The Basis of Ethics

 

Psalm 34:13-15 “Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry.?” But, who defines what “evil” is?

 

Our Wednesday night Small Group is studying the virtue of ethics. The word “ethics” is defined in the 1828 Webster’s dictionary as: the doctrines of morality or social manners; the science of moral philosophy, which teaches men and women their duty and the reasons of it. A system of moral principles; a system of rules for regulating the actions and manners of men and women in society. Morals are the practice of the duties of life; as a man of correct morals; conduct; behavior; course of life, in regard to good and evil or right and wrong.What is the basis of ethics?

 

Pastor Kennedy explains that our Creator God gave us the moral laws, reflect the eternal, holy, and unchangeable nature of God. All the moral laws are summed up in the Ten Commandments. God’s moral laws have never passed away and will never pass away. We must obey them always. We need the moral laws because they draw people to Christ. They restrain wicked people. They smash our sinful pride and drive us to our knees at the foot of the Cross. They guide us in the way we should live. In considering the moral laws of God, people make two basic errors. Some people believe they can save themselves by keeping the laws. Others believe just the opposite—that if they are saved, they don’t have to keep the moral laws. But God wants to create a perfect kingdom of righteousness where, in joyful and willing obedience, men and women yield themselves gladly to God’s eternal law because of their love for and gratitude to their Savior and Lord. 

 

In Judges 17:6 and in Judges 21:25 it says, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

 

The question comes down to this: Whose morality will we write into law: God’s or humanity’s? Will we legislate a Christian nation—a nation under God—or a humanist nation—a nation under people? The frightening thing about a humanist state is that in creating legislation, people have nothing to appeal to beyond humans themselves. The Founders of this country said that people have been created equal and have been endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. Therefore, the state doesn’t give us our rights, extending or withholding them as it pleases, but rather God has given them to us. In God We Trust is America’s National Motto. We have an appeal beyond people, beyond the state, to sovereign God Himself. The word sovereign is defined in the 1828 Webster’s dictionary as: Supreme in power; possessing supreme dominion; as a sovereign Ruler of the universe. Superior to all others; chief. God is the sovereign good of all who love and obey Him.

 

Hebrews 9:27-28 “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”

 

Many people have lost sight of the fact that our absolute God said, “By Me kings reign,” and that Jesus Christ is the King of kings and Lord of lords. The whole world is His kingdom, He is sovereign over all and He dictates the standards of ethics in the world. Sin is defined in the 1828 Webster’s American dictionary of the English Language as: the voluntary departure of a moral agent from a known rule of rectitude or duty, prescribed by God; any voluntary transgression of the divine law, or violation of a divine command; a wicked act; iniquity. Fallen humanity desires to live in sin with no accountability or responsibility to their Creator Lord God, so in rejection, they pretend that they can get rid of the sovereign King of Heaven and earth, pass legislation to silence His faithful servants, indoctrinated the masses with their false teachings of darkness and unbelief; like trying to stop a supernova. There is no separation of Church and State in the United States Constitution. Nobody is above their Maker. God is the basis of ethics; He wrote the Book on it. Stand firm for God and defend the faith.

 

In Christ, Brian