Biblical Ethics - Ten Commandments (part 2) - [Exodus 20:1-17]

Bethlehem Bible Church

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So for those of you who weren't here last week, this is part two of Biblical ethics what

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I actually taught in India just a small portion of it and we're going to be looking at the Ten Commandments Last week, we looked at the first four

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The ones that related to God and today we're going to be looking at the other six and then hopefully if you have time

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We'll go a little bit further into New Testament ethics to kind of round it off But let's begin with a word of prayer a loving and gracious father

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We thank you Lord for this day that you've given us the Lord's Day where we are gathered together

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As saints who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ who? Trust in you and can worship you acceptably in spirit and in truth

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Lord as we study your word help us to Be Passionate about your revelation to us and to love you and to express that love

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By obedience to your word in Jesus name. We pray. Amen All right.

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So last week we began by talking about what ethics was you know how some what are some of the problems with ethics and then we started looking at the

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Ten Commandments, which is again the Mountaintop if you will of the

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Old Testament ethics given to the Jewish people and then we were looking at some Principles that we draw for our lives today.

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What would be applicable and what would not be applicable and For those of you smiling at me, you know, how thankful I was when the bell rang and I had to finish

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And those of you who don't know what I'm talking about. We were talking about the Sabbath and the fact that the

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Sabbath was Was a command a commandment given to the Jewish people they had to follow it rigorously with a penalty of death in certain cases and and then how that transfers or does not transfer to the believer, so I want to Two common notes before we move to the next section one is as a teacher don't come ill -prepared

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That's what I think you should learn from me last week because I wasn't prepared for the questions that we had and so I Was me a culpa my mistake and the second thing is

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You know how we handle Times where we are unprepared just as shows the way we are ethical in the way we handle

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Difficulties in life just as much as we know how what the truth is about those things So one of the things that I regretted yet last week was you some of you who were theologically astute saw me doing a little dance

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Here as I'm trying to figure out what I should respond and what I shouldn't and sometimes it's just good and I did this in when

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I was teaching in India If you don't know the answer just say I don't know it I'll get back to you and that'll be a lot easier than standing here and trying to figure out what to say

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So just in terms of the summary of that question again for those who do not know what I'm talking about So there was there is some here who believe in holding on to the

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Sabbath In in a particular way and I and the problem I faced was

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I didn't know what particular way So let me just give you a few comments on that and then we'll move to the next So in my mind when

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I thought of sabbatarianism, I was thinking of the seventh -day Adventist You know There are some who say that you need to hold to the

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Sabbath in exactly the same way as the Ten Commandments Says and there's very few who do that There is a few others too, but that's very few who do that And I think that would be very clear to talk about how that is.

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No longer the case There is a sense in which this is all fulfilled and done with and there is really no need for It is actually impossible and it is actually sinful to say that I'm going to hold on to this

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Sabbath the same way that the Jewish people did because Christ has come and fulfilled The requirements of all the law including these and Then there are some who would say that there is a transference of the

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Sabbath principle into the Lord's Day So we need to hold on to the Lord's Day The same way in which the people in the

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Old Testament did with the Sabbath and I think that's what I wasn't aware of So this week I got to spend some time studying it to understand what the position was that some

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Christians More Christians hold on to especially in the reformed circles and so me and this brother had some very good exchanges

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I learned a lot and hopefully we'll continue to discuss this as we figure this out where the differences lie and then

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The position that I want to advocate is that there are and this is what I was talking about last week

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Is there are some Sabbath principles that are inbuilt and we want to be careful to them and the principles of worship and the principles of rest are

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Not to be lightly dealt with the one who says I'm just going to work seven days a week make a lot of money and retire quickly and have a fun life is missing out on something fundamental that God has built into this fabric of Humans and the way we are ought we ought to live and the one who says in a worship

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I'll just do it in my own way I would not find it necessary to gather together with the Saints and worship together.

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That is also flawed. And so When we look at the New Testament we looked at Some of the scriptures last week, so I don't want to repeat them

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We see how the principle of worship must be central to the believer It is not necessarily limited to one day a week.

