September 17, 2025 • 30 mins
There is a strong, clear message in the Bible from beginning to end: we are responsible for what we do. Our society is bent on denying this simple fact. Other people make us act the way we do. Conditions in our body determine how we behave. We are just products of heredity and environment.
God cuts through all of these rationalizations. He gives us free will and we decide what we do with it. It’s strange that we agree yet disagree with this. If we do something great, we want to be recognized. We say, “I did it.” But when we do something wrong, we blame someone or something else.
The question in this episode is a hotly debated issue. Instead of asking people what they think, we will ask what God says about it.
Read about this subject
- Scripture: I Corinthians 6:9-11; 10:13
- Right From the Beginning in a World of Wrong, chapter four: “Gender.”
Listen to more on this subject
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hi, I’m Kerry Duke, host of My Godand My Neighbor podcast from Tennessee
Bible College, where we see the Bibleas not just another book, but the Book.
Join us in a study of the inspiredWord to strengthen your faith and to
share what you've learned with others.
Do homosexuals choose their lifestyle?
For that matter, do heterosexualschoose their behavior?
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This question involves some of the mostpersonal feelings a person can experience.
The Bible says Godcreated male and female.
Genesis one, verse 27 (00:31):
“So God created man in his own image and
the image of God created he him.Male and female created he them.”
God thought of the veryconcept of male and female.
He made the male body.
He designed the female body.
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And God placed in mankind thedesire for intimacy, for sex.
Sex is God's creation, not man's idea.
There's nothing wrong withthe way that God made us.
There's nothing bad about the feelingsand the desires that he placed within us.
Hebrews 13, verse four says, “Marriage ishonorable in all, and the bed undefiled;
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but fornicators and adulterers God willjudge.” In First Corinthians seven verses
one through five, Paul explained thatone of the reasons why God gave marriage
to mankind is to prevent fornication.
He said because of the problemof fornication, let each man
have his own wife and let eachwoman have her own husband.
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that a man is to have a wife, thata woman is to have a husband—his
own wife, her own husband.
And what's the purposeof this relationship?
It is to keep fornication from happening.
That's why God gave us marriage—in orderthat we might have an opportunity and
a channel for fulfilling these desires.
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God didn't create the human raceand then say you can never fulfill
these desires, you can never expressthese desires with someone else.
God made marriage so that these desirescould be fulfilled in the proper channel.
The problem today is thatpeople don't have the respect
for marriage that they should.
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They complain about therebeing so many temptations.
They say that the temptations are just toostrong and that they really can't handle
those desires that are placed within them.
The Bible says there is a right wayto show those desires, and there is
a wrong way to show those desires.
If God had said you have all thesefeelings, I made you that way, but
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you can never express them, then itwould be understandable that people
would say that that's just unfair.
But that is not how God made the world.
That's why we find these instructionsin First Corinthians chapter seven.
Remember when he writes this letterto the church at Corinth that
Corinth at the time was one ofthe most immoral places on earth.
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Things like adultery and fornicationand homosexuality and prostitution
were rampant in the city of Corinth.
These Christians that Paul is writing towere living in that kind of environment.
They came out of that kind of background,and so Paul explains to them that
marriage is God's design for mankind.
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In verse three of First Corinthiansseven, he talks to the husbands
and the wives about their dutyin marriage in this matter.
In verse three he said, “Let the husbandrender to his wife the affection do her.
And likewise also the wife to her husband.
The wife does not have authority overher own body, but the husband does.
And likewise the husband doesnot have authority over his
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own body, but the wife does.
Do not deprive one another exceptwith consent for a time that you
may give yourselves to fasting andprayer and come together again so
that Satan does not tempt you becauseof your lack of self-control.”
So as Paul writes to Christianswho've come out of a background where
sex is viewed as something looseand dirty, he talks to them about
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God's will for them in marriage.
He talks about God's idea of sex.
He plainly teaches thatsex belongs in marriage.
And when he talks about marriage, hetalks about the only kind of rightful
marriage in the Bible, and that ismarriage between a man and a woman.
Earlier in the book of FirstCorinthians, he talks about the
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lifestyle that some of these peoplehad lived before they were converted.
It's found in First Corinthianschapter six verses nine through 11.
This is one of the most importantpassages on this subject when
people discuss God and this issue.
In First Corinthians chapter six,beginning in verse nine: “Do you not know
that the unrighteous will not inheritthe kingdom of God?” The unrighteous here
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are people who will not go to heaven.
So we cannot do these thingsand die unforgiven of them
and expect to go to heaven.
What are these things?
He says, “Do not be deceived,neither fornicators…” The word
“fornication” in the Bible refersto unlawful sexual union in general.
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Now that word is a broad word.
It's an inclusive word.
It can mean premarital sex.
It can mean adultery, it can mean incest,pedophilia, homosexuality, or bestiality.
So the word fornication is the firstword that he mentions, and that is your
broader word for illicit sexual union.
Then he says, “idolaters, adulterers,
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homosexuals, nor sodomites.”
The King James version says “effeminate”and then “abusers of themselves
with mankind.” Now the latter one,which says “abusers of themselves
with mankind” and in the New KingJames it says “sodomites,” is your
more general word for homosexuality.
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The first word that he uses in theKing James version is effeminate.
In the New King Jamesversion, it says homosexuals.
Now that is a specific word in theGreek for a certain kind of homosexual.
It basically refers to a homosexualthat's being used in the more
passive role, as some people wouldsay, in the more female role.
In that homosexual relationship, it'susually defined as a boy or a man who
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allows himself to be used homosexually.
Now, that could refer to a prostituteor it could refer to someone who
is not a prostitute, but it'sbasically that kind of idea.
So Paul uses two specific wordshere to talk about homosexuality.
The second word in the Greek, whichis translated in the new King James
sodomites and in the King James version“abusers of themselves with mankind”
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comes from a compound word in the Greek.
Now, that simply means that there'sa combination of two different words.
