The Sermon that Started It All

This is the text of a sermon preached by Swedish Pentecostal minister Ake Green to his small congregation in Borgholk, sometime in 2003.

Mr. Green was sentenced to 30 days in prison on June 29, 2003. That sentence was overturned on Jan. 10, 2005. Now, Sweden's chief prosecutor has appealed the case to Sweden's Supreme Court, and they will hear the case on Nov. 9

Is homosexuality genetic or an evil force that plays mind games with people? I am well aware that this subject is charged and controversial--and it has become so even in Christian circles. I have not sought support for my thoughts from the Word of God. Rather, the Word of God has given me the thoughts I will present here today. I will bring up the subject of homosexuality, but also the relationship to Christian homosexuals.

Is it a sign of the times and can you be delivered from it? From the beginning God created humans as man and woman. We begin in Genesis 1:27-28:

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.”

Here, God’s Word clearly states that you were created to be Father and Mother - as man and woman – designed for parenthood. The Lord states that very clearly here.

Scripture considers any kind of sexual relationship outside of the bonds of marriage as loose living. The Scripture characterizes it as fornication. The marriage institution is also clearly defined in Genesis 2:24, where it says:

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

Only man and wife are referred to here. It is not stated any other way; you can never imply or interpret it to mean that you can have whatever [sexual] partner you wish to have.

That instinct, which God has embedded in humanity to experience the deepest form of relationship, and in order to protect marriage in true faithfulness, has become the Devil’s strongest weapon against God and against marriage. So he is using it against God. That which God has created so that man shall experience togetherness and faithfulness and happiness and everything it brings--the Devil uses this against God and in God’s face, in order to twist and distort.

Of course, in the animal kingdom there are males and females, and in the botanical world there are also male and female plants; in neither the animal nor in plant life do [sexual] abnormalities occur. Rather, every species stays with its own species. That is the way it is--until humans, in recent years, have stomped into this area with test tube fertilization and through cloning. Up until that point it has been as God has said that we should live.

Legalizing [domestic] partnerships between men and men, between woman and woman, it will simply create disasters--beyond comparison! We are already seeing the results of this. We see it through the spread of AIDS. Certainly, not all AIDS-infected individuals are homosexuals, but it came into existence because of this in the past. For that matter, innocent people can become infected with this terrible disease, without having had anything to do with what lies behind it, as far as homosexuality is concerned. Nevertheless it will create a big disaster, and the authorities and the social services are already experiencing that you cannot control this. They experience the difficulty of it. However, not only that: TV recently reported about the increasing number of men and women infected with various venereal diseases. It is increasingly spreading because they are not living as God has intended them to live together with each other. And that is because humans are slipping into clearly unbiblical and clearly inhuman relations. It is not a private matter or a right to live in a sexual manner other than what the Bible dictates. Hebrews 13:4:

Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.

Regardless of how society views this, God will judge both society and those who commit sexual immorality. Remember that. Both society or the city, or the place, God will judge because of those who commit sexual immorality.

Let’s go back in history to Genesis 19:1-5. Verse 4:

Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom --both young and old --surrounded the house. They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.” [v. 4-5]

Here we read for the first time about homosexual men. All the men of Sodom openly spoke [of] and openly displayed their deviant sexual disposition. Both young and old, we read here--everyone. Then they put it this way: “So that we may know them” [the expression used in the Swedish Bible text]. This means sexual relations--the same expression the Bible uses when a man goes in to a woman [for intercourse]. It is exactly the same expression here that talks about these men, who lusted after each other. Isaiah 3:9 states it this way: “they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it.” [Hiding your sin] was not done in Sodom. Openly they show up in front of the house and call for Lot. The righteous one, they do not spare him in any way, but say: “Bring out these men that we may know [have sex with] them. We are simply lusting for them.” So there they stand in plain sight. They do not hide their sin. Completely openly and unabashedly they talk about their sexual needs, and that tells you something about the conditions in Sodom.

God tells Abraham in Genesis 18:20: "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous.” Thus says the Lord. So grievous! The outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah it is great and the sin is grievous. That is how God views the aberrant sexual relationship. It is very grievous, says God. It is very grievous, this, when people let themselves get involved in this.

Openly, unabashedly, that is how we perceive men kissing each other, and women kissing each other. However, it is also done in front of TV-cameras--that they can do. They do it also in front of movie cameras, but not only that, it is done openly in the street and at our public places. That is the way it is done in our country today. What does God say? He says it is very grievous. It is very grievous when it comes to our country, just as it was for Sodom and those cities.

