Monday, May 5, 2008

IDEA: God reveals His will for us by direct statements and through principles.

PURPOSE: To help people apply God's Word to their lives.

Genesis 19:34-38 deals with incest.

Would you accept it because it's there in the Bible, and say that incest is permissible?

We want to be people who apply the Bible to life. But we need to be careful how we do it.

How can we think about applying God's truth?

I. Much of God's truth is explicit and clear. 

The commands are explicit:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, and your neighbor as yourself. Forgive those who sin against you. Pray always.

Or look at Hebrews 13:5 - Keep your lives free from the love of money, for He has said that He will never leave you. You have two things here: a command to be obeyed and a promise to believe.

The application is explicit; the doing of it may be difficult.

II. There are also principles behind direct commands.

1 Peter 2:17, 1 Timothy 2:2 - The command is basically to honor and to pray for the king. Does that mean that Americans don't have to honor or pray for the president? There is a principle behind it that we are to honor and to pray for all in authority.

1 Corinthians 8:13 is specific. But behind it is the principle that I will never do anything that will cause a brother or sister to fall into sin.