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166. Secular Morality vs. Biblical Morality · 4-Freedom Podcast

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I found my freedom in you. I found a toy I can't lose, and
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thank God it's true. You wrapped your arms around me
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and heaven broke through. From the moment she found me.
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I found. Welcome to the Four Freedom
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podcast. This podcast exists to bring the
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freedom of the gospel for everyday Christians with
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everyday issues. Now here are your hosts, James
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Seyfried, welcome back to the Four Freedom podcast.
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It is a wonderful day, Brett. We are in spring season.
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All of our allergies are going crazy.
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North Carolina's been on fire for the last couple of days and
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my son just, I mean, he just sounds like someone ran over his
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throat with his cough and it, it happens every year.
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He's got allergies. I was like, I do, but man, I
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love the spring season. I love this, that that feeling
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of new life coming back, getting out in the mower and mowing and
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just enjoying being outside with the kids.
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And spring also brings Easter, right, our, our resurrection
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season where we get to worship the resurrected Jesus, which we
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do every week. We should resurrect, we should
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celebrate the resurrected Jesus every week.
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But it brings a special emphasis for the community, for people
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that haven't been to church in a while to try to get them plugged
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into a service. And then hopefully that that can
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continue on as traditional coming to church and growing
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together and doing some of those things.
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But man, it is, it's been a great time.
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We've been, we saw this horrible natural disaster that happened
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in Bangkok and over in Myanmar and in Thailand, and then just
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tragic hundreds of thousands of people.
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I think it's that last I saw was 200,000 people are missing and
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20 or 30,000 people are already presumed dead.
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Just a horrible, horrible tragedy.
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Often times when it happens across the sea, across the way,
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we, it doesn't affect us, but man, watching some of those
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videos and seeing those skyscrapers fall, man it, it
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touched my heart. But it also it challenged me to
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be praying for those missionaries that are over there
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that are going to be serving and picking up the pieces and loving
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on the people and the gospel to be spread in those areas.
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And so just a couple things on my heart, man.
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How, how are you doing? How was your Sunday this last
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week and how are things going in your area?
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Man, things are going real good. This is like you said, this time
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of year, springtime, it's it's it's a good time.
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I like it. We're getting back out wet
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winters going away. But you know, it's, it's 80° one
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day and so then the next day you put on the shorts and then you
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go outside. It's 40°, right, right.
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Though it just, it can't make up its mind about, you know, when,
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how what if it wants to get rid of the cold yet?
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But the pollen is just everywhere.
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It's just a never ending battle. No point in washing the truck.
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It's going to be get, you know, pollen on it 15 minutes after
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you wash the truck, it's going to be covered again.
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And so and they say that the the yellow pollen that you can see
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is not the pollen that causes the allergies.
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The allergies is caused by the pollen that you that's so small
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you can't see. I don't know how true that is,
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but that is just something that they say.
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But we are getting ready for Easter season.
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We got Easter coming up. We're doing everything we can do
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to promote. We've got tracks.
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We got door hangers. We've got we're here pretty
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soon, we're going to go out in the community to our local
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Dollar General and we're going to give out hamburgers 11
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Saturday. We've got some servant
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evangelism. We've got coming in coming up
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some different things we thought of try to get in the community.
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And you know, we want to hit evangelism in three different
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tiers, personal servant and mass evangelism.
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And so we're we're just trying to get out the the name of
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Jesus, trying to get out the gospel, trying to reach our
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community and our world for Christ.
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And you know, I mean, I'll tell you know, when you think about
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the numbers of those people over there that you said are missing
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200,000, that's almost an unfathomable number to think
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about. And it's really, you got to
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understand that, that each one of those numbers as a soul, you
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know, I don't want to make light of the situation, but I heard
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Jeff Foxworthy tell a joke the other day that, you know, we're
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just so desensitized to tragedy because of the news and
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different things like that, that he said the other day he heard a
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story about a bus going over a Cliff and it killed 200 people.
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And his first instinct was, how do you get 200 people on a bus?
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Not that it went off the Cliff, you know, And he was just making
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a point that we're so desensitized and stuff like
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that. But we can't, we can't let
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society and news, we can't let that desensitize us to the fact
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that each one of those numbers is a human soul that will spend
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eternity somewhere. We have to stay soul conscious,
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not just as pastors, but as Christians, as church members.
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So, you know, it's something to think about, really something to
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think about. But we are thankful that spring
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is here. Time to change the oil in the
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mower and get out and start cutting the grass again.
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Got to do that this week. My boys are cutting the the
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church grass this year and so got to get the the oil change in
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the mower and just look forward to what we got coming up here
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pretty soon in our church. Yeah, we, I, I got the oil
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changed, the blades changed a couple weeks ago, got my first
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cut in of the year and yeah, it's been been good, man.