Paul says in Philippians 3:19 that they brag about their sexual exploits [NIV: “their glory is in their shame”]. Is that not what we perceive people doing today? People nowadays want to protest against God’s order of creation. That God has created men and women to further the human race is disliked both by the Swedish law of the land, as well as by the homosexual movements. They dislike the order of creation. You protest against God and against the order of creation. Moreover, they allow [domestic] partnerships, men with men, and women with women. How can it... how can it be this way? Well, it is as Paul says in the letter to the Romans, which I will come back to in a moment. Romans 1:22: “...they became fools!” To think that those who govern our country are fools sitting in the house of parliament. To think that there they all are, the government, who have agreed to this insanity and let loose this flood of sin in our country. It is foolishness, says the Word of God. Consequently, I believe the Lord says about this sin in Sweden that it is very, very grievous. And why then has this manner of living come about? Well, then we of course turn to the first chapter of the Letter to the Romans and include the verses there, where Paul thoroughly deals with the subject. There was reason for it, since the Roman Empire was permeated by these thoughts of homosexuality. It was something that was flourishing so terribly, and he had to deal with it so that it did not become a pattern in God’s congregation as well.

Why has this manner of living come about? Romans 1:21-28:

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator --who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.

They exchanged the highest... they exchanged the Lord for the lowest there is. That is what they exchanged, Paul states here. It is only a fool who acts that way, he says. Since they do it in this way, they reject God who is the blessing, God who is the Sovereign One, God who is the Master of all things. They reject Him. The Word of God is law and the standard for living, but it is of no use to accept God’s Word in principle and say: “Yes, this is God’s Word,” if in practice you disobey His commands. What difference does it make if I acknowledge the Word of God, but in practice I break it by acting completely contrary, and living completely contrary, to what the Word says. Since God’s Word demands obedience from us, we must obey it if we are to receive God’s blessing and fulfillment in our lives, and be called children of God. Here in the 28th verse: “since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.” [The Swedish quote states: “since they despised the knowledge of God” etc.] Man is clearly equipped with a free will and can either resist or submit to the inclinations of the old nature. We truly have the power to do that. Moreover, the moral nature of man shows itself through the expression of good and evil, which is written in our hearts: the voice of conscience that we have within us. In this way, our thoughts judge us, either defending or accusing us. If we say with our mouth: “There is nothing wrong with what I am doing,” but the heart says something else. It does not matter if you defend a sin you are living in, or defend someone else’s sin. Your heart says something different, because your heart judges your thoughts. You can with your mouth babble about all sorts of things, but the heart will convict us. That is what the Bible passage is saying here. And in Romans 2:14-15:

Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.

There is a conscience. When we turn our back on God and refuse to receive knowledge, then God removes His Spirit from the conscience -- the conscience becomes insensitive and wavers. Then there are no longer any inhibitions for a human being. God no longer guides these people, because they proceed all the more in ungodliness. Romans 1:24:

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.

Homosexuality begins with the desire of the heart. This is the result--sins of the mind. The fantasies you entertain, or the sexual dreams that you harbor. And here [you have] the porn industry, TV, movie and print business. They have awakened these powerful desires by openly promoting [this homosexual lifestyle] to all Swedish people. It is done unabashedly, without consideration for people who cannot bear to see such things. As a result, people may commit acts of violence. It is known that this is dangerous. Nevertheless, it is not prevented. It is openly shown. Demonstrations that wind their way through the streets of Stockholm - the homosexuals have their posters held up and paraded about - I asked the Öland Times to write an article about this, and I made myself available. Not a single one got back to me. I contacted the Barometer [newpaper] and said: “I am going to preach on this subject. You’re welcome [to attend].” Not a response, nothing. I called the TV-station and said the same thing: “Do you want to come on Sunday morning, because then I’m going to preach on this burning subject?” “Yes, we probably have some time,” they said. I called on Monday, but nobody responded. They simply let this one pass. They do not want to deal with it.

Romans 1:26-27:

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another.

The desires of the heart turned into shameful lusts. “Inflamed” means to turn on. That is the way people do it. You turn on a prompting in there [the mind] when you have your sexual fantasies or dreams, or when you see these things in magazines or in movies. Then it simply means that you ignite something inside yourself, through one’s contempt of God. Moreover, when the shameful lusts take shape in the personality, it becomes an uncontrollable power, like a fire that cannot be extinguished. And God does not extinguish that fire, says Paul. God does not extinguish a fire you have [ignited] yourself, in your own life. God lets it burn. Then it says in Romans 1:27b “and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.” Consequently, when people do not want to resist - but uncontrollably, uninhibitedly devote themselves to this, [then] God lets it burn. Judgment day is coming, and they will be judged for the fire that they have allowed to burn. Here Paul emphasizes that both women and men were on the same level when they practiced homosexuality. The one was no better than the other. That is the way it was in the Roman Empire.

