<%@LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> Untitled Document • Things Are Mixed Up
• Isaiah 5:20
• “WOE TO THOSE WHO CALL EVIL GOOD, AND GOOD EVIL”

• Introduction
• Choosing darkness over light, the world has chosen to identify sin as good, while denigrating righteousness.
• Proverbs 17:15 “He who mocks the poor reproaches his Maker; He who rejoices at calamity will not go unpunished”.
• It is woeful and abominable to justify wickedness and condemn justice.
• So messed up when criminals have rights and law abiding citizens continue to have their rights removed.

• WOE TO THOSE WHO CALL INFANTICIDE “CHOICE”
• Regarding a thing as “choice” tends to imply objective equality among the available choices.
• Baskin Robbins offers up 31 flavors; now that is a choice.
• Describing an act that ends the life of a child as “choice” suggests there are no moral implications attending that choice, but nothing could be further from the truth.
• Psalm 139:13-14
• The development of the child in the womb is the marvelous work of God, deserving of praise, not termination.
• Proverbs 6:17 “Hands that shed innocent blood” are hated by God.
• Exodus 21:22-25 The Old Testament provided for the execution of one who accidentally killed a child in utero, indicating that God regards the unborn life as equally precious as the lives of every other human.

• WOE TO THOSE WHO CALL HOMOSEXUALITY “GAY”
• “Gay” previously meant “happy”.
• Kids could sing the Flintstones theme song without the perception of double entendre.
• For the past few decades, however, that term has been coopted by perverts attempting to justify their sinful lifestyles.
• Jude 5-7; Genesis 19:4-5 The people of Sodom are still burning because of the strange flesh they pursued.
• Romans 1:20-27 God perceives homosexuality as unnatural, whether practiced by men or women.
• 1st Corinthians 6:9-11 Homosexuality will keep one out of heaven, but people can change! It’s not genetic.

• WOE TO THOSE WHO CALL FORNICATION “LOVE”
• Unmarried people have sex and call it “lovemaking”, but there is no love in dragging another soul to hell with you.
• 1st Corinthians 6:18-20 Sexual immorality must be fled from.
• When the temptation arises, the godly will run away from fornication, like Joseph ran from Potiphar’s wife.
• 1st Thessalonians 4:3-8 It is God’s will and man’s sanctification to practice abstinence.
• Hebrews 13:4 God does approve of sex.
• Marriage is the only appropriate outlet for that need.
• All other sex is condemned.

• WOE TO THOSE WHO CALL DENS OF LEWDNESS AND LUST “GENTLEMEN’S CLUBS”
• In a reasonable world, the phrase “gentleman’s club” should bring to mind leather armchairs, mahogany side tables, and floor to ceiling shelves of books, with men wearing bow ties and monocles sitting around discussing art, literature, and philosophy.
• Unfortunately, as half the billboards in Las Vegas indicate, what is meant by the phrase is a strip club in which naked or nearly naked women straddle vertical poles or gyrate in the laps of men.
• Matthew 5:27-30 Lustful thoughts are as wicked as adulterous actions, according to Jesus.
• The men (and women) who watch strippers are sinning.
• Romans 13:13 An associated, but distinct sin from lust is lewdness, which characterizes the dancing of the performers.
• The women (and men) who strip are sinning.

• WOE TO THOSE WHO CALL PROFANITY “ADULT LANGUAGE”
• By referring to vulgar speech as “adult” it is implied that children ought to grow into it, learning how to cuss as they grow older, but there is nothing mature, in the least, about talking like that.
• Colossians 3:8 “Filthy language” must be “put off” because it is inconsistent with the life of one who has been raised with Christ (1-3).
• Ephesians 4:29; 5:4 A “corrupt word” cannot impart “necessary edification”, and “coarse jesting” is “not fitting”.
• James 3:2-12 We must learn to control our tongues.

• WOE TO THOSE WHO CALL ENABLING LAZINESS “WELFARE”
• There is nothing either well or fair about confiscating the earnings of one party and transferring them to another who will not work.
• 2nd Thessalonians 3:10; Proverbs 16:26 Those who will not work do not deserve to eat.
• Ephesians 4:28 Those who are working should be considerate of those unable.
• Acts 2:44-45; 4:32, 34-35
Where there is a collective sharing, it is among “believers”, that is – in the church, not a political jurisdiction within geographic boundaries.

• WOE TO THOSE WHO CALL THE APPROVAL OF SIN “TOLERANCE”
• The sinners of this generation demand their behavior be accepted and celebrated, accusing those who do not do so of harming them in some way.
• Romans 1:32 The apostle Paul strongly implied that those who approve of evildoers are as guilty as the evildoers.
• Proverbs 28:4 The wicked are praised by forsakers.
• If we intend to keep the law, then we must contend with the wicked, not tolerate them.
• Ezekiel 3:18 It is not enough to simply not do evil.
• It is necessary, as well, to rebuke those who do such deeds.
• Otherwise, we might be punished with them.

• WOE TO THOSE WHO CALL REPROOF “JUDGMENTALISM”
• People who don’t like to be told they’re wrong will exercise their judgment (poorly) to accuse the ones correcting them of being judgmental.
• John 7:24 Jesus taught His followers to judge, but using a proper standard: righteousness.
• Appearance is inadequate.
• Matthew 7:1-5 When He said not to judge, His point was that hypocritical judgment is wrong, not that all judgment is wrong.
• Just because a man with a log sticking out of his eye is poorly equipped to remove dust from the eye of another does not mean dust in the eye should be left there.
• Proverbs 12:1 The Holy Spirit inspired the word “stupid” to describe one who hates to be corrected.
• Proverbs 3:11-12 Correction derives from love.
• It is the easy course to overlook one’s sin just to get along.
• It takes loving courage, however, to make the sometimes heart wrenching decision, following sleepless nights, to confront another about the behavior that will cost his/her soul.

• WOE TO THOSE WHO CALL OBEDIENCE “LEGALISM”
• Those who take seriously the commands of the Lord are often called legalists, as if keeping the law is somehow a bad thing.
• These suppose that because Christians are now under grace, there is no law.
• Romans 4:15 The existence of sin, which is what transgression is, proves the existence of law.
• 1st Corinthians 9:21; Galatians 6:2; James 1:25; 2:8 Just because the Law of Moses has been removed does not mean there remains no law.
• The Law of Christ is very much in effect.
• Hebrews 5:9; Colossians 3:6 John 3:36 Jesus saves the obedient, but the disobedient will be punished.

• Conclusion
• We could add so many more things here.
• Everywhere we look, things of God and the Bible are ridiculed, while sin is glorified.
• Our world is definitely out of whack.
• Yet we must be careful to recognize what is good and hold on to it.

By Carey Scott from an outline by Bryan Dockens

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