The first word that is in thiscompound form is the word for man—a
male, not mankind in general involvingmales and females, but it is the
specific Greek word for a male.
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And the second part of that compoundGreek word is the word for bed.
And sometimes in the New Testament,that word refers to a literal bed, and
sometimes it is referring to what that bedis used for, as in Hebrews 13 verse four,
when it says that the bed is undefiled.
Here in First Corinthians chaptersix, verse nine, you have in the last
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word in that verse a word,which inthe original is literally referring
to a male who goes to bed with a male.
Now if there's a verse in the Bible thatclearly points out that this is something
that is sinful in the sight of God, thisis one of those verses, but he continues.
In verse 10, he says, “nor thieves, norcovetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers,
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nor extortioners, will inherit thekingdom of God.” When people today
say that God made people homosexuals,they're saying that God made people
sinful and then keeps them out of heavenfor something that they cannot avoid.
That's not true.
We know that because of verse 11.
Paul said, “And such were some ofyou.” He didn't say that “you are.”
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And let's go back to the list.
He says that some of them had beenfornicators, idolaters, adulterers,
homosexuals, sodomites, thieves, covetous,drunkards, revilers, and extortioners.
And he says, such were some of you.
What happened?
What caused them to change?
Why were some of themfornicators and they changed?
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Why were some of them idolaters?
Why were some of themadulterers in the past?
Why did they change?
How could they change?
The Bible says that they did, andif that applies to fornicators and
idolaters and adulterers, then itapplies to homosexuals and sodomites.
He says in verse 10 some of themhad been thieves, some of them had
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been covetous, some of them had beendrunkards, revilers and extortioners,
and he says in verse 11 “and such weresome of you.” He didn't say, such “are”
some of you, but such were some of you.
They had lived this lifestyle.
They had committed these sins.
This is who they were in the past,but it is not who they are now.
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How did they change?
They changed because they chose to change.
They decided to turn from that lifestyle.
And here's the flip side of that question.
How did these people in versenine and 10 become those sinners.
Let's start again in verse nine.
He says some were fornicators.
How did they become fornicators?
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He says that some were idolaters.
How did they become idolaters?
He talks about adulterers.
How did these people becomefornicators, idolaters, and adulterers?
Verse 10 (10:03):
some of them had been thieves.
How did they become thieves to begin with?
How did they become covetous?
How did they become drunkardsand revilers and extortioners?
They became these sinners by choice.
They decided to commit these sins.
That's how they becamesinners in those ways.
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Now, in verse nine, the same thingapplies to homosexuals and sodomites.
If the other sinners became sinnersby their choice in verses nine
and 10, then that means that thehomosexuals that he's talking about
became homosexuals by their choice.
And because they became homosexualsby their choice, they had the power,
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and some of them did, stop beinghomosexuals by their own choice.
That's what he says in verse 11.
“And such were some of you, but you werewashed, but you were sanctified, but you
were justified in the name of the LordJesus and by the Spirit of our God.”
When Paul went to the city of Corinthin Acts chapter 18 and preached the
gospel, the Bible says many of theCorinthians hearing believed and were
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baptized [Acts chapter 18 verse eight].
They changed.
You see, repentance in theBible means a change of mind.
When a man repents, that means he turnsfrom the life that he was living and he
turns to God and he lives a better life.
He lives the right kind of life.
He's not perfect, but he doesmake that change in his mind.
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Repentance is a change of mind.
That means it is a decision.
And when they turned to God infaith and repentance and were
baptized for the remission of theirsins, then their sins were washed.
They were sanctified, they werejustified in the name of the Lord
Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Can homosexuals change their behavior?
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Yes.
These people did, and thatwas almost 2000 years ago.
So these verses answer twoimportant questions that people
are still raising and sometimesarguing about unnecessarily today.
And that is, number one, does a personchoose his sexual behavior, and number
two, can he change his sexual lifestyle?
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And the answer to both questions isyes, but today, sometimes gays and
lesbians say, “But how could Godblame me for having these feelings?
I didn't choose to be this way.” Oneof the most common defenses of gay
and lesbian behavior is that theyare born with the same-sex nature.
They argue that it couldn't be wrongbecause they don't have a choice.
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They even say that God madethem that way, and they should
be accepted in their behavior.
Now, it's a very strange and odd thingto bring God into the picture when
you're trying to justify sin of any kind.
Why would anybody who's livingthis lifestyle bring the name
of God into the discussion?
God is the one who made male and female.
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God is the one who gave usmarriage for males and females.
God is the one who said in FirstCorinthians six verses 9 and 10 that
those who die unforgiven of this andother sins will not go to heaven.
So why bring the name of Godinto the discussion and then
not listen to what He says?
They're obviously trying to talkthemselves into believing something
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that they know deep down is againstGod's creation, and they're trying to
gain, in a desperate way, some kind ofacceptance or recognition from the public.
But sometimes gays and lesbianssay, “You just don't understand.
I've had these feelingssince I was very young.
I cannot help but have these feelings.
How can you say that it'swrong to express them?”
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There's one passage in the Bible thattalks not just about the actions and
the behavior of homosexuals, but it alsotalks about the feelings of homosexuals.
It's found in Romans chapter one.
In Romans chapter one, verses 18through 32, you have a section
about God's natural revelation.
This means that God shows Himselfin nature, and because we can see
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God in nature, we can know that somethings are right or wrong simply
because of what nature teachesus [Romans one 18 through 20].
The Bible shows that nature declares theexistence and some of the nature of God.
That is, we can have some understandingof God's attributes or His nature
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simply by looking at the creation.
The Bible says in Romans one, verse24, “Since the creation of the world
His invisible attributes are clearlyseen, being understood by the things
that are made, even his eternal powerand Godhead, so that they are without
excuse.” There is no excuse for a manbeing an atheist or an unbeliever, and
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there's no excuse for a man turning awayfrom the God that he should be able to
see and can see in the creation itself.
In spite of that, Paul saysthat some turned away from God.