Leviticus 18:22-30:

“Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable. Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion.” [v. 22-23]

From verse 27: “for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you. Everyone who does any of these detestable things --such persons must be cut off from their people. Keep my requirements and do not follow any of the detestable customs that were practiced before you came and do not defile yourselves with them. I am the LORD your God.”

The Bible clearly teaches about these abnormalities. Sexual abnormalities are a deep cancerous tumor in the entire society. The Lord knows that sexually twisted people will rape the animals. Not even animals can avoid the fiery passion of man’s sexual lust. Even this [bestiality], some will pursue. For many years, I have heard stories like these from people when I sat and listened as a volunteer telephone counselor. This wasn’t just one incident where people told of the animal [sexual] relations they had had--which had given them satisfaction. So it is abundantly clear that God is not writing a book of fairy tales for people to think of these things. He writes it with the thought in mind that people will act this way when they abandon God. Because of these sins, the land will vomit out its inhabitants. The political response to this in our country is then what Paul talks about: “We know God’s righteous decree that those who live that way deserve death. Still it is in that very way they live, and worse yet, they think it is good when others do it.” [Paraphrase of Romans 1:32.] This is how we experience the political response in our country. They [government] give their consent and they think it is good that they are engaged in this. “It doesn’t matter.”

However--our country is facing a disaster of great proportions! Of that we can be sure. God said the land would vomit out its inhabitants. They were not allowed to remain if they continued living like the people who had previously inhabited the land. When the children of Israel were about to possess the promised land, should they begin to have such relations that were contrary to God’s Word, then God says the land will once again vomit out its inhabitants. I think it could happen in Sweden. I think it could happen in our country, because we have adopted such laws. Our country has not the least concern about what God has spoken. Our country is facing a disaster. Who is to say that we cannot have an earthquake where hundreds of thousands of people could die in an instant? Who is to say that we cannot have any monsoon rains that drown thousands of people in our country? Who is to say that other catastrophes cannot reach Scandinavia? We are so safe and secure. And we sit here so sheltered and cozy, and “it cannot happen to us,” but in southern Europe - there it happens, and in other parts of the world and China - there it happens. God can turn it around, so that the inhabitants of our land may experience precisely these [events]. We may be vomited out of the land because our nation has left God. This is devastating.

To think that approximately 300 of our popularly elected officials have led us down a road to catastrophe. As they have adopted these laws of [domestic] partnership and let people live as they wish. And today they cannot fathom the consequences of the decisions they have made. Only time will tell about this. We have gotten to learn words like “incest, pedophile, and child molestation.” Words that make us shudder, that belong to the abnormalities. I want to turn to First Corinthians chapter six and include something Paul brings up concerning the Corinthian congregation and their way of life. He says in verse 9 [-11]:

“Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

Now I read from the original text, it goes like this: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. Do not deceive yourselves. Neither sexually immoral people nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor people of sensual pleasure, nor defilers of boys, shall inherit God’s kingdom.” Defilers of boys -- already when the Bible was written the Lord knew what was going to happen. We have experienced it here, and we are horrified by it. In First Timothy 1:10 Paul talks about perverts. “Perverse” is translated from the original text, which states: “one who lies with boys.”

All homosexuals are not pedophiles or perverts. They nevertheless open the door to forbidden areas and allow sin to take hold of the life of the mind. And the one who is a pedophile today does not start out as such. They simply begin by changing their gender relationships. That is how it began. To be “faithful” in a homosexual relationship is in no way a better relationship than where you frequently change partners. It is equally detestable in the eyes of God. From God’s perspective it is to be rejected, and from God’s perspective it is as much sin if you frequently change partners as it is to live in a [committed] homosexual relationship. It makes no difference before God’s Word.

Is homosexuality a genetic instinct in the personality of the human being?
What does Jesus say in Matthew 15:18[-20]? A verse we sometimes read and quote:

But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man “unclean.” For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man “unclean.”

Jesus is clearly pointing to the heart, the intellect, and the invisible thought life. That is where Jesus sharply focuses his thoughts on this occasion. Jesus means that the sins of sexual immorality begin in the thought life. When I have been sitting, listening to people in the night [on the crisis hot-line], everyone without exception has begun dealing with homosexuality in their thoughts. Often it happened in their teenage years, but it also happened when they lived in an unhappy marriage--women did not experience what they needed from a man. Therefore they sought the company of other women--and men likewise. Consequently it was such that they began their sins of sexual immorality in their thought life. And from there it continued to spread. And without exception, they all said that the first time they engaged in this behavior, there was a barrier within them. Everyone said that. However, when they had done it only once, the barrier was broken. So we see that man, even despite his sins of sexual immorality, has a protection through this barrier. After a few encounters, it became easier every time. Now we understand what Jesus is saying about the sins of the thought life.

