The Implications of the Doctrines of Man & Sin (2)

We are, we've rounded the corner. We're headed down the home stretch of our study on what the Bible teaches about man and sin. And as we kind of wrap up some miscellaneous items that touch on the area that we've been studying, we're looking now at some of the implications. If we believe what we believe about what the Bible teaches about man and about sin, how does that impact some very practical areas of our lives? And we looked last week at how it impacted what we believe about psychology. And there are, you know, when you believe what the Bible says about man and about sin, that definitely impacts what you believe about human behavior and how that's to be analyzed, how it's to be directed and so forth. So we saw some implications regarding psychology. Tonight we're going to look at a couple of other implications, the first of which has to do with sociology. I don't intend this to sound like a liberal arts course in a college at all, but there are very practical topics regarding these areas that what we believe about man and sin really touches on. Sociology really is the study of groups of people and how they interact with each other can be cultures or ethnic groups or racial groups, nationalities, groups of people and how they interact with each other. That's really the subject of sociology and so obviously the Bible touches on that specifically as it deals with the origin and destiny of man and also the origin of the races. So we're going to talk a little bit about that for a few minutes. Let's begin where we began last week with the relationship between biblical principles and sociology. It's interesting that when we think of sin, we often think of sin purely in an individual context that we sin, we are sinners individually. We don't often stop to think about the fact that sin affects society as well. Our emphasis on a personal relationship with God through Christ is very needed and obviously very important, but sometimes in thinking about that we neglect the impact of sin on society and the various injustices and oppressions and so forth that may come about because of sin on a group of people. Or how a group of people is viewed. One of the social sins that the biblical doctrine of man directly touches, it has to do with racism and ethnic prejudice. Let me explain what I'm talking about there to find those a little bit and then we'll see what the Bible teaches about those. First of all, racism is the belief that one race is superior to another or that one is inferior, one race is inferior to other races. That's racism. Ethnic prejudice is very similar except that it is directed more toward a different culture or a different nationality. Rather than a different race, you may be talking in ethnic prejudice about a different nationality or a different culture. Obviously the Bible talks about those things and we're going to see several passages that deal with that tonight. And the whole concept of sin and the origin of mankind also directly affect what we believe about the relationship between the races and prejudice, racism, ethnic prejudice and so forth. I believe that the Bible teaches that racism and ethnic prejudice involve both outward sin and inward sin. The outward sins of discrimination and segregation and the inward sins, heart sins of an unloving attitude, pride, even hatred. So there's a lot involved here with what the Bible teaches about sin that touches on this part of sociology. So we're going to look at some relevant biblical truths for a few minutes and that touch on this whole subject of racism, ethnic prejudice, just the whole idea of the races. The first biblical truth that touches on this is humanity's common origin. Humanities common origin. All human beings have a common ancestor and that is Adam. If you believe what the Bible teaches about creation, again that was where we started with the doctrine of man. If you believe what the Bible teaches about creation, then you recognize that all of us, regardless of ethnicity or race, trace our lineage back to one man. And that is Adam, Adam and Eve. And if you want to become a little more specific, also to Noah and his family because by the time of the flood, they were the only ones left on planet earth. So we all have a common origin. I want you to look in Acts chapter 17 where Paul makes this point very clearly, Acts chapter 17, in his speaking with a group of intellectuals and philosophers in Athens, Greece. On his missionary travels, he comes into Athens and he began to speak to those who were gathered in a place where you could share ideas. You could share your philosophy, your belief system, your ideas in the marketplace and he's standing up to present Christ to these folks. They begin by talking about Christ. He begins by talking about some common ground and talking about creation. Notice what he says in Acts 17 verse 24. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. He is not served by human hands as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man, he made all the nations that they should inhabit the whole earth and he marked out the appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands, an amazing statement of God's sovereignty over human history and even the direction of human history, the composition, duration of nations. But it all goes back to one man, Adam. From one man, he made all the nations and so a very clear biblical statement that all of the nations, all of the ethnic groups, trace back to one man. Now that means that we all had the same start. We all genetically go back to one man, Adam. There are no alleged differences or deficiencies due to some kind of different origins that we may have had or some variation that's taught in evolution. A biblical view of man sees that we all come from a common ancestor, all races, all ethnic groups, all nationalities. Now where did the different nationalities and ethnic groups and races originate? Somebody tell me, Tower of Babel. Now why? How did that happen? That's what motivated God Tommy saying that they didn't want to spread over the whole world as God had told them to and worship him as the true God. The Tower that was