Morality Without Godliness
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton
Text: II Kings 6:24-31
I. Some people have a pretty good sense of morality and yet are not interested in following God
A. For example, not all atheists are immoral people
B. But there is a problem with the consistency of their moral standards.
II. Jehoram
A. Jehoram was not a good man, but his sins were not like those of his parents, Ahab and Jezebel (II Kings 3:1-3)
B. He does show a sense of decency.
C. At one point in his reign, his capital was under siege by Ben-hadad just as the land was also experiencing a famine - II Kings 6:24-30
D. This treatment of children disgusted Johram and he went into mourning
III. Morality without God will not be consistent
A. If we ask each person on the planet to devise a system of morality, you would not likely find the same result.
B. People cannot determine right and wrong on their own - Jeremiah 10:23
C. What might look good doesn’t always result in good - Proverbs 14:12
D. While most would agree that it is wrong for a mother to kill and eat her son.
1. But what about aborting babies because they are inconvenient?
E. Jehoram showed this by blaming what the women had done on God’s prophet - II Kings 6:31
1. Jehoram want to fix the murder of a child by murdering God’s prophet
2. A better response would be to wonder if his own evil was causing the hardships on his kingdom.
3. Yet, people rarely consider their own faults. Any problem has to be due to someone else - Romans 2:1-3
IV. A fixed standard is required
A. God’s word is a guide - Psalms 119:105
B. We have seen that removing God and His teachings from the public arena has resulted in a decay of morality in society.
C. We need more than morality. We need godliness - I Timothy 4:8
Based on an article by Lee Moses
