2 Timothy 3:1 – 5 “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”
THE SAD ETHICAL STATE OF THE WORLD
Sad statistics on lying, cheating, immorality, and the like
(Judges 17:6; Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:23)
THE TRAGIC STATE OF THE VISIBLE CHURCH
The general ethical conduct of Christians varies only slightly from non-Christians” (with some grand exceptions, of course).
Randy Alcorn: Christians are being desensitized to sin
Romans 2:19 – 24 “if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
THE LORD COMMANDS HIS FOLLOWERS TO LIVE ETHICALLY (Colossians 3:8 – 9; Titus 2:9 – 10;
Luke 3:8 – 14; Colossians 2:15)
ITS POSSIBLE TO LIVE ETHICALLY EVEN WHEN SURROUNDED BY PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT GOD-FOLLOWERS
Daniel 6:1 – 5 “It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss. Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. Finally these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.”
BENEFITS OF ETHICAL LIVING IN AN UNETHICAL AGE
- Peace that comes from a clear conscience
(1 Peter 3:16)
- Great joy of being close to God (Psalm 15:1 – 6)
- Avoiding the sad consequences of sin and compromise (Proverbs 11:3)
- Privilege of being an instrument of God to impact lives for eternal good (Proverbs 20:7)