Verse 21 (14:59):
“Because although they knew God, they did not glorify
him as God.” Paul said in verse 23that they changed the glory of the
incorruptible God into an image madelike corruptible man and birds and four
footed animals and creeping things.
So notice that after they turned away fromthe true God, the Creator, they turned
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to their own gods which they created.
The Bible says that Godcreated man in His own image.
These people were creatingtheir gods in their own image.
That's what we read in verse 23.
In other words, he'stalking about idolatry.
That's not all that happened.
That's not all that they did.
They went from bad to worse.
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In verse 24, the Bible says, “ThereforeGod also gave them up to uncleanness.”
That's obviously not physical uncleanness.
That is moral uncleanness, andhe begins to explain what he's
talking about here in that verse.
Verse 24 says that God gave them up.
That is, He let them go.
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He “gave them up to uncleannessin the lusts of their hearts
to dishonor their bodies amongthemselves.” Notice two things here.
He talks about their hearts.
He talks about their bodies.
He's talking about the feelings andthe desires in their hearts, and
he's talking about what they didwith their bodies among themselves.
This sin, like any othersin, begins in the heart.
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Listen to James chapterone beginning in verse 13.
“Let no one say when he is tempted.
I am tempted by God.
For God cannot be tempted by evil,nor does He himself tempt anyone.
But each one is tempted when he is drawnaway by his own desires and enticed.
Then when desire has conceived, it givesbirth to sin, and sin, when it is full
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grown, brings forth death.” That's why theBible emphasizes keeping your heart right,
keeping your feelings in line with whatGod tells us and teaches us in His Word.
The Bible says in Proverbs23, verse seven that as a man
thinks in his heart, so is he.
In Proverbs chapter four, verse 23, theBible says, “Keep your heart with all
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diligence, for out of it are the issuesof life” [Proverbs four, verse 23].
Here, the Bible says in Romans chapterone, verse 24 that the journey away from
God into the sin of idolatry and into thesin of homosexuality began in the heart.
That's what we find back in verse 21.
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These people did not glorify God.
They were not thankful.
They became futile in their thoughts.
Their foolish heart was darkened.
They professed themselves tobe wise, and they became fools.
They turned to idolatry, and nowthey're turning to homosexuality.
Let's read again verse 24.
“Therefore God also gave them up touncleanness in the lusts of their
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hearts, to dishonor their bodies amongthemselves; who exchanged the truth
of God for the lie, and worshipedand served the creature rather than
the Creator who is blessed forever.
Amen.
For this reason, God gavethem up to vile passions.
For even their women exchanged thenatural use for what is against nature.
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Likewise also the men, leaving the naturaluse of the woman, burned in their lust one
for another, men with men committing whatis shameful and receiving in themselves
the penalty of their error which was due.”
Notice that Paul is describingthe feelings and the behavior
of these homosexuals.
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In verse 24, he talks aboutthe lusts of their hearts.
In verse 26, he definesthose lusts as vile passions.
So did these gays and lesbians he'stalking about in Romans chapter
one have feelings for each other.
Did they have, as we would saytoday, same sex attraction?
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Yes, but those feelings were wrong.
Those feelings, he says,were vile passions.
Just because people feelsomething doesn't make it's right.
That's part of the problem.
That's probably one of the biggeraspects of this problem today.
People think as long as they feelsomething is right for them or they
feel like doing it, then it's right,that they ought to have the right
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to do it, and that society ought toapprove of them and that God ought
to approve of what they're doing.
And of course it's true, whetheryou're talking about homosexuality
or some other sin, feeling that athing is right does not make it right.
The Bible tells us in Proverbs 16, verse25, “There is a way that seems right to a
man, but its end is the way of death.” Sothat's true whether you're talking about
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homosexuality or adultery or drunkennessor any other sin in the sight of God.
Notice here in Romans chapterone that God talks about both
the feelings and the actions.
He says these are lusts in theirhearts that are vile passions.
He says what they do with theirbodies is to dishonor their bodies.
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And he says it is shameful.
Now, that's verse 24 and verse 26and 27, and since the Bible calls
these feelings, these passions inRomans one, verse 26”vile,” that
means that God did not put them there.
Sometimes today people say, “Godgave me these feelings, so I can't
help but express them.” But Goddoesn't give a man vile passions.
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God doesn't give a woman vile passions,and if those vile passions didn't
come from God, they must have comefrom temptation—from the world around
us and from our own imagination.
Even if a person is confusedabout his feelings, that doesn't
mean he has to act on them.
Just because you get mad at somebodydoesn't mean you have to kill him.
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Just because it would make you feelgood to have somebody else's car
doesn't mean you have to steal it.
We are not animals.
God gave us a will to make choices andthat will can override those feelings.
Think about another unnatural,uncomfortable subject: pedophilia.
This is disgusting.
It is an abomination, butpedophiles make the same excuse.
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They say they have thesefeelings and they can't help it.
Does that mean that pedophilesought to be excused because
they have these strong feelings?
Obviously not.
And again, this is also true of amarried woman or a married man who
has feelings of lust for someone elseoutside that marriage, someone other
than their husband or their wife.
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All of these people are responsiblefor having those feelings.
They're responsible for harboringthose feelings and for feeding those
feelings and for acting on thosefeelings because they have a will.
And with that will, any personcan overcome these feelings.
The temptations usually won't go away.
The devil will always use our weaknessesagainst us, but we have a promise.
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In First Corinthians chapter 10,verse 13, here's what it says.
“No temptation has overtaken you exceptsuch as is common to man. But God is
faithful, who will not allow you to betempted beyond what you are able, but will
with the temptation also make the way ofescape that you may be able to bear it.”
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Notice the wording.
He says “no temptation.” That meansthat this covers every temptation.
Whatever the temptation is,Paul says that it is common to
man, that is, common to mankind.
He also says that Godis faithful about this.
That means God is trustworthy.
God is reliable.
He will keep his word about this.
He will not lie.
