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Sermon Date: 8/27/2006
Outline:
ILLUSTRATION: WASHBURN, Mo. - The minister of a rural Ozarks church, his wife and her two brothers have been accused of molesting young girls from their congregation for years, sometimes as part of a religious ritual, officials said.
The county prosecutor says the Rev. Raymond Lambert, 51, of Grand Valley Independent Baptist Church, repeatedly had sex with two underage girls with the help of his 49-year-old wife, Patty, according to court records. For 10 years, the pastor told the girls, \"We are preparing your body for service to God,\" the prosecutor said.
Patty Lambert\'s brothers — Paul Epling, 53, and Tom Epling, 51 — each are accused of repeatedly having sex with girls as young as age 4 in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The testimony of these men will do more damage than the attack of the De Vinci Code or any other attack on Christianity could possibly do. Because of these wicked men, who have used God as an excuse to perform their wicked deeds, our ability to effectively witness for Christ has been compromised. People will categorize us in the same group as the Catholic priests who molested children. And the eternal fact of the matter is that people will die and go to Hell forever because of the testimony of four people.
DECLARATION: There are few possessions that a Christian has that are more powerful than their testimony.
PROPOSITION: Are you using this power to bring souls into eternal life or eternal damnation?
TRANSITIONAL SENTENCE: Tonight we will learn some vital lessons from a man with a mockable testimony.
I. THE WICKEDNESS OF MAN. (19:4-5)
A. THE WICKEDNESS HERE WAS NOT THE WICKEDNESS OF INHOSPITALITY.
1. (Illus.) Unitarian pastor (woman) who said the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was inhospitality.
2. Most liberal churches who stand for the Sodomites will say the same exact thing.
3. My friends, if inhospitality was the sin that brought God’s wrath, He’d have destroyed America a long time ago.
4. I go to people all the time to tell them about Christ and 90% of the are inhospitable.
B. THE WICKEDNESS OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH WAS HOMOSEXUALITY.
II. THE WRATH OF A MIGHTY GOD1. If this was so, why is every group of homosexuals you find in the Bible after this event referred to as Sodomites?
2. Verse 4 makes it clear that the group of people from Sodom was men, and verse 5 makes it clear that they wanted to know them, a term used in the Bible for sexual activity. Adam knew Eve.
3. God makes it very clear where He stands on the sin of sodomy. (Romans 1:19-27)
4. My friend, we live in a wicked nation even today.
5. (Illus.) When I think of America.
• There are several sins that seem to bring God’s hand of wrath down quickly and surely.
• I understand that all sin is equal in God’s eyes, but some seem to have a weightier outcome, and today, America is seeing each of these sins grow at a rapid pace.
• Let’s look at a few of them.
A. THE SIN OF IDOL WORSHIP.
1. (Illus.) Israel was ordered to destroy every nation whose God was not the God of Israel.
2. The way God ordered them to destroy these heathen nations was in such a way that nothing remained of the evidence of their existence. He told them to utterly destroy them.
3. America has turned to idol worship. We have an anti-Christ spirit sweeping our country today.
4. We are seeing a Hindu awakening sweeping our country right now.
5. Hollywood is promoting scientology and America is buying into it.
6. Islamic faith is on the uprising since 9-11-2001.
7. God will not put up with it much longer.
B. THE SIN OF SODOMY.
1. (Illus.) God’s destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
2. America is clinging to the sin of Sodomy.
3. When I was a kid, we didn’t tolerate sodomites.
4. (Illus.) Dr. Ouellette’s song. (He doesn’t talk to the girls anymore, he doesn’t want to get . . .)
5. I would have never imagined the day would come when churches stood on the side of sodomy.
6. I would have never imagined the day would come when we would recognize sodomy as legitimate marriage.
7. I would have never imagined that the biggest shows on television would glorify sodomy.
8. My friends, we are in danger as a nation.
C. THE SIN OF CHILD MURDER.
III. THE WARNING OF THE MESSENGERS (19:12-13)1. (Illus.) Moses escaping an order to kill children.
2. (Illus.) The decree made to kill children in attempt to stop Jesus from fulfilling His purpose.
3. America is guilty of the murder of children and we call it abortion.
4. (Illus.) Morning after pill.
5. Let me remind you that in both previous cases, deliverance immediately followed.
6. I expect Christ to come back soon.
A. IN GOD’S MERCY HE ALWAYS GIVES A WARNING.
1. Every time Israel went into captivity, God always sent a prophet to warn them.
2. (Illus.) Jonah
3. (Illus.) Noah warned people for a hundred years.
4. (Illus.) God has always had a remnant of people to warn the wicked of their wicked ways.
B. WE ARE COMMANDED TO GIVE WARNING TO THE WICKED.
IV. THE WELCOMING MANNERS OF LOT (GENESIS 19:1-3)1. (Illus.) Today, our responsibility is to warn people of eternal damnation in a place called Hell. (
Ezekiel 3:18-19, “When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.”
2. (Illus.) Standing before God with blood on our hands.
A. LOT WAS CONCERNED WITH HIS REPUTATION BUT NOT HIS CHARACTER.
1. Reputation is what people think you are, but character is what you really are.
2. He wanted to make sure that he was a good Christian when men of God were around.
3. He’s did what most Church members would do if their pastor visited.
4. “Hey honey, turn off the ‘Desperate Housewives’, the pastor’s here.”
B. LOT ENJOYED THE FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIANS.
V. THE WORLDLY MORALS OF LOT1. He didn’t want them to go away.
2. He liked church just for the fellowship.
A. LOT CHOSE A WORLDLY LIFE OVER A MORAL LIFE.
1. Abraham gave Lot a chose of where to raise his family.
2. Lot was high up in the secular world. (He sat at the gate)
3. Lot fit in well with the most wicked town on earth.
B. LOT WAS WILLING TO GIVE HIS CHILDREN TO THE WORLD. (19:18)
VI. THE WITNESS OF A MOCKER1. He was willing to let his daughters be raped by the men of Sodom.
2. There is something I don’t get about people who go to church and then give their children to the world to spiritually rape them.
3. They let ungodly friends influence them.
4. They send them to the movies and let Hollywood rape their minds.
5. If someone came to your house and did the things you see in an “R” rated movie, you’d throw them out.
6. We are giving our children to the world to do what is right in the world’s eyes.
7. Don’t give your children a choice when it comes to church attendance.
A. LOT WAS A GREAT INFLUENCE IN HIS CITY, BUT NEVER USED IT TO WIN PEOPLE TO CHRIST. (continued...)
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