Coming Out Of The Closet…. Of Sin….PERIOD

2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Ephesians 2:1-3, ESV)

Let me remind you,

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1, ESV)

Because as I go forward I will look backwards to my own path of sin.  Fornication, Lust, Covetousness, Lies, Deceit, Hate, Theft, Uncaring, Unloving, Divorce, Adultery, Murder, Idolatry …………..

I am as all of us are!  SINFUL!!!  I am the chief of all sinners!  My body and my mind are corrupted…

For….

12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;

no one does good,

not even one.” (Romans 3:12, ESV)

So am I hated by you?  Do you turn away with self pride when I walk towards you…. a sinner?  Do you think me unworthy of Jesus Christ’s forgiveness, and His commanded love from……. you?

I am your neighbor, and you are commanded as a follower of Christ to love me!  Do you?  After hearing of my hidden past shame!  Jesus says, if I think it so I have done it!  Do I not still struggle in all those ways at times, at least in thought?  Do you?

It’s time to come out of the closet Christian!  We Are Sinners!

Put aside our self righteousness.  We have no room to speak, except Praise be to God!…. through the grace and mercy, provided to us through our Father God, by the sacrifice and Resurrection of Jesus Christ!  WHAT A GIFT!!!!

We are sinners.  Face it, and it hasn’t stopped even with faith in Christ.  Oh yes, through Christ, we may be better at fighting it, and better at suppressing it, but it still exists!  If only in our thoughts and lack of action!

OK now to the theme at hand!  Coming out of the closet.  This week a basketball player in the NBA came out of the closet!  As if His sexuality has anything to do with his ability to play basketball.  Since he has played in the NBA over 10 years I guess it doesn’t!  Still this is an issue today in sports and our society.

The key word is tolerance, by which all political correctness is achieved.  This is a word that is designed to shut up any discussion as to the rightness of action, or opinion.  It is straight from the pit of hell!  Tolerance leads to lost people dying in sin.  We are told we must tolerate, this that and the other thing, not just homosexuality.

To my Christian friends and non Christian friends, Jesus Christ has commanded Christians to love one another!  Thank God that people of faith shared with me the intolerance of their beliefs that lead to my understanding of my need for Jesus!  That I was a sinner, in all those ways previously listed!  Thanks for making me grapple with my decisions, or my natural inclination to seek out sin!

You folks LOVED ME well.  Not wanting me to destroy myself, not just in this present reality, but in the reality of eternity!  You didn’t hate me by being intolerant to my destructive nature of sin!  You loved me!  Praise God!

So do we love this NBA player?  Do we love the terrorist?  Do we love the pro-choicer?  Do we love the Atheist?

We don’t have a choice!!!!  How could we not…….?????

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8, ESV)

And though they may believe and still struggle with sin, can we turn our love away???

15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (Romans 7:15-25, ESV)