Moral Purity (6 sessions) - 2 — Genesis 1-3

0:00 Father God, thank you for your love to us. Thank you for your desire for us to to live holy lives, and and we pray that we might be moved to do so. So we pray that you would bless and guide in what is spoken. In Jesus' name, amen. So I was requested to to give a message on moral purity.

0:25 And as I discussed a little bit with Kathy ahead of time, she was telling me how she had noted that amongst some of the young women that she counseled at the... At Cornerstone that that that there seemed to be a disconnect in in the sense that they they they were quite ready to have god as one to call on for help when they had a problem, but they didn't seem to have any sense at all that god himself had expectations for them in in in the moral forum. And so and so I I I found that interesting because I suppose only only god can give us that that understanding and knowledge that that that they... That understanding of his will so that we we would understand what his expectations for us are. Of course, we get that in his word.

1:28 So I I was talking to Melvin McQueen a number of years ago, and and he told me a story which I thought was appropriate. We'll call this story a parable. So so there's this young man that, that, has had troubles in his life, and and someone tells him about Jesus. And he likes this idea that there's a Jesus that you can go to for... When you're in trouble and you can and he...

1:56 That's... That sounds good to him. So he says, yeah. I wanna be a Christian. So so after that, he...

2:02 One day, he's driving along in a car, and and he and he starts praying. He says he says, lord, he says, I'm just so glad you're here with me. You... You're right here. If I have any needs, I just ask you, lord, and and you're right right here helping me.

2:18 And and so so then then a few minutes later, he says two or three bad words. And and pretty quickly after that, his conscience starts bothering him, and and he becomes rather miffed. And and and so he says to god, he says he says, well, you don't don't have to be so hard on me. You don't have to be so hard on me and and control me and everything. And and he he got more...

2:49 As his conscience continued to bother me, got more and more trouble. And finally, stopped the car, and he got out, went to the back, and he opened up the trunk. And he put God in the trunk, and he closed the trunk and locked the trunk. And then he got back in his car, and he was... He he had no conscience.

3:07 He just go along and and, life was good. You know? He gets about two miles down the highway, and somebody comes through a stop sign and... Side and slams his car and has this pretty terrible accident. And he's kind of sitting there dazed in the car, and and suddenly he says, god, where where were you when I had this accident?

3:27 He says, god, why aren't you there when I need you? And and and he says, god, where are you? And and you get this echoing voice that comes echoing up to him and said, I'm in the trunk. Where you put me? You know?

3:41 And so so so that... We we kinda... Yeah. I I know it's... I I know it's just a a parable, but you you do get a sense of this disconnect between between the idea that we can call upon god, but he doesn't...

3:57 We don't want him to call upon us, or we don't think that he he should have a say in our lives. So so so we have to understand that God does have expectations for us. So when I was younger, they... I remember somebody telling me that that the first 10 chapters of Genesis are the seed plot of the bible. And and they basically said there...

5:02 First, God created the heavens and the earth, then he reform... Formed the earth into a habitable environment and created various life forms. Finally, man was introduced as a special creation made in the image and likeness of God and given dominion over every creature. The likeness of man implies that he was created similar to God in the way that he could relate to his creator. The image of God is a little different.

5:30 It implies that man is placed on the earth, with the responsibility to represent his creator god. God was the owner of this creation, and man was a sort of a steward to rep... Responsible to represent his owner and creation. That's chapter one. Chapter two, man was placed in the Garden Of Eden.

5:53 He was given the specific job to tend and to keep it. This clearly acknowledged God's authority over man and his right to tell man what to do. Furthermore, the Lord God commanded the man saying of every tree of the garden, you may freely eat, but the tree of the knowledge and good of good and evil, you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. This command clearly delineated the will of God.

6:22 It clearly stated the consequences of disobedience. And because it required obedience, it introduced the idea of choice. Would man do his own will, or would he choose to do god's will? Faith in God alone could preserve him in his pathway of obedience. In addition, the woman was provided by God as a helper for the man in this pathway.

6:49 She would operate in a complementary supportive role, being equal yet different from her mate. Marriage was introduced as the core unit of society. That's chapter two. Chapter three, Satan, the tempter, was allowed to test the man and the woman. Did they have the character to persist in obedience to the commandments of their god?

7:13 Did they have faith in god himself such that that they would reject any suggestion that he might be wrong? They failed shamefully in this moral test, and the woman was deceived by Satan's subtle lies. Furthermore, the man followed re... Rebelliously in her pathway of disobedience. The lord then appeared on the scene, and they faced the inescapable truth that they were to be held accountable for their disobedience.

7:42 The consequences for their departure were pronounced. First upon the serpent, then upon the woman, finally upon the man. And they were driven from the garden to face the sorrowful consequences of their sin. Now what I'd like to do is is draw out of that summary of of of Genesis one through three, draw several moral principles that we can apply. So the first moral prince...

8:27 Get that chapter two more times. Moral responsibility is the obligation to choose what is right and to reject what is wrong. Okay. So I'm going to I'm going to draw seven different principles out of this portion. The first principle is man was created by God as a moral being.

8:48 That is he needed... He was responsible to... For his moral decisions. Man was created by God as a moral being responsible to obey his creator. Even before the fall, man had a will of his own, which required submission.

9:08 Our sinless savior had a will, which he submitted perfectly to that of his father. That's Luke twenty two forty two. Man was given at least one initial commandment, a standard for moral responsibility by which obedience could be evaluated. God has moral expectations for man. For instance, the 10 commandments could be taken as sort of a summary statement of god's moral expectations for mankind.

