Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right, good evening. If you've got your Bibles, turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. We're going to be looking at just a couple of verses in this chapter tonight. This is our last sermon, I think. I think it's the last one, unless I come up with something else or somebody asks me a question on the subject. This is the last one. As we answer this question on what does the Bible say about homosexuality, I want us to understand that the Bible always gets the final say on this issue and every issue that we bring to the Bible. It's not in the opinion of man. It's not science. It's not academia. The final say goes to the Bible. It's our job to get everybody to believe the Bible is the authority over our lives and to submit to it in every area of our lives. And that's what we've been doing with this topic. We believe the Bible has the authority on this subject. So we've gone to the Bible to see what the Bible says about it. And this being the last, I think this is also the best. I think all of them have been hard to preach. But this one is going to be easy to preach. I think it's the best one. I was going to title it Good News for Homosexuals, but as I started reading it, it's not just good news for homosexuals. It's good news for all sinners. So I want to preach that tonight. I want to preach good news for all sinners. And I think there's a lot of bad news right now. There's bad news when it comes to gas and gas prices. There's bad news with what's going on in Israel right now, there's bad news in the economy, there's bad news everywhere you turn, there's bad news. Well tonight, this should be the most popular sermon online. This should be where everybody wants to be. This is good news for all sinners, and every single one of us are sinners. So this is good news for every single one of us. So I'm just going to read these verses, and then we'll pray. But I want to read verses 9 through 11, and you'll see where we're going with this tonight. Starting there in verse 9, and this is a big passage, I've had to study really the whole chapter, and chapter 5, and chapter 7, and all of it goes together, but I want our focus and our attention to be on these three verses, starting in verse 9. It says, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind. nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were, underline were, used to be, such were some of you. But you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. I love this truth, the good news for all sinners. So let's pray together and we'll look at these verses. Father, we thank you for this good news, the good news that we were that and we are not no more. And God, I think the good news is, and I'm gonna state it over and over and over and over tonight, is that God, you save sinners. And not only do you save sinners, you change sinners. And that is good news. That's news that we all need to hear. So teach us these things tonight, God, that you save sinners and that you change sinners. And we ask and we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. One of the common things that I hear, and I would say you guys have heard it too multiple times when it comes to the topic of homosexuality, is the phrase, I was born this way. And you hear that a lot. Every time I talk to someone who's homosexual or who's advocating for homosexuality, that the first thing out of their mouth is, I was born that way, or they were born that way. That it wasn't their choice, it's who they are, and they're incapable of changing. There's nothing they can do about it. That's just who they are. That's just how they were born. And I think every time I hear that, that that's not a good thing when they say it. I think that it sounds like they're throwing their hands up and there's no hope. It sounds like they're stuck. It sounds like they're frustrated and they don't want to be that way, but that's just how they are. And that's what they're saying to us. It's a hopeless situation. They want to stop, but they can't. That's what I hear when they say, I was born that way, and that's who I am, and that's my nature, and I can't stop it. I think that's what they're saying. That's who they are. And when they say that, I want to look at them and say, you know what? We're all born that way. And I don't mean homosexual. I mean sinners. Every single one of us are born sinners, and we're born in sin. That's who we are. That's who we are by our nature. It's who I am. It's my identity. I am born a sinner and born in sin. And there's only one man who was ever born that wasn't born in sin, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Every single one of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We're all sinners and we're all, get this, all stuck in it. We all can't change it. We're all frustrated. We're all hopeless. There's nothing we can do about it. But throw our hands up and say, I'm in a hopeless situation. And that's why this is good news. That's why this is the