The Gospel and Race

Pastor Vaughan shares about the Gospel and its implications for race.

Sermon Transcript

The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.

• Caution and the Problem of Hatred
• One Race, Made in God’s Image, Fallen, in Need of the Gospel
• A New Humanity in Christ
• Racial Pride Must Be Eliminated
• The Consummation and the Church’s Answer

Caution and the Problem of Hatred

This morning, we’re going to talk about the gospel and race. Not the gospel and grace, the gospel and race. And I usually don’t take my cue from the headlines, but in light of what happened yesterday in Charlottesville, Virginia, the riots there, I wanted to talk about the topic of race, but in light of the gospel, as we should talk about everything in light of the gospel, right? And so hopefully what we’ll accomplish today is to help you think about some things that are happening in our culture in light of the gospel and the Word of God. Now let me say a word of caution. I have two cautions, one in the beginning and then I have a caution at the end of the sermon. My first caution is this, the media is a problem in our culture. We’re living in a time when the media has become a political weapon. And this is true of the left and the right. I’m not going to get up here and I’m not going to take a partisan stand because I’m not here to declare my political views. I’m here to tell you what the Bible says. And so the reason I want to say a word about the media is there are many false narratives going on in our society. And it takes a lot of thought and prayer to discern what is really true versus what is false. Now, I don’t know about you. Have you ever had this experience? I read the news on my iPad, sometimes on my phone. I have a couple news apps, you know. So you open a news app, the app opens up, you scroll through the headlines, and you click on the headline. Then as you’re reading the article, you realize that’s not what the headline said. Well, it’s called clickbait, right? Clickbait. So they have people that work at news organizations and their whole job is to write headlines, to write clickbait. I’ve read many articles where the article actually contradicts the title of the article. Now you might have to go down several paragraphs, maybe several pages. You find out that’s not what your headline said. So you have to be very discerning. And what I do, and you do as you wish, you know, I’m not the thought police, but I read the far right, the center, and the far left. I read it all. Because you rarely get the truth just from one group. Because you get what’s called the echo chamber. Is that something I recently, you don’t know about the Google scandal? Echo chamber where everybody in the group thinks the same way and everybody in the group begins to echo what the group says. And you can’t speak outside of the echo chamber. Now when I say I read right, center, and left, I’m not saying I endorse all of the views. My point is that you have to really do some digging because there’s a lot of false narratives going on in the media. I’m not saying it’s intentional. Maybe people really think they’re being objective or they’re doing what they think is best for society, whatever. I’m not judging hearts, but I’m saying that there are many false narratives out there about many things in our culture, not just race, but race is one of them. Now, since I just mentioned race, and that’s going to be my topic, we have to remember something very important about this discussion. The topic of race in America is tainted by our own history. If you grew up in a different country and you were having a conversation about race, there may be, it may have nothing to do with black and white. It may have nothing to do with slavery. But because of our unique history, it is tainted. And so the topic of race is a lot bigger than black and white. And the racial problem isn’t a problem unique to America. As a matter of fact, it’s a human problem. And it’s been around since the dawn of mankind, as we’re going to see today. So it’s not unique today. Racism exists amongst all people groups as both the object and the subject of racism. Hatred does not reside in one political party or one racial or ethnic group. Hatred resides in the heart of man. And I stress the word hatred because in the narrative we often hear today, we hear the word prejudice. We talk about racial prejudice. Now, one philosopher I read recently said, the term racial prejudice is misleading, because it implies that the problem is just a misunderstanding. In other words, you prejudge something and you’re just mistaken, so thus the solution is simply education. Because that roots it in the will and in the heart. So the problem isn’t just ignorance, the problem is people hate a group that is different than their own group. So in other words, it’s not an intellectual problem, it is a sin problem. A sin problem. Well, because it’s a sin problem, it’s a problem that is directly related to the gospel because the gospel is the solution to sin, amen? Okay, that was introduction.