9:42 Even when men do not have divine revelation, for instance, like the heathen, each person's conscience still provides a moral standard for which he's responsible. That's Romans two fourteen and fifteen, by the way. Okay. So we've we've talked about man. He's responsible for God and that God has has given revelation to man concerning what his expectations are for man.

10:13 So those are the first two principles. The third principle is third principle is man was allowed the choice to obey or not to obey Without the opportunity to choose, moral responsibility would lack the element of responsibility. In other words, choice is built into the very name, moral responsibility. As an example, I say... I I give you Joshua.

10:41 Joshua challenged the the children of Israel who had gone into idolatry. Joshua challenged them saying, choose for yourself this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Choice. Okay.

10:57 That's the third one. The fourth one is consequences. Man was warned of the consequences of disobedience because choices are always accompanied by consequences. Choices, consequences. Choices, consequences.

11:18 They go. They're paired. Since man was created to live forever, the ultimate consequences of his choices would be everlasting. Paul summarizes the principle of choices and consequences like this. So listen to this one.

11:37 Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that will he also reap. Choices, consequences. Sowing, reaping.

11:50 For he who sows to the flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, and he that sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life. So we have... This is the second couplet. The first couplet was God and his expectations. The second couplet was was choices and responsibility.

12:43 Okay? John said it like this. He said, this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith. Let me say that again. This is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.

12:59 Faith is the means by which we can be faithful to god. We can be obedient to god. Atheist mean, like, by which means by which we can be faithful. That sort of sort of pissed off. Who who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the son of god?

13:16 Okay. And the sixth principle is man was held accountable for his choices. Because under moral responsibility, every man must give account of himself before God. There is a day of accountability. Paul quoted from the Psalms saying this, for it is written, as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

13:43 So then each of us shall give account of themself to God. That's Romans 14. Each of us shall give account of themself before God. Okay. Now the the final the final one that I want want to give to you is what I call the the the bigger picture.

14:07 So man has found himself participating in a great moral for... Struggle involving forces and and influences outside of himself and much greater than himself. There is a larger picture. Man is not the center of the universe. Meanwhile, man participates in a great spiritual battle, and believers are provided with a spiritual armor for this warfare.

14:34 Of course, the the the... Even the the story of of the serpent in the garden is is part of that greater... Of that larger picture that we're talking about. Now a little little summary. The principles of...

14:49 These principles of moral responsibility existed before man sinned. They were basic underlying principles by which the moral character of man could be evaluated and rewarded. The moral principles do not offer salvation to man. Rather, they condemn man because he's chosen to do his own will rather than the will of his creator. God's offer of salvation is his response to man's failure under moral responsibility.

15:19 Now just to just to to to show how this is not unique just to Genesis one through three. Even if you go to Romans one through three, after introducing salvation and faith in Romans one, it immediately jumps into creation. It says, from the creation of the world, his his power and deity maybe are are clearly seen. I think it is eternal power and godhead, it says in the King James. His his his divine power and his divinity itself are seen in creation.

16:00 And and so that... It starts off with that, then you're then you're told how man departed from that in in Genesis one. Who who... When they knew god, they did not honor him as god, neither were they faithful. They became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

16:17 So it tells... Talks about him... How man departed from that. Well, then you jump on into the second chapter of Romans, and and you get what we call the moral argument. And and man man is is brought before man.

16:29 These very principles that we're talking about that that god has expectations for man, and man has failed in those expectations. And so Romans really follows a a similar line of reasoning. Now I I want to just take one minute since... Because the one thing I would like to do more is that I I would like to speak of of of god. So the...

16:55 Our our great god has expectations for us. Now what I wanna do is read two verses from Deuteronomy, and these verses will will give us a sense of of of how this was viewed in the Old Testament. And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? What does the Lord your God require of you? This sounds like what we're look...

17:17 We're talking about, doesn't it? What does the Lord your God require of you? But to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, his stat... And his statutes, which I command you today for your good. And notice it does say for your good.

17:39 Okay. So so we get we get the... God's expectations there. Now I'm gonna jump quickly because of time. I'm gonna jump quickly to to a a verse in in the New Testament, which which shows us that these expectations of God, are are applied.

17:58 There's... How do I say? In in the New Testament, we're given more God's resources on how we can face up to the moral responsibility that God has given for us. And so while we get those in the Old Testament, we give them... Get them much stronger, and we we know that we have the indwelling spirit of God within us.

18:19 We have the completed word of God with... Before us, and and we're we're much better provided for than than through revelation than we were than the old test... Testament saints. Here's the New Testament verse. Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace.

18:44 I like that expression. Rest your hope fully upon the grace. That's that's our, our provision from God to be able to be faithful today. The the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lust as in your ignorance, But as he who has called you is holy, so also be holy in all your conduct because it is written, be holy for I am holy. And if you call on the father, and and that's sort of a maybe a sense since you call on the father.

19:18 If you call on the father who without partiality judges according to everyone's work, contest... Conduct yourself throughout the time of your stay here in fear. And so we have we have this idea of the fear of the lord. Now now, we really don't have much time on this, but I would just like to say this. The scriptures command us to fear the Lord, but just what is the fear of the Lord?

20:02 I should say it's it's the, it's the reverential, conviction. It's like it's more than just an attitude. It's a conviction that's that's based upon a sense of who God really is. The fear of God, the fear of the Lord, is is the reverential conviction that acknowledges the infinite power and authority of God bowing before him in recognition of his deity. Let all the earth fear the Lord, and the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

20:40 Well, I'm gonna stop with that. I think I've gone about twenty minutes here. And and, did you