“A Clear and Present Danger!”

Judges 17:6; 21:25

(“It Doesn’t Matter!”)

Relativism:

Will Herberg

“The moral crisis of our time cannot, it seems to me, be identified merely with the

widespread violation of accepted moral standards,

for which our time is held to be notorious. There has

never been any lack of that at any time:… this, indeed, is our time’s challenge to morality; not so much the

all-too-frequent breakdown of a moral code, but the fact

Will Herberg

that today there seems to be no moral code to break

down… To violate moral standards while at the same

time acknowledging their authority is one thing; to lose all sense of the moral

claim, to repudiate all moral authority and every moral

standard as such, is something far more

serious.”

Joseph Fletcher

Fletcher taught that instead of rules (i.e. a standard) by which to live, there’s only one rule: love. Sounds good doesn’t it?…

Ernest Hemingway

“What is moral is what I feel good

after, and what is immoral is what I

feel bad after.”

Purpose:to see how significant it is to work

within God’s absolute truth

I God is Love AND More

A. God is Love

1 John 4:16

“…God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.”

1 John 4:8

“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

I God is Love AND More

A. God is Love

B. God is More

Deuteronomy 4:31

“For the Lord your God is a merciful God…”

John 3:33

“…God is truthful.”

1 John 1:5

“God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.”

Deuteronomy 7:9

“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; He is the faithful

God…”

Psalm 99:9

“Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His holy mountain, for

the Lord our God is holy.”

2 Thessalonians 1:6

“God is just. He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you.”

Deuteronomy 4:24

“For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”

Psalm 14:17

“The Lord is righteous in all His ways…”

II God is the Definer

A. Love Has Been Defined

B. The Bible Defines Love

1 Corinthians 13:4-8“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it

keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always

trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails…”

John 15:13

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his

friends.”

1 John 4:18

““There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear…”

1 John 3:16

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our

lives for our brothers.”

III God is Truth

A. Bible Assumes Absolutes

B. Bible is Absolute

IV God is the Enabler

A. Situationism is not Consistent

Relativism requires you to

forgo all guidelines… everything

must be done on the spur of the moment…

IV God is the Enabler

A. Situationism is not Consistent

B. Christianity is Consistent

It is a clear and present danger to let the world

convince us that truth,

morality and eternity do not

matter…

Summary and Conclusion:

Digital Tuner/Metronome - 440 Hz A

Ephesians 4:13-15

“…until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by

Ephesians 4:13-15

the cunning and craftiness of men in the deceitful scheming. Instead,

speaking the truth in love, we will in all things growing up into Him who

is the Head that is, Christ.”