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I'm, I'm excited about what Lord's going to bring in this
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new season, this new season of ministry, the, the season of, of
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pastoring and loving people. And it's just been a blessing.
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We, we haven't, we've had several families come the last
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couple of weeks, just new families in the community that
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have been showing up and friends are telling friends and it's a
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blessing when that happens and the Lord just begins to show
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favor and excited about that. Brett coming up here in just a
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couple of days, man, we're believe it or not, today's April
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first when we're recording this two months from now, I'll be in
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Texas. I'm going out there the week
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before the convention and I'll be out there with my sister and
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her brother and her, her husband, my brother-in-law and
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kids. We're going to spend the first
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week there with them and then the second week will be the
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convention. And so we are excited about
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bringing that together and us being out there, our house and
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just being able to enjoy some fellowship, some time to get
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together. It's almost like a little mini
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vacation that we get to go to. Even though there's lots of
7:34
business and lots of things going on, it is a good time just
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to get away, get our soul refreshed with the Pastors
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Conference, to be able to hear some of these great men that get
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to pour in some messages on us. But also just the fellowship of
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me and you together in the same room.
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Our our kids getting together, our wives getting together.
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It's always a great thing. And so I'm excited about Dallas
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coming up very quickly right around the corner.
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Exactly. I am looking forward to getting,
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getting, getting there and hanging out and seeing any of
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our listeners that's around there at the conference and
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having a meet up and hanging out with them.
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That is something that we're definitely looking forward to.
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I mean, I'm looking forward to Israel.
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I want to push this. I'm going to push this every
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episode. We are going to Israel.
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Now is kind of the safest time to go.
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Our buddy Marcus Merritt was just over there for two solid
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weeks. Never had one issue.
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He sent us video after video after video.
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I said I showed a video. He sent me a video Saturday
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night, which was Sunday morning for him and telling us about how
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you know, him and Paris were standing in front of Western
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Wall. Everything was good.
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Israel open for business. I showed that to our church this
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last Sunday morning and there's a lot of interest buzzing around
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in in my county about this trip. And listen, I want to, I want to
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reach out to our listeners. If you want to go to Israel, if
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you've never been, I guarantee you it's a life changing trip.
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It will change the way you read your Bible.
9:18
It will change the way you pray. Seeing these places being where
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the patriarchs stood, walking in the footsteps of Jesus, being on
9:28
a road that he walked on, touching the floor of a
9:33
synagogue that he preached in, it's something that will change
9:37
you. It will affect you, will have a
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profound effect. You'll never be sorry that you
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just took the time, spent the money to go.
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It's definitely worth it. Our trip is January 30th through
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February 7th of of 2026. Plenty of time to save up if you
9:56
want to register. Registration is now open.
10:01
We're going to hold registration open till June.
10:04
We may or may not extend it, but our registration is open till
10:08
June and so we want you to get on there.
10:11
Register registration is $450, reserves your spot.
10:16
Our website gives the payment schedule for the trip and tells
10:20
you what to expect, how much it's going to cost, where we're
10:23
going. So it's a go, Yael, and you'll
10:26
be able to get all that on our website and Facebook page.
10:29
It'll look out links that take it right to the website.
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Want to promote this trip? Excited about it?
10:35
Come to the Holy Land with the For Freedom podcast.
10:39
Absolutely. It's going to be a wonderful
10:40
time and you are not going to regret it.
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I just had a buddy of mine that was with Marcus there.
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His name is Russ Bilio and man, he was sharing pictures and just
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got back and got to, to see all that.
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Brett, I've got a, an opportunity, my wife's or my
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wife, my daughter's teacher, which also taught my son two
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years ago, had me come in and give a little presentation to
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the class about the Holy Land and the Garden of Gethsemane and
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Passion Week. And I got to come on the, the
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week right before Easter two years ago.
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And she ran into me. She was like, hey, will you come
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back? And so I got to pull up some of
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my pictures and my presentation and got to look through some of
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those things. And so I'm going back in two
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weeks, a week from Thursday and I get to share with the class
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all that we got to go and see while we were there.
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And man, it's just going to be awesome.
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My, my heart was just excited looking through that.
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Last thing I want to mention, if you've hold on to us for this
11:44
long for our beginning banter is our, our, our four freedom cigar
11:49
lines, 4 Freedom cigar Company. Man, we are doing great with
11:53
that. We are excited to be able to
11:54
have this opportunity for you to support our podcast.
11:58
Many people ask how can we can, how can we can support you guys?
12:01
How can we help you? We don't have a way for you to,
12:05
you know, go on and give monthly support.
