True Humanity

Text: ESV Exodus 20:2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”

Goal: That we allow God to continue restoring our true humanity.

ESV 1 Timothy 1:2 Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Today I want to make you aware of one of the most destructive lies that our world is telling today. This lie is huge and dangerous. This lie is causing all sorts of problems right here in the United States. Sometimes we believe this lie. Sometimes we might even tell this lie. The lie is this: “We’re all basically good people.” Have you ever heard that lie before? Maybe it sounded like this: “If we simply provide a solid education for our youth, they’ll turn out to be productive members of society.” Maybe is sounded like this: “If we pump enough money into our economic system, all the basically good people will put it to good use and we’ll fix all our problems.” Maybe it sounded like this: “If we would simply tolerate and embrace all religious beliefs as valid and useful, then we would enter into a state of world peace.” Maybe it sounded like this: “We should get rid of the Ten Commandments in our courtrooms, because the ethical and moral norms of our society are much more practical than the absolute standard of God’s Word.” After all, how can you Christians claim that your Ten Commandments should be the basis for our nation’s morality?

Ravi Zacharias recently spoke on the K-State campus. Dr. Zacharias is a world known Christian philosopher and he is an incredible defender of the Christian faith. The topic for his recent visit to K-State was this question: “God – What if I don’t need him?” This is an important and valid question for our nation as we attempt to remove God from our lives, from our courtrooms, and eventually from our founding documents. Dr. Zacharias proposed one key argument against removing God from our nation. If you take away the moral authority, the moral law giver, who decides right and wrong? When you take God out of the picture, the norms of society determine right and wrong. If you have no absolute truth, you are left only with relative truth. What’s true for me might not be true for you and what’s true today might not be true tomorrow.

As Dr. Zacharias gave his presentation, he provided some insights from history. Let me share a few with you today. I’ll start with a question: What’s true about the following forms of government; Communism, Fascism, Humanism, and Nazism? In order to bring about their goals, every single one will first attempt to remove God. Take God out of the schools, out of the churches, out of the lives of the people. Karl Marx clearly stated, “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.” If you get rid of God, then the people will start to think clearly and they will be able to improve the world.

The original intent of the separation of church and state in our nation was to protect the church from the state, not to protect the state from the church. Today in our nation, within our public school systems and universities, we are preparing and have been preparing a generation who will have no problem forcing God out of our lives and out of our country. Do you ever wonder why there is such a huge push to keep Darwinism in our textbooks? It’s because evolution gets rid of God. Do you ever stop to think about all the ways that the state has figured out how to interfere with the church, but there’s a violent reaction every time the church appears on the ground of the state?

Our world, our nation, and sometimes even we do not want to admit the truth. Mankind is not basically good. Mankind is evil and if you remove God as the moral law giver, the result is death and mayhem. Here are some names from history that should give us a clue as to what happens when God is eradicated from a nation: Joseph Stalin, Nikolai Lenin, Adolph Hitler, Mao Tse Tung. All of these men embraced evolution. All of these men slaughtered the weak. All of these men firmly believed that man is basically good. How’s that for irony?

God tells us the truth. God told the Israelites the truth: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Exodus 20:2). Just like the Israelites were in bondage, we are born in slavery. Every human ever born, except Jesus Christ, was born in captivity to sin. And outside of salvation through Jesus Christ, mankind is evil. No one is good, not even one. That’s not the way that God created us to be, but that’s the result of sin. Without God’s salvation, we would all still be in slavery. Without God’s salvation, the Israelites would still be in slavery. God sets free. God rescues. God restores true humanity through His moral law.

But even with God’s Law, the Israelites still failed to live their lives according to God’s plan. The evil, sinful nature is so strong, that even when we know what we are supposed to do, we do the opposite. So God, in human flesh came into our sinful, evil world and He did something about our problem. Jesus lived a life free from sin and evil. He was more than basically good. Jesus never broke God’s moral law. Jesus followed the Ten Commandments perfectly all of His life. And then He gave His life for ours. He traded His perfection for our imperfection, our evil for His good. By grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, our true humanity is restored and God makes us into the people that He created us to be.

But beware. St. Paul shares these insights from 1 Corinthians: “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart." Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” If God is part of our life . . . if we believe in absolute truth . . . if we want to keep God as the moral authority in our nation, we will face persecution. We will face ridicule. We may even be placed into captivity.

And if it comes to that situation, we will give thanks for the opportunity to be persecuted for Jesus’ Name. We will share the Good News with our captors and we will look forward to our final rescue. As for now, we have the opportunity to share the truth and fight for our freedom.

ESV Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.