doesn’t mean it is wrong for me.” This, of course, is foolishness. Let
me illustrate.
One spring I went to do a week’s teaching at Biola University in
Los Angeles, where our daughter Rachel was a student. I didn’t arrive
at my motel until about midnight, but I called Rachel and she said,
“Dad, chapel is at 9:30. Why don’t I come by and pick you up at 8:50?”
“That’s great!” I said. I was exhausted and started to set the alarm
clock in my room, but decided instead to ask the main desk for a wake-
up call.
The next thing I knew I was awake and without a clue as to where
I was. I groggily consulted my watch and saw 8:30. Then I remem-
bered that I needed to be downstairs by 8:50! I jumped in the shower
and thought, Why didn’t I get a wake-up call?I hustled to get ready and
went to the lobby. By 9:10 Rachel still hadn’t arrived and I was getting
upset because I had to be at Biola by 9:30. Finally I asked a guy,
“Excuse me, what time do you have?” He looked at his watch and said,
“It is 7:10.”
Guess who had forgotten to reset his watch to Pacific Time! In the
spirit of moral relativity I could have said, “No, no, it is 9:10.” And he
would have said, “No, it is 7:10.” And I could have replied, “Well,
maybe it is 7:10 to you but that doesn’t mean it is 7:10 to me.” That
would have been ludicrous—like moral relativism is ludicrous.
Just as God has fixed time absolutely, so God has fixed morality
absolutely. It can’t be changed. There is no recall or referendum. Your
general counsel can’t change it. It is because Godis.
Third, because of the increasing moral fog, we are a nation ripe for judg-
ment. I have heard radio preachers say that judgment on our society is
coming, but I wonder if “coming” is too optimistic? If you read
Romans 1:18-32 and take an honest look at what is happening, are we
perhaps already receiving judgment, or at least nearer to it than we
ever dreamed?
There is a place on the Niagara River above Niagara Falls that is
placid. But if you let your boat drift too far, the calm quickly turns to
a raging current and you will go over the falls. You had better not cross
that line. As a nation have we crossed such a line in regard to the judg-
Leading Through the Fog 211