He is faithful and he will not allow youto be tempted beyond what you are able.
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You may think that you're not able.
You may think that it is beyond whatyou can resist, but the Bible says
that God will not allow you to be putin a situation like that even though
the pressure and the temptation mayseem so great that you can't bear it.
The Bible says with that temptationGod will also make the way of escape.
There is a way out of it, andremember who he's talking to.
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Here he is writing this letter to theChristians in Corinth—a wicked place,
a city with all kinds of temptations.
And he's also writing this to a churchthat had members in it who had been
guilty of sins like fornication,adultery, homosexuality, and other sins.
Who knows how many of those memoriesand old feelings had come back to
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haunt them in their lives and temptthem in their Christian lives?
Aside from the conflict that they may havehad on the inside, we know that there were
temptations all around these people on theoutside, and yet Paul said none of these
temptations are greater than you can bear.
Whatever the temptation is, whetherfeelings in your mind or feelings in
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your body or both, the Bible says you canresist [First Corinthians 10, verse 13].
And the perfect exampleof this is Jesus himself.
In Matthew chapter four, this iswhere Jesus was tempted by the devil.
And the Bible says the first temptationwas this in Matthew chapter four, verse
two (24:15):
“And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, afterward he was hungry.
Now when the tempter came to him,he said, ‘If you are the Son of God,
command that these stones becomebread.’ But He answered and said,
‘It is written, man shall not live bybread alone, but by every word that
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proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
Now when people today talk aboutintense feelings, when they talk
about severe temptations that seemunbearable, they need to consider
what Jesus went through here.
The Bible says that hefasted 40 days and 40 nights.
Now you don't have to be a medical doctorto know that after a certain amount of
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time, your body just begins to give in.
Your body gets to the point to where it'scraving food so badly that you'll eat just
about anything, and if you go much fartherbeyond a certain point, you will die.
Your body has to have that sustenance,and yet here the Bible says that Jesus
fasted 40 days and 40 nights, and He istempted to turn these stones into bread.
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You talk about a temptation.
How long could we go without eating beforewe turn to food that was right before us,
or the possibility of getting that food?
Now, Jesus was the Son of God,but he was also in a human body.
That means that he got tired like we do.
That means that he slept.
That means that he becamehungry and he had to eat.
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And the Bible says herethat he was hungry.
And this is after fasting40 days and 40 nights.
When we go 40 minutes without eating,we think that we're starving to death.
And yet Jesus fasted40 days and 40 nights.
He was hungry and the devil came toHim, tempting him to use his miraculous
ability to turn those stones into bread.
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You talk about a severe temptation.
You talk about an intensebodily desire for food.
Jesus experienced that, and yethe overcame that temptation.
Here's what the Bible latersays about his temptations.
In Hebrews chapter four, verse 15,the Bible says, “For we do not have a
high priest who cannot sympathize withour weaknesses, but was in all points
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tempted like as we are yet without sin.”
When the Bible says that He was in allpoints tempted like we are yet without
sin, that doesn't mean that Jesusexperienced every single individual sin or
temptation that we are faced with today.
Jesus was not tempted to take drugs.
He was not tempted to do some of thethings that people might do today.
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But as far as the intensity and theseverity of the temptation is concerned,
Jesus was tempted and He was tempted to apoint, actually to a level of intensity,
that you and I have not reached.
So my point in bringing up Matthewchapter four is not to say that
this has anything specifically to dowith any kind of sexual temptation.
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It is to show how intense and how severeand how strong those feelings and those
temptations can be regardless of whetherthey're in the body or in the mind.
And this is to show that Jesus feltthose bodily desires to a degree
that people today know nothing about.
And so when people today say, “I can'thelp these feelings that I have,”
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whether they're same sex attractionor opposite sex attraction, or for
drugs or alcohol or anything else,then they don't realize that Jesus
Christ felt a stronger temptation inhis body than they have ever felt.
So today when people are struggling withaddiction to alcohol and drugs, they
need to look at Matthew chapter four.
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They need to think about what Jesus faced.
And the same thing is true with regard tostrong feelings of same sex attraction or
for that matter, opposite sex attraction.
In either case, right or wrong, thedesire for sex is nowhere near as
strong as Jesus' desire for physicalfood for his physical body in the
temptation in Matthew chapter four.
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When anyone says today that the temptationis just too strong to bear, Jesus’
example shows that it is not, and sincewe're talking about the life and the
teaching of Jesus Christ, it's good tolook at another question about this.
Many people say that Jesus neversaid anything about homosexuality, so
we shouldn't say anything about it.
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Is that true?
Did Jesus talk about this issue?
Well, in the first place,Jesus never specifically said
anything about pedophilia.
He never specifically saidanything about human sacrifices.
He never specifically said anythingabout abortion, but Jesus did
not have to specifically nameevery sin in order to condemn it.
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Every time he talked aboutmurder, he included abortion.
He included human sacrifices.
And every time that he used the wordfornication, he included pedophilia.
He included any kind of unlawfulsexual union in general: premarital
sex, adultery, incest, pedophilia,bestiality, and yes homosexuality.
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Remember that the Bible refersto homosexuality as fornication
in the book of Jude, verse seven.
Is homosexuality a choice?
Yes, it is.
The Bible is very clear about that.
The Bible shows that natureitself condemns homosexuality.
The Bible itself in wordscondemns this as a sin.
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The Bible shows that this is a sinthat will keep one out of heaven.
The Bible furthermore shows that aperson can and must repent of this sin
and obey the gospel of Jesus Christ, andthen his sins will be forgiven, and if
he is faithful to God, then he can havea home in heaven when his life is over.
Thank you for listeningto My God and My Neighbor.
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Aim higher and get in touch with us today.
Hi, I’m Kerry Duke, host of My Godand My Neighbor podcast from Tennessee
Bible College, where we see the Bibleas not just another book, but the Book.
Join us in a study of the inspiredWord to strengthen your faith and to
share what you've learned with others.