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It has to be Transferred to all of your life all of the time and but there is also a proper place and time for corporate worship

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So we want to make sure that the principles Come to the believer. We don't take it lightly but there is no command that we have which says you must do the

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Sabbath the same way as the Jewish people did or In some modified form for the believer or else it would be sin

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And I think that's where the challenge lies and as one of you pointed out in the scripture the challenge becomes even greater when

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I The way I observe it if I were to observe it in a you know I could become legalistic and say if I do this then

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God is favorable to me if I don't do this God is not that could be a danger, but I could with a clear conscience

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Like I was giving you an example last week earlier You could actually hold on to a principle that you will do no work and you will only worship on the

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Sabbath and that would be perfectly fine for you to do as long as you do it in faith and The problem would be when you turn around and say, you know

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Everybody else has to do the same thing that I do and I think that becomes a matter of conscience You're free to do it, but you cannot impose that on others, which was the point of collusions to All right.

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So with that let's go to the next section, which is the fifth commandment if One of you can read verse 12 for me.

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Can someone read verse 12? I'm sorry Exodus 20 verse 12. I Just assumed we are all right there

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So Exodus 20. Thank you Gary yeah, and this is the principle of Authority within the family that God has established

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Established the family unit and there is a manner in which you are to respond to those in authority over you and this

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Equivalent of this can someone think of an equivalent verse in the New Testament? That's right

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Ephesians 6 1 2 3 children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right honor your father and your mother

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Which is the first commandment with a promise that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth and this

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New Testament verse is pretty much almost verbatim in terms of what you have in the Old Testament carried over here and This we are looking at the

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Ten Commandments from an ethical standpoint, and I think it is important for us to consider

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What ethical principles come from this it is it is very clear that God wants us to do this

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But can you can you think of why God wants us to do this? What is the purpose that is built in this command

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That God has given to children to obey and their parents and to honor their father and their mother

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Excellent, so let's maybe just take that for a moment and we come to the next person so you have a structure that God is built in you know, we have

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God as our father that we respect and honor God gives parents to actually reflect that relationship that we have with God they they show us they are meant to show us at least, you know, the parents in the way in which they care for us provide for us love us to structure that same image of what

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God does for us and There is a and you also talked about Christ and the church There is a headship and and a submission that is involved there

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And as I was talking earlier about authority God built these units and the Smallest unit that you begin with is the family and then you have the church you have nations

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All these things are ordained by God for his purpose of governance and for the right role of authority in our lives

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Did I have someone else in the back wanted to add? right And again, we all know as those of us who are parents how children have the propensity to do their own will and we as those who are born again know how our

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Natural depravity would want us to do what we want and there is a role of authority that God has ordained

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In his means of grace both with the parents as well as with God himself as he saves us and this principle of authority does

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Transfer to a few other areas. I'll just mention a few and then if there's questions, we'll talk about it If not, we'll move on same in Ephesians chapter 6.

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You have the relationship of Slaves and masters in the manner in which you respond to those in authority over you

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First Timothy 2 1 2 2 talks about the prayers that we want to make for Kings and those in authority first Peter 2 13 to 14 talks about submission to those to the ordinance of man that has been placed for the

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Lord's sake whether it is a king or governors and those who punish evildoers and And the point there is that God Places these authorities for our good and we would do well in Submitting to the authority that is placed over us and and to show reverence for what

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God has ordained Let me move on to the next one the sixth commandment verse 13, can someone read that it's a short one.

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Yes He already has that thou shall not murder in the King James Version Actually the

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King James Version that I have it actually says thou shall not kill not murder and in fact,

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I remember spending like an hour with someone who used that verse to talk about how you should be a vegetarian and So it was and the thing is if you just read that verse and don't understand the context of what it is saying you can easily draw those principles and so The obviously that the word that is used there is better translated murder not necessarily just intentional murder

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But also accidentally killing a human person so it could mean both of those but the point that is taking human life

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Unlawfully and so, you know people would try to use that for vegetarianism or talk about wars and say, you know, is this

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Applicable so he's got contradicting himself and he says this versus Wars in the

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Old Testament where God did say go and fight and so the point of this verse is quite simple

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So I'll give you a quick summary and then we look at the New Testament principles from this The point here is personal vendetta and revenge, you know

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This is you're not supposed to just go and kill someone lightly like Cain killed Abel nor are you to kill someone?

