All People Are Guilty of Sexual Sin, Is There a Remedy for the Guilt?

I have lost count of how many times I’ve heard that Jesus did not touch on the issue of homosexuality, but this is simply not true.  In Matthew 15:19-20a Jesus said, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person.”  In the original Greek that these words were written in, the word that gets translated as “sexual immorality” is the Greek term porneia.  If that word sounds familiar, it’s because it has come to us in English in such words as porn and pornography. 

The Greek word porneia is an extremely broad term, encompassing all sexual behavior outside of the husband-wife marital union.  Therefore, while Jesus did not explicitly speak of homosexuality, He nevertheless most certainly covered the topic and all other forms of sexual immorality by His use of the broad, sweeping term porneia.      

Changing gears somewhat, do you know who is guilty of the sin of porneia?  Everyone is!  Jesus said in Matthew 5:28, “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”  So according to Jesus, anyone who has ever had a lustful thought is guilty of porneia/sexual immorality.  I feel confident in saying that this includes the entire human race, except for Jesus.  Heterosexuals, as well as those who have engaged in homosexual behavior, are guilty of sexual sin.   

Is there a way to get rid of this sin and guilt?  Yes, the good news that we have in Jesus Christ is that “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  This verse is found in 1 John 1:9 in the Bible.  If we repent of our sin and believe in Jesus, the Bible says, “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1b)  The Bible also says in Romans 8:1a, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.”  If you have not experienced the indescribably wonderful and freeing euphoria of having your sins forgiven and your conscience cleansed of guilt, with great compassion for you I urge you to repent and believe in Jesus right now and receive this incredible gift He offers to you!  

May God richly bless you and please don’t hesitate to contact me if I can be of any spiritual help to you,

Pastor Brett Becker

Think 2 Samuel 12:8 is God’s endorsement of polygamy? Think again.

2 Samuel 12:8 is a curious verse that at first glance might seem to be God’s endorsement of polygamy.  Some Bible scholars have argued that this is the case.  2 Samuel 12:8 says in the New International Version of the Bible and some other translations, “I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.” 

What is happening in 2 Samuel 12, the larger context of the verse, is that the prophet Nathan is confronting King David over his adulterous affair with Bathsheba and his arrangement to have her husband, Uriah, killed.  The prophet Nathan speaks verse 8 to David on behalf of God, and what God is saying here is that when He handed the kingship of Israel from Saul (David’s master) to David, He gave David Saul’s house and Saul’s wives and all the people of Israel and Judah and He would have given David even more if this had not been enough. 

The crucial question, then, is what did it mean for God to give Saul’s wives to David?  Was God giving them to David to be his wives and thereby tacitly endorsing polygamy, or was God giving them to David’s care and oversight rather than to a rival contender for the throne (Saul’s son Ishbosheth), thereby solidifying David’s claim to be king?  The second interpretation is the correct one.

2 Samuel 12:8 was originally written in Hebrew, and the Hebrew word that gets translated “arms” by the New International Version is an obscure word that can be translated in other ways, as any Hebrew lexicon I know of will show.  The New King James Version more accurately translates the word as “keeping,” saying, “I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your keeping…”  The New American Standard Bible is highly respected for the accuracy and literalness of its translation and it also captures the proper sense of the Hebrew when it says, “I also gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your care…”    

Also consider that David had married Saul’s daughter, Michal, thereby making Saul’s wife David’s mother-in-law.  If God had given David his mother-in-law as a wife, God would not only be endorsing polygamy but incest as well.  This proposition so thoroughly violates other Scriptures, God’s character, and common sense that I see no need to invest any more words in refuting it.

God did not give Saul’s wife Ahinoam and his concubine Rizpah to David as wives.  God gave them into David’s care and keeping in order to confirm that David was God’s choice to succeed Saul as king.  If God had given Saul’s wife and concubine into the care and keeping of Saul’s son Ishbosheth, whose soldiers were fighting against David’s for the crown, this would have greatly undermined David’s accession to the throne.  I’m sorry to disappoint liberal scholars, but 2 Samuel 12:8 is in no way whatsoever God’s endorsement of polygamy. 

What follows is my farewell letter and final charge to the congregation I have pastored since February 1, 2000: 

Dear Members and Friends,

My last day as the pastor here is Sunday, June 8^th, so this is my farewell newsletter article.  Everything I’ve done here has been motivated by two overarching passions - a passion to be faithful to God and His Word, the Bible, and a passion to see lost souls get saved.  So my final charge to the congregation is an encouragement to be consumed with those two things. 

First of all, be a Berean and love God by loving His Word.  The more we know His Word, the more we are able to know Him.  The more we know Him, the more we love Him.  My first sermon, way back on February 6, 2000, was entitled, “Be a Berean,” based on Acts 17:10-11 which says that the Jews in Berea eagerly received God’s Word and searched the Scriptures daily to make sure that what Paul and  Silas were preaching to them was true.  Semper Reformanda is a popular slogan in Reformed churches, being a Latin term which means “always to be reformed.”  The slogan communicates that no Christian or church is perfect, so we must always be digging deeper into Scripture to see how we can reform and align our individual lives and the life of our church more closely to God’s Word.  Love God by loving His Word and always seeking to be ever more faithful to it and Him.  

Secondly, be missional and love others.  Be consumed with pursuing the mission Jesus gave His followers to “go and make disciples of all nations” and don’t be content with any aspect of church life that is not seeing people converted to Christ on a very regular basis.  Our nation is rapidly descending into paganism, but rather than lamenting what we have lost let us see this as a rich opportunity for evangelism and mission.  Rather than retreating into Christian circles, let us instead turn outward in love to build relationships with non-Christians and do whatever it takes, short of sin, to reach them for Christ.  It is messy and uncomfortable, but in the end it always feels great to do what the Lord commanded us to do.  Every pastor and every church must rethink and retool everything they do in order to live like missionaries (being missional they call it these days).  How would a missionary in a Muslim country seek to share the gospel and make disciples of Muslims who are converting to Christ?  Some of the specific things we do will be different, but whatever principles the missionary would use over there we need to use right here.  May the Lord use you to reach non-Christians with the gospel and see them made into spiritually mature disciples of Christ in explosive numbers!

I’m grateful to have been able to serve here for over fourteen years.  That is an abnormally long pastorate in this day and age and makes me the second-longest tenured pastor in the history of the church.  I’m also grateful for the many good memories and good friends I have made along the way.  I will pray for this church and I covet your prayers for me and my family in this new endeavor to be a church-planting home missionary.  I hope the Lord will use all of you to mightily build and advance His Kingdom!  I hope many non-Christians will be converted to Christ and discipled through the ministries of this church!       

Yours in Christ Always,

Pastor Brett