So today we're on session 12, Don't We All Have Rights? And we're going to be looking at the rights fight. And I have a book by that title. Whoops, I didn't bring it. And another book about gay marriage, right or wrong. I couldn't find anything in Answers in Genesis, any books like this. This is from Creation Ministries International. They're out of Australia. And this is very, very good by Gary Bates and Lita Kosner. And it's quite definitive, quite a loving approach and showing how in love we need to let gay people know what they're struggling with. It's a moral issue, not a civil rights issue. And they want to make it into a civil rights issue and that's just a losing, well it's a winning battle, politically for them, but it's a losing battle spiritually. And when I grew up and when most of you grew up, Gay marriage wasn't even an option. It wasn't even something you'd think about. It was kind of like any other perversion of sex. It was just not even considered. You wouldn't allow people to have intercourse with animals. And so why man to man and woman to woman? It's all in the same place in scripture. And we'll look at those scriptures. Actually, I listed the scriptures, and I do want to mention this. This is the one topic that I struggled with the most. Oh, and here's that book, The Rights Fight. This is by Jay Lucas. It's regular Baptist Press, so it's something not many of us go to. But this deals with many issues, including the gay civil rights issues. And gay marriage and tolerance guidelines. So we'll be looking at that and somebody remind me if we get to 925 and I'm still talking, just raise your hand or something and say we need to listen to Todd Friel instead with Wretched Radio. We're going to let him have the last 11 or 12 minutes and then time for some response after that. for those who, yeah I think even those who go to choir will have some time. So this is a very important issue and I want you to know this was an issue that I struggled with more than any other that I have put together here and I need the outline for today. I don't, and so you need to be praying for me. It's a very important, I wasn't originally, I was going to kind of cop out on this and do something else. And the elders suggested that I really needed to go over this topic. So we are. And a few pastors have preached on this. And fewer still have the word homosexuality or something like that or gay rights or something in the title of their sermon. But my favorite pastor and preacher has a sermon where you can find it using that keyword. This is a problem because as this book notes, at the beginning of this issue when it was coming up in Europe, a pastor was put in prison in Sweden. And I don't know if that's happened here in America. I haven't found documentation of that before this. But a Swedish pastor was put in prison for preaching on this topic and explaining what the Bible says. That's kind of where I think we're headed with this in the world today. And we're in the end times and we need to be ready. So this, I believe, will really help us get ready. And don't we all have rights? I want to look at the lesson objectives for today. And generally, we're just going to look at a Christian response to the rights fight, rights in the gospel, and three questions to ask non-Christians and the challenge for the church. So if we'll look at today's lesson objectives, and I want to also mention as we start, because it was suggested to me to get the written materials up on the internet. And so I do need help doing that with sermonaudio.org. All of these messages are there, and you can listen to them. You can get to it through our church website or just go to sermonaudio.org and type in Leighton and you'll have a choice between Jerry and Philip. And so I want to have these up there starting this next week. And so the objectives here are to describe how the rights fight in America is undermining marriage and what we can do about it. And be able to cite Bible references to gospel rights, or the word right is used in two verses specifically that has to do with this issue, and state how Paul models selflessness. Three, cite scriptures to share with gay rights activists of God's assessment of homosexuality. Four, be ready to give defense for biblical marriage based on Genesis foundations. And five, be ready to counsel parents how to biblically deal with a child tempted by homosexuality. And this is really key, as I was called on in the Philippines to do this, and Todd Freel will address this at the end, the different approaches. We had in our congregation a young man, we planted three churches and there was just one where a young man was really struggling with this and he didn't hide it. He wanted victory and his father I noticed was very harsh. with him, and I didn't know yet how to deal. I hadn't had a class on this. I hadn't been taught, and so I just was doing research and helping him with what the Bible says, and mainly how to get victory. That's what he wanted. And ultimately, he felt rejected. at home, he felt he didn't like the ridicule that came, like in the Philippines, homosexuality is accepted as a thing that happens and people laugh at it and make fun of these people and he just couldn't handle that, he didn't want that, he wanted to get rid of it and nobody was helping him, his parents were against him and I had to speak in his funeral. He committed suicide, hung himself in his house after he did that. And the thing that shocked me the most and got me to realize someday I've got to really get a handle on this issue, because as I was preaching, I said that I had had many sessions with this young man and his family. and over and over he pleaded with tears saying I am a Christian I have accepted Christ I know that I'm