dedicated to the worship of the heavens, the Tower under heaven, by the way that does not mean a tower that reached to heaven. That's not what it was about. Literally the Hebrew says it was a Tower under heaven, a tower that was dedicated to heaven and archaeologists have uncovered many similar towers in the ancient Near East called Ziggaratz that would be built up in a stair-step fashion and have a temple on the top. And that temple would be dedicated to the heavens. It was the worship of the heavenly bodies, which is at the root of much pagan religion that was going on at the Tower of Babel. Okay, God in order to cause them to disperse, confuse their speech, remember confuse their tongue, as the Bible says, where they began to speak different languages. Now what happened as a result of people speaking different languages? They would have grouped together. I mean, I'm not going to go off with you somewhere if I can't understand a word you're saying, I'm going to find the people I can understand. You know, that's why I'm a hillbilly in West Virginia. I understand you folks. So I stay here. All right. So you gravitate toward people. It's you understand. You can't you understand the language. Obviously that's what happened. Now let's take it a step further. When people begin to group together, what happens that what happens from there? You know where I'm headed? Get their own identity. Enter Mary within their group and that brings to the surface different genetic traits that become dominant in that group, which give us the different skin colors, the different facial shapes, the different heights and so forth. All of that traces back to the tower of Bable. It has nothing to do with a common ancestry. It has everything to do with the division that took place among mankind and the genetic pool being affected by that. That's what caused the races was what happened to tower of Bable. So there is no distinction in the races as far as origin is concerned as far as tracing back to Adam that was created by God. So humanity's common origin helps us to understand something about ethnic differences, racial differences and where they started. Okay. Any comment or question about that? Yes, Randall? I don't know that I've heard that said exactly that way. Before the end of time, there will only be one race. I don't know that that's necessarily true here on earth. Now in heaven, will there be different nationalities? I don't know. I don't know. Certainly as we're going to see a little bit, I don't want to jump the gun here. We're going to see a little bit. There are no divisions in the body of Christ. It doesn't mean that there's only one race or one ethnic ethnic group, but those things should not separate us. So I don't know that that statement would be accurate. Tommy? They did go into different locations because of the tower of Bable, but it was actually the intermarrying only within a closed group that began to change the gene pool and different genetic traits began to come to the surface. And that's what breeding is all about. Breeding of animals is all about. That's a very common part of biology that happens. So when people group together and only intermarried within that group, different genetic traits begin to appear or be pronounced. That's what happened with the races. Actually, the different skin colors are caused by the genetic makeup, not really by the geographical location. So that also is a part of the genetic makeup, but we have a common origin. That's the key thing to recognize here. And the difference of the races does not go back to creation. Certainly, it has nothing to do with evolution. If you believe what the Bible teaches about man and sin, then it's particularly man, then it helps to understand where the different racial and ethnic groups come from. The next thing that we need to see about a biblical sociology, if you will, is humanity's common sin. We're not going to look at this passage because we've looked at it several times recently. That is in Romans 5. But we have seen there several times in Romans 5 that Adam's sin has affected the entire human race equally. One man's sin brought death and a sin nature to everybody. No exception. That's where that all came from. Now, there are certainly differing levels of depravity or at least differing levels of how it is demonstrated in individuals. But that cannot biblically be applied to groups or races. As far as our sin nature is concerned, we all come from a common source there as well. And that is Adam. We all have the same sin nature. There's not one group of beings, ethnic group, cultural group, national group, racial group that has any more of a sin nature than anybody else. We all have the same sin nature. So we all come from a common origin. We all have the same human nature tainted by sin, clear in Romans chapter 5. Okay, comments or questions about that. That seems pretty straightforward. Yes, Kisti? I'm going through the next point. Yeah, we're going to get there. Kisti is raising the question about ham and the curse in Genesis 9. And we'll get there in just a moment. That's a great question. And it is it is hard to believe that that still surfaces, but it does. It does. We'll get to that in just a moment. Let's talk a little bit about the potential for redemption because this is another element of biblical theology about what we believe about man that touches on this issue of cultural ethnic racial distinctions. Anyone has the same opportunity for salvation. There is no group that has a corner on redemption. There is no segment of society or social group, ethnic group, cultural group, national group that has a special line to God, a special line to God that makes them favored above anybody else. Just like we all inherit to the sin nature from Adam, we all share the same nature. We all have the same opportunity for salvation. Couple of passages that show that. Let's look at them. Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3 verses 26 to 28. So in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is their male and female for you are all one in Christ Jesus. What he's talking about there is the spiritual opportunity, privilege of being in Christ, of being saved, that is applied equally to all of humanity. Nobody has a special corner on redemption. So in Christ there are no ethnic distinctions or cultural or national distinctions. In the New Testament the obvious, most glaring distinction between Jew and Gentile. And those are ethnic, religious and national differences. And what Paul says is there is no distinction in Christ. They both have the same spiritual privilege in Christ. Same is true of other distinctions that may be made culturally, slave nor free, even gender, male and female. And again in the context he's not saying there's no difference in the genders. What he's saying is there's no difference in your position in Christ. Because he said in verses 26 and 27, you are all in Christ. That's the point. It's not that the genders are the same. It's that your position and standing spiritually before God in Christ is the same. There's no distinction. And so just as no race has any favored status spiritually in God's sight, no gender has favored status spiritually as far as standing before God in God's sight either. That's the point of Galatians 3.28. It's not a statement about feminism. It's a statement about position in Christ. That's the whole context. One other passage Ephesians 2. Ephesians chapter 2. And this is the whole Jew, Gentile distinction again, which was so common in New Testament times. Paul really blows that distinction out of the water here in this passage. Verse 11 of Ephesians 2. He says, Remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called uncircumcised by those who called themselves the circumcision, which is done in the body by human hands. Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, talking about before Christ in the Old Testament, excluded from citizenship and Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise without hope and without God in the world. But now notice what makes them all equal. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. Now this is a very powerful statement about differing racial and ethnic groups being made one in Christ. And there's no more hostility, no barrier, nothing that separates them. He says in verse 15, He did this by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two thus making peace. And in one body notice again this has to do with being in the body of Christ, our position, our standing before God in Christ. And in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away in peace to those who were near for through him we both have access to the father by one spirit. There cannot be any more powerful statement on the equality that we share in Christ that there is no racial, ethnic, cultural, national distinction in Christ. So the potential for redemption is equal for all people. That's a biblical concept that helps us understand all the ethnic, racial division and so forth today. Now the last thing I want to talk about and then we'll throw it open for questions is this the real cause of racism and prejudice. The real cause has to do with our sin nature. Look at Colossians 3 since we're close here Colossians chapter 3 verses 9 through 11 Colossians 3 verse 9. Do not lie to each other since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its creator. Now notice he's talking about the old life controlled dominated by our sinful nature that has been positionally put off in Christ and we have put on the new self that's our new identity in Christ as a child of God. And we are thus being renewed we're growing we're being changed in knowledge in the image of its creator. Now notice what he says in verse 11 here. What does it mean by that here in the new man in the in in Christ in in the new nature that we have that's being renewed in the image of God here. There is no Gentile or Jew circumcised or uncircumcised barbarian, sithian, slave or free but Christ is all and is in all. Now in our old life there may have been those distinctions in our new life in Christ there is no room for those distinctions such distinctions culturally ethnically, racially and so forth as far as prejudice, racism those kinds of things. That should never continue to prevail in a redeemed community because in the redeemed community of believers we are all one in Christ that is very clear in this passage. Now I wanted to say even till last the very question that that Kishti raised which is a question that always comes up because there are many people who who believe that black people are a part of the curse on ham in Genesis chapter 9. So let's go back to Genesis chapter 9 so we get a feel for what's being talked about here. If you read the literature of many preachers, sermons of many preachers at the time of the Civil War you will find this argument very prominent in the South during the Civil War, very prominent. The argument that I'm about to hopefully destroy here from a clear view of what the Bible is actually saying. Okay, let's get the context here. Genesis 9 verse 18, the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shim, Ham and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. Notice that little notation there. These were the three sons of Noah and from them came the people who scattered over the whole earth. Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard when he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. But Shim and Japheth took a garment later to cross their shoulders and they walked in backward and covered their father's naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked. When Noah woke from his wine, found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said, the person who had been cursed, the person who had been cursed, the person who had been cursed, the person who had been cursed, the lowest of slaves, will be to his brothers. And then he pronounces a blessing on Shim and Japheth. Now if you go on through the table of nations in chapter 10, you find that the descendants of Shim were basically the middle eastern people, the descendants of Ham settled in the regions of Africa and the descendants of Japheth would eventually settle in what is known to the as Europe and the Western nations. So because of that, many people think since Ham was the guilty