best news that anybody will ever hear. This is good news not just for homosexuals. This is good news for me and you. This is good news for every sinner who's ever been born. This is the hope that we can have. This is the good news that we need to share. The good news is that God saves sinners. The good news is that it doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter what you've done. You can be the vilest, the rottenest, the lowest, and the worst, but God still saves sinners. That's good news. But that's not all. God also changes sinners. He doesn't just save us from our sin. He changes us and doesn't just leave us in our sin. That is great news. When God saves a murderer, that murderer stops killing people. You with me on that? When God saves a thief, you know what that thief starts doing? He doesn't steal anymore. I'll give you another one. God saves an idolater. That idolater stops worshipping false gods. And when God saves a homosexual, that homosexual stops being homosexual. God saves sinners and God changes sinners. And that's the exact truth that Paul is trying to get through to a very corrupt church in Corinth. I mean, he's talking to him here in chapter six. And if you want to build up to chapter six, I think I can tell you that Corinth is one of the ugliest cities in the history of the world. Sin is running rampant in that city. It's almost like Corinth is worse than even America is today. I mean, this city is terrible. And smack dab in the middle of this city is an ugly church that's being influenced by all the sin that's around it. And Paul wants them to hear this good news. that God saves sinners and God changes sinners. And this is exactly the message that we must be preaching from the pulpit of our churches. This is what murderers need to hear, and thieves need to hear, and adulterers need to hear, and fornicators need to hear, and adulterers need to hear. This is the message that homosexuals need to hear. We never stop our message with this is a sin and it will condemn you to hell. We must take that message to the hope of the gospel that there is a way out, that God saves sinners and God changes sinners. So that's what we're going to look at tonight. The good news for all sinners. This is our message to our society that is running rampant in sin. That God saves sinners and God changes sinners. So I'm going to give you three points and three verses. And I think it's very simple, very easy, maybe the easiest sermon that we've preached on this. There's not really anything hard here. This is just good news. And I want to preach it. I even wrote it in my notes. Put a little smiley face. Josh, preach this with a smile on your face. Because this is good news. You see, a lot of preachers are just angry about these things. Put a smile on your face. This is the best news you'll ever hear. We're not stuck. It's not hopeless. We don't have to throw our hands up. Our God saves and changes sinners. Let's look at it. Number one, I want to show you the sinner's conduct. The sinner's conduct, starting in verse 9. You'll see, he says there, know ye not. And I love that phrase. It's almost a sarcastic of, you know this truth. You've forgotten it somewhere. But this is basic. It's simple. You know this. And what do they know? That unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. This is basic. This is religion 101. Christianity 101. This is how it works. The unrighteous cannot inherit heaven. The unrighteous cannot be where the righteousness is. These are two things that are at polar opposite. The unrighteous is cut off from the righteous, which is God and heaven. The unrighteous cannot enter into heaven. Those two things can't go together. The unrighteous man and the righteous God. The unholy man and the holy God. They don't breathe the same air. They're at total odds against each other. They're opposed. You know that. We all know that. Don't you know this? And then he goes on to say, and you guys are acting like you're unrighteous. You're acting like a bunch of people that aren't going to heaven. Your behavior isn't matching what a Christian ought to be. Your behavior is inconsistent. It's ridiculous. You're acting like people who aren't going to heaven. And Christians ought to act like people going to heaven. So he gives a list here. He says, don't be deceived. Don't be a sucker. Understand this. We don't act like this. And he gives us a list of what's going on in Corinth that shouldn't be going on in the church. Are you with me on this? All these sins are going on in the city around them. And all these sins are creeping into the doors of the church and they're beginning to act that way inside the church. All these sins are things that's taking place with the people who call themselves Christians. He says, don't be deceived. That's not how Christians act. And he gives us a list. These are things that Christians don't do. This is how Christians don't live. Watch what he says. This is a long list. And I want you to understand this. This is not a list of sins. Look at it. These are not unrighteous acts. These are unrighteous people. Look what it says. