Moral Purity (6 sessions) - 1 — Galatians 6

0:00 So last week, I summarized Genesis one through three and drew from it seven moral principles, which were given to us from the beginning of creation. The first two moral principles were these. Man was created by God as a moral being responsible to obey his creator. And then the second was man was was given at least one initial commandment, a standard for moral responsibility by which obedience could be evaluated. Last week, I stated God has moral expectations for mankind, and the 10 commandments could be taken as a summary statement of God's moral expectations.

0:44 There was some confusion over my statement that God has expectations for mankind. When I listened to the objections, I I realized that the use of the word expectations was somewhat ambiguous, so I would like to restate the thought. God has provided moral standards which we are responsible to obey for which we will be held accountable. I'm gonna read that over again. God has provided moral standards which we are responsible to obey for which we will be held accountable.

1:17 The point is that our creator god has moral claims upon our lives. Last week, I defined that our creator god... Excuse me. Last week, I defined the fear of the lord as the reverential conviction which acknowledges the infinite power and authority of god bowing before him in recognition of his deity. The fear of the lord has a moral element which causes men to live their lives in holy invitation of God and to recoil from evil.

1:49 Now I've got three verses from from the Old Testament. Now therefore, the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth. The fear of the Lord is a motivation. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride, and arrogance in the evil way and the perverse mouth.

2:11 I hate. So that just makes us understand the importance of the fear of the Lord. Today, I want to review three more moral principles. Man was allowed to... Choice to obey or not to obey.

2:29 And then the second one, man was warned of the consequences of disobedience because choices are always accompanied by consequences. Choices, consequences. Thirdly, man was allowed to be tempted because testing reveals the moral character of man and it's also used by God to strengthen our moral character. We'll talk about that a little bit more as we go on. So I pitched around my mind for some for some scriptural story that would perhaps illustrate the the idea of choices and con...

3:07 Consequences. And I I came up with Samson as as a pretty dramatic example. So so Samson's parents had been promised by the angel that they would have a son who would deliver Israel from the Philistines. They were instructed they must raise him as a Nazarite to God. Specifically, he was not ever to cut his hair.

3:32 His ability to deliver Israel seemed to have depended upon his obedience to to the the Nazarite vow that he was given. Indeed, the long hair seems to symbolize his obedience to god. I I think maybe that might make some sense as we go through the story of Samson and and we see how it works its... Itself out. As he grew up, we are told that the spirit of the lord began to move upon him.

4:02 He showed many evidences of faith such that he was fearless before the enemies of the people of god. Samson is even mentioned in Hebrews 11, which is the scriptural hall of fame for men of faith. I thought that was interesting. But Samson was tempted by women. He desired a a woman from among the idolatrous Philistines.

4:28 Indeed, he insisted that his parents get this woman as a wife for him. His parents reluctantly agreed to arrange the marriage. To make a long story short, he never had opportunity to consummate that marriage. And, eventually, the Philistines themselves killed the woman and her family. This led to at least two battles in which Samson single handedly defeated thousands of the enemy.

4:56 Near the end of his life, we are told that Samson had judged Israel for twenty years, so he must have been about 40 years old when he made his final big mistake. Again, Samson desired another Philistine woman named Delilah. But Delilah was subtle and bewitching, and she finally seduced him into telling her the secret of his strength, that is his long hair. Rising rising up... Excuse me.

5:29 Then while he was asleep, she called the Philistine men who crept in quietly and cut his hair. Rising up from the bed, he thought that he would be be able to defeat them as usual, but his strength was gone. They bound him. They put off... Out his eyes and imprisoned him, forcing him to grind corn and mocking his weakness at every opportunity.

5:53 But the Philistines forgot all about the hair, allowing it to grow long again. Now the consequences of Samson's moral fall had not been removed, that he's... He was still blind, but he felt his strength returning. Then he prayed for a last chance to fight against the enemies of God. God strengthened him and pulled the and he pulled the huge idolatrous temple down on top of a multitude of enemy, killing both them and himself.

6:27 Are you shocked by this story? I am. I I... I'm simply shocked by this story. It's it's it's such a...

7:10 Further... Furthermore, we learned that God did not dismiss Sampson's faith even though it was often accompanied by failure. I think this should encourage us that if we do fail, that that there's still opportunity to re... Repent and to be used of God. However, that was a terrible ending nonetheless for Samson, so it makes the point.