Romans 1:26: both men and women exchanged natural [sexual] relationships for unnatural ones. There simply must be a choice that you make. They exchange. Then you exchange away something. It is a free choice. There was no one coercing. Exchange means that you voluntarily part with something and voluntarily receive something else. Voluntarily I part with the cleanliness and receive the uncleanness. A conscious exchange, Paul says. Consciously they exchanged, Paul says. Homosexuality is something sick. A healthy and clean thought has been exchanged for a contaminated [or defiled] one. A healthy heart has been exchanged for a sick one. A healthy body has been devastated because of an exchange. Paul says in First Corinthians 6:18: “Flee from sexual immorality.” Sexual immorality dishonors the body. It should not be [merely] discussed, not combated--you should flee from it like Joseph. What did the Lord say to Lot? Flee for your life. “Flee,” the Lord consequently says.

Is homosexuality something one chooses? Answer: YES. You choose it. You are not born into it. It is absolutely that way; otherwise it would be a betrayal of mankind. You voluntarily enter into this.

Can you live in homosexuality and be a Christian? Ephesians 5:3,5-6:

“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people.”

[5-7:] “For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person --such a man is an idolater --has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them.” [The last line in the Swedish transcript translates into: “Therefore have nothing to do with them.”]

Let no one deceive you. Do you think that you can be a Christian and be a homosexual? Then you deceive yourself, you fool yourself. What if others are saying that “it isn’t so bad and God is full of love”? He is full of love, but He is also holy. He has said that He hates immorality, and therefore [the sexual immoral] can not be a Christian. Those who live that way are not a child of God and cannot be one. We must say it so people hear it. Do not fool yourselves, dear people. It is deceit of the highest level if you think you can fool yourselves. For the Devil says: “You can be a Christian, and you can be good as a Christian, and you can live like this anyway.” “You can be faithful in your partnership,” says the enemy of souls. However, the Word of God says something else. Delusions that lead to punishment we read about in Romans 1:27.

Revelations 22:14-15: “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, [...]”

Can it be stated more clearly? If this is what you engage in, and live like in such a world, then you are living a lie, and you cannot enter the kingdom of God. You do not get in. You can be a Christ-professing homosexual, live that way, but you do not get into Heaven on that. I want to emphasize that God’s Word teaches this. Can you be a Christian homosexual man or woman? No, you cannot. Then you deceive yourself, says the Word of the Lord. And these will then stand there in shame one day.

Is this lifestyle of sexual immorality a sign of the times? Luke 17:28. Yes, in [the gospel of] Luke, Jesus brings this up, among other places in chapter 17, speaking there of how it will be in the days of Noah, and how it will be in the days of Lot. How they lived back then. They ate and drank, bought and sold, planted and built. But one day, when Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and finished them all off. It will be the same on that day when the Son of Man is revealed. What was it that led to these cities perishing, losing their dignity, disappearing from the face of the Earth? It was because they lived in homosexuality. It will be the same on that day when the Son of Man is revealed; consequently, this is a sign of the times we are facing. As people lived in the time of Lot, so shall they live before Jesus returns. This is something we cannot deny in any way. Jesus says that the lifestyle of Sodom shall be active in the whole Earth before the coming of Jesus. The one who represents this lifestyle today goes against God’s order of creation. From Matthew 18, I must include verse 6 where Jesus deals with children, stating:

“But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” [The Swedish version’s quote of “causing to sin” is “mislead” or “seduce.”]

“Seduce” is here translated from the word skandala [scandal]. So now we all know what it is--a scandal. It is a scandal to seduce one of these little ones, and now I want to focus a little on the situation of the children in the relationship of a [domestic] partnership. [It is] a scandal to rob a child of its Mommy and its Daddy. It is a scandal, Jesus says. It is a scandal to let innocent children be subjected to this torture. You violate a child by moving it from parents, from Mommy and Daddy, to either two men or two women. It can be said that two men can bring up children just as well, or that two women can bring up children just as well. Yes, that I believe, that they can bring up [children] that way, but it nevertheless goes against nature, and it is a scandal when you do it that way, Jesus says. Where somebody seduces one of these little ones, and they have to grow up in such an environment.