cleansed from this but I can't get victory what can I do and so I mentioned that and there was a new member in the church from a charismatic background who just stood up which our ladies don't normally do, and she was new, a new member. She stood up and started haranguing me. Says, Pastor Layton, you can't say that. You cannot say that. He was sin. He was living in sin, so he went to hell. He's not in heaven. And fortunately, one of the ladies, I just looked at one of our lady leaders, and she went over and sat next to this gal and got her quiet. And so I finished, I went back and I explained how I had counseled this young man and what an issue this is for all of us to realize we all have some sin that easily besets us and not only easily besets us but constantly besets us and we can't seem to get the victory over it. And the God's solution is the family of God lovingly explaining what the scripture says about our sin and helping us to pray about that and what Paul says in the gospel and I think of this in this issue of rites in particular I didn't list this anywhere but Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 where Paul says that we're saved by grace through faith that not of yourselves is a gift of God lest any man should boast But, and then in verse 10 it says, I'm going to look it up so I don't say it wrong, that we are saved to do good works. We're not saved by our good works, but we are saved to do what is right. And the church helps us in that. So, Ephesians 2.10, We are, for we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. And so that's the verse that I shared with this young man and yet he still committed suicide. He knew that he was God's workmanship and I think that disturbed him the most. Why would God make me this way? Why would God make me this way? And these people are slaves to this and they need deliverance. And it's just like a recovered alcoholic or a recovering alcoholic. I've talked to pastors who are recovering alcoholics. They say that you never recover. You never get victory over it. But I mean you do get victory. It's just always there a pastor has to get victory over it, but it's a constant struggle So with those thoughts in mind and and Ephesians 2 it says We're not saved because of our rights in this world God saves us because it is right for us to come to him and he wants us with him. He's a righteous God and he makes us right so that we can do right and that's the proper use of the word right in scripture. America was born from a dispute over rights And I want to, we'll come back, would somebody remind me to come back to the key verses there in just a moment? But the introduction, America is the most rights-obsessed society in history. America was born out of a dispute about rights. Our Founding Fathers penned in the Declaration of Independence, we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Almost every political and social issue of our day eventually reduces to someone invoking his or her rights. Gay rights is one of the biggest social issues debated today. Unfortunately, churches are often reluctant or ill-equipped to confront the issue. So today's lesson will focus on this issue, particularly in relation to biblical marriage guidelines as a framework for effective apologetics questions to ask a friend or loved one who questions your position on this issue. Also, in our years as foreign missionaries, we have occasionally had to confront and counsel Christian parents who thought they raised their children with Christian values but had a child or other loved one caught in homosexual behavior? Or how would you counsel a Christian wrestling with homosexual temptations? Or maybe even who comes out of the closet This session will attempt to deal with these questions biblically, compassionately, and appropriately. So our first topic is to look at a Christian response to the right spite. And to do that, we'll start with these key verses on page 35 in your notes. John 1.12 is one of the two verses that describes the right that God gives us, a God-given right. And I'm not sure if these are both referring to the same right or different rights, but the Bible, the New Testament starts with this in John's gospel and ends up with Revelation. So let's look at those two verses. John 1.12, that as many as received Him, to them He gave the right. to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name. And then Revelation 22.14, blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city. Alright, so we have a right to become children of God or he gives us that right and in a couple of translations it's translated power And but usually it's just that's the way it is. It's usually comes across as power in the King James. That was and maybe some others. But we he gives us grants us the power to become the children of God. But the NASB, ESV, NIB, I think they all use the word right. He gives us this right. to become a child of God and then in Revelation we have what right? The right to the tree of life. Why is that granted as a right under God's dominion? Because whose kingdom are we in when we get saved? God's. So he took away the right of Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of the knowledge. He told them you can eat from any tree but not the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And so, he had set that stipulation from the beginning. He gave them the right to eat from anything, except that one. And when they did, huh? Well, then, yeah, then he took away the, that's, he took away, when they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, then he took away their right to eat from the Tree of Life, lest they live forever in this condition. And he banned them from the Garden of Eden and put an angel there. And so the angel was