“7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. 8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. 9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. 11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. 12 Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. 13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. 14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:7-14).

     Central to the struggle of our society is the struggle to establish what is right and what is wrong. The failure of the family unit is directly related to a society’s failure to establish absolute standards of right and wrong. In order to establish absolutes of right and wrong, a society must first recognize an absolute authority for what is right and wrong. When a society removes the absolute Authority (God) as the Author of right and wrong, they reduce those rights and wrongs from black and white issues to a hundred different shades of gray.

     Relativism is the reason for the situation ethics that the majority of people live by today. Relativists can always find certain circumstance under which they can justify doing something which would otherwise be considered wrong. For instance, if a woman is raped it would be justifiable for her to murder her innocent unborn baby because that baby would otherwise be a constant reminder of that rape. Another instance is that of a wife brutalized by her husband. She is justified in murdering him because of the failure of Law Enforcement to deal with him adequately. This is the way a relativistic society thinks. It will only get worse.

     When the United States forbade the display of the Ten Commandments in our government schools and public places, that act communicated to our society that there were no longer any Divinely ordained absolutes of right and wrong. The results of that are all too evident. In the 1960’s, 60% of families consisted of a working father, a homemaker wife and two children. Just forty years later, this defines less then 3% of the families in our society. Over half of the adults in our society define family “as any combination of people who have a close, personal relationship” (George Barna, Families, Moody Press). Barna goes on to say, “two out of three adults contend that ‘marriage should be used by people to help them cope with life more effectively, but should not limit people’s activities or opportunities in any way.’ In other words, as long as marriage meets one’s personal needs, it is useful; as soon as the bond requires compromising one’s own time, energy, or experiences, the union ceases to be viable.”

     Barna also says, “It is expected that among all of the children born this year, 60 percent will live in a single-parent household at some point before they reach their eighteenth birthday. . . Even more disturbing is the recent finding that such children are several times more likely to experience developmental, learning, and emotional problems before leaving home to initiate their own careers and living arrangements than youths from intact families.” Perhaps the recovery of families is what really defines the thrust of the ministry of the church as we enter the 21st century. Recovering families is done one at a time.

     In order to recover the family unit in our society, we must establish absolute Biblical standards of right and wrong within those families as individual units. The church can help define those Biblical standards, but individual families must implement them and own them. Fathers must become what God intended fathers to be, disciplers of wives and children. Fathers must teach their family members to know and obey the Word of God. They must do that by both instruction and example.

     Standards of right and wrong must be shown to be authored by God. Children must be taught to acknowledge those truths as being authored by God. Only then can a child understand that right and wrong are absolute realities that never change regardless of the circumstances of life. That is a central purpose of the Word of God.

“16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (II Timothy 3:16-17).

1. When God says His Word is “profitable for doctrine,” it means it is intended to establish absolute standards for normalcy (for what is normal).
2. When God says His Word is given “for reproof,” it means it is provided to reveal when we have strayed off of the path of normalcy.
3. When God says His Word is given “for correction,” it means it is provided to reveal to us how to get back on the path of normalcy.
4. When God says His Word is given “for instruction in righteousness,” it means it is provided to reveal to us how to stay on the path of normalcy (“walk in the light,” 1 John 1:7).

     Normalcy is God’s highest standard for life. The common Bible word for normalcy is the word “holy.” Anything that falls short of that normalcy, to any degree, is what the Bible calls sin. Hamartiology is the theological term for what the Bible teaches about sin, and what sin is. It comes from the Greek word hamartano meaning to miss the mark and therefore, of course, not to receive the prize. That is the truth communicated by Romans 3:23.

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

     The farther the world moves away from the absolute standards of right and wrong revealed by the Word of God, the more abstract those standards of rightness become. To most people in that kind of society, those kinds of standards appear radical. However, Biblical standards of right and wrong (righteousness) should not be rejected simply because they appear radical compared to cultural standards. As wickedness increases in a society (and it is increasing), God’s standards of right and wrong remain constant. They do not change, because God does not change. What was sin 2,000 years ago is still sin today.

     Psalm 19:7-14 gives us a number of purposes of the Law (as used in this sense, the word “Law” is synonymous with God’s moral instructions regarding right and wrong). They should each be carefully considered because each is critical to our normalcy before God.

1. The Word of God (“law”) defines what God has done to save our souls which opens the door to our hearts for personal conversion (verse 7). The word “law” is from the Hebrew word towrah (to-raw') meaning instruction or direction in life.

2. The Word of God (“testimony”) provides an anchor of steadfastness (“sure”) in an ever changing world. It corrects an individual’s ignorance about God. The word “testimony” is from the Hebrew word eduwth (ay-dooth') meaning witness. It is God’s testimony to the world of His righteousness.

3. In verse 8, the word “statute” is from the Hebrew word piqqud (pik-kood'), meaning a precept or commandment. God’s Word does not reveal His requests of mankind. God’s Word reveals His commands. Those commands are absolute with clearly defined perimeters (what is “right“). Those absolutes open the eyes to see the realities of a righteous God to those who are blinded to spiritual truths by the corruption of sin.

4. In verse 9, the word “judgments” is from the Hebrew word mishpat (mish-pawt'), which refers to the act of deciding a case of law and the resulting sentence of judgment. Because there is a Judge (God) Who will judge all men according to His absolute standard of right and wrong, all men should have an honest, healthy fear of His justice whenever they choose to live contrary to His Word.

5. According to verse 11, every historical judgment of God is intended to be a warning for all who follow.

“4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; 7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) 9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished” (II Peter 2:4-9).

6. According to verse 13, the Word of God keeps the believer (belief presumes obedience) from sins which arrogantly take God’s forgiveness and grace for granted without careful consideration to the reproach sin brings upon God’s Name. Sin has “dominion over” us when we feed the carnal beast within ourselves or in others. We become responsible to God (judgment) for both our own presumptive sins and the corruption that sin causes in the lives of those around us.

     When the absolutes of God’s Word are offensive to you, then you will become defensive to God’s Word. The reason that is true is because God’s Word always invades our private world of secret choices (Psalm 19:12, “secret faults”). What is the real problem behind this person’s defensiveness toward the absolutes of God’s Word? The real problem is because he does not truly love the Lord. You cannot take offense at God’s Word and not give offense to its Author.

“Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them” (Psalm 119:165).

     Until we can understand and grasp onto the reality that God’s Word is God communicating His heart to fallen sinners, God’s Word will always be seen as an invasion into our private lives and an intrusion on our personal liberties. When we refuse the absolutes of God’s Word, we deny His Lordship (authority) over our lives.
Holiness is not some ambiguous impossibility. Holiness is defined by the absolutes of God’s Word. God does not command us to do what He does not enable us to do. He commands us to be holy. He expects us to be holy.

“13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: 15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (I Peter 1:13-16).