires. These are philosophies of sinful self-gratification. They represent a total departure from the authority of the Word of God. And folks, they are sending people to hell. The government of Canada is now aiding and abetting Satan by trying to preclude the Word of God from being preached. All who were born men are men. Bruce Jenner can mutilate himself to a point where we can't recognize him. But he still and always will be a man. Gender isn't changeable. We're all the person God made us to be. And we must pray for Bruce Jenner. Not stand here and look down and condescend. We must pray for all these people who are lost in these sins. And if given the opportunity, we must in love share the gospel with them. Yeah, I know we get rejected a lot. It doesn't change our duty. We have no call to look down upon these people, no matter how repulsed we might be by their conduct. Because folks, we too are sinners saved only by the grace of God. We're all sinners saved by grace. We're not at war with these people. We shouldn't look at them that way. They're the mission field. They're lost. Even those instruments of Satan who are bringing these abominations into our schools and into the world daily. We've got to pray for their repentance. We have to go to God and ask Him to change hearts of these people. Especially those who are in positions of power. How did we get here? How did we as a civilization and a culture get here? Turn back to Romans 1 again. Let's read it again. Romans 121. See if any of this sounds familiar. For even though they knew God, They did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations. Their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools. They exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. And therefore, God gave them over. in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, And they worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions. For their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural. And in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman. and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men, committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper. Being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife. You get the picture. But look down at verse 32. Those who practice such things are worthy of death, but not only them, but also those who give hearty approval to those who practice them. See, if you're proving of these things, you're in the same boat as those practicing these things. In recent history in America, these words, this pattern of Romans 1 has been repeated. It's laid out right for us. It began 1859, Charles Darwin, origin of the species. Denied that God is creator, step one. Imagined a godless world. Imagined there's no heaven. One foolish man would later write, it's easy if you try. Darwin was accepted for a while, later discarded in American school textbooks. They got him out. But the ACLU got him back in the 50s. By the time the culture had begun to receive Darwin again, culture had turned to scientism and nature as its gods. And the official policy of the United States changed 60 years ago. 1962, Engel versus Vitale, Supreme Court ruled any kind of prayer composed by public school districts is an unconstitutional government sponsorship of religion. Prayer out of schools. 1963, Abington School District Court declares Bible reading over a school intercom unconstitutional. See how this works? 1968, Epperson v. Arkansas. Court held an Arkansas statute that banned the teaching of evolution, which is an unproven falsehood. Arkansas banned it. Supreme Court said that's unconstitutional. Court demanded that it be taught. 1968. 1970, government instituted a government holiday for earth worshipers. 1973, Roe vs. Wade, court legalized abortion and a sexual revolution took off. 1980, Stone vs. Graham, Supreme Court held posting of the Ten Commandments in schools is unconstitutional. 1987, Edward's case, states may not require the teaching of creation science alongside the teaching of evolution. The states must teach evolution. The state may not require Genesis. 2003, Lawrence v. Texas, same-sex couples have the same right as opposite-sex couples to enjoy intimate association. Now God made same-sex intimacy a criminal act against Him, one which would send you to hell, if not repented of. The Supreme Court overruled him. 1996, 26 years ago, the people of this commonwealth, through our representatives, enacted a law prohibiting recognition of same-sex marriage. The judge overthrew it. He redefined marriage, an institution which had been created and defined by God. And then finally in 2015, June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that America will no longer continue to accept and live by God's definition of marriage. The court presumed to replace God's definition with its own. Hell, the people of the same gender have a legal entitlement to be married to each other. The official position of our government has denied God as Creator, has redefined marriage, and has, through its legalization of abortion, encouraged unfettered access to sexual immorality. Now Canada, at least four states in the United States, have declared that any person can be any gender he or she chooses to be. And so the words of Romans chapter 1 are fulfilled again. 124, God gave them over to the lusts of their hearts, to impurity. 