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived by this. Understand. It doesn't say fornication. It says fornicators. It doesn't say idolaters or idolatry. It says idolaters. This is not a sinful act. These are sinful people. He's talking about people here. He doesn't say homosexuality. He says homosexuals. He's talking about people here. These are people whose lives are marked by these particular sins. These are people who are known by these sins. These are people who you saw walking down the street. You'd say, there goes a fornicator. I know that about him. It's who he is. It's what he does. There goes an adulterer. There goes an idolater. This isn't somebody who's done it once and repented of it and stopped. This is somebody who repeatedly does this. They are marked by that sin. And he says, that's not supposed to be in church. And he gives us lists. And I know we've done lists like this before, but this is the first time I've done this one. So I'm just going to go down and very simply just go through this. He says, these types of people don't go to heaven. They're living in unrepentant sin. And it's evidence that they're not on their way to heaven. What's what it says? Fornicators. These are people who are living in sexual immorality, whether it be a man or a woman. And they're committing sexual acts outside of the marriage covenant between a man and a wife. So whatever it is outside of a man and a wife, that would be fornication. Whatever it is you're doing that isn't a man and a wife, that's fornication. And if you're living in that, that's unbecoming of a Christian. And then he goes out to altars, and Corinth was full of idol worship. They had a big old monument to an idol there in Corinth that everybody went to worship at. And he says, if you're going to go there and then come back here, that's not becoming of a Christian. And then he says, adulterers, that's living a life of unfaithfulness. We'll just move on. I don't want to spend a lot of time on these. And then he says, the effeminate. You can underline that word. I think it's the only place in the entire New Testament that this word is used. And the word is hard to translate, but it's a word that means an overly feminine man. It's a word that means a man who's exchanging the way he is and starts to look like and starts to act like what he's not, which is a woman. It becomes a picture of a, you could say, a womanly man who's starting to be a woman instead of a man. It could even be described as the man who's running for governor of California right now, who calls himself a woman. You could call him effeminate. You see this all over our culture today, that men begin to act like women and women begin to act like men, and the Bible is very straightforward on that, that that is not to be so. And then it says, abusers of themselves with mankind. And this is not a hard one to interpret here. It's men abusing themselves with men. Men doing that which is unnatural, which is what Romans 1 talks about. And what this is is homosexuality. And homosexuality is mixed right in there with all these other sins. And homosexuality was rampant in Corinth. I mean, again, I'm saying all these sins are going on outside in the culture of Corinth. And Paul is saying these things don't belong here. In Corinth, it's said in Rome, get this, 14 out of the first 15 emperors in Rome were homosexual. Nero was homosexual, Socrates, Plato, all homosexuals. Nero had, as the emperor of Rome, he had a wife, he had a husband, and he had a boy that he called his husband. Plato even wrote a book on homosexual love. This stuff was rampant in the society, just like it is today. And Paul's saying what goes on out there doesn't belong in here. It's not fitting of someone who says they're on their way to heaven. It was rampant and Paul calls it out. This is clear. This sin is in the laundry list of all the other sins. And then he goes on, I don't want to spend a whole lot of time just on that one. He says thieves, people who take what's not theirs, coveters, those are people who are greedy, drunkards, Otis Campbell ain't getting into heaven. That's what he says. I mean, if you watched Andy Griffith, that dude stayed in the jail. He came walking in. I mean, he's drunk all the time. He was a drunkard. That's what this is. A drunkard who stays drunk all the time. And all this was going on, again, in the society around them. They were all drunkards and getting drunk all the time. And Paul says, that out there doesn't belong in here. It's an unchristian thing. I mean, that's what he's saying here. Slanderous. which is revilers, extortioners, people who take advantage of other people. And he gives this long list of not sins, but sinners. And he may be even pointing fingers at people within the church. You're like this, and you're like this, and you're being influenced by the society. Don't you know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. And