Well, what do you do when you call the A team and they call in the B team? Well, you think fast and you consider what you had already said today and you go, well, we were supposed to be in the Old Testament in the evening. So what could we do in the Old Testament that might sort of flow together with what we did in Sunday school this morning? So I thought, you know what? Why don't we turn to Genesis chapter 19? I'll return to Genesis chapter 19, and if you weren't with us this morning in Sunday school, we broke up into groups and we discussed how to give a biblical response to think through giving an answer in the day in which we live in light of the fact that we live in a culture that far faster than any of us in this room, I think, could have ever imagined it could happen, has turned what was once good into evil and what was once evil into good. Many of us see it coming, saw it coming, but I figured it would just be a problem for my children or my children's children. But the reality is, once the foundations crumble, the speed at which a society can depart from truthfulness and from righteousness can be absolutely amazing. Many of us have commented, those of us who have a little bit more of the white in our beard or lack of anything on the head, we have commented on the fact that things are changing so fast. In fact, I have tried to keep in mind the fact that the younger generation, Brother David's generation back there, Change is the norm for them. They don't know what it's like to have a society that is not undergoing rapid, fundamental and foundational change. That introduces a lot of complications in the way that people think. It really does. And it's going to be a challenge to us to communicate in the future unchanging truths to people whose lives have always been marked by rapid change. That is one of the challenges that we must face as a body of Christ in this place and as the body of Christ all across Western society faces the same thing. One of those areas, obviously, is the wholesale promotion as not only an equally good, but even a better kind of lifestyle, that of homosexuality. Now, down through the years, it has been considered to be an evil. It's easy to understand why. Until our day, a society recognized that children were something that is good, and not having children was something that was bad. as you may know, for a society today, in today's medically enhanced world, what I mean by that is the infant mortality rate is considerably lower than it was in the not-too-distant past, and certainly only a couple hundred years ago, the infant mortality rate was much higher, much, much higher, magnitudes higher than it is now in industrialized countries, in Western civilization. And so even today, your average woman needs to have, on average, 2.1 children. I'm not sure about what the 0.1 child looks like, but 2.1 children to maintain a society at its current level. 2.1 children. You can't just have two because there are things like wars and accidents and things like that. 2.1 will maintain a population at a steady level. But most industrialized countries today are well below 2.1. United States is at 2.0. Most European countries are 1.8 or below. Russia 1.5. And no country that we know of in modern times has actually survived that kind of a birth rate. Somebody else will take over because your population will simply disappear within a number of generations. Now, those countries have now begun to realize this, and they're now offering tax incentives and things like that to try to encourage people to have children. Amazing thing, isn't it? At the same time, they're trying to undercut parental rights. They are encouraging people to have children. It's a strange thing. But you see, the problem is, why should people have children? If there's no transcendent value to human life, if we're not creating the image of God, if there's nothing in the future to worry about, passing on our culture, I mean, Western culture hates itself. Western culture, we're just those terrible, horrible people. We've been taught to hate ourselves. We've never done anything good in our entire lives. And neither have any of our forefathers. And those terrible, horrible white guys that founded the United States of America, they're the worst people to ever live. So why should we pass on our culture to anybody? We should be ashamed of ourselves, right? That's what we're taught. So why have children? Why worry about passing on a culture or anything like that? And so, even if you offer tax breaks, I mean, that's a pretty cheap way of trying to get people to have children, then expect they're going to invest themselves in those children, be good parents to those children, and so on and so forth. And so, it's really not working. But you see, societies have always understood that a man and a woman can produce children. That's normally how it works. But a man and a man can't produce children. A female can't produce children. Three men or three females, it doesn't work that way. And even today, in the absolute profanation of marriage called gay marriage, an oxymoron if there ever was such a thing, you cannot have children without a third party. It's just not possible. Even with all the medical advances we have, it still takes a man and a woman to make a baby. And so, we face a society with its moral foundations washed away, engaging in all sorts of incredible behavior. And people ask us, well, why do you believe the things you believe? They