What’s wrong with Christianity – Part 3
This series looks at some of the things that Christianity teaches that many Christians are not in agreement with.
Today is Part 3 of “What’s Wrong With Christianity?” As I said before, these messages are not asking what’s wrong with Christianity. Instead, they are describing what’s wrong with Christianity from the viewpoint of the Body of Christ.
Everything you’ll hear today is based on one thing: Do you truly believe the Bible is the Word of God? Let me say it another way: Is the Bible your foundation, your standard, for what you believe? If not, you are going to struggle with these messages.
I’m not going to do any review today, except to say that we have seen, from scripture, that
? Most Christians don’t agree that the Bible speaks in absolutes.
? Most Christians don’t see the Bible as the only standard for how they are to live.
? Most Christians don’t understand what it means to live a holy lifestyle.
? Most Christians don’t are not truly dependent upon God.
? Most Christians don’t believe that Jesus is the only way to Heaven.
? Most Christians agree with the world’s way of thinking when Christian calls it ungodly.
Turn with me to Romans 1. I’m going to fill in the blank for the next topic we’re going to look at even before we get started. Christianity teaches that homosexuality, in all its forms, is sin. Lesbian. Gay. Transgender. Bi-sexual. Gender Diaspora. Whatever you want to call it, the Bible says it is sin.
You have a lot of ministers who won’t stand in the pulpit and say what I just said. Why? They fear losing their big givers. They fear losing the tithe. They don’t truly believe Philippians 4:19, which says, “For my God shall supply all my need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” When you are free from man, you can teach what the Bible says. Amen?
Please turn to Romans 1. “But Bro. Barry, they were born that way.” I got news for you. If they were born that way, why would God go to the lengths He goes through in the Bible to call it sin? If a person is born a homosexual, God wouldn’t call it sin. Think about it. The man born blind in John 9. Did God say he was in sin? The man born lame and laid at the gate called Beautiful in Acts 3. Did God say he was in sin? No. God healed both of them!
And this tells me something else, ladies and gentlemen. Homosexuality is not something you can be healed of. You can be delivered from homosexuality, but you can’t be healed of it. And they only way to be delivered from homosexuality is to be born again, the new birth, by confessing Jesus as your Lord and Savior. That’s the only way.
You know what breaks my heart, two things, and I know I’m belaboring this point.
First, there are so many homosexuals who say they are Christians. They are not. You cannot live an unrepentant homosexual lifestyle and be a Christian. The Bible calls such behavior unnatural and that those who practice it know that they are living in opposition to what the Bible says. And that is exactly what we read in Romans 1. These people think they are Christians. But the truth is this: they will spend an eternity in the lake of fire.
Second, there are so many people in the homosexual community who are not going to accept Jesus Christ. The majority, ladies and gentlemen, are not going to make it to heaven because they’ve already drawn a line in the sand and said “This is who I am.”
They are going to the lake of fire – not because God doesn’t want them, not because God is not reaching out to them. They are going to lake of fire because they believe God accepts them as they are and that they can live this way. There is nothing in the Bible that says “God accepts us.”
The Bible says “For God so loved…” I love my children but when they were small there were a lot of things they did that I didn’t accept. Are you following me?
In Romans 1, we’re going to read verses 24 through 27 and verse 32 from the Amplified Bible.
(24) Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their [own] hearts in sexual impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves [abandoning them to the degrading power of sin],
(25) Because they exchanged the truth of God
In other words, they knew the truth of God! Do you hear me, ladies and gentlemen? It is not a secret. They know the truth. When we tell someone homosexuality is wrong, we are not giving them our opinion. We are giving them the truth!
The Bible says, they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, Who is blessed forever! Amen (so be it).
(26) For this reason God gave them over and abandoned them to vile affections and degrading passions. For their women changed the natural function for an unnatural and abnormal one.
(27) And the men also turned from natural relations with women and were set ablaze (burning out, consumed) with lust for one another – men committing shameful acts with men and suffering in their own bodies and personalities the inevitable consequences and penalty of their wrong-doing and going astray, which was [their] fitting retribution.
(32) Though they are fully aware of God’s righteous decree
Do you see this? They are not ignorant ladies and gentlemen. Every person who practices homosexuality knows what the Bible says. And that means they are rejecting what the Bible says.
Though they are fully aware of God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them themselves but approve and applaud other who practice them.
Now this last verse is not saying that people have to voice their approval. A person can give their approval of homosexuality by fellowshipping with those who are living this way. But applauding is something altogether different. When you participate in gay pride parades, for example, you are applauding this lifestyle. And the Bible says, when we do this, we are in danger of missing Heaven. We really need to let that sink in.
Turn to Isaiah 5. We’re going to look at verses 20 and 21.
(20) Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.
(21) Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes; and prudent in their own sight!
