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It may be the cloudy weather. Gloom seems to set in with cold, damp, cloudiness. But I have a sense that gloom may actually be more appropriate even if the sun is shining. I read in the Bible that "...God gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves...God gave them up unto vile affections; for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature; and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet."
Or, it could have been the condom I saw lying on the pavement as I walked home from the school recently. I read in the Bible that "Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled; but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." I fail to see how a condom can get from an undefiled marriage bed to the pavement of our village streets. I suspect that some of our youth are following the example of some of our adults...ignoring the coming judgment of God for the fleeting pleasure of sexual immorality.
But the gloomy thought is this: these texts of Scripture say that the judgment of God is revealed in the fact that the immorality is happening all around us. According to the quote in the first paragraph, sexual perversion is evidence that God has given up on the culture. Let me say that another way: sexual perversion follows God's active throwing in of the towel. In other words, God doesn't give up on people because they are sexually promiscuous; people are sexually promiscuous because God has given up on them. The sexual misconduct follows God's abandonment; it does not precede it. Does this mean there is no hope? There is always hope with repentance, but there is not always repentance. Repentance is not ours to command.
In another article (197) I asked if we were beyond the grace of God. I am asking the same thing this time. Have we become so sick in soul and spirit that we accept sexual immorality among our adult and youth population without a shudder, while being angry with those who remind us of God?
Here is a test of whether we are beyond grace or not: note the reaction you have to the following statement. Jesus Christ died for your sins. OK, what was your reaction? If you sensed a lift in your spirit, you are still open to the grace of God and it is still operative in your case. If you sensed nothing, you are dead in spirit and grace is not currently operative in you. If you were a tiny bit irritated, you are an active enemy of God and His grace is not apparent to you. If you were really irritated... 'nough said.
The men of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah. Should we do less in the face of the reality of the moral demise of our culture?