Do homosexuals choose their lifestyle?
For that matter, do heterosexualschoose their behavior?
(00:23):
This question involves some of the mostpersonal feelings a person can experience.
The Bible says Godcreated male and female.
Genesis one, verse 27 (00:31):
“So God created man in his own image and
the image of God created he him.Male and female created he them.”
God thought of the veryconcept of male and female.
He made the male body.
He designed the female body.
(00:52):
And God placed in mankind thedesire for intimacy, for sex.
Sex is God's creation, not man's idea.
There's nothing wrong withthe way that God made us.
There's nothing bad about the feelingsand the desires that he placed within us.
Hebrews 13, verse four says, “Marriage ishonorable in all, and the bed undefiled;
(01:16):
but fornicators and adulterers God willjudge.” In First Corinthians seven verses
one through five, Paul explained thatone of the reasons why God gave marriage
to mankind is to prevent fornication.
He said because of the problemof fornication, let each man
have his own wife and let eachwoman have her own husband.
(01:39):
that a man is to have a wife, thata woman is to have a husband—his
own wife, her own husband.
And what's the purposeof this relationship?
It is to keep fornication from happening.
That's why God gave us marriage—in orderthat we might have an opportunity and
a channel for fulfilling these desires.
(02:01):
God didn't create the human raceand then say you can never fulfill
these desires, you can never expressthese desires with someone else.
God made marriage so that these desirescould be fulfilled in the proper channel.
The problem today is thatpeople don't have the respect
for marriage that they should.
(02:21):
They complain about therebeing so many temptations.
They say that the temptations are just toostrong and that they really can't handle
those desires that are placed within them.
The Bible says there is a right wayto show those desires, and there is
a wrong way to show those desires.
If God had said you have all thesefeelings, I made you that way, but
(02:42):
you can never express them, then itwould be understandable that people
would say that that's just unfair.
But that is not how God made the world.
That's why we find these instructionsin First Corinthians chapter seven.
Remember when he writes this letterto the church at Corinth that
Corinth at the time was one ofthe most immoral places on earth.
(03:03):
Things like adultery and fornicationand homosexuality and prostitution
were rampant in the city of Corinth.
These Christians that Paul is writing towere living in that kind of environment.
They came out of that kind of background,and so Paul explains to them that
marriage is God's design for mankind.
(03:23):
In verse three of First Corinthiansseven, he talks to the husbands
and the wives about their dutyin marriage in this matter.
In verse three he said, “Let the husbandrender to his wife the affection do her.
And likewise also the wife to her husband.
The wife does not have authority overher own body, but the husband does.
And likewise the husband doesnot have authority over his
(03:46):
own body, but the wife does.
Do not deprive one another exceptwith consent for a time that you
may give yourselves to fasting andprayer and come together again so
that Satan does not tempt you becauseof your lack of self-control.”
So as Paul writes to Christianswho've come out of a background where
sex is viewed as something looseand dirty, he talks to them about
(04:09):
God's will for them in marriage.
He talks about God's idea of sex.
He plainly teaches thatsex belongs in marriage.
And when he talks about marriage, hetalks about the only kind of rightful
marriage in the Bible, and that ismarriage between a man and a woman.
Earlier in the book of FirstCorinthians, he talks about the
(04:32):
lifestyle that some of these peoplehad lived before they were converted.
It's found in First Corinthianschapter six verses nine through 11.
This is one of the most importantpassages on this subject when
people discuss God and this issue.
In First Corinthians chapter six,beginning in verse nine: “Do you not know
that the unrighteous will not inheritthe kingdom of God?” The unrighteous here
(04:56):
are people who will not go to heaven.
So we cannot do these thingsand die unforgiven of them
and expect to go to heaven.
What are these things?
He says, “Do not be deceived,neither fornicators…” The word
“fornication” in the Bible refersto unlawful sexual union in general.
(05:16):
Now that word is a broad word.
It's an inclusive word.
It can mean premarital sex.
It can mean adultery, it can mean incest,pedophilia, homosexuality, or bestiality.
So the word fornication is the firstword that he mentions, and that is your
broader word for illicit sexual union.
Then he says, “idolaters, adulterers,
(05:38):
homosexuals, nor sodomites.”
The King James version says “effeminate”and then “abusers of themselves
with mankind.” Now the latter one,which says “abusers of themselves
with mankind” and in the New KingJames it says “sodomites,” is your
more general word for homosexuality.
(05:58):
The first word that he uses in theKing James version is effeminate.
In the New King Jamesversion, it says homosexuals.
Now that is a specific word in theGreek for a certain kind of homosexual.
It basically refers to a homosexualthat's being used in the more
passive role, as some people wouldsay, in the more female role.
In that homosexual relationship, it'susually defined as a boy or a man who
(06:23):
allows himself to be used homosexually.
Now, that could refer to a prostituteor it could refer to someone who
is not a prostitute, but it'sbasically that kind of idea.
So Paul uses two specific wordshere to talk about homosexuality.
The second word in the Greek, whichis translated in the new King James
sodomites and in the King James version“abusers of themselves with mankind”
(06:49):
comes from a compound word in the Greek.
Now, that simply means that there'sa combination of two different words.
The first word that is in thiscompound form is the word for man—a
male, not mankind in general involvingmales and females, but it is the
specific Greek word for a male.
(07:09):
And the second part of that compoundGreek word is the word for bed.
And sometimes in the New Testament,that word refers to a literal bed, and
sometimes it is referring to what that bedis used for, as in Hebrews 13 verse four,
when it says that the bed is undefiled.
Here in First Corinthians chaptersix, verse nine, you have in the last
(07:33):
word in that verse a word,which inthe original is literally referring
to a male who goes to bed with a male.
Now if there's a verse in the Bible thatclearly points out that this is something
that is sinful in the sight of God, thisis one of those verses, but he continues.
In verse 10, he says, “nor thieves, norcovetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers,
(07:58):
nor extortioners, will inherit thekingdom of God.” When people today
say that God made people homosexuals,they're saying that God made people
sinful and then keeps them out of heavenfor something that they cannot avoid.
