Right and Wrong
Isaiah 5:19-25
I. The Scriptural principle of Right and Wrong.
A. (Proverbs 17:15) He that justifies the wicked, and he that condemns the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.
B. (Proverbs 24:24 -25) He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous; him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him: But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them.
Transition: Billy Graham speaking at Conwell Theological Seminary said, ?We’ve lost sight of the fact that some things are always right and some things are always wrong. We’ve lost our reference point. We don’t have any moral philosophy to undergird our way of life in this country, and our way of life is in serious jeopardy and serious danger.?
II. The Trend to reverse God?s Principles - Calling right wrong and wrong right
A. Homosexuality
1. In 1992 members of a 24 member United Methodist Church (UMC) panel could not agree on whether homosexuality is a sin, so the committee’s 14,000-word report on the subject was referred to the denomination’s national policy-making body. The report contained a majority statement, signed by 17 committee members, recommending the removal of an assertion in the church’s book of rules that homosexual practice and Christianity are incompatible. A minority report, signed by four members, argues for retaining the current language. The panel agreed that biblical references to sexual practices should not be viewed as binding "just because they are in the Bible? ? Copyright 1992 by Media Management,
2. (Lev 18:22-23) Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.
3. (Rom 1:24 -28) Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause 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. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
B. Abortion & Euthanasia
1. (Exodus 20:13) Thou shalt not kill.
2. John Calvin ?The fetus carried in the mother’s womb is already a man; and it is quite unnatural that a life be destroyed of one who has not yet seen its enjoyment. For it seems more unworthy that a man be killed in his home rather than in his field because for each man his home is his safest refuge. How much more abominable ought it to be considered to kill a fetus in the womb who has not yet been brought into the light.
3. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, ?Destruction of the embryo in the mother’s womb is a violation of the right to live which God has bestowed upon this nascent life. To raise the question whether we are here concerned already with a human being or not is merely to confuse the issue. The simple fact is that God certainly intended to create a human being and that this nascent human being has been deliberately deprived of his life. And that is nothing but murder.?
C. Premarital/Extramarital Sex
1. According to a Roper Organization poll, only 49% of American women believe sex before marriage is immoral, down from 65% who believed that in 1970. About half also indicated that there is no reason a single woman should not be able to have children and raise them on their own--though only 15% said such behavior would be acceptable for their own daughters.
2. (Exodus 20:14) "Thou shalt not commit adultery."
3. (Romans 8:5-6) "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. {6} For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace."
D. Children?s Rights
1. (Proverbs 13:24) "He that spares his rod hates his son: but he that loves him chastens him betimes."
2. (Proverbs 22:15) "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him."
3. (Proverbs 23:13-14) "Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. {14} Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell."
4. The sheriff’s office in a Texas city once distributed a list of rules titled "How to Raise a Juvenile Delinquent in Your Own Family": Begin with infancy to give the child everything he wants. This will insure his believing that the world owes him a living. Pick up everything he leaves lying around. This will teach him he can always throw off responsibility on others. Take his part against neighbors, teachers, and policemen. They are all prejudiced against your child. He is a "free spirit" and is never wrong. Finally, prepare yourself for a life of grief. You’re going to have it.
E. Role of Women - Feminist Movement / women in the ministry
1. (1 Timothy 2:12) "But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence."
2. (1 Timothy 3:2) "A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach;"
3. (Philippians 4:3) "And I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow-laborers, whose names are in the book of life."
4. Men have the tremendous privilege and responsibility to take women seriously, to call forth all their gifts .fellow-laborers, whose names are in the book of life."
III. The Motive behind Altering God?s principles
A. Fear of being offensive
1. Political Correctness
2. (Proverbs 29:25) "The fear of man brings a snare: but who so puts his trust in the LORD shall be safe."
B. Self-justification
1. (Proverbs 30:12) "There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness."
2. (Proverbs 21:2) "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD ponders the hearts
3. (Proverbs 12:15) "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkens unto counsel is wise."
4. (Romans 3:4) "God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged."
C. Ignorance
1. (Micah 4:12) "But they know not the thoughts of the LORD, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor."
2. (Romans 10:3) "For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."
D. Feeling OK about our loved ones and friends
1. (Romans 3:19) "Now we know that what things so ever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God."
E. Greed
1. (1 Timothy 6:10) "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."
2. (Jeremiah 17:11) "As the partridge sits on eggs, and hatches them not; so he that gets riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool."
F. Pride
1. When the "I" becomes dominant, the "spiritual eye" sees the entire world in a distortion.
2. (Psalms 10:4) "The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts."
3. (1 John 2:16) "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."