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Just because they injured you and you want to take offense against them God does ordain authority that takes care of the social governance of of someone who takes a person's life and there's capital punishment that that is valid in light of what we see in Genesis 9,

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I think and Because man is made in God's image There is the penalty for taking someone's life and there is also a place for war which we see in other texts but this is talking about unlawful killing and Someone who would just take someone's life on on your own basically murder, which

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I think all of us are familiar with But I think Can you think of before we move to the

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New Testament passage any comment on this because if there is some questions we can maybe Deal with them before we move on. All right.

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So the New Testament passage. What can you think of as a parallel passage that talks about? Thou shall not murder or kill

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Excellent and I think we would go to Matthew 5 verses 38 to 39 and there he talks about the principle of how do you look to Personal Injury, you know, this is what you've heard

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You've heard it said before and in fact when you look at the Beatitudes Maybe actually we should probably make this an

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IBS course and do this in its extensiveness But we look there how

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Jesus we actually did part of this in the New Testament one when we looked at the Gospels where Jesus would either take the

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Old Testament or a Pharisee interpretation of the Old Testament and said this is what you've heard and I say unto you and then

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God Jesus never abrogates what is said in the Old Testament But what he says is he actually takes it to a much higher level.

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It is not just the murder that is Condemned but the anger in your heart and he talks about the root of those sins within the person's heart and how ought you to Love your neighbor rather than hate him and the first John 3 15 to 16 talks about that hate

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Whoever hates his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him And this is the love of God and he turns that around and shows how

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God lays down his life for us And our response should be to lay down our lives for our brethren once again, when you think from the concept of ethics, you see the negative sense of you know, the

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Culmination if you last week if you remember we talked about the teleological System of ethics the end result being bad, which is a person's life is taken to the deontology or the duty or the the principle that God gives us

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That begins with the motives of the heart so we begin with a motive of love and rather than hate and it is the hatred in the heart that is condemned and The hatred will result in murder if it is not dealt with properly and Again, just a comment here before we move to the next one when we look at this law on the next one, which is adultery both of these are dealt with in the in the

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Sermon on the Mount and the law of Christ or the the principle of love that pervades the entire

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New Testament calls us to this very high standard that Encompasses and and takes the ethics of the

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Christian to a completely different dimension a dimension of intimate relationship with God and faith, so So that's that's the sixth commandment thou shalt not murder and as Christians we take it

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From the motive and the action not just the action any comments on the sixth before we move to the seven

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All right, the seventh commandment again a small one verse 14 Anyone who has it, please read it you shall not commit adultery once again the principle here and again

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I hope you are starting to see when we look at the last six laws the manner in which the world would look at These laws as opposed to how

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Christians view these laws Murder, you probably would get a large consensus, you know, yeah murder is bad

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But when you start to come into these so -called, you know personal choices, it doesn't hurt anybody else

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It seems like you know, I can do what I want with myself That's what the world would say as long as you know, we have mutually consenting people working out

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Whatever gives us the most pleasure Like we said that was one of the principles of the world has I can maximize my pleasure and that would be ethically good for Me, but God's views are completely

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Antithetical to that his standard is holy. He calls us to Something that is very different and actually if you think about it from the standpoint of utility

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This is actually good. It may not be pleasurable for the sinful man who wants to Maximize his pleasure in a certain way, but this is actually what is good for man and we'll we'll just see in a few moments.

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Why? so adultery The principle there is the sanctity of marriage and family sanctity of family relationships.

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You have faithfulness loyalty Devotion to one spouse for one's lifetime.

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These are all built in into this negative command against adultery because you would

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Lawfully enjoy Marriage within with your spouse and with not with anyone else

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And if you think about the Old Testament, what was the penalty for adultery in in the Bible?

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That's right. It was death So there was really no like in the in the New Testament when you talk about divorce and its conditions one of those conditions is

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Unfaithfulness to marriage and adultery whereas when you look at the Old Testament, there was really no Provision for the adulterer to come out.

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So there were the there was no sacrifice that was provided, you know If you committed adultery you could go do the sacrifice and be free.

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This was you would you died? But at the same time there is also

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God's grace for sinners in this area. Can you think of anyone in the Bible who was?

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not stoned a very very A Glaring example that should come into your mind.