12:08
This is a way where we can get some support, some opportunity
12:13
for you to enjoy high quality premium cigars and support great
12:19
organization and some great things that'll be coming up here
12:22
at the end of the summer that we're going to be releasing.
12:25
And so we're excited about that and hoping that you will go on
12:28
there and be able to have a a little bit of way to support our
12:33
podcast. Brett, anything else before we
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jump into our episode? I'm just excited about our
12:38
subject today and I say let's go.
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All right, here we go. We cannot truly worship.
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God while we stay. Silent on injustice in all kinds
12:58
of areas. And I know as a white pastor I
13:01
have blind spots, so I am part of the problem.
13:07
James Paul elected to unhitch the Christian faith.
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From their Jewish scriptures and my friends, we must as well.
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White people fear black men. That's not fair.
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But it's true. Jesus repents of his racism and
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extends healing to this woman's daughter.
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I love this story because it's a reminder that Jesus is human.
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He had prejudices and bias and when confronted with it, he was
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willing to do his work. I believe in the non binary God
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whose pronouns are plural. I believe in Jesus Christ, their
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child who wore a fabulous tunic and had two dads and saw
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everyone as a sibling child of God.
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I believe in the rainbow spirit who shatters our image of 1
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white light and refracts it into a rainbow of gorgeous diversity.
14:14
I believe in the Church of everyday Saints, as numerous
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creative and resilient as patches on the 8th quilt, whose
14:24
feet are grounded in mud and whose eyes gaze at the stars and
14:29
wonder. I believe in the calling to each
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of us that love is love is love. So beloved, let us love.
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I believe glorious God help my unbelief.
14:44
Amen. This woke self loathing and we
14:54
will never let the woke left take it away.
14:58
It's because they're putting woke ideology.
15:00
To a woke mob that can't even tell you what a woman is.
15:12
In this season of the Four Freedom Podcast, we want to
15:14
bring to you some enlightening topics that deal with the
15:17
wokeness of the church. We want to bring to light some
15:20
issues that are often overlooked, and we hope that
15:24
it'll be a blessing to you in your listening experience.
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Everybody OK. Have you ever had one of those
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conversations that sticks with you for weeks, The kind that
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plays in your head where you think, man, I should have said
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this, or I wonder if they even thought about that?
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Couple of months ago I found myself sitting in a little
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coffee shop downtown, one of those little places the where
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the baristas have tattoo of Greek philosophers and they
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serve espresso and cups small enough to make you question why
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you've even paid 5 bucks for it. I was meeting up with an old
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friend, someone I hadn't seen in years.
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To protect his privacy, I'm going to call his name Matt.
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Matt and I used to do ministry together back in college.
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We were in the same Bible study group.
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We went on mission trips in different locations.
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We even stayed up late debating theology in our dorm rooms and
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our dorm house. Somewhere along the way, Matt
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walked away from his face. He didn't have some big crisis
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moment, no major tragedy that made him question everything.
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He just drifted, starting reading philosophy, listening to
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podcasts that question the Bible, and overtime he decided
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that Christianity was too rigid and too outdated.
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Now he calls himself a secular humanist.
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He says that he doesn't need God to be moral.
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So here we are sitting in this coffee shop.
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We're catching up. He leans forward and he asks me
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this question. He said, James, I got to ask you
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something. Do you really think that people
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need religion to be good? I mean, look around us.
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I know atheists who are kind, who give to charity, who fight
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for justice, and the Christians who cheat on their taxes, who
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gossip, who live no different than anyone else.
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So tell me, why do you think morality has to come from God?
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That question hit me hard, not because I didn't know how to
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answer or what to answer, but because I knew what he was
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really asking. He wasn't just asking can non
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Christians be good, he was asking is there something deeper
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than just being good? I took a sip of my coffee by
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burning my tongue in the process, brought myself a moment
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to think of what I was going to say, and I told him.
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Matt, let's say you're right. Let's say you don't need God to
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be a decent person. Let's say morality can be built
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on reason and what makes society function best.
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How do you know what's right and wrong?
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He shrugged. Simple, you do what causes the
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least harm. What promotes human flourishing?
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I nodded. I'm OK, But who decides what
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human flourishing is? What happens when two different
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cultures disagree about what's best?
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What if one generation decides something is evil, but the next
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generation says it's good? What if society shifts?
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And what if we call moral? And what we call good today is
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condemned tomorrow. He smirked.
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Well, that's the beauty of progress.
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Morality evolves. We refine it as we learn.
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I lean forward when I began to say, let's play this out for a
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moment. If morality is constantly
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changing, then by definition it's not absolute.