One Race, Made in God’s Image, Fallen, in Need of the Gospel

Point one, there’s only one race. Let’s go back to Genesis. Now, as you know, ever since the early, I don’t know, maybe even late 17, at least the early 1800s, there’s been a sustained attack on the Bible. An attack on its credibility. And especially in light of Darwinism, right? Then an attack on Genesis. And so certainly you have to be an adult to believe that Genesis is literal, etc., etc., etc. You get so many things our society is dealing with today, go back to Genesis. And one of the things I want you to see today is that if you deny Genesis, you’re not going to have an answer to the problem of racism. And the history of Darwinism is a history of racism. It’s true. Genesis, chapter 1. Let’s see, where do we want to begin? We’ll start in 1:26. “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man,” singular, “in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female,” plural, “He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” But He didn’t say, have dominion over other people. Acts 17, we’re going to come back to Genesis, go to Acts 17. Paul is preaching to a pagan audience who did not embrace the Old Testament, did not necessarily believe the Genesis account. [audio unclear] Acts 17, he’s preaching in Athens, he says this, he says, well we’ll just begin at the beginning. Acts 17:22, Paul says, “Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said,” now this is in Athens, “‘Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.’” So God in the beginning created man singular, we call it mankind, humankind, humanity, and it says male and female, He created them. One race, two genders. Point. All nations, we use the term races, ethnicities, all people really are made in God’s image. We just saw this in Genesis 1:27, right? God said, let Us make man, meaning man, let Us make them in Our image, meaning our Trinitarian implication, in Our image. In the image of God, He makes them, right? Here in Acts 17, Paul goes on and says, verse 28, “For in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising,” etc., etc. So we’re the offspring of God because God created us in His image. Us means humankind, the human race singular. Anything objectionable yet? Anything controversial yet? You’re good so far? Okay. It’s called the setup. I’m not going to… Okay, first point, there’s one race. Second point, all are created in God’s image. Third point, all people, nations, races are fallen and sinful. They’re all fallen and sinful. Sin led to the dispersion of the nations. Go back to Genesis. In Genesis chapter 11, we have an account of what’s called the Tower of Babel. Babel is where the languages of man were confused and this caused a dispersion of the nations and the races and the tribes because people couldn’t understand each other. It says in 11:1, “Now the whole earth had one language and one speech.” Now, thing to remember when you read the Genesis account. You have the original creation account, right? One race, male and female. You have the Fall. As a result of the Fall you see brother against brother, right? Cain and Abel. You see a rapid decline in humanity. It appears to be rapid. We don’t know exactly how many years were in there. Seems to be a rapid decline. God then judges the earth through the flood and He spares Noah and how many sons? Three sons. So all of humanity can be traced back to Noah and his three sons. And when you read the table of nations, which is in chapter 10 here of Genesis, we’re not going to read it, but chapter 10 is the table of nations. It’s Noah’s genealogy and it tells you the nations, really the best word is really tribes, although we don’t like to use that word anymore, that developed out of the three sons. And so Japheth migrated north into Europe, Russia, that area. You have Ham who migrated more south, northern Africa, Egypt, parts of Arabia, and then you have Shem, the most important one really, I think. Then you have, Shem is the Jews and the Arabs and other groups. Now, nothing that we have learned in thousands of years in the study of genealogies and philology and cultural studies, nothing we’ve learned contradicts that table of nations. And so really, there are three large families of mankind. Some people call them races. And then within the large families, you have smaller tribes and families, which have developed around language and culture and other things. But they’re all from one, right? They come from Noah, who came from who? Who came from who? God. God, Noah, Adam, his three sons. Here we are. Here we are, all of us, right? Because of sin, God disperses the nations, the tribes and families. “Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. Then they said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.’ They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.’ But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, ‘Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.’ So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.” When you don’t understand what somebody’s saying you say what do you say? They’re babbling, right? They’re babbling. That’s where we get it from. So He confused the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. So humankind had one language. They were one. They began to fall into idolatry. They were building a, essentially I believe this was a tower for false worship. God scatters them. So the divisions that we see in the world are a result of God’s hand, working in human history. So the divisions are a result of really God’s punishment for sin. So God created, there’s one race, all were created in God’s image, all people, people groups, right, are fallen. Fourthly, all fallen groups means that all need the gospel. All need the gospel. Romans chapter 3. In Romans 3 we have a, well really in the book of Romans we have the fullest exposition of the gospel. In Romans 3, if you read Romans closely in 1 and 2, he deals first with the pagan world, what we’d call the Gentile world in Scripture, and then he addresses the Jews. Jew and Gentile was the perennial racial issue in the New Testament that had to be dealt with. We’ll talk more about that in a moment. But Gentile didn’t mean one thing. Gentile, a lot of nations, a lot of tribes, a lot of what we call races. Verse 9 of Romans 3. “What then? Are we better than they?” Who is the we? Jews. Yeah. When Paul says we, he’s speaking as a Jew. Are we Jews better than they? Who’s the they? Gentiles, non-Jews of all stripes. “Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged,” meaning I’ve already stated in this letter, “both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one.’” When the Scripture says there’s none righteous, it means not one person, not one family, not one tribe, not one nation, but all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All. Therefore they all need the gospel, and the same gospel saves anyone who repents, regardless of their ethnicity or their race. It matters not black, white, Asian, Latino, it matters not Greek, Italian, British, Swedish, Japanese, Korean, it doesn’t matter, the gospel saves anyone who repents regardless of their race. Romans 3, Paul says verse 19, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” Notice every mouth and all, regardless of race, tribe, culture, every and all. “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” The law does not save because all men have sinned and the law was not given to remove sin, the law was given to expose sin. The law reveals sin. “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed,” we’re in verse 21, “being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference.” Do you hear that? There is no difference. All men, women, children, all of humanity, regardless of race, culture, tribe, language, all have fallen short of the glory of God, guilty before God because of His holy law, all need the gospel of Jesus Christ. “For all,” verse 23, “have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Question is how can God, being holy, accept the sinner? How can God maintain His justice and receive those who are unjust? And he says it’s through the blood of Jesus. Verse 27, “Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.” But notice this, Paul brings up the racial issue again. “Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.” Could we not say, is He the God of the whites only? Is He the God of the blacks only? Is He the God of the Japanese only? Is He the God of the Latinos only? Is He the God of… Do I need to go through the list? There’s only one God. There’s only one Creator, and He created only one race, and that race has fallen, and there’s only one remedy for their sin. The one God offers salvation to all who repent regardless of their nationality, race, or ethnicity. He’s the God of the Jews, He’s the God of the Greeks, the God of the Gentiles, the God of all the descendants of Adam and Noah and their three sons. Because there’s only one God. And every person of every race needs the gospel.