probably there at that gate, and wherever men lived, they probably saw that Garden of Eden gated off. and protected by an angel as a constant reminder to the primordial people who worship God. Henry Morris suggests that maybe that's where Cain and Abel brought their sacrifices. And Adam and Eve would have brought their sacrifices in the earliest days of history to give their sacrifices before this holy angel who's guarding the way back to the tree of life. They couldn't go there. And so they were offering these sacrifices. And that's really speculation. But it would make sense that the early believers down through Seth's lineage were able to see that, and also Cain and Abel, that Abel gave a better sacrifice. And he may have been motivated by that site. So the Tree of Life. So those are our rites. It's really the same rite. And then we go on Exodus 21.10, if a man takes to himself another woman or wife, in some translations, he may not reduce her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights of the first wife. Okay, so what kind of a right is this? Where does it come from? This is Exodus 21. It's an elaboration of Exodus 20. What was given in Exodus 20? The law, the Ten Commandments. And so this was one of the first things that God says. He protects the rights of a married woman if a husband goes astray and goes into a perversion of marriage, which is polygamy. And so the earlier forms of perversion of marriage were not these ones that are called abominations later. That's listed much later as ones that we shouldn't really even be thinking about. But divorce and having a second wife or having two or three wives and honoring the latter ones more. God is just and he wants to protect us from those kinds of things. So then 1 Corinthians 9.3 Paul says, My defense to those who examine me is this, Do we not have a right to eat and drink? Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?" So Paul was a member of the Sanhedrin, and to be a member of the Sanhedrin, you were required to have a wife. And maybe in the same way as an elder in the church should be the husband of one wife. If he's not married at all, he can still be a pastor, but it's preferable. But Paul could have been a widow, a widower. widower. That's it, right? Or maybe his wife abandoned him when he became a Christian. Who knows? But he said, I have the same right that Peter has. Peter had a wife and we know that from his mother-in-law. And so that's a key. So did Paul have a right As a missionary in the early church, was that something like, if he were a preacher in the Sanhedrin and the Jewish synagogues, did he have a right to bring a wife? That was one of the legal rights that he had, was to take his wife traveling and for the church to support her. And just like missionaries today, they support our whole family. They don't just support me. And that's basically what he's saying. And he's saying in Corinth, we'll discuss it a little later maybe more, but he's saying that I didn't take that right. In 2 Thessalonians 3.9, he elaborates, not because we do not have the right to this, but in order, and he's really talking about something a little different there, but it's the same issue of a right that he had, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you so that you would follow our example. So we're going to look at that and the Christian response to the rights fight. And we see all these things going on. A straight guy for gay rights. We're going to look at a handout. Did everybody get that handout? No? Okay, there's not enough of it. And I'd like somebody to hand this out right now. This is just pass it around, I guess, until it runs out. I don't think there's enough copies. If you could take one per couple or family and then we'll try to get more. But that's a complete. Word study on the word rights. The word rights only, okay we'll look at that here. A Christian response to the right fight. Most people have a general sense of what a right is. In this illustration we have in the picture all animals have rights and is that right? So the challenges to Christians are the inherent right to life. Well, that's kind of what God is talking about. He gives us, when we get to heaven's gate, He gives us the right to the tree of life. Right now, we forfeited that. But there is in our thinking an inherent right to life Babies in the womb have a right to not be tortured and killed and to come and have life. Abortion rights, including embryonic stem cell research. Presidents have really muddled this up and we're going to look at that next month, I mean in two weeks. the right to life, that embryonic stem cell research is the only thing. Stem cell research is a very good thing, except when it's done on embryos. And we'll look at that. And then gay rights we'll look at today, religious rights, and euthanasia rights. We'll touch on each of those in the next couple of weeks here. A challenge to minister. How do we minister in the most rights-conscious society in all history? And so what are rights? And so most unbelievers will, and we think, that there's protections and privileges. Protections, things the state or other individuals is not permitted things of the state or others is not permitted to take from me or is duty bound to protect for me and then privileges things I am free to do without interference. And so the rights in the Constitution are those things which we as Christians kind of see spiritually as inherent rights that we have. And that's why we fought for them. But Paul says, you know, as generally as a Christian, we should let those things go. Except when we have to disobey God, then we have to obey God rather than man. So let's look at the points under point A. First, most people have a general sense of what is right. But