From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

I urge all of our readers to take the time to view a powerful sermon on this vital subject.

June 3, 2024 - The month of June has become known as LGBT Pride Month around the world. This annual celebration of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender agenda began in commemoration of a three-day riot in June 1969 initiated by sexual perverts in response to a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a mafia-owned bar and so-called "recreational tavern" in New York City that catered to homosexuals and their activities.[1]

TeachingTheWord board member Dr. John McKnight of Reformation Bible Church in Darlington, Maryland, stated in a 2019 sermon that "public celebrations of sexual perversion must be seen in the light that Scripture sheds upon them." Reproduced below are the main points of Dr. McKnight's sermon published at the time. Here is a link to audio and video recordings of the entire message.

I urge all of our readers to take the time to watch or listen to this vital sermon. Preaching from Psalm 2 and Romans 1, Dr. McKnight speaks with much-needed Biblical clarity in a time when many churches are entering into sinful compromises. He describes an effort by men of Reformation Bible Church and two other congregations to present a clear Gospel witness during a "gay pride" event in Maryland, and the rage that arose in response to it:

We met here on a Saturday afternoon for a time of orientation and prayer and then went to Havre de Grace with signs bearing Scripture passages in the determination not to say a word unless someone meaningfully engaged us...

With five texts of Scripture on two sides of poster boards, and some men carrying two boards apiece, we walked through the crowd around the sidewalk and stood in their midst holding forth the warnings of Scripture in a protest that was necessary and we pray effectual - effectual in bearing the truth to the hearts of those who were there....

Suddenly, there was a rage that arose from that group at the mere sight of Scripture on the poster board. We didn't have to say a thing. All that we did was hold up the Scripture texts which told them, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." Another which told them, "The Lord God rained fire and brimstone upon the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah out of heaven." Another which said, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." The rage arose. Our men were cursed, profanely, repeatedly by many people consigned to Hell. One was spat upon...for nothing more than simply holding forth the Word of God...

As I observed these things around us, it dawned upon me...like never before that indeed the spiritual warfare is closing in around us. A land which by contrast, when I was a child, might have been yet considered a Christian nation is far, far removed from any semblance of Christianity. The aggressive secularists who, during my childhood, were doing their best to remove God from public life have succeeded in having their way, and with the blessing of our Supreme Court and our public school system have now produced generations who have no idea at all what true morality is. 

Dr. McKnight's sermon is also Biblically balanced, not merely pointing a finger at the decaying world, but calling upon believers to examine themselves, because not one of us is immune to the temptations of the flesh.

Pride: A Nation's Shame and Judgment

Dr. John McKnight

July 7, 2019

Psalm 2; Romans 1:18-32

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. [Psalm 2:2-3]

Recent public celebrations of sexual perversion should be seen in the light that Scripture sheds upon them. Psalm 2 describes what is happening, and what the consequences will be. Romans 1 reveals the dynamic by which men, women and nations descend into the self-destructive behavior they celebrate.

Psalm 2 describes wicked persons as raging. They rage against God and against "His anointed," which is Christ. Their rage has one objective: to cast off anything that restrains their wickedness. They say, "let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us" (v. 3). God is not threatened by their rage - He laughs at them, holding them in derision. He warns them, "I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh" (Proverbs 1:26). God will judge them in His own time: "Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel" (Psalm 2:9). They will "perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little" (2:12).

They do not recognize the divine dynamic by which they gain enlarged liberty to sin. They revel in their expanded "freedom," openly celebrating perversion. They disdain any who object to their lifestyle and celebration thereof. But they do not realize that their enlarged freedom is, in fact, a manifestation of God's wrath upon them.

"Gay pride" celebrations enact the "script" of Romans 1. They are astonishing manifestations of the "the wrath of God [which] is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold [down] the truth in unrighteousness" (Romans 1:18). The sequence of this wrath unfolds in this way:

1. "That which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them" (Romans 1:19)

God has shown them by creation (1:20). He has shown them by their own conscience: they "shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing them witness" (2:15). "Knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, [they] not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them" (1:32). "Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness" (Proverbs 30:20). The retort "I have done no wickedness" betrays her willful violation of conscience. Romans 1 reveals the same deeply known guilt. "Pride" celebrations are saying, "I have done no wickedness."

2. Knowing God's truth, they refuse to acknowledge it - they "hold [down] the truth in unrighteousness" (Romans 1:18)

"When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened" (1:21). They "changed the truth of God into a lie, (i.e., they exchanged the truth for a lie) and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever" (Romans 1:25). "They did not like to retain God in their knowledge" (1:28).

3. God's response: "their foolish heart was darkened" (Romans 1:21)

"God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves" (1:24). "God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature" (1:26). "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient" (1:28).

References:

1. Stonewall Uprising: The Year That Changed America, WGBH Educational Foundation, as viewed on 6/1/24 at https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/stonewall/

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