may not have a reason for the way they believe as well, because I like Ellen. There's your moral thinking of the modern American. I like Ellen. She tells good jokes and she's gay. Therefore, homosexuality is good. That's the kind of thought process that many people have. One of the first encounters we have with the sin of homosexuality is found in Genesis chapter 19. You may recall it was not that long ago in the evening services that we read through Genesis 18, 19, and 20. But it is amazing the ways that people have to get around any text of Scripture. And so I want to work through Genesis 19 very briefly this evening. We don't have a lot of time to do it. But work through the text. and address a couple of the ways that people have found to get around this so that when you do have the opportunity, if this is a text that you choose to address, that you will be able to do so in a proper, fair and meaningful fashion. What do I mean by that? When you do proper and sound exegesis, when you allow the text to speak for itself, that's God speaking. When you don't do exegesis, that's you speaking. When you only do a surface level citation of a text of scripture, that can just be your tradition, that can just be your feelings. But when you actually listen to the text and allow the text to speak for itself, then you can honestly say, here is what the ancient text says, here is what God himself is saying. So let's take a look at Genesis chapter 19. Now the two angels, remember this is after the three, which were the two angels and Yahweh himself met with Abraham. And Abraham has basically bartered with God. If you can find ten righteous men, Abraham knew there probably wasn't ten righteous men in all of Sodom and Gomorrah, which tells us something about this. In fact, I just want to remind you that before we read Genesis 19, just keep one verse in the back of your mind. Over five chapters earlier, in Genesis 13, we read these words, Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against the Lord. That's Genesis 13. That's way back there. Lot knew this before he went there. And when you see Lot's wife dead, And Lot's future son-in-law is dead by the end of the chapter. This is what happens when you choose. You know the land is evil, but you decide to go there anyways for, well, reasons we're not exactly certain of, but it would seem that Lot had a lot of the world's possessions. Something to keep in mind. So, that's the background. The men of Sodom. It doesn't say the people of Sodom. It uses the specific word for the male gender. Genesis 13, 13. Now, Genesis 19. Now, the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. They said, Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servants' house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise early and go on your way. Please notice that. They said, however, no, but we shall spend the night in the square. Yet he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house, and he prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter. And they called to Lot and said to them, Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may have relations with them. But Lot went out to them at the doorway and shut the door behind him and said, Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. Now behold, I have two daughters who have not had relations with man. Please let me bring them out to you and do to them whatever you like. Only do nothing to these men inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof. But they said, Stand aside. Furthermore, they said, This one came in as an alien and already he is acting like a judge. Now we will treat you worse than them." So they pressed hard against Lot and came near to break the door. But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. They struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway. Then the two men said to Lot, whom else have you here? A son-in-law and your sons and your daughters, whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place where you're about to destroy this place because their outcry has become so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it. Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were to marry his daughters and said, up, get out of this place. The Lord will destroy the city. But he appeared to his sons-in-law to be jesting. In the morning dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city. But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand, and the hand of his wife, and the hands of his two daughters. For the compassion of the Lord was upon him, and they brought him out and put him outside the city. When they had brought them outside, one said, Escape for your life. Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the valley. Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away. Lot said to them, Oh no, my lords. Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown me by saving my life. But I cannot escape to the mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will die. Now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please let me escape there. Is it not small that my life may be saved? He said to him, Behold, I grant you this request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there. Therefore, the name of the town was called Zoar. The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities and all the valley and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground. But his wife from behind him looked back. She became a pillar of salt. Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley and he saw and behold the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace. Thus it came about when God destroyed the cities of the valley. God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived. So there's the story. Let's go through it and see if we can understand what is being said and respond to some of the objections that are often made to our understanding of this text. The two angels come to Sodom as Lot is sitting in the gate of Sodom. They are the two from the three that had met with Abraham. They had been sent down to see if the outcry that had risen to the Lord's ears was true. Direct observation of the behavior of these men. Lot is sitting in the gate of Sodom. That is a position of leadership. To sit in the gate is to be one of the leaders. So obviously Lot has a lot of stuff, which he did. We know he did. That's why he chose to go that direction. It had been friction between Lot's men and Abram's men that had led to the division. And so Lot has a lot of stuff. Maybe that's why he had been allowed to be there, even though he was different than the men of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he recognized they were not Sodomites. They were not from that area. He rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. Maybe there was something about them that spoke of purity in the same way that Abram had recognized when these three visitors had come to him that there was something special about them. But notice what he says. Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servants' house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise early and go on your way." Now, in this day, the demonstration of hospitality was extremely important. There weren't a whole lot of people. There weren't a lot of Motel 6's along the way. You had to show hospitality to people. It was part of the very custom of the land. Once you gave your bond of protection to someone, we see later on when he says, don't do this evil thing. They've come under the roof of my house. That was a sacred bond when you had given your word to someone to protect them. And that's still the way it is in many Eastern cultures to this day. I remember reading a book about a Navy SEAL team in Afghanistan a number of years ago that became separated and they were in a huge firefight and two of the three SEALs were killed. They killed about 180 of the enemy in the process. You don't mess with SEALs. But the one that survived ended up in a tribe there and the tribe chose to give him shelter. Once they had done so, every person in that tribe was now by oath committed to the protection of that one man. And so that kind of thinking still exists, but notice that's not the only thing that's going on here. Notice what he says, then you may rise early and go on your way. Lot is worried. Lot is concerned. Lot realizes these men, well, Lot thinks these men don't know where they are. don't know the danger that faces them. Because notice, they said, however, no, but we shall spend the night in the square. Oh, what? Lot realizes what goes on in that city square at night. And so, he not knowing that they already know, is, notice it says, yet he urged them strongly. He doesn't want them staying there because he knows what's going to happen if they do. And so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he prepared a feast for them and bacon, lemon bread, and they ate. It seems that what he's trying to do is to get them in as quickly as possible, without being seen, feed them, take care of them, and get them out at dawn. Probably because not too many people would be around at dawn, because they're up late at night doing their thing. And that's his plan. So he prepares a feast for them, baked them bread, they ate. But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, do you notice that? The men of the city, the men of Sodom. It doesn't say the people. There's nothing about women here at all. Twice it repeats the male gender. These were men who came to the house, the men of the city, the men of Sodom surrounded the house. That means there wasn't five or six of them. Both young and old, all the people from every corner. So the scripture is telling us that this group that gathers outside of Lot's home, and Lot probably didn't live in some shack. He had a lot of the world's goods. And so, it's a big group. And they represent the young and the old. It's not just a bunch of young guys out on a tear. They're old men here. Middle-aged men, poor and rich and middle class. Artisans and bakers, all the quarters of the city are represented by this male group. And they called to Lot and said to him, where are the men who came to you tonight? Word had gotten out. Somebody had seen. Maybe they could even tell that Lot was trying to hide them. Trying to take them through the back roads. Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them. Now, you need to understand the Hebrew word that is found here is just simply yadah. It means to know. And there are people who will tell you, This is the local Welcome Wagon. Anyone old enough to remember the Welcome Wagon? I'm not even old enough to remember the Welcome Wagon, but Mr. Callahan says he remembers the Welcome Wagon. I appreciate your willingness to... How about you, Brother Brick? Remember? Okay, all right, good. Used to be, now I don't know if it ever really happened much here in Phoenix, but back where I came from, people would be born and live and die in one place. Most everybody from Phoenix came here from someplace else. But back east, everybody knew everybody else. You actually knew who your neighbors were, strange, odd thing. And so when someone did move into a neighborhood, you'd have the welcome wagon. And the people would get together and they'd come over to your house and they'd introduce themselves and they'd bring food and stuff like that. And it was called the welcome. And they'd come to get to know the new person in the neighborhood. And there are people who would say, that's all that's going on here. The men of Sodom are greeting these folks. You see, they want to be hospitable to them. That's all that's happening here. Your evangelical Bible translations, like the NIV, it says, have sex with them. And the NESV, have relations with them. That's just a tradition. Well, yada can mean to get to know. It can mean just to have knowledge of certain events and things like that. But when Adam yadawed Eve, she had a child. So there's obviously other senses of the term yada. And obviously the context tells us exactly what is going on. Because Lot's response is not the response that has ever been offered to the welcome wagon. Notice Lot went out to them at the doorway and shut the door behind him. and said, please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. Now, whatever is going on here, Lot recognizes that there is wicked intent on the part of this large group that has surrounded his home. That's why he closes the door behind him. And that's why he says, do not act wickedly. Now, that may have been unwise on his part. Because whenever you identify as wicked, the behavior of men who want to do this, you know what? The way they behave hasn't changed in about 3,400 years. They don't like being told that this is wickedness. And in fact, this is behind almost everything we see going on today, including the open, blatant activity of the homosexual movement in our country to take away our right to say, that is wicked. So much so, that you may recall during the Proposition 8 race in California, that you may have seen a video where there was an older lady, she had a cross in her hand, probably a Roman Catholic lady, But a group of homosexuals not only knocked the cross out of her hand and stomped on it, but they stood around and remember what they were yelling at this little old lady? Shame! Shame! Shame! Because you see, those who experience shame in their hearts every day because they are so busy suppressing the knowledge of God and the conscience that is constantly bearing and tearing away at them. They don't want anyone reminding them of what they have to go through every day. And so they project upon others that which they experience in themselves every single day. Lot said, do not act wickedly. And what's the response? Who is this man? He's coming as an alien already. He is acting like a judge. Now we will treat you worse than them. That's the response. But then we have this odd thing. It's hard to really like Lot a lot. Because he says, I have two daughters. who have not had relations with man. Please let me bring them out to you to do with them whatever you like. Only do nothing to these men as much as they have come under the shelter of my roof." Well, one way to understand that is that's exactly what Lott was offering to do. Not an overly sanctified response, but in that day and age, women were not valued the way that men were. Now, some have suggested, and it's possible, that maybe Lot knew these men real well. Maybe Lot was trying to buy some time, and maybe Lot realized, they don't have the slightest interest in my daughters at all, and they're perfectly safe. It's a possibility. I don't know. All I can tell you is, it didn't accomplish much, because they simply said, stand aside. and immediately attacked him as an alien, acting as a judge. Judge not, lest ye be judged. Everybody knows how to quote that one. And now we will treat you worse than them. So they pressed hard against Lot and came near to break the door. It's obvious now what they have in mind. Even when they said, we will treat you worse than them, this tells us what Yadah means. This is a group of homosexuals. And they want the young men that have been brought into the home. Verse 10, But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. Now the only way I can see that happen is that there's something miraculous here. I mean, something miraculous is about to happen, so it shouldn't be overly surprising. But something tells me angels are probably fairly physically strong if they choose to be so. I mean, if the angel of the Lord could kill, what was it, 180,000 Aetherians, something along those lines, something tells me getting locked in the door and closing the door, you didn't want your fingers in the way when an angel closes the door. But then they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great. Now think about that for just a moment. Oh yes, there is great spiritual application we made here. The blindness of these men. A supernatural event takes place. Think for a moment. If you were in this group, you had been perverted by the lifestyle of this city, and you're at this group, and you think this is great, and how dare this man tell us what to do? We're going to get into this place. He can't keep us out forever. And then the lights go out. At first, you stop. and you might lose