That's not true.
We know that because of verse 11.
Paul said, “And such were some ofyou.” He didn't say that “you are.”
(08:20):
And let's go back to the list.
He says that some of them had beenfornicators, idolaters, adulterers,
homosexuals, sodomites, thieves, covetous,drunkards, revilers, and extortioners.
And he says, such were some of you.
What happened?
What caused them to change?
Why were some of themfornicators and they changed?
(08:44):
Why were some of them idolaters?
Why were some of themadulterers in the past?
Why did they change?
How could they change?
The Bible says that they did, andif that applies to fornicators and
idolaters and adulterers, then itapplies to homosexuals and sodomites.
He says in verse 10 some of themhad been thieves, some of them had
(09:05):
been covetous, some of them had beendrunkards, revilers and extortioners,
and he says in verse 11 “and such weresome of you.” He didn't say, such “are”
some of you, but such were some of you.
They had lived this lifestyle.
They had committed these sins.
This is who they were in the past,but it is not who they are now.
(09:30):
How did they change?
They changed because they chose to change.
They decided to turn from that lifestyle.
And here's the flip side of that question.
How did these people in versenine and 10 become those sinners.
Let's start again in verse nine.
He says some were fornicators.
How did they become fornicators?
(09:52):
He says that some were idolaters.
How did they become idolaters?
He talks about adulterers.
How did these people becomefornicators, idolaters, and adulterers?
Verse 10 (10:03):
some of them had been thieves.
How did they become thieves to begin with?
How did they become covetous?
How did they become drunkardsand revilers and extortioners?
They became these sinners by choice.
They decided to commit these sins.
That's how they becamesinners in those ways.
(10:25):
Now, in verse nine, the same thingapplies to homosexuals and sodomites.
If the other sinners became sinnersby their choice in verses nine
and 10, then that means that thehomosexuals that he's talking about
became homosexuals by their choice.
And because they became homosexualsby their choice, they had the power,
(10:45):
and some of them did, stop beinghomosexuals by their own choice.
That's what he says in verse 11.
“And such were some of you, but you werewashed, but you were sanctified, but you
were justified in the name of the LordJesus and by the Spirit of our God.”
When Paul went to the city of Corinthin Acts chapter 18 and preached the
gospel, the Bible says many of theCorinthians hearing believed and were
(11:10):
baptized [Acts chapter 18 verse eight].
They changed.
You see, repentance in theBible means a change of mind.
When a man repents, that means he turnsfrom the life that he was living and he
turns to God and he lives a better life.
He lives the right kind of life.
He's not perfect, but he doesmake that change in his mind.
(11:32):
Repentance is a change of mind.
That means it is a decision.
And when they turned to God infaith and repentance and were
baptized for the remission of theirsins, then their sins were washed.
They were sanctified, they werejustified in the name of the Lord
Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Can homosexuals change their behavior?
(11:54):
Yes.
These people did, and thatwas almost 2000 years ago.
So these verses answer twoimportant questions that people
are still raising and sometimesarguing about unnecessarily today.
And that is, number one, does a personchoose his sexual behavior, and number
two, can he change his sexual lifestyle?
(12:15):
And the answer to both questions isyes, but today, sometimes gays and
lesbians say, “But how could Godblame me for having these feelings?
I didn't choose to be this way.” Oneof the most common defenses of gay
and lesbian behavior is that theyare born with the same-sex nature.
They argue that it couldn't be wrongbecause they don't have a choice.
(12:36):
They even say that God madethem that way, and they should
be accepted in their behavior.
Now, it's a very strange and odd thingto bring God into the picture when
you're trying to justify sin of any kind.
Why would anybody who's livingthis lifestyle bring the name
of God into the discussion?
God is the one who made male and female.
(12:56):
God is the one who gave usmarriage for males and females.
God is the one who said in FirstCorinthians six verses 9 and 10 that
those who die unforgiven of this andother sins will not go to heaven.
So why bring the name of Godinto the discussion and then
not listen to what He says?
They're obviously trying to talkthemselves into believing something
(13:18):
that they know deep down is againstGod's creation, and they're trying to
gain, in a desperate way, some kind ofacceptance or recognition from the public.
But sometimes gays and lesbianssay, “You just don't understand.
I've had these feelingssince I was very young.
I cannot help but have these feelings.
How can you say that it'swrong to express them?”
(13:40):
There's one passage in the Bible thattalks not just about the actions and
the behavior of homosexuals, but it alsotalks about the feelings of homosexuals.
It's found in Romans chapter one.
In Romans chapter one, verses 18through 32, you have a section
about God's natural revelation.
This means that God shows Himselfin nature, and because we can see
(14:04):
God in nature, we can know that somethings are right or wrong simply
because of what nature teachesus [Romans one 18 through 20].
The Bible shows that nature declares theexistence and some of the nature of God.
That is, we can have some understandingof God's attributes or His nature
(14:24):
simply by looking at the creation.
The Bible says in Romans one, verse24, “Since the creation of the world
His invisible attributes are clearlyseen, being understood by the things
that are made, even his eternal powerand Godhead, so that they are without
excuse.” There is no excuse for a manbeing an atheist or an unbeliever, and
(14:46):
there's no excuse for a man turning awayfrom the God that he should be able to
see and can see in the creation itself.
In spite of that, Paul saysthat some turned away from God.
Verse 21 (14:59):
“Because although they knew God, they did not glorify
him as God.” Paul said in verse 23that they changed the glory of the
incorruptible God into an image madelike corruptible man and birds and four
footed animals and creeping things.
So notice that after they turned away fromthe true God, the Creator, they turned
(15:23):
to their own gods which they created.
The Bible says that Godcreated man in His own image.
These people were creatingtheir gods in their own image.
That's what we read in verse 23.
In other words, he'stalking about idolatry.
That's not all that happened.
That's not all that they did.