he says it again at the end of verse 10. Shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Again, all this is rampant in the city and becoming rampant in the church. It's not Christian behavior. Go down this list and Paul is saying it very clear. These things are not Christian behavior. And he actually says it jeopardizes your standing in heaven. I mean, if this is how you're living. You have no assurance at all that you're going to heaven. This is what you're doing. You're not fit to go to heaven. You shall not inherit the kingdom of God. There's no way of putting a positive spin on any of these things. You can't twist it around. These are all sinful acts. This is not behavior to be overlooked. We can't take that one sin out of there, abuse it of themselves with mankind and effeminate and leave all the other sins in there and say they're bad, but these aren't bad. They're all sins and it's all unbecoming of a Christian. So that's the sinner's conduct. That's the bad news. That's how they were acting. And Paul says, I like this one. If that's a sinner's conduct, he now goes to the sinner's change. Because he says there, and this is my favorite part of the passage, verse 11. And such were some of you. I love that. This is important. Such were, and that's the word that's important there, the were. It is we were like that. We used to be like that, and we're not like that anymore. Amen. That's a great statement. My uncle sings a song from the nursing home over in Clintwood, and he'll get on Facebook, and he'll play the song, and he says, there's things I used to do. I sang it here before, because I'm doing my best to get him here, so he can get up here and sing it to you. And I wish he had watched it. Somebody needs to comment and tag his name in it. There's things I used to do. I don't do no more. And he sings that song. There's places I used to go. I don't go no more. There's things I used to say. I don't say no more. I'm not what I used to be. And that's what he's saying here. The Corinthian church was full of sinners, and some of them were still living in it. But he says, and some of you guys, you're not living in it now, but you used to be. It used to be you, you'd go sit down in Corinth, and you'd be sitting beside somebody who used to be like that. You'd be sitting down beside somebody who used to be a homosexual, but they ain't no more. You'd be sitting down beside somebody who used to be a murderer, but they ain't no more. You'd sit down beside somebody who used to be an idolater, but they ain't no more. You'd sit down beside somebody who used to be effeminate, and they used to try to act like a woman when they were a man, but they don't do that no more. They've changed their lifestyle now. There's something different about them. They are ex-effeminate. Used to be extortioners. Used to be, I mean, thieves used to sit. Sitting down beside, this is what God starts with. You sit down in church at Corinth and you're gonna see a bunch of people who used to be just like this. And you know what? You come to West End Baptist Church and you're gonna sit down beside people who used to be these things. The church is full of sinners that used to be these things. Weeks ago. I mean, you can sit down and stop somebody in church that used to be a drunkard. Otis Campbell. Used to be, I don't know. But he ain't no more. Months ago, years ago, the church is full of changed sinners who just months ago used to be cursing the name of God, and now they're singing the praises of God. That's what they used to be, but they're not like that no more. And I believe this, Corinth was full of people who used to be like that. Our church today is full of people who used to be like that. And heaven will be full of people who used to be like that. who used to be idolaters and who used to be homosexuals, but they're not no more. This teaches us a very, very valuable truth. That our sin must be repented of. This is not being taught in our churches today. I want to say it. Homosexuality is a sin. That must be repented of. We need to be like Ezekiel who preached repentance. We need to be like John the Baptist who came preaching repentance. We need to be like Jesus who came preaching repentance. And be like Paul who stood in front of everybody and called all men everywhere to repent. To turn from their old ways and their old life and to turn to Christ. That's the call. We can't leave out repentance. That's the heart of the gospel and the heart of Christianity. That we aren't what we used to be. Again, there's no assurance of salvation to anyone who is habitually, freely, rebelliously living in sin. So it's a sin that must be repented of, and we as Christians must not define ourselves by our sin. I have to say this. These sins no longer dominated those people. Not defined by that. They're not characterized by that. There is no such thing. This might get me in trouble. Out of all the statements I've said in five sermons, this may be the most, the one that gets me in the most trouble. There's