Is Right Still Right?

FBMB

February 22, 2009

Sunday Morning

“Is Right Still Right?”

Daniel 1:8; 3:18

Intro.: Ever since God created man and gave him the ability to think – we have consistently made wrong decisions. From Adam to Abraham, from Moses to Matthew to Mary, from Joseph to Jonah to John. From the Bible to backyards across the world, from the church to the city, all are filled with victims who have made wrong decisions and thus did not choose to do right.

Today our media venues are filled with people, children and adults, well-known and unknown, rich and poor, all colors of the race – filled with people who are making wrong choices with very little consequences or punishment.

Maybe you’re faced with a decision right now about what is right. Maybe right now your mind seems cluttered because you’re filled with offers, suggestions, alternatives, pulling you in directions you’re not sure about.

The major contributing factor that’s making it difficult to make right decisions today is the postmodern era that we live in. Post modernism has so blurred the line between right and wrong that people have a difficult time discerning what kind of behavior is good, appropriate, and expected; what behavior is fundamentally wrong; and which choices are morally neutral.

Thanks to the postmodern worldview, it’s considered foolish to declare that truth exists and boorish to suggest that one can have it.

This morning I want to us the Bible and do my best to answer the question “Is Right Still Right?” I want to share with you a short story from the Bible and them make some real practical applications for the believer and why we need to know right, learn right and do right.

I. S TORY from the Bible

A. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego.

1. At the age of sixteen Daniel was deported to Babylon and was handpicked for government service, he became a servant to King Nebuchadnezzar.

2. God used Daniel to interpret dreams for the three different kings, one king on two different occasions.

3. In Daniel 1 Daniel and his three friends begin their co-labor of service to the king.

4. In chapter 2 Daniel is called upon to interpret the king’s first dream b/c none of his magicians or astrologers can do so.

5. God helps him successfully interpret the dream, the king promotes Daniel and his three friends.

B. Chapter 3

1. King Neby constructs a gold image and commands all the people to bow down to it and worship it.

2. Daniel and his three friends refuse to do so, the king finds out and orders the three friends brought to him.

3. In 3:15 the king gives the three friends an ultimatum: either bow down or be thrown into the furnace.

4. The three answered in a chorus of courageous and confident words: Daniel 3:16-18.

5. The three are thrown in the furnace and notice their silent unsigned and odorless testimony – Daniel 3:27.

C. Scanning the next three chapters -

1. Ch. 4 Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s second dream, he’s promoted again and King Neby’s kingdom is lost.

2. Ch. 5 Daniel interprets King Belshazzar’s writing on the wall and that very night he was slain.

3. Ch. 6 King Darius signs a decree that if anyone petitions another god besides Darius they would be cast into a den of lions.

4. READ Daniel 6: 10.

5. With much hesitation and in great persuasion King Darius commands to have Daniel thrown into the lion’s den.

6. READ Daniel 6:19-23.

II. STATEMENT from the Mind

A. I can say with genuine certainty and with absolutely no arrogance, I HAVE A DIRECT LINE TO ABSOLUTE TRUTH.

1. I didn’t uncover it, I didn’t create it.

2. I wasn’t the first to see it or even recognize it.

3. I have a direct line to absolute truth b/c I accept God’s Word as authentic revelation from the AUTHOR of truth.

B. The sixty-six books in this Bible provide me with God’s directives and principles for my life.

1. God took time to have His Word written down over a period of 1400 years by 40 different authors so that I can LEARN right, KNOW right and DO right.

2. Over 2500-3000 years this inspired Word has been preserved so that I may know Him and obey His will.

3. As I read the words in this book I see God’s character being revealed and by discovering His character I discover what values and choices give Him the most pleasure.

4 To do what is right is to CONFORM my life to the directives and principles found in the sixty-six books of the Bible.

5. Not to a newspaper, horoscope, fortune cookie, political circle, on the ladder of success, a board meeting, an open forum, or off a talk show.