They went from bad to worse.
(15:45):
In verse 24, the Bible says, “ThereforeGod also gave them up to uncleanness.”
That's obviously not physical uncleanness.
That is moral uncleanness, andhe begins to explain what he's
talking about here in that verse.
Verse 24 says that God gave them up.
That is, He let them go.
(16:05):
He “gave them up to uncleannessin the lusts of their hearts
to dishonor their bodies amongthemselves.” Notice two things here.
He talks about their hearts.
He talks about their bodies.
He's talking about the feelings andthe desires in their hearts, and
he's talking about what they didwith their bodies among themselves.
This sin, like any othersin, begins in the heart.
(16:29):
Listen to James chapterone beginning in verse 13.
“Let no one say when he is tempted.
I am tempted by God.
For God cannot be tempted by evil,nor does He himself tempt anyone.
But each one is tempted when he is drawnaway by his own desires and enticed.
Then when desire has conceived, it givesbirth to sin, and sin, when it is full
(16:54):
grown, brings forth death.” That's why theBible emphasizes keeping your heart right,
keeping your feelings in line with whatGod tells us and teaches us in His Word.
The Bible says in Proverbs23, verse seven that as a man
thinks in his heart, so is he.
In Proverbs chapter four, verse 23, theBible says, “Keep your heart with all
(17:16):
diligence, for out of it are the issuesof life” [Proverbs four, verse 23].
Here, the Bible says in Romans chapterone, verse 24 that the journey away from
God into the sin of idolatry and into thesin of homosexuality began in the heart.
That's what we find back in verse 21.
(17:37):
These people did not glorify God.
They were not thankful.
They became futile in their thoughts.
Their foolish heart was darkened.
They professed themselves tobe wise, and they became fools.
They turned to idolatry, and nowthey're turning to homosexuality.
Let's read again verse 24.
“Therefore God also gave them up touncleanness in the lusts of their
(18:01):
hearts, to dishonor their bodies amongthemselves; who exchanged the truth
of God for the lie, and worshipedand served the creature rather than
the Creator who is blessed forever.
Amen.
For this reason, God gavethem up to vile passions.
For even their women exchanged thenatural use for what is against nature.
(18:23):
Likewise also the men, leaving the naturaluse of the woman, burned in their lust one
for another, men with men committing whatis shameful and receiving in themselves
the penalty of their error which was due.”
Notice that Paul is describingthe feelings and the behavior
of these homosexuals.
(18:44):
In verse 24, he talks aboutthe lusts of their hearts.
In verse 26, he definesthose lusts as vile passions.
So did these gays and lesbians he'stalking about in Romans chapter
one have feelings for each other.
Did they have, as we would saytoday, same sex attraction?
(19:05):
Yes, but those feelings were wrong.
Those feelings, he says,were vile passions.
Just because people feelsomething doesn't make it's right.
That's part of the problem.
That's probably one of the biggeraspects of this problem today.
People think as long as they feelsomething is right for them or they
feel like doing it, then it's right,that they ought to have the right
(19:28):
to do it, and that society ought toapprove of them and that God ought
to approve of what they're doing.
And of course it's true, whetheryou're talking about homosexuality
or some other sin, feeling that athing is right does not make it right.
The Bible tells us in Proverbs 16, verse25, “There is a way that seems right to a
man, but its end is the way of death.” Sothat's true whether you're talking about
(19:52):
homosexuality or adultery or drunkennessor any other sin in the sight of God.
Notice here in Romans chapterone that God talks about both
the feelings and the actions.
He says these are lusts in theirhearts that are vile passions.
He says what they do with theirbodies is to dishonor their bodies.
(20:14):
And he says it is shameful.
Now, that's verse 24 and verse 26and 27, and since the Bible calls
these feelings, these passions inRomans one, verse 26”vile,” that
means that God did not put them there.
Sometimes today people say, “Godgave me these feelings, so I can't
help but express them.” But Goddoesn't give a man vile passions.
(20:37):
God doesn't give a woman vile passions,and if those vile passions didn't
come from God, they must have comefrom temptation—from the world around
us and from our own imagination.
Even if a person is confusedabout his feelings, that doesn't
mean he has to act on them.
Just because you get mad at somebodydoesn't mean you have to kill him.
(20:58):
Just because it would make you feelgood to have somebody else's car
doesn't mean you have to steal it.
We are not animals.
God gave us a will to make choices andthat will can override those feelings.
Think about another unnatural,uncomfortable subject: pedophilia.
This is disgusting.
It is an abomination, butpedophiles make the same excuse.
(21:21):
They say they have thesefeelings and they can't help it.
Does that mean that pedophilesought to be excused because
they have these strong feelings?
Obviously not.
And again, this is also true of amarried woman or a married man who
has feelings of lust for someone elseoutside that marriage, someone other
than their husband or their wife.
(21:41):
All of these people are responsiblefor having those feelings.
They're responsible for harboringthose feelings and for feeding those
feelings and for acting on thosefeelings because they have a will.
And with that will, any personcan overcome these feelings.
The temptations usually won't go away.
The devil will always use our weaknessesagainst us, but we have a promise.
(22:05):
In First Corinthians chapter 10,verse 13, here's what it says.
“No temptation has overtaken you exceptsuch as is common to man. But God is
faithful, who will not allow you to betempted beyond what you are able, but will
with the temptation also make the way ofescape that you may be able to bear it.”
(22:27):
Notice the wording.
He says “no temptation.” That meansthat this covers every temptation.
Whatever the temptation is,Paul says that it is common to
man, that is, common to mankind.
He also says that Godis faithful about this.
That means God is trustworthy.
God is reliable.
He will keep his word about this.
He will not lie.
He is faithful and he will not allow youto be tempted beyond what you are able.
(22:51):
You may think that you're not able.
You may think that it is beyond whatyou can resist, but the Bible says
that God will not allow you to be putin a situation like that even though
the pressure and the temptation mayseem so great that you can't bear it.
