Mar. 19, 2023

Moral Order

Primary Text: Romans 2:12-15   

Previous Teaching: Whence Came You?

1)  The Creator

Isaiah 66:1-2:  This is what the LORD says: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool….  Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?" declares the LORD.

DQ 1) If God did not create the world, what are the ramifications for the purposes of human life and moral philosophy?

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2)  All Things

Colossians 1:15-17:  He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 

DQ 2) What evidence exists declaring that God created and sustains all things?

DQ 3) Do scientific “laws” depend upon “Intelligent Design” of the universe?  ________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This Week’s Teaching

1)  The Law of Moses

Deuteronomy 27:9-10:  Then Moses and the priests, who are Levites, said to all Israel, "Be silent, O Israel, and listen!  You have now become the people of the LORD your God.  Obey the LORD your God and follow his commands and decrees that I give you today."

Exodus 20:12-17:  "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.  You shall not murder.  You shall not commit adultery.  You shall not steal.  You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.  You shall not covet your neighbor's house.  You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." 

DQ 1) What is the moral law of God?  What is its ultimate origin?

DQ 2) Can human societies exist apart from the moral law of God?  

           Why?

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2)  Upon Their Hearts

Romans 2:12-15:  All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.  For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.  (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) 

DQ 3) What evidence exists that the moral law of God is written on all human hearts?

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3)  In Their Own Eyes

Judges 21:25 (NASB):  In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. 

Proverbs 12:15:  The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice. 

Romans 1:28-32:  Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.  They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.  They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.  Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

DQ 4) Why is wickedness rampant in our day?

DQ 5) Does contemporary American society applaud and exalt evil?

           How?

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