Today is National Coming Out Day in the United States. It's a catastrophic day in our culture that foregrounds a cultural acceptance of sin. So what role do these culture-wide celebrations, this pride of homosexual practice and transgenderism play in the proliferation of this sin, this rebellion against God? A listener asks about Philippians chapter 3 verses 18 to 19 and Romans 1, 32 respectively.

What role does widespread cultural celebration of homosexuality play to the ubiquity of this sin in our culture? Jake in Nashville asks it. Hello, Pastor John. What is the role of cultural celebration or pride in encouraging sin to be accepted? I'm thinking of Paul's conclusion to his condemnation of homosexual practices in Romans chapter 1 verses 18 to 32.

"And though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they do not only do them but give approval to those who practice them." That's verse 32. "Or in Philippians, for many of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.

Their end is destruction. Their God is their belly, and they glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things." That's Philippians 3 verses 18 to 19. Pastor John, does Paul here foreshadow a nationwide coming out movement? Tony, I really hear two questions, maybe more. One, what is the role of cultural celebration or pride in encouraging sin to be accepted?

That's obvious, I think, to all of us. The more something is celebrated publicly, the more it is normalized. Perhaps there's more to say about that, but I'm going to come at it indirectly. Does Paul foreshadow—this is the second question—does Paul foreshadow a nationwide coming out movement? So I'm going to focus on this second question and see whether or not it sheds more light on the first.

In Romans 1 and Philippians 3, Paul is describing what is, not just what will be. I'm focusing on this issue. Is it a foreshadowing? He's focusing on what is already. It's not something that's going to come in the 21st century. This is in Paul's day. In other words, he's not just foreshadowing, he is reporting, reporting the history of Israel and the present state of the world.

The prophet Hosea spoke about the Israel of his day when God would "change their glory into shame. They shall eat but not be satisfied; they shall play the whore but not multiply, because they have forsaken the Lord to cherish whoredom, wine, new wine, which take away the understanding." That's Hosea 4, 7 to 11.

When a people turn the world upside down and elevate man and degrade God, one of God's responses is to turn their values inside out. They turn the world upside down, God's going to turn their values inside out. Their glory becomes their shame, and God sees to it that that happens.

Their shame becomes their glory. That was true for Israel and for the world in general when Paul lived. He describes the upside-down worship of the pagan world and the inside-out sexuality of the world in Romans 1. It goes like this. This is Romans 1, 19, following. "For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them, so they are without excuse.

They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature," especially man, "rather than the Creator." So the world is turned upside down. Creature is put where God is supposed to be. God is put where creature is supposed to be. "For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions," watch the inside-out, "for their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature, and men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another." Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error.

So sexual relations, as God gave them, were turned inside out. They were reversed. "Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die," they know this. "They do not only do them, but give approval to those who practice them." In other words, it's not just suicide, it's murder.

They're asking people to join them in practices that deepest down they know are deadly. The fact that Paul is describing history and his own day, of course, doesn't rule out the fact that he is foreshadowing our day. He certainly is. The beauty and the authority of God are brought low, and the autonomy and the will of man are exalted, and this upside-down view of the world has resulted more and more and more in the reversal of God-ordained sexual relations.

And one of those most appalling parts of Romans 1 is at the end where Paul says, "Every one of those people who turn God into a creature, who lower God and exalt self, every one of them know what they're doing." When they reflect that inversion of God and man and reverse their sexual roles, they know what they are doing.

He says they know God in the depths of their soul, Romans 1:21, and they know that homosexual practice and transsexual experimentation is against God's righteous will. But it gets worse. Not only do they know that it's wrong, and not only do they know it deserves death, but they not only practice it but recruit others to do the same and die with them.

So the sin is not just self-destructive but other-destructive. Here's the key verse, verse 32 of chapter 1, Romans. "Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things," speaking of homosexuality among others, "those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them." So the national coming-out day in which advocates for homosexual practice knowingly, deep down knowingly, encourage the practice, they are celebrating death, celebrating divine judgment, celebrating the very deeds that Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:10 keep people from entering the kingdom of God.

This is not a happy day. This is a sad day. Those who stand up and say, "There's forgiveness with God because of Jesus Christ. There is cleansing from sin and hope now and forever," those people are not the haters here. The haters are those who know deep down what displeases God and who turn that very behavior into a day of celebration.

There will be a global day of coming out, the day when it comes out that it is suicidal and hopeless to turn shame into glory. We don't have to wait to be shocked on that day. We shouldn't wait. God has spoken in his Word, the Bible. Same-sex desires are a heartbreaking part of the sinful brokenness of the fallen world.

All of us are part of this sinful brokenness. All of us have things about us, about our personalities, our preferences, our dispositions, our habits, our inborn bent. All of us have things about us that we do not like, do not approve. We don't approve of them, and we should not condone them just because it seems to be part of us.

Some aspects of our sinful bent God changes now in this life. The curse we deal with till the day we die, or the day Jesus comes back and makes all things new. The key to hope in this world is Jesus Christ. He bore our sins in his body that we might die to sin, live to righteousness.

So, on the one hand, a national coming-out day is a day of mourning because of how much destruction is being celebrated. But on the other hand, there's a hidden hope in Paul's words when he says, "They know." They know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve God's judgment.

We have no idea whether God will keep handing people over to their illusions, or whether he might grant a great awakening. We know how to pray. We know what we should pray toward. Amen. Thank you, Pastor John. That's sobering. And thanks for subscribing to Ask Pastor John in your favorite podcast app or in YouTube.

We appreciate having you along with us. We're back on Monday with happier thoughts and to celebrate an important anniversary in the life and ministry of John Piper. Monday marks the 40th anniversary of John Piper deciding to leave academics for the pastorate. It's quite a story, and it's a story that was all written down in Pastor John's journals at the time.

And it basically addresses the question of how do I follow God's will in the face of two good options. I'm your host Tony Reinke. We'll see you on Monday for that anniversary. See you then.