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So how do we ever call something truly wrong like genocide,
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slavery, the Holocaust? If morality is just a human
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construct, then all we can say is that it was bad for them, but
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in their time they saw it was right.
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Matt's side. Come on James, you don't need
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religion to know that genocide is evil.
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And I began to ask him why. Why is it evil and not just
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unpopular? If there's no higher moral law,
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no standard above human opinion, then morality is just majority
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rule, and as history proves, that majorities can be dead
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wrong. Matt stared at his cup.
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You're making this more complicated than it needs to be.
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Right and wrong come from empathy, from reason, and from
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what benefits society. All right, I said.
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If what society benefits at the But what if society benefits at
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the expense of others? What if a majority decides that
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eliminating a certain group of people makes the world better?
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If morality is just about pragmatism, then we can justify
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anything. His smirk began to fade.
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In this moment he he began to question a little bit and I said
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that's why secular morality falls apart.
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I told him that it's built on shifting sand.
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It changes with culture. It bends to social pressures.
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The biblical morality, God's morality isn't based on any
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opinion here on this world, based on the unchanging
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character and that of Christ. And that's why we can say with
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certain things are right and things are wrong, no matter what
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society says. Matt didn't have a quick
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response for that. He sat there and stirred his
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coffee, thinking. And finally he said, I, I don't
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know, man. I, I still think people could be
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good without God. And I smiled and I said, maybe.
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But without God, you can't define what good is.
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And if you don't have a standard, eventually morality
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just becomes whatever people want it to be.
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We sat in silence for a moment, both of us letting that seek in.
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The barista called out someone's name, the sound of espresso
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Sheens winding in the background, and finally, Matt
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looked up. All right, I'll give you this.
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That's something to think about. That conversation sticks with me
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because Matt isn't alone in the way he's thinking.
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We live in a world that wants morality without God, that wants
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justice without an ultimate judge, that wants truth, but
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only if it's convenient for them.
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And my dear friends, This is why we're having this conversation
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today. Because if morality is just a
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human invention, then it's nothing more than a popularity
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contest. But if morality comes from God,
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then it's unchanging, eternal, and binding on every person,
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whether they believe him or not. So let's jump into this topic
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today, and let's begin to talk about what happens when morality
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is untethered from its foundation.
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Can secular ethics provide a meaningful alternative?
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Or is biblical morality only true anchor for right and wrong?
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Let's dive in. Welcome back to the Full Freedom
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Podcast. I'm James, and as always, I'm
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joined here with the delightful Brett Martin.
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Brett, how are we doing? We're doing good, doing good.
23:21
Excited to jump into today's discussion.
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Discussion. We're talking about a topic
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that's become a huge debate in modern culture, and that's
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secular morality versus biblical morality.
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You know, can we have a functioning moral system apart
23:40
from God? Or the question is, does
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morality collapse when you remove its foundation in divine
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truth? Yeah.
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You know, this is an issue that I believe Brett, effects
23:53
everything. I believe it affects politics.
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It affects education, law, personal decision making.
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And at its core, it's whether morality is absolute or if it's
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shifting with culture. And today we're going to break
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this down from a biblical perspective because often times
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we'll say certain things are absolute and then we'll say,
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well, something else isn't because of preference, right?
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In our IFB background, preference was often absolute,
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right? Women must wear skirts because
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this is not a this is a question of morality.
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Men must not have long hair or beards or always have to dress a
24:36
certain way because this is the standard to make sure you are
24:41
holy. And we begin to read Scripture,
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and Scripture tells us that we have this liberty, this law of
24:48
liberty that allows us to do certain things.
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There is still an absolute law, but we're giving grace in that
24:56
law as well. And so today we're going to talk
24:59
through that. Exactly.
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So we're going to start out by defining secular morality.
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So secular morality is an attempt to construct an ethical
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system without reference to God or any religious framework.
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Instead of looking to divine revelation, secular ethics
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relies on reason, science, and societal norms or personal
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preference. Yeah, and, you know, sounds nice
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on the surface, you know, almost like this all we can be just
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good people without God. But when you dig deeper, Brett,
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you begin to start seeing the cracks of the foundation.
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If morality is purely a human construct, then who decides what
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is right and what is wrong? Exactly.
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So what's moral in one culture might not mean moral in another.
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And over time, values start to shift.
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All right. Think about how dramatically
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Western morality has changed in just a few decades.
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Things that were once considered wrong are now now celebrated.
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And and and vice versa, things that were once celebrated are
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are now condemned. And so we have to look at it as
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this people look at morality, biblical morality as, Oh well,
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Jesus, we just need to, Jesus taught us how to be a good
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person, OK? We he just just taught us how to
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live. Well, the Bible is more than
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that. It's more than just a set of
26:35
rules to teach us how to live. Even Paul said if Jesus didn't
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die on the cross, then we're wasting our time.
