HAVING MORAL CERTAINTY

IN A RELATIVISTIC WORLD

Psalm 119:1-2

Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD. Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.

Here is a simple question: Would you like to be happier?   Would you like to live a life that is more filled with joy and fulfillment?  Well, the first two verses of this Psalm tell you how to do it.  As in the beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount, the word "blessed" in these verses means, "happy, content, and fulfilled."  So the Psalmist says the pathway to happiness, contentment and fulfillment is to walk according to the law of the Lord.  The means to get there is to keep God's statutes and seek Him with your whole heart.  But the sad truth is that most people have little interest in being good or godly.  Nevertheless, they are very interested in being happy, and they so they seek happiness apart from godliness.  What they fail to understand is that there is no real happiness apart from godliness. 

The best the worldly person can do is to find their level of least unhappiness and work at staying there.  To give them credit, most people do the best they can without God.  They follow the path that seems right in their own eyes.  They try to be moral, but always fall short because they are shooting at a moving target.  Their standard is best defined as moral relativism -- the general consensus of what seems "right" to a constantly changing group of people.  

But you, Christian, have the standard that is fixed in heaven and does not change.  That standard is Scripture.  God's statutes are not based on what "seems right."  His law is based on what IS right.  The precepts of God are not “judgment calls.”  They are not “gray areas.”  They are clear and, if we are wise, we will obey them fully, without deviation.  God’s Word alone can provide you with an accurate moral compass that will always point you in the right direction!

Vs. 9 of this Psalm asks a very pertinent question: "How can a young man keep his way pure?" and then answers it: "By living according to your word."  You see, you don't have to constantly search out the right thing to do.  You have both the Word and the Spirit of God to inform you and guide you.  Unlike your unbelieving friends you can have moral certainty.  You can walk uprightly before God.  You can live according to His "rules for happiness." 

I. Give God first place in your life

II. Don’t get distracted by stuff in general and idols in particular

III. Don’t talk improperly about God

IV. Make the Lord's Day special

V. Honor your parents

VI. Don’t murder

VII. Don’t commit adultery

VIII. Don’t take what isn’t yours

IX. Don’t say things that aren’t true about others

X. Don’t obsess over what others have

So be happy, contented, and fulfilled; and don’t apologize to anybody for godly living!

--- Pastor Keith Andrews