 Well today we're in Genesis chapter 1 verses 27 and 28, we're going to be looking at and continuing our series that we just recently began on the subject of marriage. And so let's begin at verse 27, Genesis chapter 1, we'll look at verses 27 and 28, and we'll get into our study. In Genesis chapter 1 verse 27 and 28, so God created man in his own image. In the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and God said to them be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And so we're going to continue our series on marriage and the family and obviously reviewing the subject from a specifically Christian perspective. You see at this moment our nation is embroiled in an all out war on just what the definition of marriage actually is. The definition of marriage is being debated throughout our state, throughout our nation, throughout our world. Today we have what are referred to as same sex unions and the same sex union is constantly presented as equal to heterosexual relationships. Now this particular definition and this argument and arrangement has gained a backing of modern psychology, education, all forms of media including entertainment and music, as well as the courts of law. Presently there are 18 nations that have some form of recognition of homosexual marriage. At the moment there are 19 states in the United States that recognize homosexual marriage as well as the District of Columbia. Now after saying this it's worth mentioning that though there are 18 nations that have some form of recognition for homosexual marriage, we need to realize that there are around 195 countries in the world. That means that 177 of them have not recognized homosexual marriage. Also we need to remember that we have 50 states and out of our nation's 50 states 31 have not legalized homosexual marriage. So what seems like a huge movement is growing in its momentum but it is not unanimously accepted. Now the feeling that it is really comes because the media is constantly presenting this from their point of view. But how is it that this occurred so quickly in a generation? How is it that this has happened so quickly in the United States? How is it that these states came to recognize homosexual marriage as being equal to heterosexual marriage? Was it an overwhelming move of the will of the people who have seen it as a civil right, a divine right? It's worth noting eight states legalized homosexual marriage through state legislatures. Eight states have done so through court decisions including California and only three states have done so by popular vote. Those states would be Maine, Maryland and Washington. So that reveals that the movement is not generated by the will of the people but is being generated by judges, activists and politicians. Now that makes it clear that despite the will of the people court decisions can and often do overturn their will. So that means that courts and legislatures can overturn the will of the people if they happen to want to. Which is one of the reasons why we as believers who do have the right to vote, we ought to vote. Marriage and its definition and its value is steadily eroding and it's done so over the last generation. There are millions of young people who grew up in single-parent homes. The result has been that they don't see an advantage of having a husband and wife as mom and dad. They didn't have an environment that helped them to develop a value for marriage. Millions we know are being raised in single-parent homes today and they don't value marriage. Marriage doesn't have the same meaning as it does for those who have been raised with biological parents. Now of course there are many Christians who have found themselves in that difficult situation and therefore I need to say this very clearly. This is not a condemnation of our single parents who are doing the best that they can to raise their kids. In this fellowship we do everything we can to be of support in whatever way we can for our single moms and single dads. But I'm sure that all would agree that the ideal situation is for a husband and a wife to raise their kids. You know whenever you raise up an objection to homosexual marriage, the first thing you're going to hear, and we all have heard this before if you speak about it, is that you're a hater. It takes an argument and makes it an emotional argument. You're a hater. Well don't be surprised if you're referred to as a hater and perhaps some of you have been referred to. And maybe you are haters. I don't know you that well. Maybe you are a bunch of haters in this church. I don't know. I will say this. That isn't a new charge against the church. All the way back in around the year 60 or so AD, the Roman emperor Nero actually referred to Christians as haters of humanity. And so this charge of being a hater has been lodged against the church since it first began. And so when you tell the truth there are always going to be those who have a problem with doing that. The breakdown of marriage has affected the nation we live in. The value of marriage is questioned now amongst our youth. What is now thought of as common wisdom in terms of thinking that marriage is fine for homosexual or heterosexuals. Why should you legislate it? Though we do have laws that regulate marriage. If a man wants to marry his mother he can't do that. If a man wants to marry his horse he can't do that. There are laws that we do have and people see the value of them. It just so happens that in this particular case people have gotten a little bit more permissive in their attitudes. It's called common wisdom. Well in 2008 California voters were asked to vote on a proposition. Proposition 8. A proposition that outlawed homosexual marriage. During that time I received a letter that I think is worth reading at least a portion of it at this moment. Somebody wrote to me recently my friends and I have been having many debates about proposition 8. It is bothering me tremendously that my friends are saying that they are Christian, Catholic or even just religious and yet they are all voting no on proposition 8. They are debating that while it does