no such thing as a gay Christian. You might as well be calling yourself a drunk Christian. or a murdering Christian, or an adulterating Christian, or a fornicating Christian, or a thieving Christian, that don't characterize me, that don't define me. What I used to be is not what I am today. I'm no longer that. I don't identify with my sin. I identify with my Savior. And if that gets me in trouble, so be it. It's a sin to be repented of. Sin isn't our identity. Our Savior is our identity. And the last point, and this is the most important one, you've seen the conduct, the sinner's conduct, you've seen the sinner's change, something happened in verse 11, and such were some of you. Now if you stop right there, the question becomes, what happened? How did that take place? There's been a change. You were this and you're not that now. You were a homosexual and you're not now. You were effeminate and you're not now. You were a murderer and you're not now. Adulterer, fornicator, something changed. What happened? Here's the sinner's conversion. And I love this. It says, and such were some of you, but And it says it three times. This is a strong Greek term that is changing the direction of our life. Something happened that changed our direction completely. I was going one way and something happened and it sent me the other way. What was the but that put me on a new path? It wasn't me. I didn't do it. But watch what happens. But And here's the power to transform our character, our nature, down deep inside of us. But, and this has to happen. But, I said at the beginning, they say this is who I am. This is how I was born. There's nothing I can do. It's my identity. It's my character. I'm throwing my hands up. I'm hopeless. And you are unless this happens. And this is all centers. Watch what it says. And such were some of you. But you were washed. That's a great statement. You've been given a new heart. Titus 3 five says, but you were saved by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the spirit. This is he's talking here about the new birth. He's talking here about John 3. That the Holy Spirit comes in and completely changes us from the inside out. That yes, you were born in sin, a sinner, but you are born again different than what you were. All people who are born in sin and stuck in it and can't do nothing about it, and that's their identity, and got a hold on them, and they want to throw their hands up and say, I give up, there's nothing I can do. You must be born again. It's a new heart and a new life. That old song says, Oh, happy day. You heard it? I don't want to sing it. You guys gonna make me sing it? When Jesus washed my sins away. That's a great song. Oh, happy day. That's what this is saying. What happened to you? The Holy Spirit of God came upon me and changed me from the inside out. He did for me what I could not do for myself. And then it says, it goes on, I mean three things happened here. You were washed, which is born again. Then you were sanctified. I love that term sanctified. And that's given me a new life. Not just a new heart when I was born again, but a new life in that, and I love the sanctified term, in that I am now set apart from those old actions. I'm not in that no more. God has taken me and I was in sin and now I've been sanctified and I've been placed away from that where now I can live a holy life and a right life. I'm no longer living in a cesspool of sin. I'm set apart to live different. Jesus loves to take filthy sinners and make them clean. I've been sanctified. He's taken off those old robes of unrighteousness and put on me new robes of righteousness. And that's what the third term there is. But you were washed. That's regeneration. That's the new birth. You were sanctified. You've been set apart and you've been justified. He's given us a new heart, a new life and a new standing. Where I was a guilty sinner and now he's made me just as if I never sinned. That's my standing before God and my identity in life. I've already said that my identity here isn't with my sin. And my standing before God isn't him seeing my sin. He doesn't see Josh, the adulterer. Josh, the thief. Josh, the sinner. He has justified me before God in heaven so that all he sees is Josh, the saint. The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But now I stand before God in his righteousness and I can inherit the kingdom of God, not in my righteousness, but in his. Yes, I was of the damned and now I'm of the blessed. You see that the new heart, the new life, the new standing before God, that's a complete and total change from the inside out. Now I don't give in to sin, I fight sin. Now I'm not directed by my feelings, I'm directed by the Word of God and the Spirit of God. It's a complete change from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head, from the inside out. He has changed me. Not only saved me, he's changed me. And I'm not what I used to be. And how did that happen? This is maybe the most important part. Verse 11, the second half of