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You know, it's it the, the Bible is more than just, although it
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is a moral code, It's, it's more than that.
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Yeah. And you know, when you think
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about that, how time's shift and things change with time, you
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know, this past Monday was the Transgender Visibility Day of
27:03
Awareness or whatever they call it.
27:06
And one of the news articles, I think it was The New York Times
27:09
or The Wall Street Journal, where someone had put out an
27:11
article and they gave like half a page of talking about the
27:16
Transgender Day of Awareness. And, and they stay, the earliest
27:21
they could cite was like 2011, 2012 was was this transgender
27:26
person that began to go through there.
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And you go back to 2000, you go back to 1989 when 88 when I was,
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you go back just a couple of years and this is an issue that
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no one even knows about. This is an issue that no one's
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even talking about. But all of a sudden secular
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morality has come in and said that this is right and this is
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wrong. And and that's where this
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problem begins to come in at. Without a transcendent standard,
27:55
morality becomes subjective to whoever decides it, right?
27:59
It's like they're trying to build a house on shifting sand.
28:02
This is nothing new, Jesus says. This is the New Testament where
28:06
Jesus says that there's a man that builds his house on a rock,
28:09
and there's a man that builds his house on the sand.
28:11
And when the storm comes in, the house in the sand gets wiped
28:15
away. And we also understand that our
28:18
our house and our foundation for our life is built, should be
28:22
built on a firm foundation, which is Christ and absolute
28:26
truth. Exactly.
28:28
And in contrast to that, biblical morality is rooted in
28:32
the unchanging character of God. And, you know, right and wrong
28:36
aren't based on human opinion, but on who God is because human
28:42
opinion, like you said, it shifts with the wind.
28:45
You know, that's the reason why Paul warned about, you know,
28:48
people being blown about with every wind of doctrine.
28:52
They're going every which way, every new thing, every popular
28:56
thing. And their churches today that
28:58
just want to just jump on that, that that bandwagon of, of which
29:03
way the wind is blowing. Now, I'm not saying that
29:06
churches can't try something new, Of course, I'm not saying
29:09
that at all. But do you know this new new way
29:12
of looking at the Bible, new way of interpreting this word, new
29:15
way of saying that something that used to be condemned is now
29:19
OK? That's kind of what we're
29:22
talking about here. Absolutely.
29:24
Let's jump to a couple of scriptures here, Brett, to talk
29:28
about the the foundation of biblical morality.
29:31
Psalms one, 19160 says that the sum of your word is truth, and
29:37
every one of your righteous rules endures forever.
29:42
You see, that's the key difference.
29:43
God's moral law isn't up to debate.
29:46
It is up to the revision. It isn't up to man's own
29:50
interpretation of the law. It is eternal.
29:54
And what Christ has said is true.
29:56
What God has said is true, is true.
29:59
And we can stake our flag on it, as the old preacher used to say,
30:02
is my dad used to say, you can take that to the bank, right?
30:06
You get, it's a check that's going to cash.
30:08
It's not going to bounce. It's not going to break.
30:10
It's not going to the bankers, not going to run your card and
30:13
say, oh, I've got insufficient funds here.
30:16
The Word of God is secure and it is firm, and His rules will
30:22
endure forever. In fact, when when Jesus came
30:27
Jesus, you read them the gospels.
30:30
Jesus is trying to teach the Jews that morality is not just
30:36
about rules. It's about a relationship.
30:39
It's about your heart attitude. It's about your motive behind
30:44
it. You can, what is the Old
30:47
Testament say that you can, you can you sacrifice thousands of
30:52
lambs and pour out rivers of oil.
30:56
But you know, if your heart's not behind it, I don't want your
30:58
sacrifice, OK? Morality is not just about
31:01
rules, it's about a relationship.
31:03
And in fact, Jesus summarized the moral law in Matthew
31:07
22307039. He said love the Lord your God
31:12
with all your heart, soul and mind, and love your neighbor as
31:16
yourself. So biblical morality isn't about
31:20
just a set of cold, rigid laws that actually throw flows from
31:26
the love and justice of God. Absolutely.
31:30
Another key point is that God has placed in His law in the
31:35
hearts of every single person. Romans 215.
31:38
Listen to what it says. It says that those who don't
31:41
even have a written law have a conscience that bears witness to
31:46
moral truth. So even unbelievers have a sense
31:50
of right and wrong, though apart from God.
31:53
They have a conscience that is from God that can be seared over
31:59
time, but they know the truth because the truth of the Lord
32:03
and the truth of what that conscience from the Spirit has
32:06
been written in their heart. Exactly, That's why when people
32:11
argue you don't need God to be a good person, they're actually
32:15
borrowing from a biblical framework.