7:38 Okay. Choices and consequences. Men were given the choice of whether he... They would obey God or not, and we can see that God is greatly glorified when men choose to obey him, particularly in the face of temptation. The life of Christ himself is perhaps the perfect example of how God is glorified by our obedience, And we are called to follow his example.

8:08 Choices are always accompanied by consequences for God has provided a way that the moral choices of his creatures could be evaluated and rewarded. And I'll say this next verse I'm gonna read it. This is kind of the theme verse for choices and consequences. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked.

8:31 For whatever a man sows, that will he also reap. He that sows to the flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he that sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap life everlasting. Now I thought it was interesting that it speaks about sowing to the spirit, and I... And I'm thinking that you you would have to be a believer to be sowing to the spirit that that... So this this verse is directed to believers.

9:02 And this this is second... I'm sorry. This is Galatians six, seven, and eight. Okay? So so this this verse is...

9:14 Applies to us, and we can sow to the flesh. And we can sow to the spirit. And and that's where the choices come come in, isn't it? Whether we are going to give up our own selfish desires and and and do God's desires. There's another issue relative to choices and consequences, and and that is the motivation goes hand in hand with choice.

9:43 Motivation goes hand in hand with choice. What what would motivate a human being to make the right choice to... In the test of life? Well, only faith in god would provide the motivation for right moral prince, for my right moral choices. So failure in moral responsibility is really a failure in faith.

10:07 Now here's my verse. This is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith. That's first John five four. This is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith. And I love this other verse.

10:20 The love of Christ compels us. So so, you know, I I thought about, the breaking of bread as so so our our habit is to take an hour out of the week to sit down as an assembly of Christians, to sit down and just think about the lord Jesus and what he did, how he suffered for us. And I think that that would be, that would be sowing to the spirit. I think the idea there would be that we're we're so... We're occupied during that during that one hour of time.

10:56 We're occupied with the lord Jesus in such a way that that it becomes compelling to us, compelling to to go on for him. So so, that's an encouragement to to try to be out every week to the remembrance of the Lord Jesus. Okay. The scriptures give us many principles concerning moral choice. Here's a here's a verse that, the consequences of moral choices are placed before men, but they must choose life or death, blessing or cursing.

11:48 Therefore, choose life that you and your descendants may live. That's true for a people group, but it's also true for each one of us individually. Now Joshua put it in a similar way, but I want... I wanna just... So so so the Lord has placed before us that we must choose whether we will serve him or not.

12:14 Near the end of his life, Joshua called the chill... The elders of Israel along with the leaders, judges, and officers. He rehearsed the history of Israel with them, starting with Abraham and going clear through the triumphal invasion into the promised land. Then he exhorted them. Now, therefore, fear the Lord, serve him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the river in Egypt.

12:45 Serve the Lord. And if it seems good to... If it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. Maybe that would be a good theme statement for this. Choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your father served were on the other side of the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.

13:10 As for me and my house, Joshua says, we will serve the Lord. I thought it was interesting. It's very logic on this. His logic is is like... It's like he would say, well, if you if you believe that those idols are really true gods, well, then you ought to serve them.

13:34 But but you need to make a definite choice. Don't be waffling around, and trying to serve the lord and trying to serve idols. But then Joshua says, but I know who's the real god. But as for me and my house, we're gonna serve the Lord. So so I just thought it was interesting that he sort of put it in terms like that.

13:54 Okay. In the book of Proverbs, we have we have much practical advice, which demonstrate the consequences of our choices as moral principles. I I like the way Solomon often put things in cupboards. He says, if you do this good thing, then you'll be rewarded. If you do this bad thing, then you'll be rewarded for it.

14:18 As righteousness leads to life, so he that pursues evil pursues it to his own death. He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Here... There...

14:46 Here's one about lying. A false witness will not go unpunished, but he who speaks lies will not escape. Concerning, not controlling our tempers, a man of great wrath will suffer punishment. For if you rescue him, you will have to do it again. Proverbs nineteen nineteen.