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There was a punishment that was dealt but it was not the stoning of either David or But Sheba although I think you know

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David had a role in getting her husband killed and and he was Particularly heinous in the manner in which he did both murder as well as adultery both of those sins which were capital punishments

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But God did forgive him. Although the baby that was born Did did die

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Now let's look at it from the New Testament. What are some of the New Testament texts? I mean, there's plenty of texts here that talk about the sin sexual sins

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Can you think of maybe just one or two that we can briefly comment on? woman at the well so what happens there and And it's very interesting how

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God Jesus picks this outcast of society who is pretty much in all the ways shapes and forms

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You know not part of the community and then he bring he speaks with her he engages with her talks to her about worship and then finally confronts her on her sin of at that point in time fornication

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And and then saves her it seems from the text What about some commands about about adultery?

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Excellent, and and actually that term sexual immorality Fornication those terms you just find pretty much throughout the

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New Testament talking about, you know, watch out for these things These are sinful any other text that you can think of?

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and the right way to view your body and as a temple of the Holy Spirit and and the dangers of The worldly thinking that was prevalent for especially in Corinthians to pervade into the

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Christian thinking, you know You you say I got saved I'm saved by grace and now I can do whatever I want. No, not really

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You do not belong to yourself. You belong to Christ Matthew 27

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Oh 527 yes, right Excellent, and that's where I wanted to kind of spend a few moments before we move to the next in fact

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I like pastor Dave, you know, he always reminds Summertime, you know make a covenant with your eyes that you will not watch what is sinful

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You know, he says and it's very true in especially in this part of our country Summertime, you know the clothes just come off, you know

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It's it's just some kind of rule that you know You the less clothes you walk with then, you know,

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I don't know you're cooler or whatever it is, but the but the dangers Especially for men is to watch out how guard your eyes and make sure that you do not

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Actually, this was a great question night when I was in India one of the students was very bold He stood up and asked, you know

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When you see a woman it is easy to Think you know transgress on Matthew 5 because you can you can have

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Sexual thoughts run through your mind and then soon it can become lost and then you you're sinning and how do you deal with this it seems so hard to handle and one of the principles that I learned as a young Christian, which

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I think is very helpful and which is what pastor Dave was talking about is Temptation is not sin

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You know just because some Temptation whatever shape way shape or form comes your way

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Doesn't mean that you have sinned And the illustration that I heard was this it's like a bird that is flying, you know in the sky

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You see that bird and it is tempting It is it is a metaphor of the sin that is coming.

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It's not the bird itself so the bird flies through the sky and You you see it and you like pastor

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Dave says close your eyes turn your eyes away don't entertain that bird but the moment you give it a little bit of contemplation that bird comes and sits on your head and He doesn't just sit and do something and leave but I'll let you figure out what

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I was thinking of He normally brings a little twig He puts it there and then if you keep entertaining him a little longer

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He'll bring another twig and before you know it He is building a little nest and then you know, he he will have his eggs and his family and then before you know it

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You're you're a nice Vegetation for that tree for that fruit for that bird to live on and that's basically temptation if you think of James 1

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You know temptation comes your way You do not sin by just being tempted

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Jesus was tempted But it is the way we respond to it and continue to grant it

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Fodder in our minds that leads you to sin So you can be you can choose as a believer

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You have the ability to say no to sin when you are tempted to resist the sin Because of the power of Christ that is in you if you're not a believer

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You do not have that ability. You're a slave to sin the Bible says and therefore it is impossible to To say no you might like Augustine would say you might resist one sin and while you're

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I was resisting that sin You'll fall into something else But as a believer you have the power of God the Spirit of God who indwells you who can

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Make that bird keep flying away or shoot it down. Whatever you do with it, but But but the point is in Matthew 5, which is talking about not just the end result of adultery

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Nobody just becomes an adulterer overnight It is because there was something else that was going on that bird decided to build its

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Nest on your head before you committed that sin and Jesus deals with the heart of sin

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And the one who looks at a woman with lust Has already committed adultery with her in his heart

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All right, before we move on any comments on the seventh commandment All right.

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The next one is the eighth one verse 15 Okay Simple these are very short brief verses now

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The principle that comes from there obviously is honesty in the manner in which you gain your possessions

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In fact, this was a very interesting discussion in India where we have a lot of inequality between those who have and those who don't have and So that kind of tends people to move into like a socialist mindset where maybe you know

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The best way to deal with this iniquit in Equality is to just you know do like The early church and acts, you know, let's just give everything to everybody

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Well, that's not exactly what happened either but people assume that would be that would take care of this problem where people have possessions

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But I'm kind of getting ahead of myself. So there's this two things one is honesty how you acquire possessions and then the second one is actually

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An independent a corollary which is the right to own your own Possessions there's really nothing sinful in in acquiring

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Possessions, but let's now talk about the first one how you acquire What are some of the ways that people violate this thou shall not steal?