32:18
They're borrowing from the Bible very concept of good and evil
32:23
presupposes a standard which ultimately comes from God.
32:28
So in order to argue that, you know, in order to art, you know,
32:33
argue that from they, they have to borrow from Christianity in
32:36
order to say that. Yeah, so we've defined secular
32:39
morality. We've given the biblical
32:41
foundation for morality. Let's begin to look at some of
32:45
the problems with secular morality.
32:47
We're going to jump into this issue of second mount.
32:50
And the first one I believe is, is one of the biggest and one of
32:53
the hardest to get over. It's subjectivity and
32:56
relativism. If morality is rooted in God,
33:00
then God determines what's right and wrong.
33:02
But when it's based on subjectivity and relativism,
33:07
it's whatever I determines right and wrong.
33:10
If, if I hate the color Duke blue, Brett's got a, a dark blue
33:14
shirt on. And I say, you know what?
33:17
No, that color is never going to be allowed.
33:19
And if you wear that color, you're, you're going to do wrong
33:21
and you're going to face jail time.
33:23
Well, there's no, there's no justice in that.
33:26
There's no that it's, it's all based on what I think in my
33:29
relativism, in my mind. And so that's what it begins to
33:34
determine who is right and wrong, because ultimately it
33:38
should be rooting God not in what I think or what I feel.
33:42
Exactly. Let me ask you a question,
33:43
James. Was the Holocaust wrong?
33:47
Yeah. Says who?
33:49
Says. God, thou shalt not.
33:50
Exactly because if you, if you didn't appeal, had couldn't
33:54
appeal to God, you'd say, oh, well, it's just society or you
33:58
know, well, you know, Hitler thought it was right.
34:02
Hitler. Convinced the people that they
34:05
were going to be worse off if the Jews were still around.
34:09
And so in their mind they were convinced that it was the right
34:13
thing to do. In that time, the people that
34:16
were living right there near it did not realize that it was as
34:21
bad as it was. And that's why they made them
34:24
walk through the concentration camps, because Hitler had
34:26
convinced them that it was the right thing to do.
34:30
Right. And so if if morality is is just
34:33
all relative to each person, then the Holocaust wasn't wrong
34:37
because to them it seemed right. If, if we see if morality is
34:41
just based on society or if it's just based on individual
34:45
feelings, then there's no real standard of truth.
34:49
There's no objective standard. So what's moral becomes whatever
34:55
the majority says at any given time, OK.
34:58
And then that makes it dangerous because it means that morality
35:02
can be twisted to justify anything.
35:05
OK, History proves this time and time again.
35:10
We just talked about Nazi Germany.
35:12
They legalized slavery. You know, both were considered
35:16
morality and acceptable. They it was considered
35:21
acceptable at the time, OK, Just because that's, that's how they
35:25
felt. And if it's all relative then
35:27
that's OK then. Yeah, and I agree 100%, right.
35:32
We were OK with slavery. We were OK with selling people
35:35
and humanity and, and we still have slavery today.
35:38
We still have human sex trafficking, which is a form of
35:41
slavery. And there's still other
35:43
countries that still have slavery.
35:46
And yet we know and we have abolished that.
35:49
And yet we still have people that still see that the wrong
35:53
way. It says it's a great point that
35:55
the second issue that we won't talk about is a lack of moral
35:59
compass. Without an apple absolute
36:01
standard, people can justify almost any behavior they have.
36:07
And as we see this today, things that were once universally
36:11
recognized as wrong or are now defended as personal choice or
36:17
societal progress. And then there's evolving
36:22
standards. Secular morality changes
36:25
constantly. What was taboo a generation ago
36:30
has now normalized. In another 20 years, who knows
36:34
what will be considered moral. That kind of instability makes
36:37
it impossible to have a lasting objective moral code like things
36:42
that were on TV 50 years ago, 20 years ago, you know, they stuff
36:50
like they would not allow then what we have today because
36:55
things have shifted so much overtime.
36:58
I remember a pastor getting up and saying what one generation
37:02
tolerates, the next generation will embrace.
37:06
And so we change over time. Morality changes over time.
37:11
If it's based on if it's based on us, if it's based on humans,
37:16
if it's based on our our society, if it's based on
37:19
majority, it changes. And that's dangerous.