state in the Bible that gay marriage is incorrect that gay individuals should have the free will and the right to choose whether or not they wish to sin. It's not right for us to judge them. They say that it is not right for us to choose how others should live their lives. They repeatedly hit me with the argument that church and state should be separate. They keep telling me God would not discriminate against anyone because he loves us all equally. We have said such things as times have changed, this is a new era, people change, we need to learn to change as well. I'm sure if Jesus were here now he wouldn't discriminate. Now some of you have heard that argument perhaps, some of you have lodged that argument. It isn't right for Christians to judge. Well this kind of thinking is the result of not knowing the Bible or simply rejecting what the Bible says. And much of the blame can be put on pastors of churches who do not teach the Bible. That is what has kept people in moral darkness. And God has made it very clear that that isn't good. Just this last week, June 19th, the Presbyterian church of the United States, the PCUSA just recently redefined what marriage is. They now define marriage as being between two people. And so that's taking place even as they're given this message. You see those who would say that God would not discriminate against anyone because he loves us all is simply not knowing Scripture. The Bible clearly teaches that God is love. There's no doubt about it. But it also teaches that God is just. And God did not create homosexuality. That's why his word would call it sin. And that's why to practice and unrepentantly be involved in homosexuality results in judgment. In 1st Timothy chapter 1 verses 9-11 Paul said, knowing this that the law is not made for a righteous person but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers, murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers. And if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust. You see that's why we are commissioned to preach the gospel, it's to help people see what sin is and to receive grace and forgiveness. For someone to say times have changed and Jesus would not discriminate is also incorrect. He existed prior to and was well known in the time of Jesus, he even alluded to it. Remember with me the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The city of Sodom was proverbial for homosexual sin and is identified in that way in Scripture. Now when you study Ezekiel in chapter 16 verse 49 it also lists other sins. The sin of pride and materialism, the sin of idleness and indifference to others in need is also listed. But the Bible speaks very specifically of Sodom and it was proverbial for homosexual sin. In Genesis chapter 19 we read in verses 4 and 5 before they lay down the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter surrounded the house. They called the lot and said to him, where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally. In Genesis chapter 19 verse 24 the result is the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of the heavens. And so the Bible very clearly makes it a statement that this was sexual sin. Yes, there were other sins involved. There are those who would argue and say that the reason Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them were destroyed in judgment was because of their inhospitable attitude. That isn't what it was destroyed for. It was because of the sexual as well as other sins that they were involved in. Jude in the New Testament verse 7 speaks of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them in a similar manner to these having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after what is called strange flesh. The word strange flesh speaks of homosexuality and he writes they are set forth as an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. So you have Sodom mentioned in both old and later in the New. It was proverbial during the time of Christ and that's why Jesus would use the city of Sodom during his teaching as an example of sin in judgment. In Luke chapter 17 verses 28 and 29 Jesus speaks of the days of Lot and he says they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built. But on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. So Jesus was not indifferent and Jesus was very clear concerning sin. God did not ignore the sin that was rampant and God did not permit it. God actually did something about it. But what he actually did that we sometimes forget is that he sent his son to save us from judgment for all sins including this sin. Jesus did not ignore sin. He openly confronted it. I would remind you of the very first recorded message that we have in Matthew chapter four verse 17 the first thing that Jesus ever said when he goes out in his preaching ministry this is what he said repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So Jesus Christ even in his initial operation of preaching and proclaiming the message of salvation the first word of the gospel is repent. Jesus offered freedom from sin because he teaches that sin is bondage and that he has come to set men free. In John 8 34 through 36 Jesus said most assuredly I say to you whoever commits sin is a slave of sin and a slave does not abide in the house forever but a son abides forever therefore if the son makes you free you will be free indeed. So Jesus did not ignore sin there are those popular preachers who have said that Jesus never even speaks of sin which is not true. You know the story of when Jesus was speaking to a woman who was caught in adultery and when he was speaking to the woman during that day and at that time he says to her I do not condemn you but he goes on to exhort her to forsake her sin in John 8 11 he said go and sin no more. In Luke 5 32 Jesus said I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. So for someone to say that Jesus would not discriminate is to ignore scripture and not know what the Lord has to say. To argue as a Christian that Jesus would approve of homosexual marriage is wrong. It is to willfully ignore what God has clearly declared in