when asked to define rights, people have often find it difficult. Generally, we think of In terms of government protections, yeah, we just went over that. Secondly, a word study on rights in the Bible reveals these things, the handout that you just got. The word in the plural only appears in the Old Testament only about 10 to 20 times, depending on the translation, referring to requirements of the Mosaic Law. God is a righteous God. and he requires, and he's just, he requires that people be treated justly or rightly. And so the word right is boldened there in the word righteousness of God. And so after the flood of Noah's day, God instituted government to make laws and he himself gave Israel the Levitical law starting in Exodus 12. And then we read that Exodus 21.10 as the first of the ten appearances and it deals with a conjugal right. All Old Testament examples are of legal government ordinances which God requires man to keep. And so if we're not under the law of Israel, the Ten Commandments, we are required to obey traffic laws. And we have right to drive. We have rights to free speech and many other things. And then in the New Testament, the Gospel writer John mentions the two rights that we have as believers. The right to become a child of God and the right to the tree of life. And then number five, Jesus never refers to rights in his earthly teaching. He does there in Revelation as it records that that he is the one that spoke to John or an angel. But in the Gospels, it is not recorded that Jesus speaks of rights or any right that he had or that we have. He talks about responsibilities. We are to obey laws and enjoy rights of the government, but always ready to suffer loss. Like, for example, when they didn't have money to pay their taxes, Jesus said, well, just do what you do. Catch a fish. And the fish opened its mouth and it had a coin that had a picture of Caesar on it. And Jesus, what did he say? Give to Caesar what is due to Caesar. What is his? And so that's the principle. God provides for us to be good citizens. That's what he's saying there. And Paul in the New Testament is the only New Testament writer who refers to rights and always only in the sense of defending himself or not claiming or using a supposed right. John MacArthur comments on the passages that we read. that he uses irony or sarcasm against false teachers who do claim rights, trying to invalidate his ministry. They're saying, hey, you guys support us. We're missionaries. And then along comes Paul. Why don't you support him? He's not a real missionary. And so Paul just made a really big point of that. He says, if you're worried about that, I'm not going to take your support. Don't give me any support. I receive free, I'm giving free. And that was his principle. And that's how we do as missionaries. Most of our talking on creation evangelism is completely free, unlike many creation evangelists who have to make their earning this way. And so then in number seven, in stark contrast to Paul's attitude, we live in a culture where people routinely invoke their rights and constantly invent new rights. Most have given very little thought to the nature and foundation of rights. If the Christian worldview is rejected, rights stand on nothing more than a foundation of sand. And we know that what that leads to in Matthew 7, The wise man built on the rock, the foolish man built on the sand, and the house on the sand went crash. So the prevalence of the rights, disputes, claims in American culture is one more reason why Christians need to be trained in apologetics. While the current direction of rights, claims in American culture can be a source of discouragement for Christians, we need to see that American obsession with rights brings a wonderful opportunity to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, because that's the only context in which we are told that we have rights. We have a right to become, or the power to become, a child of God and enter into His kingdom. And once we've entered into His kingdom, He gives us the right back to the tree of life. Amen? What a wonderful way to share the Gospel! We have two rights. And you can have those rights, but you have to repent of your sin and believe and come to Jesus Christ, or you have the right to go to hell, and you will. If you claim all your other rights, that's where you'll end up. Read. John 1.12 again, in which we can see where John said, But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God, even to those who believed in His name. And in Philippians 3.20, Paul's driving Verse, perhaps, was, For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? And so that's where we get our rights, God-given rights. Everything else should be given up for selflessness, for the cause of other people. Christians, we have civil rights. But Paul says, I don't use those if in any way it's going to contradict my work. Question? Take five minutes, Paul. OK. Wow. So yeah, we can just keep going. So let me take three minutes on this next section, a biblical definition of marriage from the biblical counseling booklet. Number 10, throughout the creation week, every time God created something, he called it good until day six when Adam was alone. And then a shocking evaluation in Genesis 2.18, then the Lord God said, it is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper suitable for him. And how could something be not good before the fall? The situation was not bad or evil, but instead was lacking. The wife is designated by God to make her husband complete. Marriage is a lifelong covenant relationship between one woman and one man. Genesis 2, 19 to 20 and verse 24, look those up on your own. And Matthew 19 quotes that as sort of a marriage vow for us. And why did God bring all animals