Saturday, June 27, 2015

Standing On God's Truth. No Compromise

In light of the SCOTUS ruling yesterday on gay marriage and in a culture where Pastors and Church leaders alike are compromising God's Word for the sake of the church staying "relevant" in a nation that continues to push God out of every area of society as it continues to spiral down into moral decay by redefining what is acceptable in God's eyes, it is encouraging to hear some pastors defy the pull to be pleasers of men instead of pleasers of God.  Pastor Jack Hibbs is one such pastor. We need more shepherds like him standing strong on God's truth despite the cost. Thank you Pastor Jack.  I pray we the church follows his lead.

By Pastor Jack Hibbs

To the people of God who love His Word and know His will, in light of today’s decision by the Supreme Court of United States to rob God of His definition of marriage, I want to give you an infusion of certain reality. Yes, we are saddened to see our nation depart from its foundation, from what has been historical marriage and the God-ordained vehicle for the creation of life, of family, and culture for over five thousand years. How could we not be saddened in the face of such perversion? 

At the same time, we must take encouragement from the Word of God. We need to remember what Jesus Christ said and continues to say to us today, that just before His awful Second Coming to a Christ-rejecting world and His universal judgment come upon this earth because of its uncovered sins, the days would be just as they were in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. 

Sodom and Gomorrah have been synonymous with those debased practices such as sodomy and lesbian sex. In Sodom and Gomorrah sex with children and animals was the abnormal normal. Strange, unsanctioned sex outside of God’s prescription was everywhere and God hated such practices. People paraded themselves around in their perversion and flaunted it in the public streets.

Even Mr. Lot and his angelic visitors were under the threat of a violent homosexual mob in his day. They had the license to live as each man or woman or catamite chose to. Each man did what was right in his own eyes. Today’s act by the SCOTUS reminds the Christian that, “There is a way that seems right to a man but that way ends in death.” God takes no pleasure in this wicked ruling but He has told us that these things must happen before He comes to judge the earth.

As a Pastor, I am sure that I will be attacked because of my allegiance to God and His Word. I am determined to stand for what the Word of God says rather than what my emotions would desire or what others would want. I am glad to know that in my day His Word is being fulfilled. Jesus said for us to rejoice when people persecute us and say all manner of evil against you for My namesake.

As a Christian, I am to keep standing for what is biblical all the way to the end. We are under orders to never surrender what is God’s. A Christian is never to conform to the world or its desires that would seek to shape us into its image. It is true that we will be called bigots and haters and, as I heard today, that “anyone now not supporting gay marriage cannot be an American.” If that is the new definition of what it means to be an American, then I am no longer an American. But no one has the power to redefine God’s Word no matter what color they are, no matter their sexual activity, no matter what they think or feel. A Christian is someone who obeys God’s Word.

I, our staff, and Calvary Chapel Chino Hills will continue to do what we have always done — to love God with all of our hearts and to live out that love toward all we meet. This love comes from God. It is holy, pure, and obedient to the heart of God and to His Word.

The time is now officially upon pastors and the church in America to decide to obey God rather than man. We need to take heart that if we are biblical, we can always be sure that we will not only be correct, but we will end up being on the right side of history.

In the end all that man seeks to accomplish will turn to dust. God’s Word is eternally true. What God has called an abomination is still an abomination. What He has said is holy is holy still, and what He said is marriage is still marriage. God doesn’t listen to the Supreme Court and it is clear they do not listen to Him. But for us who are Christians, we will delight ourselves in the Lord today, taking comfort in knowing that Jesus’ coming must be very close. I will pause from our study this Sunday to address this tragically historic issue — one that effects every one of us.

Until He comes again...brother to brother, yours in life and death,

Pastor Jack