A New Humanity in Christ

Point five, the fruit of the gospel is the removal of the Fall and of Babel and the creation of a new humanity in Christ Jesus, in Christ Jesus. Now go to Acts 2 first. In Acts 2 we have an account of the day of Pentecost where the Holy Spirit comes and fills the apostles. And this is really an anointing for their mission. Jesus said, go wait for the Spirit, the promise of the Father to come so you can be My witnesses. Right? So it says in Acts 2, “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.” Now when it says that they were Jews, it doesn’t mean they were Jews necessarily ethnically, Jews religiously. Okay? And they came from all around these many nations and they came for the celebration of Pentecost. It says when the sound occurred, the multitude came together and were confused because everyone heard them speak in his own language. There’s a language thing going on here. Remember Babel? That was a language thing. There was one language throughout the whole earth, God confuses the language. Well now we have, we’re in a situation in Acts 2 where there’s many, many languages, and now all of a sudden everybody’s hearing the same message, one message, the same message in their own language. “Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, ‘Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.’ So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘Whatever could this mean?’ Others mocking said, ‘They are full of new wine.’” So what we see here is, if you will, a reversal of Babel, a bringing together of humanity through the Holy Spirit, and really through the redemption in Jesus Christ. What God has done, Jesus, is He has created a new humanity, a new race in Christ, made up of peoples from all ethnic groups. This new man is called the church, made up of Jew and Gentile, made up of black and white, Asian, Latino, made up of all people groups, all races, all languages. The real divide in humanity is not between what we call race. The only divide in humanity is those who are in Adam and those who are in Christ. That’s the only real divide. Look at Romans 5. In Romans 5, Paul’s been expounding justification by faith through grace because of the blood of Jesus Christ. We’re saved by grace through faith, not of our works, not by the law. It doesn’t save us. It only convicts us. He says in 5:12, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—” Now who is the one man? That’s why Genesis is so important by the way. 13, “For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.” You can’t be guilty of breaking a law that doesn’t exist. Right? Let’s say I’m going on the highway and there are literally no, there’s no speed limit signs, none. They just are none. I’m doing 80. You know, like I usually do. I’m just kidding. So I get pulled over, and the cop says you’re speeding. And I say, well, what’s the speed limit? He said, well, there isn’t one. Well, then I’m not speeding. There can’t be a violation of a law that doesn’t exist. Right? So you put up a law, you create lawbreakers. Right? The law was given to show us our sin. “For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law,” because you can’t break a law that doesn’t exist. “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam,” meaning according to a clear command, “who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.” So now notice we have two men. We have Adam and now we have Christ. The one man Adam, the one man Jesus. 16. “And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned,” meaning Adam. “For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification.” Amen. “For if by the one man’s offense,” there’s that one man again, Adam, “death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” So all the way through this text Paul is showing that the real divide in humanity is not language, not culture, not race, not color. It is those who are still in Adam, born in Adam and remain in him, those who are born in Adam but now have been reborn into Christ, the new humanity. It’s really a division between the dead and the living. And he goes on and says, verse 19, “For as by one man’s disobedience,” Adam again, “many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience,” Jesus, “many will be made righteous. Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” So God through the work of Jesus Christ came to remove the effects of the Fall and of Babel and to bring humanity back together as one, but the oneness and the unity of humanity is in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the basis for a true unity. He says in Ephesians 2, if you want to turn there quickly, Paul addresses this. Now, as you’re turning there, let me just say this. It is amazing how much Scripture in the New Testament talks about race, but we just read over it because we’re not thinking about it. But so many references to Jew and Gentile, Jew and Greek, because the church was dealing with a racial, not just a religious problem that was part of it, but it was also racial. As I’ve commented before in the account of the woman at the well, the Samaritans and the Jews hated each other, Gentiles and Jews hated each other, it was as bad as, if not worse than black and white in America. It was bad. So here we are at Pentecost, God grants the Spirit to people of various languages and nations and races and the Jews are like, what the heck is going on here, the gospel is for us. We’re God’s people. We’re the chosen people. What, these Gentiles can’t get the Holy Spirit. They can’t get saved. They really believed that. Remember it took Peter of all people, until when? Acts 10 and 11 to realize that, oh my gosh, Gentiles are not unclean. That’s how deep our cultural prejudice has got. Right? It took him that long after he’s been filled with the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. God’s giving him visions and he’s still not getting it. He had to get direct visions and direct, God, okay, it’s okay Peter, you Jew, to go over to Cornelius’s house, the Gentile. I give you permission to do that because a good Jew wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t go into a Gentile’s house. You talk about segregation, right? And until the Holy Spirit fell on Cornelius and his household, until that moment Peter didn’t get it. When that happened it’s like the light bulb went off. Oh my gosh, God is saving Gentiles. Oh my gosh, God is saving black people. Oh my gosh, God is saving Japanese people, Latino people. God saves people from all races, right? And He brings them together in one in Jesus Christ, the new man, the one man. Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2:1–10 is, you’ve heard me quote it a million times, it’s one of my favorite texts on sharing the gospel. It lays it out. We were dead in our sins and trespasses, but God, because of His mercy and love, intervenes. He saves us through Jesus by grace. He’s saved through faith, not of works. It’s just glorious. But then notice what He does in verse 11. “Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands”—meaning by Jews—“that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one.” Both, what both? Jew and Gentile. Okay? And you can insert any race in there you want. He has made them one in Christ Jesus “and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two.” Amen. One new man. The new humanity in Christ Jesus, also known as the church, all those who are born of His Spirit, those who are no longer dead in their trespasses and sins, they have been born again out of Adam into Jesus Christ. And they’re now one man, one humanity.