to the man? What do you think? so he could name them and also so that he could see that they were all couples and he wasn't. And he needed that, right? And so then no other creature is suitable helper. Only a woman can complete a man and only a man can complete a woman. Amen? And then developing a presuppositional apologetic response to gay rights and Todd Friel will help us with that. And I'm not going to develop this completely, but homosexuality is a perversion of God's design along with polygamy, divorce, fornication, etc. And so you can look up those verses on your own and I have a more complete list that I didn't get printed out and hopefully if someone will remind us we'll get that for next time we're here. And then last a list of what God says about homosexuality as a perversion or an abomination. And so a person who is caught in this sin needs to read those verses and see them and understand that this is a really serious issue. God is very serious about this. And you go to hell because of this issue if you don't repent and ask God for victory, which we can help with. Lastly, a homosexual union cannot produce life, even from a strictly naturalistic, science-without-God evolutionary concept. What is the most obvious conclusion about homosexual union? According to Darwin and the theory of natural selection, survival is for the purpose of reproduction Preserving the species is the standard. And when I was studying science, I remember scientists found penguins on a little island in the Antarctic that were homosexual. And so this was big news. Wow, maybe there's a homosexual gene. And then fortunately, a couple of weeks later, two or three weeks later, another article came out saying, oops, They all gave that up and went back to heterosexual unions. And we think there were reasons why all of that happened. But it makes no sense. It should make no sense to a person who doesn't believe in God, because it doesn't work for evolution. And so we're going to look now at Todd Friel. And here we go. You know who this guy is? I think we'll enjoy this. I'd like to share this with you. I think this captures it even more. Here's what he says, because he himself struggles with homosexual desires. The church at times, not all churches, The church at times has failed to approach people who identify as gay with compassion, but rather with name-calling and rejection and haughty attitudes. But the solution to the problem is not taking the other extreme of truth, which is concealment or reduction or rejection. If you sacrifice truth for the sake of grace, your idea of grace is unbiblical. Grace and truth hold hands, they don't bump fists. The person who identifies as gay must be told the very centrality of their being is broken by sin, and their attraction for the same sex is unnatural, and if they choose to embrace and act out on those attractions, which is a rejection of Jesus, they will go to hell for their sins. That's the law. And we are still proclaimers of the law. They must be told this. In an attitude of love and compassion, with tears flowing and heart aching, they must be told this. And we must point them to the forgiveness and new life offered through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's a hard balance, isn't it? How's your church doing? How's your church doing? You have people who are struggling with homosexuality in your church. I just read a statistic, 25% of youth will go through a season where they get confused. 25%. What do they hear? What do they hear from our churches? Do they hear, you're welcome here because Jesus loves sinners, or do they just hear something akin to revolt? There's a sixth realm I want to tackle. I know I said five, but this is the tough one. I want to take us now, very personal, into the realm of the home. There's a battle going on in our homes regarding sexual issues. I was just talking to a lovely couple out in the lobby. I remember this. I think my daughters were five and four and they came home. And they said, Dad, what is fill in the blank with a word I hadn't heard since junior high? What? They hear stuff. They're being taught stuff. Homeschooling or not, they just hear it. Our kids are getting bombarded by sexuality. The music they just hear at the grocery store, it's just everywhere. And so there's a battle on this issue in your home, especially when it's very safe to say, and an audience this side, somebody here probably has a son or daughter who is confused about their sexuality. Wow, this gets personal now. I'd like to share with you two letters. David Murray found a letter on the internet that made its way around about five years ago. Reg Clark is the guy's name. He came out to his father, who claims to be a Christian. This man, gay, told dad he's gay. And this is the letter that he says his dad wrote to him. This is letter number one. James, this is a difficult but necessary letter to write. I hope your telephone call was not to receive my blessing for the degrading of your lifestyle. I have fond memories of our times together, but that is all in the past. Don't expect any conversations with me. No communications at all. I will not come to visit, nor do I want you in my house. You've made your choice. How wrong it may be, God did not intend for this unnatural lifestyle. If you choose not to attend my funeral, my friends and family will understand. Have a good birthday and good life. No present exchanges will be accepted. Goodbye, Dad. It's one letter. David Murray read that and he decided to imagine that if his son came up to him, what letter would he would hope to write to his son? Here it is. My dear James, I'd rather say this man to man and face to face, and I hope you will have a chance to do so soon. To avoid misunderstanding and to ensure