verse 11. How did that happen? In the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. Get this. It wasn't me that changed myself. It wasn't me turning over a new leaf. I shouldn't do these things no more, so I'm going to stop doing these things. It wasn't me trying to pull my bootstraps up and try harder and do better and I'm going to give these things up and I'm going to start New Year's resolution and I'm going to go to church and I'm going to read my Bible and I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to, and that's not going to work. You see that? You see that? And I've got to be very careful on this. You see that with conversion therapy. Well, they take a homosexual and they try to make them not homosexual anymore. And it's OK, you know, whatever, but I know I can't do that. The only thing that can change a sinner is God. It says that in the name of Jesus. That God broke in, God did the work. You can write this down. Jesus provided the salvation by what he did on the cross and the Holy Spirit produced that salvation in my heart. That's what it's saying there. It's a work of God from the inside out. And that is the hope of all sinners. That God would do this work in us. That he would convert us and that he would change us and he would make us brand new. That God would take a filthy sinner like me and make him a saint. He would take somebody unholy and make him holy. He would take somebody unrighteous and make him righteous. And again, there's that old song, there's things I used to do. And that better be true of all of us. We've done testimony times in churches. They used to teach me, my pastor used to teach me, here's how you give your testimony. You tell people, and this is so good. I mean, we don't do testimony time a lot, but all of us have a testimony, and you stand up, and my pastor used to say, you've got about, if you want to give your testimony, you've got about one minute to tell them what you used to be, you've got one minute to tell them what happened to you, and you've got one minute to tell them who you are now. And you focus that time on, spend more time on what happened to you, what God did in you, but there's always a what I used to do, and there's always what I am now, and it has to be what God did to make the change. All of us have that. Every single one of us. Here's what I was. And I give my testimony, and I can't do it in a minute. I'll do it in ten. And then I'll get to what God did, and I'll do it in twenty. You guys know me from the very outset, I couldn't even give my testimony in under an hour. What I used to be. And what God did to me. And how the Spirit of God came in and did a work in me that only God could do. And then there's what I am now. And what I'm becoming. I still mess up. I still trip up. But oh my God's still working in me. And I'm not what old Josh used to be. I see those old pictures of Josh from pre-salvation. I don't even know that guy. There's a brand new man on the other end of that. And it all happened when God intervened in my life. And I'm not what I used to be. Of such were some of me and some of you. But I ain't that no more. I ain't that no more. That's what Paul's telling the church here. You ain't that no more. Well, you better not be that no more. Don't act like that. There's things I used to do I don't do no more. There's places I used to go. That's the truth. I don't go no more. There's friends I used to have. I'm going to add some verses to my uncle's song. There's friends I used to hang with. I don't hang with no more. There's stuff I used to watch. I don't watch no more. And there better be that in all of our lives. The end of the song is the best part. For the Lord's made a change in me. Yeah. Yeah, he has. That's what he does. That's good news. I don't want to be that. And if they're throwing their hands up and saying, I was born that way. I'm stuck this way. This is who I am. There's hope for sinners. Amen. There's hope for sinners. You don't have to be that way. And I think that's the greatest proof of Christianity. And you see what somebody used to be and you see what they are now. What happened to you? Jesus happened to me. And when you see somebody get this, when you see somebody walking out and they call themselves a Christian, and there's no used to be, it's just now. You're a Christian, you're living like, like you always have been. My son knew you in high school, you used to do the same things you're doing right now. You ain't no different. Proof you ain't saved. When God does that and how God changes, It's the greatest evidence of Christianity. Well, living, breathing testimony to the power of the Holy Spirit of God and what Jesus did on the cross. So the question is. Do you have that testimony? I mean, that's do you have a used to? We say, well, I gotta say when I was a kid, you know what? What about giving up then? I used to disobey my parents. Now, I don't. I used to, you know, say things I shouldn't say. Now, I don't. I mean, there has to be. I used to not want to read my