his word. You see marriage is not a human invention it's an institution designed by God. Malachi 2 11 refers to marriage as the Lord's holy institution which he loves. In other words marriage is not man's idea it is God's idea. Nature itself reveals that only man can meet only woman can meet a man's biological as well as psychological needs a man can try to act like a woman and a woman can try to act like a man but that's a bad act. God designed man to be completed by woman which is why they become one flesh. Homosexuals and their sympathizers want to legitimize homosexuality and they're doing so through common culture but especially through law. According to family code 297.5 under California law domestic partnerships have the same rights protections and benefits of married couples. So homosexual activists do not want the same rights homosexual activists want the same moral standing and they they say this very clearly. Now as a Christian I reject the redefinition of marriage for several reasons simply calling something marriage does not make it marriage. All of us have either read the book Alice in Wonderland through the looking glass or we've seen the Disney production of Alice in Wonderland. In the book Alice in Wonderland there's an interesting statement made by the intellectual Humpty Dumpty. When I use the word Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone it means just what I choose it to mean neither more nor less. When I use a word it means what I choose it to mean we're redefining if you're a reader and you like to read read C.S. Lewis's essay on the abolition of man in which he makes a very strong case about the redefinition of words and how that can actually decrease the reality of what a human being actually is. I reject the redefinition of marriage. You can't redefine words because you desire them to mean something else. You see I understand as a Christian that marriage is a sacred institution as mentioned before established by God. Jesus in Mark chapter 10 verses 6 through 9 said it like this from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother be joined to his wife the two shall become one flesh. So then they are no longer two but one flesh therefore what God has joined together let not man separated. So it's a union of a male and a female so calling same sex unions marriage is incorrect. Also the Bible teaches that part of God's design for marriage is procreation. It's the law of nature. God blessed them God said to them be fruitful and multiply we read in Genesis 128. They are capable of multiplying because they are physiologically compatible. Obviously homosexual unions by nature are sterile and cannot produce children. Third God's design for marriage includes a male and female model for children. If there are children involved it will always deny a child either a mother or a father. A child will always be deprived of either his natural mother or natural father and children need role models from opposite sex parents. Fourth God's word declares homosexuality to be sin and morally wrong. You see homosexual activists are making a moral wrong into a civil right. They argue that their struggle is equal to America's minority struggles for civil rights. They present themselves as minorities and claim to be discriminated against because of it. We've all heard it and that's what they do but the fact is as a group they have not been denied access to restaurants, restrooms, housing, stores, voting. They have not been denied seats on buses lynched by angry mobs, bitten by dogs, shot with fire hoses. They have never been legally defined as two-thirds of a person. They've never had theologians argue whether or not they possessed a soul and they have never been sold into slavery. Here in Chino, some of you may know this, many won't. Here in the city of Chino in the 40s, did you know that Mexicans could not swim in the local pool and that public schools were segregated here in Chino? Did you know that? That I as a Mexican-American could not swim in the pool on certain days? That only whites could do that and minorities could not? Did you know that? Here in the city, my mother-in-law is Spanish and her father actually fought with the school board so that she could go to the white school because they were discriminating against her. Now, we have all heard of Brown versus the Board of Education where integration became the law of the nation. I wonder how many of us have heard of Mendes versus the school board of Westminster? How that during that decision, I found it in, I think it was in 1947, Mendes versus the Westminster Board of Education, that actually integrated schools in California. Now, Governor Warren became Justice Warren and he wrote the Brown versus the Board of Education decision. And so they're saying that they are genetically born and they have no say in this. And they're equating that with the fact that somebody of a minority ethnicity, they're equating themselves with that person of minority ethnicity. And that is simply wrong. That's not true. There have been studies done on identical twins, identical twins. And in the studies that have been done, one particular study is from 2000 to 2011. It's mentioned by Dr. Neil Whiteheads from New Zealand. And he said if an identical twin has same-sex attraction, the chances that the co-twin has it too are only around 11% for men and 14% for women. The fact is there is no such thing as a homosexual gene. There are no homosexual babies. You see, we do them no good if we tell them that they were born that way and then say that you can't help yourself, it's okay. We do them no good when we do that. You see, as mentioned, I'm a ethnically Mexican-American man. That's what I am. And if I put my head on my pillow tonight and say, I'm going to wake up Swedish, that can't happen. Even if I'm born again, it just can't happen, you know. It's not going to happen. But I know homosexuals and I know lesbians who have come out of that lifestyle and I've seen them get married and have children. They can change. God can do works of miracles in their life. And I believe it's doing them no