The Lord Jesus will accept any sinner, including those who live a homosexual lifestyle, if they repent of their sins and accept Him as their personal Savior. When Jesus walked this earth He was criticized by His enemies for “accepting sinners.” In Luke 15:1-2 we read, “Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, ‘This Man receives sinners and eats with them.’” These self-righteous, religious rulers were indignant that Jesus was willing to sit down with sinners, for they could not understand nor accept the fact that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1st Timothy 1:15).

In the rest of the chapter we see Jesus speaking three parables to illustrate God’s grace in seeking lost sinners in order to save them when they repent and believe the gospel. In the first parable Jesus uses a “lost sheep” to illustrate this truth, the “shepherd” picturing the Lord Jesus and the “sheep” representing the sinner. How precious are His words, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost! I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over ONE SINNER WHO REPENTS than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.” Of course, there are no “just persons who need no repentance” for we read in Romans 3:11, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” But Jesus was putting the religious Pharisees on that ground for THEY THOUGHT THERE WERE RIGHTEOUS.

Let me repeat again, the Lord will accept (receive) any sinner if they accept (receive) Him as their Savior. John 1:12 declares, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” Could words be any clearer than these? The moment you receive Jesus Christ by faith as your Savior you become a child of God; you are RECEIVED BY GOD INTO HIS FAMILY. A new life is imparted to you; you are “born again,” as it goes on to read, “who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

This new life will give you a love for God and the desire to live a holy life to His honor and glory. If one is gay when they receive this new life they will now hate the sin of homosexuality and desire to live a pure life. Again, God accepts you into His family and looks upon you as a changed man/woman. I would like to quote a passage which brings out this truth. “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, NOR HOMOSEXUALS, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And SUCH WERE SOME OF YOU. But YOU WERE WASHED, but YOU WERE SANCTIFIED, but YOU WERE JUSTIFIED IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS and by the Spirit of our God” (1st Corinthians 6:9-11). Thank God no matter what kind of a sinner we WERE, the moment we trust in Christ as our Lord and Savior, we ARE “washed” (from our sins by the blood of Christ…see Revelation 1:5), “sanctified” (“set apart” to God by the blood of Christ…see Hebrews 9:11-14 and 10:10), and “justified” (declared righteous by the blood of Christ…see Romans 3:24 and 5:9). (334.5) (DO)