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Maybe let's break that mop into two groups. One is the most obvious ones and the other which is not maybe so obvious What are some ways people obviously steal and ways in which people?

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May not think they're stealing when they are actually stealing right?

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So it's not you're not going to the work and Stealing from their cash register, but you take something from them

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Which you're not allowed to but you don't think it is a big deal. That's Yep Something that's not meant for work, right?

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Right. Okay, so that could be a subtle way of stealing Scott did you want to say something income tax?

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Yeah, so Who's watching, you know,

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I can I can fudge the numbers a little bit and get away with it and I'm fine So that's that's that's a big way we want to and why would that be from a

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New Testament verse? What would be a verse that talks about that? In like income tax that's the

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Bible talk about uncle Sam Yes That's right.

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So Jesus makes it very clear, you know, they actually asked him a direct question, you know Should we pay taxes to this vile abominable?

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Ruler who puts this image on this coin and wants us to worship and Jesus is like it's very simple

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Give it to him what he is due give the give the king what is due and I think that should be

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Exactly applicable to us and if he went back to this issue of work, what would be? Prop, maybe a general

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New Testament text that would secondarily apply to this Being honesty at work, what is that?

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Yeah, just tell me the verse what would you remember that's right it is in Colossians 3 to Servants I Pleases but as unto the

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Lord so serve your masters as if you were serving the Lord himself And you wouldn't steal from the Lord and you don't want to be stealing from your masters either.

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Excellent Any other ways that you can think of? excellent, and this is a greater temptation today because especially with Facebook or other social tools that are so common

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People can tend to abuse those during work hour instead of working I think there was some statistic done about the amount of time people spend and how much that resulted in a drop in productivity because people were just Distracted rather than working and that would be sinful for the believer who just does not

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Who is not honest with his work for what he should do and the flip side how about a master

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What could be some ways in which masters could? Be stealing from their employees right

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Colossians 4 1 masters give unto your servants that which is just an equal knowing that you also have a master in heaven and This is just as applicable to every believer in every walk of life about not being

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Stealer, but rather being one who is honest with with them with a merchandise or with the goods that we have and There's plenty of other ways that we can subtly let this

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You know, we could just say oh, I don't go and steal from a store I don't steal from the bank, but there could be a lot of other ways in which

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Honesty in our dealings with others can be compromised and we have plenty of texts that talk about this danger beginning with with with our heart

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Any other thoughts on stealing? All right.

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So, oh, sorry, go ahead excellent, and I think

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Malachi talks about that where You know the here you have people who just say, you know, we in the in the

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Old Testament, they were Holding back from God what they would do and and I think from a from a

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New Testament standpoint What would be a good principle good text or a principle in terms of not giving back to God?

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What are some of the things that God has given us that we? Ought to give back to him

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Joyfully rather than you know as a as a duty. What what are some texts that come to mind?

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What are ways that we could be stealing from God? What is that, okay, okay, that's that's very that's deep

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It took me a few seconds to connect that that's very true because when God has given us so much

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Our heart should have a heart of gratitude and thankfulness to him But instead I could be this churl who's just Ignoring all the goodness that God has given to me and then

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I could just be you know Either complaining to God or just walk it on with a door face While God has actually blessed me with much excellent point.

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Very good. I didn't think of that. Yes Not praying and what what how specifically does that address this area of of stealing from God That's excellent actually, you know the amount of time if you just measured, you know

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Maybe for a day or two on your notebook How much time do you spend in the presence of God versus everything else that we do?

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I think many of us would be just deeply convicted of this lack of faith in God or trust in God that as opposed to the where our heart is, you know where your treasure is there your heart is also the amount of time you spend at work and Everything else versus the time that we spend in the presence of God.

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I just do a little note on that you know, it is good for us to set aside some time just for Quiet time with the

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Lord, you know as you read the word meditate on the word pray to God through the word So that you just draw upon his strength and that Heart of prayer should also permeate through the day.

