All Worshippers Are Sinners

Whenever you preach on the subject of Homosexuality, which I will be doing this Lord’s Day, you lay yourself open to the charge of bigotry and homophobia.  But the only reason we have come here to worship God is because we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  The question is never whether you have sinned, but which sins have you committed, which manifestation of your sinfulness has been revealed in your thoughts, words, and deeds.

And so all worshippers of the true God are sinners.  Some are heterosexual sinners and some are homosexual sinners and some have lusted in their hearts over non-sexual temptations.  To call homosexuality a sin does not narrow the definition of sinner.  We are all sinners and we are all under the wrath of God unless we find ourselves in a place where a Propitiation of that wrath has occurred for us.

And sometimes those who practice homosexuality make the claim that they did not choose to be homosexuals; they claim it is their natural tendency.  Well, welcome to the fallen race.  All of us are bent to sin, some to this kind of sin, some to another.  But put the law before us and “poof” there are particular sins which will begin to manifest themselves.  Homosexual tendencies are no excuse for homosexual sin any more than violent tendencies are an excuse for outbursts of anger and violence.  It just means that we sin because we are by nature sinners.

Now this also means that we have no excuse, those of us who have no temptations in the homosexual kind of sin, to reject homosexuals as less than us in any way.  We all sin and we all fall short of God’s glory.  And this also means that if you are sitting here and you have temptations towards homosexuality you are welcome here – welcome to come to Jesus Christ with all of us sinners – and find grace and help for us all in our times of need.