Standing on Biblical Morality

Introduction

This lesson can’t say everything there is to say on this subject.

I don’t think I can even say everything Phillip asked me to talk about in one lesson.

But I hope to say some important things and I hope they are helpful.

I have two aims here.

To equip us to answer the critic of Biblical morality.

To make sure we don’t fall into a trap of being unwittingly critical of Biblical morality ourselves.

Thinking More Deeply

If we only consider the surface of a command then we are doing no better than those Jesus condemned (Matt. 5:20ff).

Negative commands indicate something affirmative (Rom. 13:8-10).

Proper compliance with the lesser should lead us to fulfillment of the greater (cf. Matt. 23:23-24; Jer. 17:24-27).

Not thinking about the commands leads to not understanding the commands (Lk. 13:10-17).

There are those who ask for more in order to avoid.

Then there are those who want to know more in order to fulfill.

Encouragement or Restraint

Some see an instruction from God and assume approval of everything involved (Deut. 22:28-29; 1 Cor. 7:10-11).

People often seize on instruction about slaves while others ignore it. But we must confront it as God given just and righteous law (Ex. 21:20-21, 26-27).

Then look at the more famous command here in the middle of that section (Ex. 21:23-25; Matt. 5:38-42).

Finally, there is a difference in permission and encouragement altogether (Matt. 19:3-9).

The Lord Will do Right

We must start with the understanding of the role of God and our own role (Gen. 1:1; Isa. 6:5).

If we were able to get to the bottom of anything that God says or does, we will find that He is right (Gen. 18:25).

I may not be certain in every case but if I think about it, I can generally find the value (Matt. 19:9).

I don’t want to reluctantly say that “unfortunately, God has said...”

I want to embrace and good and right everything God has said. When someone says, “you even agree with this?” If it is from God, I don’t just want to agree with it, I want to set it to music and sing it.

Every command, even those made in reference to worship and fear of Himself, are for our good always (Deut. 6:24; cf. Psa. 135:15-18).

We do not come to judge His morality. We have nothing to measure it by. We come to be judged by it (Rom. 3:4; Matt. 4:4).

Conclusion

It is not just a shame that we have let mere men and women shake our confidence in the rightness of God’s word.

The even greater shame is that we have let the most debased perverts and greatest charlatans in history shake our confidence.

The God who created and sustains all that we see around us has on a few occasions in history condescended to speak to man and make Himself known to us. This book is the only record of that interaction. Don’t cede one word of it to the godless world who would lead us away from it and further into the abyss of darkness that they already wallow in.

If you do, you will find (eventually) that the result is a certain as those who think the law of gravity doesn’t apply to them (Gal. 6:7-8).