one that the condemnation on Ham who would settle in Africa was that he was to be cursed to be slaves. And so the Bible teaches that the black race is to be slaves. That was preached from many, many pulpits in the Civil War time and before the Civil War. But would you notice the curse is not on Ham. What does verse 25 clearly say? But it's quite clear the curse is not on Ham and his descendants, the curse is on Canaan. Now who came from Canaan? That's almost a rhetorical question. The Canaanites, okay, where did the Canaanites settle in Africa? No. They were Caucasian and they settled in the Middle East. They became very wicked people, the different groups of the Canaanites and God carried out his curse and judgment on them through the Israelites when they invaded the land of Israel, destroyed most of the Canaanites and the ones they did not destroy, they put into slavery. That was the fulfillment of this promise. It has nothing to do with blacks. It actually has nothing to do with racial groups. It had to do with a group of Caucasian people, the descendants of Canaan who became the Canaanites. So Genesis 9, if that's used to describe that God intended for black people to be an inferior race of slaves, that is a horrible perversion of the Scriptures. So that argument does sometimes come up at least used to and some still incredibly enough use that argument when it is very clear what God is saying here has nothing to do with the races. So the real cause of racism and prejudice is our sin nature. According to Colossians 3, living in the old nature, the old man, the old self rather than the new self which is being renewed in the image of God through the knowledge of Christ. Okay, comments or questions about what we believe about the Bible's teaching on man, how that impacts our view of sociology, particularly ethnic prejudice and racism. Any question about that? All right, let's take the next few minutes then to talk about the implications of the doctrine of man and sin regarding evangelism. I don't think you can evangelize people effectively or correctly if you do not understand what the Bible teaches about man and about sin, obviously, about sin, but also about man. Let's talk about the implication of the image of God. Now that has to do with man. We discussed the image of God early in our study of what the Bible teaches about man, but it has direct bearing on evangelism in this way. Every human being is made in the image of God. Part of that means that we have the capacity to have a relationship with God. Now that capacity to have a relationship with God, which is inherent in the fact that we share his image, that capacity to have a relationship with God makes every person the subject of evangelism or the object of evangelism, I should say. The one that we should evangelize regardless of who they are or what kind of person they are because the image of God leads to a worth and dignity and potential in every person which can only be fully realized in redemption. Every person has the capacity to have a relationship with God and no matter how much that image of God and likeness to him has been marred and damaged by sin, there is still that capacity to have a relationship with God, thus making every person a potential believer. One who could come to Christ. Now there are some people that their diversity and their depravity does not show as much as some other people. Have you ever seen a good moral unsaved person and thought to yourself or maybe even said to someone else, they would make a fantastic believer if they only knew the Lord what a powerful witness they could be? There is some truth to that in the sense that only redemption can really bring out what God intended that person to be and only redemption obviously can change their eternal destiny, but only redemption can bring to fruition the image of God in that person. But here is my point, the same thing is true of the worst person on planet earth, morally, no matter to what depths a person may have sunk to, they can still come to Christ, God can renew them, save them, renew them, restore in them the image of God. And what I want to do is go back to Colossians 3, the verse we saw earlier, Colossians chapter 3, verse 9, do not lie to each other since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge, notice in the image of its creator. Part of what happens to us in redemption, in salvation, is that God begins to renew us and what is he making us to be like? Himself, we are actually being renewed in the fullest extent of that image of God which we were created in, we were created to be like Him. And so He is renewing us in that, that's a part of the process of sanctification of Christian growth that takes place throughout the rest of our lives. So no matter how much that image may have been marred or effaced by depths of sin, distorted by sin, even to the point where we wonder with some people, is there any hope at all? There is hope because the image of God still exists in that person and no matter how low a person gets, if they come to Christ and trust Christ, God begins that same process in them of changing them from the inside out. Obviously a person who has gone to the very depths and lowest levels of sin has a lot more to clean up, has a lot more to change in the way of their thought processes and the way they respond to issues in life. And so God is at work doing a lot of things in that person's life. It also is true of the most moral, law-biting, seemingly good person, but there may not be as much junk in the thinking and so forth to overcome. Still, hopeless apart from Christ, but the image of God in man makes it possible for anybody, no matter how far they've sunk, to be renewed and to grow in their knowledge of Christ, but they've got to come to Christ first. I like what James says in James 3 and verse 9, where he says, with the tongue, we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we also curse human beings who have been made in God's likeness. Every human being carries the image of God. It has been marred by the fall, but the capacity there to be like him to have a relationship with him is still there. Otherwise, no one could ever be saved. No one