that you will have something in black and white you can keep and refer to, I want to make sure you know one thing. I love you. And I will always love you. I do not hate you and I never will. Our relationship will probably change a bit as a result of your chosen lifestyle. But my love for you will never change. I will continue to seek your very best, as I have always done. In fact, I will probably, by prayer and other practical means, seek your good as I've never done before. Maybe you've been afraid that I will reject you and throw you out of my life. I want you to know you will always be welcome in our family and in our home. Text, email, phone regularly, I will. This might be controversial. Your male friend may also come to visit home with you. But you will need to discuss certain boundaries. For example, I can't allow you to share a room or a bed together when you are here. I will not allow open displays of affection for one another, especially in front of the other children. If you stay with us, you'll attend family devotions. And if you're with us on a Sunday, you will come to church with us to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Hear that? Perhaps these boundaries are not going to go easy and you won't accept them, but please try to understand that I have a duty to God to lead my home in a God-glorifying manner. Psalm 101 commands me to prevent sinful behavior in my home. While extremely anxious to preserve a relationship with you, I am especially concerned that your siblings are not influenced into thinking your lifestyle is fine with God or with us. I know you don't like me calling your lifestyle and sexual practices a sin. However, remember I've always told you that I myself am a greater sinner. But I have an even greater Savior. And I hope the day will come when you will seek that great Savior for yourself. He can wash us white as snow. He is able to deliver us from the bondage of our lusts and from everlasting damnation. I will not bring up your sin and the Gospel every time we meet, but I do want you to know where I stand up front and that I'm willing to speak with you about the Gospel of Christ any time you wish. I hope you will not call this message hate. This is how love sounds. I will always be your dad, and you will always be my son, and I will never stop loving you, and I will never stop praying for you. With all my love, Dad." What letter would you write to your son if he came out? What would you say to your daughter if she summoned up the courage to confess to you she's confused? has completely dived into sin. Do we respond as conservatives or do we respond as Christians? What are we battling for? We're battling for much. Battling for bodies. Homosexuals who live that lifestyle die early. Miserable bad deaths. But more than that, we're battling for the souls of men. So how do I engage with them? How do I speak about these issues? At the water cooler, if I'm called to do this on my blog or TV, politically, how do I deal with this in my home and in my church? Might I suggest to you that we remember who we are first? If you've read Jerry Bridge's book, Respectable Sins, he talks about sins that we have a tendency to overlook. I want to read the list of sins to you. Think about yourself for a moment. Pride. Envy. Idolatry. Gossip. Sharp tongues. Laziness. Discontentment. Unthankfulness. Selfishness. Impatience. Irritability. Anger. judgmentalism, jealousy, worldliness, sins of the tongue. Those aren't even the biggies, are they? Might I encourage you before you engage and before you speak, remember first who you are before we start pointing at who they are. And then might I encourage you to remember the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. and that you bring the message of hope. Most, not all, most homosexuals, they're dying on the inside. They know it's wrong. They know it's busted. Might you need to speak a word of condemnation? You might. But might I encourage you to lift up Jesus Christ, who died for you. He died for you. Jesus died for you. And Jesus died for people. who are into bestiality. No. Yes he did. Jesus died for polygamists. No. Yes he did. And he died for democrats and for fascists and for rich fat cats and he died for homosexuals and he died for liars and thieves and blasphemers and adulterers. He died for all of us and we better remember that the ground is indeed level at the foot of the cross. So let's remember Who is the enemy? Who is the victim of the enemy? And what is our message? Our message is the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's our message. If the world ever asks about you, who is that guy? Might I encourage you to live and speak in such a way where they say, that guy was about Jesus. That woman, she was about Jesus Christ. Be known for the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the result of that will be, the culture might change. Might. Might not. But I do know this. God will be glorified. Souls will be saved. And they will enjoy Him forevermore with us as the Lamb receives the praise and the honor and the glory for His work that He might receive the full reward for His suffering. Let's not be proclaiming politics. Let's be proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. All right, let's let's close in prayer and then I can take questions for another five minutes Heavenly Father we thank you for your clear presentation of this through your word we thank you the the model of this man who has just spoken and the models he's referred to of the wrong way and the right way to handle this. Help us to be right in how we discuss rights and bless us as we leave this place to not be afraid to even discuss thorny and difficult issues and we just commit this to you in Jesus' precious name. Amen.