37:22
Oh, yeah, absolutely. You know, that's, that's part of
37:25
this, you know, personal choice or societal progress with the
37:29
abortion issue. And Kirk has been Charlie Kirk
37:34
has been asking a lot of people on, on this abortion issue and
37:38
what they think about it. And he, I just watched an
37:42
interview today about Charlie Kirk asked a guy, would you have
37:47
been OK if your mom aborted you? And the guy who was in his 20s
37:52
in the college campus, look at him and said it would have been
37:55
her choice. And I would have been OK with
37:57
it. And everyone was like, I mean,
38:01
even the people that were for abortion were like, dude, you
38:04
wouldn't be here if that would have happened.
38:06
But he justifies it to a personal choice.
38:10
And then he began talking through some things and Charlie
38:12
Kirk did a great job talking with him.
38:14
But but this is this personal choice.
38:17
And and my mind goes to the end of Judges, Judges chapter 21,
38:21
verse 25. And Judges warns us and it says
38:25
this. And everyone did right in their
38:27
own eyes. And when we remove God, morality
38:31
becomes a free for all. We begin to do whatever we see
38:35
fit in our own eyes because we are not willing to submit and
38:41
humble ourselves to the obedience of God's law.
38:44
And so we're going to do whatever we decide to do.
38:47
And what we decide to do is going to be right no matter the
38:51
consequences. And God says when that happens,
38:54
that's when the judges, and that's when the Israel went
38:57
through some of the hardest times they ever had because
38:59
everyone was doing right in their own eyes.
39:03
Right. So let's contrast that with the
39:06
biblical foundation for morality.
39:08
What are the core principles that shape Christian ethics?
39:12
Well, Brent, I'm glad you asked. The first one is the love for
39:15
God and neighbor. And as we mentioned earlier,
39:18
Jesus boiled all morality down to two commands.
39:21
You know, they, they came to Jesus and they tried stomping
39:23
him. What is the best law?
39:25
What's the greatest law? What of Moses should we listen
39:29
to and do? And he said, I tell you what,
39:32
the first thing you should do is love the Lord your God with all
39:34
your heart, soul, mind and strength.
39:36
And the second thing you should do is love your neighbor as
39:39
yourself. Love God and love others.
39:42
Every, every moral decision should be filtered through those
39:47
two lenses. Am I loving God in this
39:49
decision, and am I loving humanity and other people in
39:53
this decision? Exactly.
39:56
Second is justice and fairness. The Bible is filled with
40:01
commands about treating others with fairness, especially the
40:05
poor and vulnerable. Math Micah 6-8 says Do justice,
40:09
love mercy, and while comely with your God, God's justice.
40:14
Is a reflection of his perfect character.
40:18
We're not you know, we had a episode a few weeks ago about,
40:21
you know, talking about social justice.
40:23
We're not against justice. We're for fairness and justice.
40:28
We just have problems with, you know, societal issues taking
40:33
president over precedent or priority over the gospel.
40:38
But we are for justice and fairness because the Bible is
40:41
Jesus is for it. You know, how many times did he
40:44
say, tell us to to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and
40:48
visit the sick and visit those in prison who are in prison?
40:52
You know he this is a command he told us to do.
40:55
Absolutely. The third one is integrity and
40:58
honesty. Biblical morality teaches us
41:00
that truth matters. As as JC likes to say on the
41:05
RFP, truth never fears a challenge, because truth does
41:09
matter. And we begin to see that Jesus
41:12
said in John 832, you will know the truth and the truth will put
41:18
you under bondage. It doesn't say that.
41:21
It says the truth will set you free.
41:24
Deception, fraud and dishonesty are condemned because God is a
41:30
God of truth. God is a God of justice and
41:33
truth and love and, and we understand this and we
41:37
understand that being honest before God and before man brings
41:43
us into this foundation that is going to make us so much more in
41:47
tune with what God has for us if we can just get to the truth of
41:51
what God has for us. Right.
41:54
And that's a that's a huge contrast with our culture today.
41:57
It's such a different picture. And our culture today, truth is
42:01
often seen as flexible. OK, people talk about living
42:06
your truth. I'm living my truth instead of
42:09
acknowledging the actual truth. Yeah.
42:14
And, you know, biblical morality gives us a firm foundation, a
42:19
moral code that doesn't shift with cultural trends.
42:23
How often do we hear of a pastor who has?
42:26
And we're going to, in two weeks, we're going to talk about
42:29
an issue, a pastor that once stood firm, once stood firm on
42:34
biblical truth, but allowed what we've talked about over the last
42:38
10 or 12 weeks to influence his ideology.
42:43
And ultimately, what he stood on was shifting sand.
42:46
And that's how we're going to talk about it here.
42:48
Just a couple weeks to sort of wrap up this series of Lotus in
42:51
the church. Exactly.
42:53
So, so So, James, let me ask you this Why does this matter?
42:59
What's what's really at stake here?