Bible at all. Now, I have a desire within me to be at church and to hear it preached. I used to not want to pray. All I wanted to do was think about Jesus and say Amen. But now, I want to talk to God. There's been a change in me. And if that change isn't there, you need to look at your life. Say, do I have this salvation he's talking about? I think that's what he's doing to the church at Corinth. You guys are acting like a bunch of lost people. You better check yourself before you wreck yourself. Probably wasn't saying that, but. And if you don't have that, I'll tell you what, the same Jesus who's saving and changing them is the same Jesus who's saving and changing people today. And he can do it if you put your faith in him. I'm going to close with John Newton's tombstone. I added this at the end. You can see it in my notes. Just as little as I could get it in the corner. I used to cheat in school. He said, Joshua, what are you telling us that for? I was the biggest cheater there ever was. Mom didn't know that. I'm sorry. I'd go to college. Somebody UVA wise watching this will take my diploma away from me. Steph used to jump on me. We'd sit in class together. She was saved and studying. And I was lost and cheating. We'd sit right beside each other. She's sitting there sweating, trying to make a good grade on this. I'd pull out a cheat sheet like this right here, just a little bitty note underneath my leg. Little bitty tiny writing on it. Just sitting there giggling at Steph. She'd say, you work harder at cheat sheets than I do at studying. There's things I used to do I don't do no more. Listen, and I say that because I learned how to write notes. I was taking French II. I've got, yeah, I'm fine. I was taking French II at UVA Wise. No, Spanish II, not French, ooh, no. Spanish II at UVA Wise, my final semester before I graduated. And I got saved in the middle of the semester. And I had cheated my way through the first half. And then I got saved, and I couldn't cheat no more. I couldn't make myself do it. And I didn't know a word of Spanish. And I had to study and study and study. And my friends would sit there and watch me. I'm now sweating while I'm taking tests. And they look at me and say, why aren't you cheating? Oh, the Lord's made a change in me. That happened like that. I showed up the next week after I got saved, and I'm like, oh. That's all I knew. I don't know why. Yeah, back to John Newton's tombstone. That little note at the bottom, looking like one of my old cheat sheets. I'm ashamed. That was not a part of the sermon. We can edit that out later. John Newton's tombstone says this to this day. Once again, John Newton wrote Amazing Grace, the greatest him maybe in the history of the world. Once an infidel, once a libertine, servant of slaves in Africa. He was a slave trader. And he put that on his tombstone. That's what I once was. An infidel, a libertine, and a servant of the slaves in Africa. Was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith which I had long labored to destroy. At the bottom of it, it says First Corinthians 1510, by the grace of God, I am what I am. There's things that he used to do that he didn't do no more. And he would write the words, amazing grace has saved a wretch like me. I once was blind, but now I see. I once was lost, but now I'm found. I'm not what I used to be. That's good news for all sinners. Yes, let's pray. Father, we thank you for the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we preach. That's why I stand up here. I know the power personally what you can do in someone's life. And I want to see you do that in lives. That's why I preach a series. It'll get me in trouble, get me hated, get me ridiculed. And give me ostracized. Probably even get me kicked off Facebook. I don't do it to be mean or to harm anyone. I don't do it to be hateful. I do it because I want to see homosexuals saved and changed. That's why I do it. I think it's out of deep, deep love for them. And I know you can do it. And there's a whole lot of people in our culture today that's telling them they don't need to be changed, that they're okay just how they are. And that's the most hateful thing that you could say to someone, you're okay and you're sin. So God, it may get us hated, but I pray that you would use it to change someone. Whether it be to change their mind about what they think about these things. And they submit themselves to your word. Or it would be that you convert their heart. That you would sanctify them and justify them. And they could stand at the end of the day and say I, I'm not what I used to be. For the Lord's made a change in me. And thank you God for a church that's full of a bunch of. Sinners who used to be like that. But we're doing our best not to live like that anymore. By your help. So, God, use these sermons, use this series. We've made it clear where we stand. And we stand upon your word. We submit to it. And I pray that you'd honor it. And we ask and pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.