Intelligent Design Series

As Romans 1:32 says: “they not only do (these things) but give approval to those who practice them.”

CLOSE: This is why we need to contend for faith that was once delivered to the saints. Someone has to stand up and say… these things are wrong, because there are people out there who not only do sinful things but they give approval and encourage those who do them.

But a word of CAUTION here: We’re not called by God to speak against evil because we’re righteous and the other guys aren’t. We’re to do this because - if someone doesn’t step up and say “this is wrong” - folks are going to go to hell. We’re to do this because we care what happens to people who slip into the warped and deformed practices of sin.

Think about it this way: do you know what “anorexia” is? It’s when a person starves themselves because they think they are too fat. Would it help for this person to have their friends say “Of course you’re too fat! If you think you’re too fat, you are. You are right to starve yourself because maybe that will make things better.” Would that help this person? Of course not. All that kind of talk would do nothing but reinforce the delusion that person was living with.

In the same way, these teens have only reinforced a harmful behavior by encouraging their friend to pursue their delusion and deny their gender. Years down the road, this young lady may end up being a wife and mother and looking by on this bizarre decision with a sense of shame and regret.

ILLUS: God hates sin because He hates what it does to people. A. W. Tozer said: “God is holy and holiness (is) the moral condition necessary to the health of his universe… Whatever is holy is healthy… the holiness of God, the wrath of God, and the health of creation are inseparably united. God’s wrath is His utter intolerance of whatever degrades and destroys. He hates iniquity as a mother hated the polio that would take the life of the child.”

When we contend for the faith once delivered to the saints, we are to contend against sin so that people will be warned of the dangers of their delusions.

ILLUS: An old-time preacher often spoke on the subject of sin – he minced no words. A leader in his congregation came to him on one occasion and urged him to cease using the ugly word. Said he: "We wish you would not speak so plainly about sin. Our young people, hearing you, will be more likely to indulge in sin. Call it something else, as 'inhibition,' or 'error' or a 'mistake,' or even 'a twist in our nature.'"

"Oh," replied the preacher, "I think I know what you mean. Come with me." And taking the church member to the kitchen, reached under the sink and drew out a bottle of cleaning liquid which had a skull and cross bones on it. On the label it said: “POISON.”

The preacher then said: "What you would have me do is put another label on this bottle. Not to call it poison, but something more pleasant... like lemonade. No sir, when God calls something sin, evil, depraved or an abomination, I will call it by no other name."

INVITATION