The portion of Romans on the condemnation of the self-righteous (2:1-16), along with the condemnation on mankind, shows us the way of restriction.
Now we come to the way of restriction, the way to restrict evil and wickedness. I like this part of Romans. All of us, especially the young people, need to pay our full attention to this way of restriction.
The first item in the way of restriction is knowing God by His creation (1:19-20). The invisible things of God, His eternal power and divine nature, can be apprehended by His creation. The heavens and the earth manifest the invisible things of God. Approximately 20 years ago, the brothers in Taiwan collected biographical material on the famous scientists of the past centuries. They discovered that only a small percentage of these leading scientists said they did not believe in God. The distinct majority of them believed in Him. I once read an article in which Einstein was asked whether or not he believed in God. He replied, “Your question is an insult to me. How could a scientist such as I not believe in God?” If you study science, it will tell you that there is a God.
Although I do not know science, I know a little about our human body. Many times, as I preached to people about God, I have asked them to consider their bodies. I told them, “Think how wonderful you are. Who made you?” All the hair on our physical bodies, both inside and outside, grows downward except for the hair in our throat, which grows upward. This is very meaningful. If the hair in our throat grew downward, we would die because phlegm could not be discharged. Who made us this way? Furthermore, consider the marvelous design of the human face. The mouth has been properly positioned. How awkward and how terrible it would be for our mouth to be placed between our eyes! Also, have you ever thought about the function of our eyebrows? They function as breakwaters, keeping the perspiration out of our eyes. Who designed us this way? Recently I had two operations on my right eye. The surgeon showed me an artificial eye, especially pointing to the lens and the retina. Immediately I saw that this was an exact replica of the best camera. No one can make a camera to match the human eye. Who made these things? Our teeth are also marvelously designed. Our front teeth, the incisors, act like two knives, cutting whatever is placed in between them. Then the tongue sends the food back to the molars which are like grinding stones, grinding the food into a digestible substance. As the molars grind, saliva is secreted to liquefy the food. This is marvelous. Who made it? We must say, “Lord, thank You. You are my Creator. You have made me in such a wonderful way.”
When we behold creation in general and the human body in particular, how can we say there is no God? Even an atheistic medical doctor has to confess there is an Almighty One who created the human body. Therefore, by the things made we can apprehend the eternal power and the divine nature of God. When we see God in the beauties and wonders of His creation, we have to worship and glorify Him. Knowing God by His creation is the first aspect in the way of restricting evil.
We must hold the reality of God in righteousness, approving of keeping God in our full knowledge (1:18, 28). We need to glorify, thank, worship, and serve Him (1:21, 25). It is very important to practice these four things. As a grandfather, I say a word to my grandchildren who are attending this training. I do know what is human life. Believe me when I say that worshiping God can never be wrong. The first thing you teenagers need to learn is to worship God. Nothing is more important in your human life than worshiping God. I would hate it for my children to earn millions of dollars and yet not worship God. I do not want to see my second or third generation become wealthy and yet not worship God. I would rather see them come here to learn how to worship the Lord. The greatest blessing in human life is to be trained to worship our God.
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