Racial Pride Must Be Eliminated

Point number six, and I’m almost done. In Christ, racial pride should be eliminated. Galatians 3:26, “For you,” meaning he’s talking to the church, believers, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Colossians chapter 3, verse 8, I’ll just start in verse 5. “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where,” meaning in the new man, “there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.” Do some reading about the barbarians at this time. Do some reading about the Scythians and you will find out how depraved cultures can be. And yet in Christ they are made one. One more verse, and there are many, but just one more. Go back to Romans, but go to chapter 10 this time. In Romans 10, verse 11, for the Scripture says, 10:11, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’” Amen? Whoever, regardless of race, culture, language, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Amen? Whoever. Now, an important footnote to this point, the problem being addressed in the Scripture and the problem that needs to be addressed today is racial pride which produces racial animosity, okay? When Paul says there’s no distinction, he’s saying there’s no distinction before God. People who are a certain color or a certain race don’t get preference, okay? It doesn’t mean there aren’t distinctions between cultures. Of course there are. And people can glory in their culture, people can hate their culture, that’s up to them. But the point is, distinctions are there. But when he says there’s no distinction, he’s saying when it comes to standing before God, when it comes to salvation, when it comes to our status in the new man, these distinctions might still exist, but they don’t mean privilege. They don’t mean because you’re a certain race or a certain color, you get to go to the front of the line. Because in God’s eyes we’re all equal. Meaning we’re all equally created in His image. We are all equally fallen. It doesn’t mean we’re equal in terms of who sins more than others. That’s a different question. But the point is we are all made in His image, we are all redeemed by the same blood. And it’s on the same basis of faith and repentance. It’s not on the basis of our culture, our language, our race. This was the problem the Jews had. They at the time of Christ believed that being chosen, God’s chosen people, which they were, that therefore they were superior. And what they didn’t realize is that their calling actually gave them not more privilege, it gave them more responsibility. They had a greater duty to be a light to the world. Paul reproves them and says to the Jews, he says, because of you the Gentiles blasphemed the name of God by the way you’re living. So they had fallen from their calling to be a light. And they were puffed up with racial pride. So when Scripture says there’s no distinction, it doesn’t mean we cannot acknowledge the distinction between ethnic groups or even the distinction between genders. But it means they don’t give anybody a privileged position in the eyes of God. Now I don’t know what you think about that, but that’s a radical thing. Because as I said earlier, racism isn’t just an American problem. It’s always been a problem. And when Paul wrote words like these, and there are many others, he was talking to a society that was steeped in racism and steeped in slavery. And when he says things like this, he’s saying to a guy who’s got a bunch of slaves, when you go to church, you don’t get to take communion before your slave. You want to talk about starting a revolution? I mean, we cannot appreciate the impact of these words on the first century, but they are radical. They are radical. No one is better than anyone else because of their race or their city or their culture. And in Jesus Christ, racial pride and racial animosity should be eliminated, amen?

The Consummation and the Church’s Answer

Last point. The consummation of the gospel will see the unity of all racial groups. Revelation, chapter 5. Revelation 5:8. “Now when He,” meaning the Lamb, “had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood,’” amen? Any arguments there? No. “‘Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.’” Every tribe and tongue and people and nation is united before the throne. This is the new man. This is the new humanity gathered together as one before the Lamb. Chapter 7, which is really interesting because in the first part of chapter 7, verses 1 through 8, there’s a discussion here about the 144,000, about a remnant of the children of Israel. So it’s clearly racial. There’s a racial thing going on here. But then in verse 9 he says, “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’ All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: ‘Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.’” This is the song that will last forever in heaven. Forever we will be singing glory and honor to God and to the Lamb on the throne. And we’ll be singing this song with those from every tribe, every nation, every tongue, every color, every family. And there will be no more division, no more racial prejudice. No more pride and arrogance. No more animosity. It says here, verse 15, “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” All the sources of pain and suffering and woe will be removed by the Lamb. That means racism, racial hatred, and animosity. It means racial pride. All of it will be obliterated before the throne.