could ever be saved. The implication of the image of God is very powerful when it comes to evangelism. There is no one beyond hope as far as capacity to have a relationship with God is concerned. There are other issues involved there that we can get to later, but as far as the image of God, every person has that capacity and potential for a relationship with God. Let me quickly deal with this next one so that we can stop at a good point tonight. That is the implication of human depravity. The image of God has to do with what we believe about man. That impacts evangelism. Depravity has to do with what we believe about sin. That also impacts evangelism. Remember depravity? What we mean by that is that we are utterly contaminated by sin and we are utterly contaminated in every part of our being. Our mind, emotions, will, everything about us has been tainted and depraved and contaminated by sin. Obviously, that impacts what we believe about evangelism. There is no need for evangelism if people are not depraved. If people are not depraved, if they have not been contaminated by sin, then all we need to do is provide education, a little reformation, help them learn to do things better and treat each other nicer. That is basically what unbelieving religion does. That is their goal. To try to help people be nicer and better. Like Jesus said, do unto others as you would have them do unto you and just be a nice good person. We can help you learn that. That is just religion. If man is basically good, then he doesn't need salvation. He just needs a little bit of education and prompting and a little bit of reformation. But if we are depraved, then we are absolutely cast upon the grace of God and the redemption that is only possible in him. But as far as our evangelism and reaching people, there are also a couple of effects of what we believe about depravity. Number one, it makes clear that we are dependent on the Holy Spirit for any evangelism that we do. The Holy Spirit is the one who convicts people of sin, John 16, he is the one who draws people to Christ. He is the one who convicts, woos, draws. It is not our clever persuasion and convincing and real clever tricky invitations to get people to feel humiliated if they don't come forward. That is all trickery of man. What is required for people to come to a saving knowledge of Christ is the work of the Holy Spirit in people's depraved hearts to help them to recognize the truth of God's Word, come into the conviction of the Holy Spirit and be drawn to Christ. Now we will see more of that when we get to the doctrine of salvation, which is the next doctrine we are going to talk about after the doctrine of sin. We will get more into the work of the Holy Spirit in calling and regeneration when we get to the doctrine of salvation. I am going to leave that for then. I want to hasten to say however, the other thing that human depravity affects as far as our evangelism is that the gospel presentation must make clear man's condition as a sinner. If we do not include that in the gospel, then we are starting from the wrong starting point. There is no better example of that than the book of Romans. You see, what Paul goes about to prove in the book of Romans is that there is only one kind of righteousness which will make you right with God and he introduces it in Romans 1 verse 17 for in the gospel, the righteousness of God or literally a righteousness from God is revealed. A righteousness that is by faith from 1st to last just that is written the righteous will live by faith. He is introducing the whole theme of the book and that is a righteousness that comes from God. So where does he start in this masterful logical presentation of this righteousness of God? Where does he start? He spends three chapters on the fact that we are sinners and he takes different groups of people, three different groups of people to show that we have all sinned. We have all sinned. Then he comes to the end of that in chapter 3 and verse 21 after he has concluded all of us are sinners and he says, but now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known to which the law and the prophets testify this righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Junjian tile for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and all are justified freely, not that everybody is going to be saved, it is not universalism, but just like all are contaminated by sin anyone who is justified all those who are justified are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. It is beautiful the way he makes his point but he starts his gospel presentation with a clear picture of the depravity of the human race. Everybody is a sinner. If we believe that then that will impact the way we share the gospel. It has to begin with the fact that we are sinners in the of a Savior. That is where Paul began. So really what you believe about man and sin impacts a lot of things and certainly impacts evangelism. I mentioned that I would give you an opportunity for question. I think we have got about 15 seconds. Actually for three minutes over already. So questions Randall Rookway. God created us. The book of Revelation says, Revelation 4 for his pleasure. He created us because he wanted to and he took great delight in creating the human race for his pleasure for his glory. And everything that has happened even though we messed it up royally it will all end in that very place all to the glory of God in eternity. So we are created for his pleasure. Okay. Times up. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the opportunity to explore your word and particularly since we've spent so long looking at what the Bible teaches about man and sin to see how to affect. Different practical issues in our lives. Thank you for what we can see about the different races and ethnic groups and the fact that we are one in Christ and there is no division or distinction. Even in creation and we thank you for that and Lord thank you for what we have seen about evangelism and how we are totally dependent upon you to help us to be faithful witnesses and to reach the hearts of people. May we be reminded of these truths consistently. We ask in Jesus name Amen.