A few years back, I was having a discussion with someone who attends church about homosexuality. After telling me how he felt about it, he said this to me:
“You know, that’s back in the Old Testament anyway and the New Testament canceled all of that out. Jesus never said anything about homosexuality. And how would he know about the Old Testament anyway? He wasn’t even born then”.
Yeah, there is A LOT wrong with that statement.
I also recently had a discussion on Facebook with several folks about what Jesus never said anything about. I made a general comment about the fact that no matter what the government might legalize, if God says it’s wrong, it’s wrong. People assumed I was talking about homosexuality, but the comment was all inclusive to anything the government might approve but God still condemns.
This statement was made:
“Well, Jesus never said anything specifically about homosexuality or abortion”.
This conversation also included the statement:
“Jesus did not demand them (sinners) to change”.
The argument is that if Jesus didn’t specifically say something was a sin, if He didn’t mention the specific term, then it’s not a sin. Oh, and you can’t use any references from Romans 1 because Jesus didn’t say that, Paul did.
The arguments are endless. And it’s just another tool that Satan uses to deceive.
If the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God (and it is), then Jesus said all of it. From “In the beginning” to “Amen”.
If you don’t believe all of it, you don’t believe any of it.
2Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
2Timothy 4:2-4 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
So, if we think we know what Jesus didn’t say, let’s take a look at what He did say. Today I will discuss the three statements addressed above.
(Clarification: I am not picking and choosing what to address here, as I believe sin is sin, no sin is greater or less than any other; I am merely addressing the issues that I was confronted with):
- Jesus never said anything about homosexuality;
- Jesus never said anything about abortion; and
- Jesus did not demand them (sinners) to change
1. Jesus addressed marriage. When the Pharisees questioned Him regarding divorce, He included a definition of marriage:
Matthew 19:3 -6: The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh. Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Have ye not read that he which at the beginning made them male and female?
For this cause shall a man leave father and mother and cleave to his wife?
Jesus defined marriage as His Father intended it to be from the beginning of time.
Genesis 1:26-28 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
The Bible is very distinct about male and female roles; and in creation, God was very specific.
Jesus was very specific in describing marriage, between a man and a woman. A male and a female.
By defining what marriage is, He defines what it isn’t.
2. Jesus also addressed abortion:
Matthew 19:18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
God said:
Exodus 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.
I can hear some of the arguments now: it’s not a real person; life doesn’t begin at conception: if it can’t exist outside the womb then it’s not a life; and so on…
Well, did you know that God defines when life begins?
Psalm 139:13-16 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
Jeremiah 1:4-5 Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
While Jesus never said the word abortion, He covered it in the definition of taking another life. God covered it when He said, “Thou shalt not kill”.
3. Jesus did not demand them to change
Wow, this one really blew my mind. I have heard the previous arguments regarding abortion and homosexuality all of my life, but I had never had someone tell me that Jesus did not demand change.
It starts out with the word “repent”.
Mat 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
The word repent means a change of mind that results in a change of conduct. Repentance is not merely sorrow. It involves a complete change of attitude regarding God and sin and is often accompanied by a sense of sorrow and a corresponding change in conduct.
In using the word repent, Jesus is demanding a change. We cannot repent, in the true sense of the word, and continue to engage in activities that we have repented of.
In sin that we have repented of.
Mat 9:12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Jesus came to call sinners to repentance. How do we know we are sinners? God tells us in His Word; we must measure ourselves against Scripture.
Sin is the sickness that causes our death. Jesus is the Great Physician, and heals our sickness.
How? With His own body, becoming sin on the Cross, to be a sacrifice for those sins, so that we don’t have to pay for the wrong we have done. He has already done that.
But we have to accept that He has done that; and we must repent. When we accept Him, we are healed of this sickness.
Again, I am not picking and choosing sin to address; we all have sinned and fallen short (Romans 3:23); there is none righteous, no not one (Romans 3:10)
My message to you today is: instead of trying to justify sin; confess sin. Don’t just read Scripture, but study Scripture.
Know what Jesus died for; know what He did for you.
Look at what He did say.
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