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So no matter what you're doing you are, you know have a Hymn of Thanksgiving in your heart as you're going about your work that reminds you of what

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God has done for you Keeps your heart rightly focused as you go through life You remember someone pray for them as you meet go through a circumstances pray to the

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Lord for it And that basically shows you whether your heart is Focused in faith toward God or is it just you know me ruling my world every time except when

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I'm you know in church Or in in my time in the word, so that's excellent. There was a couple of hands in the back.

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Yes Actually, that was the place

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I was going when I first heard this term because I think you know When we have spiritual gifts God intends for us to use for the ministry in the body

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He gives us those gifts freely we didn't earn them and God wants us to use that to edify or build up one another and bring glory to God and so very often we can just be

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Either prideful or whatever or selfish and then say, you know what? I'm not going to just Serve the body, but rather I'm just going to serve myself with what

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God has given and that would be a clear example of not Using gifts the way God intended excellent point

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Excellent actually, we should probably take a few minutes to talk about that especially given what I mentioned earlier

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So there was no compulsion upon anyone to give anything But there was a obvious need in the in the in the

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Jerusalem Church, you know, all these people come they don't have jobs They they needed provision for these people and as the people were saved by the love of God they were filled with the love of God for these people and they sold what they possessed and then shared it in common and Not everybody did and not everybody did on everything and Anna is when they saw

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I think it was Barnabas, right? Gay gaining prominence because of what he did they wanted to gain that prominence.

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They come at it with the wrong attitude Again, we look at motives not just the money they gave and then when they did that they also

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Lied by they wanted to look better than what they really were So they said we this is all that we had and we've given it to you and and they basically lied to Peter and to the

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Holy Spirit as Peter would say and God they received the judgment of God right there and they were killed and it just demonstrates that There were there was a very specific purpose why

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God did that at that point in the early church Here is a young church being started under the apostolic leadership and the

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Spirit of God was affirming the work in and through Peter and and Dealing with this deception that was coming in into the early church as it was getting started

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And so there was there was a sin and it was punished directly both Anna's and Sapphira's Was there one more hand?

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All right And I think hopefully for us as a New Testament Saints we get to see the heart attitude that we should have we are stewards of what

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God has given us whether it is towards of the spiritual gifts that God has given us of a time that he has given us of the relationship that we get to enjoy with God or the places that he places whether whether we are at work as a worker or as a

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Manager or whether we are, you know paying taxes and all of these things We are stewards or managers of the things that God has given to us and we want to deal with it

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Honestly toward others. The next commandment is the ninth in verse 16. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor

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Once again, this is a matter of honesty in the manner in which you deal with your neighbor

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Speak the truth Do not speak lies do not spread false allegations defamation slander

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Ours can some of your can you think of some texts that come to you from the New Testament?

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Yes Yeah, and and we ought to be very careful both in the public testimony, which is what is directly

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Used here so that we have the two or three witnesses We have the Matthew 18 principle of how you deal with public sin and also with private conversations you know slander and it's a lot easier, you know when you have to stand up there and Say something false against someone, you know, you need to be pretty hardened before you get there

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It's like adultery and here when you speak to someone on the side And speak down about someone to someone else

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It's like that lust that is in the heart. That is a lot easier to spread So especially for believers we have plenty of scriptures that talk about how you need to guard your mouth at your tongue in the way it speaks speak well of Brothers or sister in Christ don't tear them down and if they have a sin deal with it in the biblical way rather than unbiblically

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The next one is the last one 10th commandment and I think we'll kind of move quickly through that if someone can read that for me verse 17

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So it's talking here about coveting and the sinful desire of wanting to have something that is not legitimately mine it is

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Covetousness, which is which is at the root of this of this sin. And again once again when we think about Maybe we'll just take a minute.

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I wanted I noticed I have a few minutes. I want to talk about New Testament ethics, but Any thoughts on this from the

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New Testament perspective? Yes, that's right

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Philippians 4 would be a great place to go, you know in prison condemned and then in Philippians 1 thankful even when others are

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Is Gaining through Paul's Problems not saying, you know that I could be like them or have what they want

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But rather saying, you know, thanks be to God the gospel is still proclaimed I'm glad with where God has placed me whether I'm plenty where I have little

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I want to be looking to God rather than looking At others and trying to be selfish in the way in which

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I build myself up Any other thoughts on the last one? Yes Excellent and just the heart attitude of trust, which is what

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I want to move toward here is God is the one who will provide keep your eyes upon him and you don't need to be looking for these things and there's plenty

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Of verses in the New Testament talking about covetousness any other comments? All right.