your balance and fall over. Especially if you're in a group and you step on someone, but then maybe you hold yourself up. But then you start hearing. Because I don't know about you, but if my sight all of a sudden disappeared, I wouldn't be silent about it. Hey, I can't see. The guy next to you says, I can't either. It's black. And you start feeling. You can tell people are feeling it. And there's cries and shrieks. I don't know about you. But that's it for me. But have you ever thought about the last phrase of this verse? So that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway. The term that's used in Romans chapter one, about homosexuality is God gave them over. Paul uses it as an example of the utter twistedness of the Creator-Creation relationship, so much so that that which is created says, I don't care how you've made me. I reject you completely. And God gives them over. I mentioned to some of you this morning Just this week, a female judge in Australia gave permission for a sex change operation for a 10-year-old boy. 10 years old. Surgically mutilate the boy's body and then put him on a regimen of hormone drugs for the rest of his life. at 10 years of age. Given over. That's where our society is. And these men, the lights go out and they're still trying to get in the door. That is being given over. You say, boy, do we ever see this? Yeah. Travel to San Francisco during Gay Pride Week sometime. They got nothing on Sodom and Gomorrah. Nothing. They keep trying. So the two men said to Lot, whom else have you here? My son-in-law and your sons, your daughters, whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place where we are about to destroy this place because their outcry has become so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it. Judgment is coming. Lot knows that this is wickedness. So Lot went out. Can you imagine what it was like? Walk out the door. Here's the men in the city, blinded, still looking for the door. You walk between them and you're silent because they don't know who they're touching. And you get outside the range and you go find your sons-in-law. You say to them, get out of this place, the Lord will destroy the city. They weren't righteous men. But he appeared to his sons-in-law to be jesting. Ha, ha, ha. A whole lot. Yeah, yeah, sure. Yeah, God's going to destroy the city. I bet you it was a great looking city. I mean, I wonder if there was a Sodom strip. You know? We've got a place similar to this, not very far away. But morning dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you'll be swept away in the punishment of the city. But he hesitated. Why? Why? The only thing I can imagine He was a man of great means. I'm sure this house was a beautiful house. I'm sure he had a lot of possessions. There's no question his wife loved her stuff. His wife loved her stuff. He hesitates. And you know what? It's not because of his goodness or his righteousness or anything else because of what the Lord had said to Abraham. The men seized his hand, the hand of his wife, and the hands of his two daughters. For the compassion of the Lord was upon him. They brought him out and put him outside the city. When they brought him outside, one said, escape for your life. Do not look behind you. Do not stay anywhere in the valley. Escape the mountains or you will be swept away. Allah said to them, Oh no, my lords, now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness, which you have shown me by saving my life, but I cannot escape to the mountains, for the disaster will overtake me, and I will die. I'm not really sure what he means by that. Is he frightened by being in the wilderness? Had he become such a city dweller that he didn't think he could survive on his own? Now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. This is Zoar. Please let me escape there, that my life may be saved. He said to him, Behold, I grant you this request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there. Therefore, the name of the town was called Zoar. The sun had risen over the earth, and Lot came to Zoar. And then, please note again, the context here. The word LORD, in all caps, is the word Yahweh, the name of God. and Yahweh had walked with Abraham by the Oaks of Mamre. Yahweh and these two angels had eaten with Abraham. And then Yahweh, with whom Abraham walked, sent the two angels on." Now, keeping that in mind, notice what verse 24 says. Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone fire from Yahweh out of heaven. So it would seem that you have the Yahweh who has spoken with Abraham, who has appeared as a theophany, raining fire and brimstone out of Yahweh in heaven upon the cities, Sodom and Gomorrah. Fire and brimstone. Now, we don't know what that is, but I can guarantee you one thing. It does its job. It destroys. Judgment comes. And it comes on everyone there. I am sure there were non-homosexuals in Sodom and Gomorrah. Evidently, lots of future son-in-laws who never became son-in-laws were probably not homosexuals. They weren't in the group that was outside the house. And yet, judgment fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah. and overthrew them and destroyed them. He overthrew those cities and all the valley and all the inhabitants of the city. Young and old. Little children. Destroyed. And what grew on the ground. This was a complete destruction. But Lot's wife, from behind him, looked back, she became a pillar of salt. She was so attached to the things of this world. Sodom and Gomorrah seemed to be a place that had everything. It had the blessings of God. Evidently a fertile valley. People came there and they brought their possessions with them and so there was a thriving economy. Sound familiar? Which brings us to one of the excuses that is used to get around this situation. I told you there are a number of them. We don't have time to look at all of them. But there is one of them that I did mention this morning. In Ezekiel 16, verse 48 we read, As I live, declares the Lord God, Sodom, your sister and her daughters, have not done as you and your daughters have done. Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom. She and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food, and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy." Now, if we stopped right there, you can see why someone would quote that and say, huh, you've missed it. The whole point of Genesis 19 has nothing to do with the issue of homosexuality. It's the way these people treated travelers. Violation of the code of culture. And it says right there, they were arrogant. They had abundant food, careless ease, but they didn't help the poor and the needy. Now, there is, we dare not pass by the fact, Sadangamora sounds a whole lot like Western culture. We have so much more than any generation before us has ever possessed. We are like kings and queens in the amount of food that we have and the homes and the clothing. We don't realize what it's like to have lived in preceding generations. But you see, that's not where Ezekiel ends. Because the next verse says, Thus, because of their abundant food, because of their careless ease, because they weren't concerned about anybody but themselves, thus they were haughty and committed abominations before me. Therefore, I removed them when I saw it." Abominations. Toeva. That which is an abomination in God's sight, in both Leviticus 18 and Leviticus 20, a man who lies to the man, toevah, abomination. I have seen books written by pro-homosexual authors that only quote Ezekiel 16, 48 and 49. They don't quote 50. Assuming, I would imagine, that most of their readers aren't going to look it up anyways. And so they can accomplish their desire. Sodom and Gomorrah become a watchword. The very term Thodomite has entered into our language with certain meanings, all going back to what this chapter is talking about. There is no question about what happened here. But it is important to recognize that the culture that created this kind of abomination, this kind of self-destructive behavior was a culture filled with creature comforts. They had an abundance of food. Isn't that exactly what we see in our day? Why is it that marriage and children raising a family, so unimportant to the next generation. All that seems to matter is I've got my car and my computer and my cable TV and my iPod and my iPhone and it's all about me, me, me, me. No recognition of the sacrifices of generations before us that we might have these things. No thankfulness to the God who gives these things. No. I'm owed these things. In fact, the government needs to give me these things, but I can't afford it myself. What an attitude. And does it really surprise us, then, that that has given rise to this self-indulgent behavior where I don't need to worry about children? You see, folks, homosexuality is the basest form of selfishness. It's the basis for our selfishness. It's loving me. It's loving the mirror image of me. See, everybody in this room has been married for any period of time at all. You know. That other one is other than you. And is different than you. And changes you. Well, sexuality is loving a mirror. Not wanting to be changed. It's absolute selfishness. Is it any surprise, then, that when we look through history, when does homosexuality really rear its head? In those nations that become established and turn their back upon God, turn their back upon morality, have so much stuff that they become indulgent, self-centered. History tells us no nation that has ever looked with approval upon this behavior has ever survived that shift in viewpoint. So, is Genesis chapter 19 relevant? It certainly is. Is it the only text that's relevant? No, there are many others. You need to know about the Holiness Code in Leviticus 18-20. You need to know the context of Romans 1, 1 Corinthians chapter 6. There are key texts we need to look at. But folks, we live in a day where this is all around us. We have to think it through and we have to be ready to give an answer that is biblically true, non-compromising, and yet communicates to a society of people who have had their heritage as being creatures of God stolen from them. They think they're but the random result of cosmic chance. We have a message for them that they need to hear. We need to communicate it with clarity. Let's pray together. Indeed, our gracious heavenly Father, we thank you for your word and preservation of it down through the centuries. As we look at this difficult text of judgment, we recognize your holiness and your judgment must fall. And we recognize, were it not for your grace, there go any one of us. May we, as redeemed sinners, speak your truth. Not as ones who see ourselves as better than anyone else, but as recipients of your grace. May we find that proper line as we speak your truth, and may you bless your gospel as it goes forth. Bring repentance to our land, we pray, before it's too late. We pray in Christ's name.