The Bible says with that temptationGod will also make the way of escape.
There is a way out of it, andremember who he's talking to.
(23:14):
Here he is writing this letter to theChristians in Corinth—a wicked place,
a city with all kinds of temptations.
And he's also writing this to a churchthat had members in it who had been
guilty of sins like fornication,adultery, homosexuality, and other sins.
Who knows how many of those memoriesand old feelings had come back to
(23:36):
haunt them in their lives and temptthem in their Christian lives?
Aside from the conflict that they may havehad on the inside, we know that there were
temptations all around these people on theoutside, and yet Paul said none of these
temptations are greater than you can bear.
Whatever the temptation is, whetherfeelings in your mind or feelings in
(23:56):
your body or both, the Bible says you canresist [First Corinthians 10, verse 13].
And the perfect exampleof this is Jesus himself.
In Matthew chapter four, this iswhere Jesus was tempted by the devil.
And the Bible says the first temptationwas this in Matthew chapter four, verse
two (24:15):
“And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, afterward he was hungry.
Now when the tempter came to him,he said, ‘If you are the Son of God,
command that these stones becomebread.’ But He answered and said,
‘It is written, man shall not live bybread alone, but by every word that
(24:35):
proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
Now when people today talk aboutintense feelings, when they talk
about severe temptations that seemunbearable, they need to consider
what Jesus went through here.
The Bible says that hefasted 40 days and 40 nights.
Now you don't have to be a medical doctorto know that after a certain amount of
(24:56):
time, your body just begins to give in.
Your body gets to the point to where it'scraving food so badly that you'll eat just
about anything, and if you go much fartherbeyond a certain point, you will die.
Your body has to have that sustenance,and yet here the Bible says that Jesus
fasted 40 days and 40 nights, and He istempted to turn these stones into bread.
(25:21):
You talk about a temptation.
How long could we go without eating beforewe turn to food that was right before us,
or the possibility of getting that food?
Now, Jesus was the Son of God,but he was also in a human body.
That means that he got tired like we do.
That means that he slept.
That means that he becamehungry and he had to eat.
(25:41):
And the Bible says herethat he was hungry.
And this is after fasting40 days and 40 nights.
When we go 40 minutes without eating,we think that we're starving to death.
And yet Jesus fasted40 days and 40 nights.
He was hungry and the devil came toHim, tempting him to use his miraculous
ability to turn those stones into bread.
(26:03):
You talk about a severe temptation.
You talk about an intensebodily desire for food.
Jesus experienced that, and yethe overcame that temptation.
Here's what the Bible latersays about his temptations.
In Hebrews chapter four, verse 15,the Bible says, “For we do not have a
high priest who cannot sympathize withour weaknesses, but was in all points
(26:28):
tempted like as we are yet without sin.”
When the Bible says that He was in allpoints tempted like we are yet without
sin, that doesn't mean that Jesusexperienced every single individual sin or
temptation that we are faced with today.
Jesus was not tempted to take drugs.
He was not tempted to do some of thethings that people might do today.
(26:51):
But as far as the intensity and theseverity of the temptation is concerned,
Jesus was tempted and He was tempted to apoint, actually to a level of intensity,
that you and I have not reached.
So my point in bringing up Matthewchapter four is not to say that
this has anything specifically to dowith any kind of sexual temptation.
(27:14):
It is to show how intense and how severeand how strong those feelings and those
temptations can be regardless of whetherthey're in the body or in the mind.
And this is to show that Jesus feltthose bodily desires to a degree
that people today know nothing about.
And so when people today say, “I can'thelp these feelings that I have,”
(27:37):
whether they're same sex attractionor opposite sex attraction, or for
drugs or alcohol or anything else,then they don't realize that Jesus
Christ felt a stronger temptation inhis body than they have ever felt.
So today when people are struggling withaddiction to alcohol and drugs, they
need to look at Matthew chapter four.
(27:59):
They need to think about what Jesus faced.
And the same thing is true with regard tostrong feelings of same sex attraction or
for that matter, opposite sex attraction.
In either case, right or wrong, thedesire for sex is nowhere near as
strong as Jesus' desire for physicalfood for his physical body in the
temptation in Matthew chapter four.
(28:21):
When anyone says today that the temptationis just too strong to bear, Jesus’
example shows that it is not, and sincewe're talking about the life and the
teaching of Jesus Christ, it's good tolook at another question about this.
Many people say that Jesus neversaid anything about homosexuality, so
we shouldn't say anything about it.
(28:41):
Is that true?
Did Jesus talk about this issue?
Well, in the first place,Jesus never specifically said
anything about pedophilia.
He never specifically saidanything about human sacrifices.
He never specifically said anythingabout abortion, but Jesus did
not have to specifically nameevery sin in order to condemn it.
(29:03):
Every time he talked aboutmurder, he included abortion.
He included human sacrifices.
And every time that he used the wordfornication, he included pedophilia.
He included any kind of unlawfulsexual union in general: premarital
sex, adultery, incest, pedophilia,bestiality, and yes homosexuality.
(29:25):
Remember that the Bible refersto homosexuality as fornication
in the book of Jude, verse seven.
Is homosexuality a choice?
Yes, it is.
The Bible is very clear about that.
The Bible shows that natureitself condemns homosexuality.
The Bible itself in wordscondemns this as a sin.
(29:45):
The Bible shows that this is a sinthat will keep one out of heaven.
The Bible furthermore shows that aperson can and must repent of this sin
and obey the gospel of Jesus Christ, andthen his sins will be forgiven, and if
he is faithful to God, then he can havea home in heaven when his life is over.
Thank you for listeningto My God and My Neighbor.
(30:07):
Stay connected with our podcast on ourwebsite and on Apple, Spotify, YouTube,
or wherever fine podcasts are distributed.
Tennessee Bible College, providingChristian education since 1975
in Cookeville, Tennessee, offersundergraduate and graduate programs.
Study at your level.
Aim higher and get in touch with us today.
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