Sodom, as a cautionary example, is mentioned over 30 times in the Bible. These sins of sexual immorality are so deeply rooted that not even the judgments of the tribulation are able to make people abandon the sin of sexual immorality. Revelations 9:20[-21]:

The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood --idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.

The judgments cannot convince people to abandon their sins of sexual immorality. Is this not possession by evil spiritual forces? It is so deeply rooted in man that when the judgments come and go across our world, the sexually immoral will not change, but they will continue to live as sexually immoral people. Consequently, it must be that they are gripped by evil spiritual forces.

A good married life prevents sins of sexual immorality. First Corinthians 7:2-5:

But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

A good married life, where the man gives the woman what the woman needs, and where the woman gives the man what he needs, that prevents the sins of sexual immorality, Paul says. “Prevent”, Paul says, otherwise Satan may tempt you. Then these thoughts may enter the life of our mind, and in such a way we might experience and fall into temptation.

Can homosexuals be set free or do they have to be tormented by this impulse in them? First Corinthians 6:9-11:

... Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders... will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

The Word of God offers power to live a pure life. This Bible passage talks about what they used to live like--in sexual immorality and adultery, but they were washed clean. Hallelujah! And Paul says in Titus that we lived “enslaved by all kinds of passions” [Titus 3:3], but we encountered the mercy of our God and Savior. Then He saved us, praise God--from the sins of sexual immorality, from homosexuality. That, He saved us from. With Sodom and Gomorrah in mind Jesus says [that] if they had heard the same message as Capernaum they would have repented [Matthew 11:23-24].

Jesus is saying that you have to repent. Jesus’ view of homosexuality is a call to repentance. They have washed their robes and made them white, therefore they stand before the throne of God. There is a purifier. Nobody has to be defeated by sexual immorality. Nobody has to say: “I have such a losing battle in this area.” Everybody can be set free and delivered. You can receive it if you want it.

Can homosexuals be delivered from this diabolical power? Yes, they can. Because if the Corinthians could be cleansed from these abnormalities they lived in, then each and everyone can also experience it [today]. I thank God that Paul, in the Letter to the Romans and the Letter to the Corinthians, has written as clearly and plainly as he has, regarding these sexual issues. If those people had not had those struggles, then we would never have known about it. Rather, we would have thought that we experienced this only in recent times, but it has existed through all of history, and God wants to save every generation from these sins. We must not say: “We have to accept this.” We cannot bless [domestic] partnerships. We cannot unite ourselves with that. We cannot lay hands on those people and say: “We bless you.” That we cannot do, then we draw the disapproval of God on our lives--that is why it is so important.

The Bible’s answer to the question: “Is homosexuality a genetic instinct?” It is not.

The Bible’s answer to the question: “Is it an evil force that plays games with people?" Yes, it is. And we must understand that it is that way.

Amen.

[Congregational Song]

“The only thing I know is that grace is sufficient,
that the blood of Christ my sin, my guilt now covers.”

[Åke Green speaking]
We must never think that some people, because of their sinful lives, would end up outside of grace. Paul says about himself that he was the foremost of all sinners, but he encountered an abundance of grace and mercy. He also states in First Corinthians 6:9-11, when he lists sexual immorality with other sins, that you can be saved from all the listed sins, including sexual immorality. What these people need, who live under the slavery of sexual immorality, is an abundant grace. It exists. It is valid also for them. Therefore we will encourage those who live in this manner to look at the grace of Jesus Christ. We cannot condemn these people--Jesus never did that either. He showed everyone He met deep respect for the person they were, for instance the adulterous woman, in John 8, or the woman at the well in Sychar, according to John 4. Jesus never belittled anyone. He offered them grace. We must never belittle anyone who lives in sin. The sin we cannot bear - but the human being [we must hold up]. Surely we still believe it is as Paul says in the Letter to Titus [2:11-12]. Listen:

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live... Godly lives in this present age,

It is by showing all people grace and mercy that we can win them for Christ. We never win anyone by giving them the cold shoulder.

If anyone wants to talk or receive intercessory prayer, you are welcome to let us know. I do not think it is appropriate today to invite people forward in this service, it can be misconceived. Let us now cover each other in prayer...

*Translator’s notes: This is a translation into contemporary American English of the Swedish sermon transcript. Corresponding Bible quotations are taken from the NIV (New International Version). The accuracy of the Bible quotes in Swedish are not verified against a Swedish Bible, but they all compare well to the NIV. Implied or omitted words and translation comments are in [brackets].

Translation team:
Anders Falk, of Falk Productions, Culver City, CA
Debra Sandstrom, freelancer, Coeur d’Alene, ID