43:03
Brett there's a lot at stake. And really, if we abandoned
43:08
biblical truth, biblical morality, if we abandoned that,
43:11
we don't just lose some abstract idea, we lose the foundation for
43:16
justice. We lose the foundation for human
43:19
dignity, Brett. We even begin to lose the
43:22
foundation for accountability. If morality is just a human
43:26
construct, then we have to ask ourselves, why is murder wrong?
43:31
Why is lying bad? And ultimately, why should we
43:35
even care about justice at all? If we allow these things to not
43:39
have any human construct to it and any type of consequences or
43:47
moral code, then really anything that that we that someone thinks
43:52
is wrong, in my mind I can just say it's OK.
43:56
Exactly when when we remove God from morality, we we can see the
44:01
effects of this. We've got moral confusion,
44:05
lawlessness, the breakdown of the family.
44:08
It is no coincidence that as secularism arises and gets more
44:14
popular, also we see moral chaos along with that.
44:20
You look at all the all the countries that have come up
44:24
underneath biblical codes of conduct and you see how they are
44:29
today compared to countries that that didn't come up under
44:33
biblical foundations of truth. And you see the difference in in
44:38
that, you know, there's it's no coincidence that as secularism
44:42
rises, morality, biblical morality, goes out the window.
44:48
Yeah, and I believe, Brett, that's why it's so important for
44:51
us as Christians to stand firm on God's truth.
44:54
This past week I preached on Acts chapter 6, where they're
45:00
ordaining Stephen as a Deacon. And the apostles got up, the
45:04
disciples got up and said we must not neglect our prayer and
45:10
preaching of the Word of God. That must be the first and
45:13
foremost thing. And when we stand firm on God's
45:16
truth and we understand that we are called to be the salt and
45:20
the light of the world. When we are here to uphold God's
45:24
moral standard, even when the world rejects it, when we
45:28
understand that that that is the vital, the understanding of our
45:33
belief. When we must stand for
45:35
righteousness, when the world turns it away and we must stand
45:39
up and we must be the light in this Dark World.
45:42
Because if we're not the light, then how will anyone ever see
45:47
the way of salvation have we're not the ones that are making
45:50
people thirsty with being the salt of the world.
45:53
How are they going to ask for a drink of water?
45:56
I'm thinking often of the woman of the well who Jesus was there
45:59
talking with and and she was thirsty for physical water.
46:05
And Jesus said, if you believe in me, you can have water that
46:09
will never you have a well that never runs dry.
46:12
And still, even in that moment, she's thinking of a physical
46:15
water. And Jesus said, no, no, it's
46:17
something so much better than physical water.
46:20
It is something that is going to quench the thirst for your soul.
46:25
And that is what we're here to give out.
46:26
We're here to give out biblical morality for the souls of all
46:32
humankind. You know, I used to read that
46:35
passage when I was a kid and where the salt has lost its
46:39
savour or the salt has lost its saltiness.
46:42
And I used to think because of that, that that means it's salt
46:47
sits around long enough it it, it doesn't become, it loses its
46:51
saltiness. But that's actually impossible.
46:54
So you think about how is the only way for salt to lose its
46:59
saltiness? Well, the only way it can do
47:01
that is to mix it with something else.
47:04
When you mix the sub salt with water or some other substance,
47:10
then that's the only way you can dilute it.
47:13
Same thing with light lights in the sky, but say it clouds come
47:18
in or dust storm comes in and that stuff mixes with the light
47:23
it it dilutes the light. So when we take God's truth and
47:29
we mix in secular humanism and we mix in with the majority
47:34
thing. So we mix in what the society
47:38
likes because we're trying to be cool and want to reach people
47:42
and, and, and we start mixing in the sin of the world into our
47:47
truth, we, we dilute it and we become ineffective.
47:52
So secular morality. It might sound appealing, but
47:56
ultimately it's unstable. It's inconsistent.
48:00
Only biblical morality is rooted in God's unchanging character
48:05
and provides a firm foundation for life.
48:08
Lay down to that. If you're listening today and
48:11
you're struggling with these issues, we encourage you dig
48:14
into the light of God's Word. Dig into your Bible.
48:18
Begin to seek God's truth. Don't let culture dictate your
48:23
morality, and let God's Word define you and let God's Word
48:28
guide you. And so, until next time, to God
48:31
be the glory. Great things he has done.
48:34
Found my new name, Found that good grace, found that healing.
48:40
And the tears fell down my face when I found my beginning that
48:44
has no ending. I found my second chance.
48:46
Found my best friend, Found my forgiveness, found my happiness.
48:49
I've been singing everything. Thanks for listening to the Four
49:07
Freedom Podcast. If you enjoyed our content, do
49:11
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49:18
Be sure to join us next time for The Four Freedom Podcast.