126, He's given them over to degrading passions. Women lusting after women. And men with men committing indecent acts with one another. And now, here comes transgenderism. Romans 128, God gave them over to a depraved mind. A mind which cannot tell a man from a woman. This is how we've come to the place we have come. It's been official government policy all the way along. Our purpose in addressing these matters this morning is fivefold. First, we want to join with our Canadian brothers in upholding biblical truth. I absolutely believe there is strength in the numbers who are preaching some version of this message today. Second, to call upon the people of Jesus Christ to pray for our Canadian brethren. who are this very morning facing persecution from the satanic government now in power in Canada. Third, to remind all the people of God that it's the goal of those now in power in America to make the denial of God's teaching on matters of marriage, sexuality, and gender the official policy of this nation. And to call us to prayer for America Fourth, to remind us that the practice of homosexual behavior and the denial of one's God-given gender are grievous sins against God. These are not small matters. And that those who do not repent of such sins will not inherit the kingdom of God, but will be cast into fiery hell. And finally, And most importantly, to come before God, cry out to Him in union with faithful preachers all over the world this morning, that He will this day begin a movement of His Spirit in the world, in the church, that He will bring to light those lost in such sins. And He will call them to repentance. He would turn the hearts of our civil rulers from darkness to light. This might be a lot on the plate of one of us, not for God. And then in all these things He may be glorified. We, the church of Jesus Christ, are about the salvation of souls. That's our mission. We're not sent for the work of condemnation. were sent to aid in the mission given to the apostles. Jude, verse 3, contend for the faith. And our present struggle, as Jim prayed this morning, it's not against flesh and blood. It's against the rulers, the powers, the world forces of darkness. Paul wasn't just some poet out there writing things. This is the battle. This is the warfare. It's against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the spiritual realm. This is spiritual warfare. And it must be met with spiritual weaponry. Divine truth is our weapon. The Word of God is our weapon. We must proclaim His Word boldly and trust Him to empower that Word in the world. We must pray. We must live according to our faith in righteousness and give no reason for the cause of Christ to be shamed. What matters most while we're on this earth is our eternal destiny. This is so temporary. We are a moment. He is forever and eternity is forever. And the eternal destiny of those around us. Millions have lost sight of the fact that how we live in this world is a manifestation of what we truly believe. I hope you don't get tired of hearing that because that's the truth. If anyone thinks he can really claim he's a Christian and yet live in disobedience to him, he needs to read what Paul wrote. First Corinthians 6, 9. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Don't be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God." That's a fact. That is divine truth. All sinners must repent. Must turn away from their sin and turn to Christ and believe in Him and His offering of Himself on the cross. A claim of belief, an intellectual belief without repentance, without a transformed heart, leaves you in great danger. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals will inherit the kingdom of God. And neither, by the way, will thieves, the covetous, drunkards, revilers, swindlers, or liars. There are far too many who hold to a kind of intellectual assent to the truth of Scripture. Who profess Christ but refuse to submit to His authority in these matters. How can you be a practicing homosexual and think you are in the grace of God? It's your repentance that shows you're in the grace of God. Or whether you're in the grace of God. In other words, a true disciple of Jesus Christ comes to Him not only as Savior, but as Lord. They profess to know God, Titus 116, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed. Christ came to call people from our sin, from self-indulgence and relentless lust for self-gratification, with which we were all born, and to turn to Him. To turn from serving self to serving Him. Well MacArthur wrote in his email, our calling as gospel ministers is to preach the truth. Confront sin. Call men to repentance and obedience to the gospel. The good news that can convert the human soul. And I would add, the only message that can save a sinner from eternal misery. And so today again, We declare our total allegiance and fidelity to the authority of the Word of God as our sole authority. And we pray with Pastor MacArthur and thousands of others proclaiming God's truth today, that God will work by His power through the preaching of His Word and in the lives of so many who are now lost. MacArthur wrote, if we all stand strong in this conviction together, the government forces of evil will be put on notice. that divine love and sovereign grace compel us to be faithful to proclaim radical transformation at any cost. The world system and its human governments will gladly send people to hell, but our calling is to rescue people with the truth. And Paul tells us the approach we must take in this. 2nd Timothy 2, 24, one of his very last letters. Perhaps his very last letter. He wrote, The Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition. If perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth, that they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. Well may our Lord hear us and respond to our petition this morning in His power.