good if we tell them they were born that way. There's no scientific proof of that at all. You see, when recognized as the same as heterosexual marriage, it is taught in schools. And in our California school system, California law provides children as young as kindergarten to be taught about marriage. So it's a great way for them to propagandize our children and that's what they really want. They know, the activists know that they're not going to change my mind and probably won't change most if not all of ours in this room at this moment. The activists know that. They don't go after us. They'll argue with us, but they're not going after us. They're going after our children. They do it through the educational system. So what we need to do is we need to be faithful. As pastors, we need to preach the word of God. You see, this is an offense to God. And what the real fact is, is we are concerned for their eternal souls. And the reason we're concerned for the eternal soul is because we care about them. You see, many don't believe in a final judgment. They believe that everybody's going to go to heaven automatically. But that's not what the Bible teaches. In 1 Corinthians chapter six, verses nine through 11, Paul said, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do you not be deceived? Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. You see, we have a gospel message that is a powerful message. And when we are motivated by love for God and His truth and for others, we will proclaim it. Pastors need to stand up and speak the truth. We need to stand up and not be afraid of being shouted down. We need to speak the truth and our churches need to embrace the truth. We have to. My sister Rebecca and I were sitting outside in front of my sister Madeline's house many years ago now. And as Becky and I were seated on the front lawn just visiting as a brother and sister do, my sister Rebecca tells me, David, I want you to know I'm a lesbian. And she was in her early 20s at that time. And as I was seated there across from her, I said, let me tell you something, baby. That's my baby sister. She's six years younger than me. I love her with all of my heart. I said, let me tell you something, sweetheart. Let me tell you something, baby. What you were doing, how you were living is a sin. God loves you and he sent his son Jesus Christ to dine across, to wash you and cleanse you. God can forgive you and God will. And not only that, baby, but God will give you a brand new life. You can be a new creation, Christ, old things pass away and hold all things become new. You need the Lord Jesus Christ and you need to know something else. You need to know that I as your brother love you enough to tell you the truth. And secondly, I will never accept your sin. It is going to take you to hell. I will not accept what will destroy you. You need to understand that. I love you and I don't want to see you die. You can go to hell. I love you with all of my heart. Was that easy? No. Was it easy to say that? No. No, I would prefer being liked by everyone. Just go along with the flow. You see, the dead fish float down the stream. It's the living ones that go against the tide. You gotta be a living fish. Go against the tide. Tell the truth. God will honor it. My sister lived in a lesbian lifestyle for over 20 years. I think she said to me 27 years, but she gave her heart to Jesus Christ and she is serving the Lord and has been doing so now since 1998. God changes people. God can transform your life. That is the gospel. He can take the drunk and change the drunk. He can take the violent one and change the violent one. He can take the adulterer. He can take the womanizer. He can take that person and transform it. That's what the gospel promises. And that's why we preach it. My dad was seated across from me at the table. I'm opening the Bible. I'm 20 years old and it just came out of five years of drug and alcohol abuse. I'm looking at my dad and I'm reading the passage of scripture to him. And I say to him, dad, I don't know what this means. I said, I know this. It's not talking to me. It's talking to you. And I said to my dad, I said, dad, you're a good man. You're the best man that I'll ever know. But you will be the best man in hell if you don't give your heart to Jesus Christ. I said, I love you and I don't wanna go to heaven without you. Bow your head. You're gonna receive Jesus Christ right now as your Lord and your savior. And that's how my father got saved. It's because some stupid kid who was just fresh out of drugs and alcohol abuse. A thief, a liar, someone who was put in jail three different times. My dad had to mortgage the house to pull me out so he could keep me from prison. My dad, who was a good man, was being there, spoken to by some little hippie punk who just came out of drugs, telling him, you're a good man, but you're going to hell. My dad listened. My dad was saved. My dad followed the Lord. My mom followed the Lord. My sister Madeline followed the Lord. My brother Frank follows the Lord. My sister Becky follows the Lord because the gospel changes lives. God's word, teach it, share it, preach it, believe it. God's word. And when God said something is a sin, it's a sin. But God also says, I can save you. Our weapons are not carnal. We need to pray that God will move. We need to know our God is with us. Psalm 46-7, the Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. The redefinition of marriage is the rejection of God's rule in our lives. What we need to do is get on God's side. I don't care what Oprah says. And I don't care what Alan says. I care what God says. And what God says is, I sent my son. I can change you. Whether you're an alcoholic, whether you're a gossip, whether you're a glutton, whatever it may be, I can change you from the inside. That's the message we preach. And we will not bow our knees to Caesar. And I don't care if they call us haters. I hate sin, but I love Jesus. And I want people to be set free. And that's why I preach this message that God's grace will save a sinner. That's the message of the gospel. May we be faithful to proclaim it.