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Oh, sorry. Go ahead So very true.

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I mean, this is one of the things that characterizes the world, you know from advertisements to everything else it's all about sowing discontent and making you want to have things that you probably don't need and This hot attitude of saying

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I'm thankful to God for what I have rather than you know, just continually saying oh, you know I was keeping up with the

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Joneses, right? It's like, you know, I just need to keep you know That person has it so I need to move on and that's the mindset that can very easily creep in from the world and we need

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To be guarding ourselves against it. Once again in the corollary to that is there's nothing wrong with Possessions or having things and we want to make sure we do that Seek to the

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Lord and be thankful for what he has but there is there's a mindset of covetousness that comes in from the world

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We need to guard against Let me just read these few Summary points from the

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New Testament and then because I just feel like this would help you wrap them together

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So when we look at ethics, you know, the world looks at it from a selfish standpoint It says, you know, what do

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I gain most by it? And as you can see even from the Ten Commandments it kind of demolishes all of this.

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It's all about God What do you owe God in the sense of you know your life your worship you belong to God and then how do you look?

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At all these other things in the relationship to one another in light of what God has done for you so the

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Christian ethic is opposite of that and also even when the more

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Noble of the world steps back and says we ought to do good things and here are some rules and principles that govern a good citizen of any country or someone who's

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Thought through and said this would be a good thing for me to avoid, you know I don't want to do adultery because of X Y &

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Z The Christian principles actually turn that kind of inside out. It is not really it starts in the wrong place

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So, let me let me just give you a few points Just so you can keep this in the back of your mind when you think of ethics and why you do

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What you do Christian ethics is the ethics of a Savior it is God has saved us and we belong to him and it is in light of our love for him and the and the

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Model that he has given us that we respond back with love And Christian ethics is not a matter of laws that we just put all of these laws

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I mean, I know when you're a new Christian you want to do that You want to just make all these laws and say I've did all this God is happy with me.

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That's not how it works You're right. God saved you unconditionally On the basis of his finished work and you do have the biblical principles that teach you what pleases

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God? And it is out of love for God that you actually Follow after him and keep his commands

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It applies to Christians who are under grace. And once again, we are fully grace is unmerited favor

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God gives it to us not on the basis of what we do but by uses of his son Jesus Christ has finished work and we are now enabled by God to follow him and do the things that are pleasing to him

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It is conduct not just ideas ideals or thoughts In fact, if you look at a lot of the philosophers of the world

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They'll have a lot of ideas and then you go and look at their lives. You just see it as completely hollow I mean there was one book

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I read which to this day when I think of it It just makes me shiver men that are held up in very high esteem when you just look back at their lives and the way they

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Lived when they wrote all these so -called high and mighty writings You can just see that there was a complete disconnect between what they wrote and what how they lived

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And then again, it is based on motives I mean you look at especially the Sermon on the Mount Jesus deals with where your heart is

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Even before you get to the point the consequence of those actions So when we look at ethics people sometimes say, you know

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Should it be our motives or should it be the actions or should it be the consequence and in the from the Christian standpoint it?

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It governs all of those We want to do things with a pure motive to do it in the name of Jesus or for Jesus sake as it would please

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Jesus do it for the glory of God and Do it in faith because without faith that is it's impossible to please

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God It is not just about doing these a B or C. It is about trusting in God and to honor him with our lives

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So with that, let me just stop this. Like I said, we might do an IBS set someday with with this but I Hope it helped you think through the way we live because as Christians we can sometimes take grace for granted

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It's like God has done everything I just live however I want or you could be on the other end and then be a legalist and then just try to do a set of rules and Christian ethics is neither of those

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It is about loving God and and to worship him with our lives and our actions and we want to be

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Intentional about it. We want to please God with all that we think and all that we do

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Any other final comments as we close? All right, let's pray

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A Loving and gracious father. We thank you Lord for this day your day that you've given us help us

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Oh Lord to remember Jesus even as We remember his finished work on our behalf that we would seek to love him to love you

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And to live by the Spirit Every moment of our days God our hearts and our minds and I pray for these dear people that you would

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Enable us to worship you in spirit and in truth in Christ's name we pray.