Ladies and gentlemen, when I read verse 20, I see people like me standing in the pulpit teaching that God loves the homosexual but not teaching that God condemns the lifestyle. I don’t see people in the pews saying this. If you see people in the pulpit who are not willing to call sin a sin, then what they are doing is calling evil, good. They are calling darkness, light. They are call bitter, sweet.
Now you know why James says that those of us who deliver the word are held to a higher standard. God holds us accountable. Every word I have spoken, God holds me accountable. So, trust me when I say I don’t say what I say lightly.
We’re going to read the first four verses of Second Timothy 3 from the Amplified Bible.
(1) But understand this, that in the last days will come (set in) perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear].
(2) For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self-centered, lovers of money and aroused by an inordinate [greedy] desire for wealth, proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive (blasphemous, scoffing), disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane.
(3) [They will be] without natural [human] affection (callous and inhuman), relentless (admitting of no truce or appeasement),
Are we not seeing this today from those who are actively pushing homosexuality? They are saying you will accept us the way we are. You have no choice. And they’re saying you will change what you do to agree with what we want you to do.
The latest example of this is the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passing the Equality Act. In addition to criminalizing speech from the pulpit, the legislation demeans young girls and women to the point of making them subservient to the needs of the male who sees himself as female. I encourage you to read this legislation. It’s horrible and demonic in origin.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Bible says that Barry has an obligation, the Bible says “ought” which means “debt.” Barry has a debt to love every single person in this world. That’s the debt the Bible says we owe – love. I don’t have to accept your behavior but I have to love you. And the only way I can truly love you is to tell you the truth. There is no other way.
And loving you doesn’t mean I get into your face and say you’re going to hell and that there is no hope for you. No! Loving you says what the Bible says. So many Christians got it all wrong. They want to hold people up to a standard that they are not even living themselves.
Back to verse 3.
[They will be] without natural [human] affection (callous and inhuman), relentless (admitting of no truce or appeasement), [they will be] slanderers (false accusers, troublemakers), intemperate and loose in morals and conduct, uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good.
(4) [They will be] treacherous [betrayers], rash, [and] inflated with self-conceit. [They will be] lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God.
Homosexuality, in all its forms, is sin ladies and gentlemen. Now let’s make a quick connection before we move on. In verse 2 it says “For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self centered.” In verse 4 it says “[They will be} lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God.”
In the King James, these two phrases are even more clearly seen as opposites. In my Bible, I have highlighted in orange “For men shall be lovers of their own selves” in verse 2 and “lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God” in verse 4, and I have drawn an orange line connecting the two thoughts. It made an impression on me when I did that.
What we’re seeing in our country more and more, and it’s not just in those practicing homosexuality but everyone who is living a lifestyle of sin, is the “love of self” more than the “love of God.” That’s a sad state of affairs ladies and gentlemen. A sad state of affairs.
Now the last one we’re going to look at includes passages found in Matthew 3:2 and Matthew 4:17.
Matthew 3:2 says “And saying (This is John the Baptist speaking), Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Matthew 4:17 says “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Jesus and John said the same thing. But depending on what church you go to and what TV preachers you listen to, there is no longer a need for Christians to repent of their sins. Why? Because, they say, Christ died for past sins. He died for the sins you’re committing now. And He died for the sins you’ll commit in the future. So you don’t need to repent.
What’s wrong with Christianity for most Christians? Christianity teaches repentance and many in the pulpit don’t.
Matthew 3:2 in the Amplified says John the Baptist came “And saying, Repent (think differently: change your mind, regretting your sins and changing your conduct), for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Again, in the Amplified, Matthew 4:7 reads “From that time Jesus began to preach, crying out, Repent (change your mind for the better, heartily amend your ways, with abhorrence of your past sins), for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
The Bible says that when you sin, you need to repent. Period. That’s what’s wrong with Christianity. It say you repent when you sin but many in the pulpit are saying you don’t have to. Who are you going to believe?
So let’s review what we’ve seen in this series.
? Christianity teaches absolutes.
? Christianity teaches the Bible is the standard for living.
? Christianity teaches living a holy lifestyle.
? Christianity teaches total dependence on the Lord.
? Christianity teaches Jesus is the only way to eternal life.
? Christianity teaches the world’s way of thinking is ungodly.
? Christianity teaches homosexuality, in all its forms, is sin.
? Christianity teaches you must repent.
This series has been aimed at Christians, ladies and gentlemen, because so many want to maintain relationships with people more so than a relationship with God. So many in the church don’t want to offend people by speaking the truth. But we have to love each other so much that we refuse not to speak truth.
We’re family. Family! If we are not willing to speak truth, to be honest, with family then the lost don’t stand a chance with us. So make a decision today. Loving your family is much more important than having their approval. Because for some of them, laying down your life for them by speaking the truth may be what keeps them from sliding into hell and the lake of fire. Think about that. Everyone please stand.
