God gave them up to filth

We are conducting a Bible study concerning homosexuality. We have seen how Paul gradually assembles his arguments and clearly establishes that the wrath of God is reflected against men who resist His Will and that leads them to idolatry.

Pablo is talking about that whole classical world where he lived. And today what applies the most is that part where Paul says that men have been stubborn in their own reasoning and that is why God has also condemned them to an imperfect mind and a darkened heart.

And then in verse 24 of chapter 1 of Romans Paul also says that: "For that reason also God gave them over to uncleanness." In other words, the apostle Paul is no longer speaking only of a darkened mind, of a foolish heart, but that the wrath of God is also manifested in a devotion to these people to an unclean behavior.

Note something later here the apostle Paul will be very explicit in speaking of homosexuality as the maximum expression of that filth to which a rebellious humanity has been condemned. But here we see that it is like that homosexual behavior far from being a civil right or an optional expression of the legitimate sexual behavior of humanity is like God taking a segment of humanity that has been rebellious and throwing it in a certain sense to a lake of suffering whose manifestation is filth, impurity, lust.

This is what homosexual behavior is, God gave them up, condemned them, consigned them to filth in the lust of their hearts. The word epithymic lust means an addictive behavior, a consuming behavior, a tremendously strong behavior that condemns the person simply to obey it and continue to pursue that type of action outside of their own control. Paul says that this behavior is something to which God has irreversibly consigned a sector of humanity that resists him and treats him with injustice.

So that lust, that filth to which a sector of humanity is delivered is such that they end up dishonoring their own bodies. Paul says here that homosexuality is something shameful, it is something that rather brings shame to the person who practices it; It is not something rather that we could truly say that well, it is simply neutral, no. It is something tremendously dishonorable.

And please let me stop here for a moment and say something: I know that there are people who may be reading these words that I am now speaking or who are going to hear and who may be fighting against homosexual impulses and attractions but who love God and they want to get out of that behavior. And I must say brothers that any person who recognizes that homosexual behavior is a sin against God and who confesses that sin and repents of Him God has mercy on that person and forgives him.

I know that many times there are people who have fallen into homosexual behavior for different reasons, there are many and one day perhaps we can talk about it; sometimes they were abused as children, sometimes they were introduced to homosexuality by an adult or by a friend at school or whatever, sometimes because they simply had very terrible family situations that distorted their mind and their emotions and they fell into this practice.

And the important thing here is that the person repent, confess their sin and do everything in their power with the help of the Holy Spirit to change their way of acting. And I can tell you that this is not going to be very easy, it is going to take a long time. There are times when God can immediately touch us with His Spirit and can change us overnight, but I have seen that in the vast majority of cases homosexual practice is tremendously difficult to break.

As well as a person who has been, has been practicing for a long time let's say lust or an impure and persistent heterosexual behavior also when he repents and turns to the Lord many times it takes a long time to change his behavior. And even when he changes it many times he has to deal with obsessive thoughts, with fantasies, with lustful images in his mind.

And what the Bible says is that we must always bring every thought captive to Jesus Christ. Anyone who is struggling with any type of homosexual impulse or lust in any manifestation or any type of sin know that in the blood of Christ there is forgiveness, there is mercy. What God condemns is when we try to hide our sin, when we try to make it something acceptable before God, when we insist on continuing to sin without feeling a repentance in our heart then yes that is unforgivable.

If you are struggling with a practice of homosexuality or with a homosexual addiction or with a homosexual attraction in your mind, continually surrender your behavior to the Lord. Keep fighting, keep fighting the good fight and ask God until you see the change that is going to take place in your life. As long as you remain affirmed in the mercy of God seeking Him and trusting in the Grace of the Lord even when you are struggling, God will never leave you.

We have a God who is merciful and I believe that we have to offer hope to the homosexual person if they are struggling and battling against that urge. I believe that the condemnation that the apostle Paul is referring to here is towards those people who persist in doing and behaving in a homosexual way and who do not recognize the sinful aspect of their behavior.

So I do not want this study that I am carrying out to be seen as an irreversible, merciless condemnation of the homosexual person but to understand that there is also an element of mercy and hope in all this because the Word of the Lord always in the end offers that note of hope. May the Lord bless you, I hope this is of comfort and hope for your souls. Until next time Pastor Roberto Miranda says goodbye to you, God bless you.