Do Right!
Deuteronomy 6:17-19
As believers we told in God’s Word that we are free. However, that freedom is not a license to go out and do whatever we want to do. We have been called to do right and to do right at all times in all circumstances wherever we are. Too many Christians have yielded to the peer pressure confronting them from friends, family, work, school, society, and even other Christians. What is needed today are believers that will say “We will do right regardless of whether or not anyone else does. We will do right.”
I. Do right because it is right.
A. 1 Peter 1:16 “...Be ye holy; for I am holy.”
1. God is Holy and does only that which is right.
2. Genesis 18:25 “...Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
3. As Christians we are to bear the family resemblance.
B. Do right for the right reasons.
1. Some do right out of fear of punishment
a. Wicked men obey from fear; good men, from love. Aristotle
b. Hebrews 2:15 “And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage”
c. The man who obeys God solely from a sense of fear will never know the joy of obedience.
d. 1 John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.”
2. Some do right out of pride.
a. Matthew 6:1-2 “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
b. This philosophy is seen in the words of the little poem ”Not Even a Whisper?” by Katie Kellogg:
I do my good deeds secretly.
No words must get about.
Still, it is rather annoying
When not a word leaks out. - Katie Kellogg "Post Scripts" in The Saturday Evening Post. July/August 2006, p. 96.
C. Do right for God’s glory
1. We need a heart that desires to do right because it is right. We need a heart that desires to obey God because we love God.
2. 1 Corinthians 10:31 “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
3. Matthew 5:16 "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
4. Back in the days before we had electric street lights, it was the lamplighter's business to light the lamps, not to make himself seen. What matters it, if people take little notice of you? The important thing is to make them take notice of your light. You do not need to seek to be seen of men, but you do need to shine that men may see. - copied
D. It is never right to do wrong to do right
1. In Romans 3:8 we learn that Paul in his preach of salvation by grace was falsely accused of saying, “Let us do evil that good may come.” To which philosophy of the end justifying the means Paul justly and throroughly condemns.
2. Dr. Bob Jones used to thunder from the pulpits across America, ““It is never right to do wrong in order to get a chance to do right.”
3. We never have the right to do what God said is wrong regardless of what we think or the reasoning behind our actions.
4. The perfect example is that of Saul in 1 Samuel 13:6-14 “Then the Philistines gathered together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude. And they came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of Beth Aven. When the men of Israel saw that they were in danger (for the people were distressed), then the people hid in caves, in thickets, in rocks, in holes, and in pits. And some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. Then he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. So Saul said, “Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me.” And he offered the burnt offering. Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him. And Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, then I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the LORD.’ Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.” And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you. For now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”
5. You would think that Saul learned his lesson but he is rebuked again by Samuel in 1 Samuel 15:22 where we read “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
6. Proverbs 21:3 “To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.”
II. Do all that we know is right to do.
A. A Sunday School teacher had been teaching her little pupils about the sins of commission and omission. She asked done little boy to define them for her. His answer: "The sins of commission are the sins you shouldn't have committed and the sins of omission are the sins you should have committed. – copied
B. I don’t believe he had it quite right.
C. James 4:17 “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”
D. Understand doing right means doing what God says is right not what we or others feel is right.
E. Deuteronomy 12:8 “You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes.”
F. Being holy, as God commands His followers to be, does not consist merely in doing nothing wrong, but also in doing ALL that is right.
G. Exodus 15:26 “And said, ‘If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep ALL his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.’”
H. At Sault Ste. Marie Michigan, there is large cement pyramid… “A plaque on this concrete pyramid said that on August 25, 1840, William A. Burt of the Department of Surveyors established this point as the northern end of a line running through all of Michigan, from which land is still surveyed today. Boundaries are accurate when measured from that line. “What the meridian is to Michigan surveyors, the word of God is to us. It is a perfect standard by which to measure our decisions and guide our steps. If we live in obedience to its commands, we will stay in line with God’s will and blessing.” – Our Daily Bread
I. Deuteronomy 12:28 "Observe and obey ALL these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God.”
III. Do right no matter what it may cost.
A. "Wrong is wrong – even if everyone is doing it. Right is right – even if no one is doing it." - unknown
B. Proverbs 1:10 “My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.”
C. A Christian must do right regardless who applies pressure.
D. In this day and age where people do whatever is right in their own eyes we have a choice to make. We can either do right regardless of what others are doing or we can follow what the world is doing. Most Christians would rather go with the flow of the world than stand up for the Word of God.
E. 1 Peter 3:17 “For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.”
F. It is always right to do right regardless of the results. Always make the decision apart from the results. If right turns out wrong, it is still right to do right. - copied
G. Our attitude should be this: "Lord, I'm going to do right no matter how hard it is, how much it hurts, and no matter what it costs. I will do all that is right with all of my heart.
H. 2 Chronicles 25:1-2 “Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, yet not with a whole heart.”
I. For the believer nothing should be of greater value than to live in full obedience to the Lord Who has redeemed them.
