True Repentance

Wednesdays are my favorite weekday. Pastor Fry preached another amazing sermon from Psalm 119. Tonight he preached from verses 9-16. The Psalmist begins by asking the question: “How can a young man keep his way pure?” His answer is incredible: “By keeping it according to Your word.” At one point Pastor Fry asked us the question: “Are you working on memorizing a verse/passage of Scripture at the moment? … isn’t God’s Word worth memorizing? and meditating upon? and rejoicing over?” It was a wonderful, convicting message.

After our prayer meeting, I headed over to my Bucks. I finished my preliminary note-taking from Miller’s Blue Like Jazz and I’m hoping to have the review finished by next week, Lw. Oh, and read a good chunk of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (second time through), w00t.

As Bucks was closing I ran into an old acquaintance. We migrated outside and spent some time catching up. During our convo he asked me something that was on his mind: Can a Christian be gay?

I answered that Christ commands men to repent from sin, or perish (Luke 13:3) – so a true believer would not continue and remain in a pattern of sin (like the homosexual lifestyle). Christ has saved us from the penalty of sin AND from the power of sin. This means that we are no longer slaves to sin but slaves to Christ.

He really did not like my answer. He informed me that he is gay and also a Christian. The conversation was suddenly very personal for him.

Again I pointed him to the Scriptures and reminded him that God has defined human sexuality. The Bible teaches us that it is natural for men and women to be attracted to the opposite sex (Romans 1). Furthermore, no man has an excuse before God because men have the Law of God written on their hearts and the light of creation. Therefore it is through great effort that sinners willfully suppress God’s truth in unrighteousness. We have gone to such great lengths to justify our sinful behaviors, including the notion that men, not God, can define their own sexuality.

In the end, my friend ended up agreeing with what I was saying. I encouraged him to turn from his sin and reminded him of the promise that God begins the work of salvation in His people, and He will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6).

I praise God for the opportunity to speak God’s truth about true repentance to this friend, and pray that God would (1) grant him repentance unto life, or (2) repentance unto restored fellowship with God.

1 John 3:10, "10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother."

In the Saving Faith,
Rusty