15:11 And then concerning honoring her parents, it says, whoever curses father and mother, his lamp will be put out into deep darkness. Then, listening to good advice, he who is often rebuked and hardens his heart, his neck will suddenly be destroyed in that without remedy. Here's here's an... One that's interesting too. He who mocks the poor reproaches his maker.

15:41 He who is glad at a plant... Calamity will not go unpunished. And then here's another good one along the same lines. He who gives to the poor will not laugh, but he who hides his eyes will have many curses. Proverbs twenty eight twenty seven.

16:23 Now I'd I'd like to say that I I think that we we oftentimes speak speak of a dispensational view of the history... Of the biblical history. And and I I think that that perhaps the the under... There's an underlying current of thought or theme in the dispensational that God was testing man under various responsibilities. And and so so that, I think, makes it...

16:58 I think if we want to understand the testing of God, a a a good study of the the dispensations would help in that matter. Okay. Satan's purposes in assaulting us through temptation differ vastly from God's purposes as he tests us in the circumstances of life. Satan tempts us through our lust to try to make us sin. Here's here's three verses.

17:29 The apostle Paul said, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter had tempted you and our labor might be in vain. And then James said it like this. Each one is tempted when he's drawn away by his own desires and enticed. And, of course, Satan is behind that. And the Lord Jesus himself said it like this when he was giving the Lord's prayer.

17:55 He said, do not lead us into into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. So we really do have an enemy who is trying to tempt us to do evil. But God's objective is for us not to do evil, and and yet he tests us. God tests us under moral responsibility to reveal whether we will remain true to him or not. God's objective is exactly the opposite of that of Satan.

18:23 Furthermore, even our failures can bring a blessing if they lead to repentance. So here's three verses, that show God's testing. I know... This this is in... From Chronicles.

18:36 I know also, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. You test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. God wants us to be overcomers. Moses said it like this, do not fear. God has come to test you that his fear may be before you so that you may not sin.

18:59 God has purposes. Moses again, you shall remember the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness to humble you and test you to know what is in your heart whether you would keep his commandments or not. Pretty clear on that one, isn't it? Okay. Now I'm gonna finish up, with with about five or six different reasons that the scriptures give us for God's testing.

19:35 Okay? So so God has revealed his purposes as he tests his people in the furnace of affliction. God's testing is like a refiner's fire, which not only tests the character of the metal, but also purifies it. So in the in the the ancient, refiners would... They would have a crucible, probably a a clay crucible of some type, and they would put the ore in it, and they would blaze it, probably had a billows, and they would blaze it with fire, and and they would melt the the metal in that crucible.

20:12 And when it melted, the various impurities would come up to the top. And so he... The the refiner would stand over it with a... Oh oh, I I don't know. It's a spoon of some type, a ladle, and he would he would scrape that...

20:26 Those impurities out. And as he scraped the impurities out, he he would do it until his own face reflected in the mirror like surface surface of the purified metal. I think that's important. So his own face would be reflected. And if we are if we are the metal, we are the the value...

20:48 What god values, the silver and the gold, and he is purifying us. What does he expect to see? He expects to see a reflection of himself in our lives. And so so so the apostle Paul made this statement. To you, it has been granted in behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake.

21:14 It's a privilege that we are we are given. God has our good in mind in his test. And and Moses said it like this, who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that he might humble you, and he might test you to do you good in the end. He he he has purposes of good in this testing. Testing produces patience.

21:43 James said it like this. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Testing produces patience. Testing develops character.

22:08 This is this is the apostle Paul in Romans five. We also glory in tribulations, testing, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character, and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the holy spirit that was given to us. Testing develops character. Okay.

22:58 I'm not quite sure the context whether that's talking about the tribulation or just his testing of Israel through the years. I will bring one third through the fire. We'll refine them as silver is refined and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name. So this is purpose.

23:19 Right? They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, this is my people. And each one will say, the lord is my god, the result of testing. God promises to reward those who endure temptation.

23:39 Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised those that love him. I think I'll stop with that. Lord, help us to to understand the principle of choices and consequences, and the Lord help us to to persevere under God's moral testing in our lives so that our lives bear fruit for him and that we develop in character before God. I could just take a moment to pray. Father God, we pray that you would that you would bless these verses and and that you would use them to our own blessing that we might be faithful to you, in the midst of the testing that we go through here on earth.

24:30 Bless us, father. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.