Conclusion. You know, I’m a little bit of a news junkie. I read a lot of news, like I said, from all sources, watching news. And after Charlottesville, it’s really, I had to, it’s almost comical but it’s sad how people are eager to denounce evil. They are eager to get up and reprove hatred and bigotry. Of course it’s easy to condemn sins you think you’re not guilty of. And here’s the problem, is that many of the people that have the mic in our culture don’t have the solution. They don’t have the solution. Because by denying God and denying Scripture, they’re floating in this metaphysical air called postmodernism. And postmodernism means you really don’t believe in reality. It’s true. It’s a deconstruction movement which first began to deconstruct literature, then to deconstruct other texts, and to deconstruct, now they’re deconstructing law and society, and so the end result is reality is whatever I call it. And once you get to that point, well now you can define your gender, you can define your race, you can define, you just define yourself. That’s what liberty now means. The irony is that the trend of that whole way of thinking is anti-unity. It is leading us into more virulent forms of tribalism. It’s not bringing people together. It’s dividing people. Not intentional, but it’s happening. The people that have the mic don’t have the answer. The answer is Jesus Christ and the gospel. And so you’re going to hear a lot of narratives, and some of it will be, we’ll have some good thoughts and good ideas, and some will be worse than others. But remember, most of the people in our culture that have the microphone don’t have the answer. Jesus is the answer. The only one that can deal with sin in the heart is Christ. A man must be born again and enter the kingdom of God. A man has to be born again and has to learn and grow to get rid of his racial prejudice. We all need the new birth. We all need it. And we need to let the new birth work its way in our lives and sanctify us and renew our minds. I mean, there’s been racism in the church. And there’s probably no question that there’s racism still in parts of the church, because [audio unclear] culture, we need to beware of being drawn in to the false narratives and drawn in to, quote, taking sides. I’m not on the side of the right or the left, I’m on the side of Jesus. Jesus didn’t come to take sides, Jesus came to take over. And you can quote me on that. He came to take over. He is Lord of all. Right? Everyone on the right, the center, and the left will someday bow the knee to Jesus Christ and confess that He is the Lord. Better now that they bow now than later, but they will all bow. And be careful of your allegiance to a political ideology, a cultural, social ideology, a racial identity, that your allegiance to that does not distort your allegiance to Jesus Christ. He is your Lord and Master. He is the one you serve. He is the one you are faithful to. Okay? I understand there’s a lot of different opinions in the church on matters related to race and gender and all of these things and we’re clearly not getting into that. But the point is that these narratives have the danger of dividing the church. People in the church who should love one another, should be washing one another’s feet, hate each other because of different political ideology. That is a scandal. That is what the Jews were doing when they caused the Gentiles to blaspheme God. If we can’t love our brothers and sisters in Christ, who might have a different opinion on certain things, then we are shaming the gospel. You’re being a bad testimony. Jesus said the world’s going to know that I am the Savior, by your oneness and by your love for one another. That’s what He said. “By this all will know that you are My disciples.” And when churches, [audio unclear] because when I see crazy stuff on the news, literally like my brain’s like, explode out of my ears any minute. It’s like I can hardly take some of the stuff that’s going on because it is just so patently false, it is so patently partisan. This whole thing in Charlottesville is being used by people to promote their own agendas. There’s so much going on here, okay? And people, you know, talk as if they care about, you know, unity. Unity when what they’re doing is their virtue signaling for their next campaign. So we need to be aware of being drawn into that, okay? And I want to remind you of James 1 where James says the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God. And there’s a lot of reform movements going on both within and without the church that will talk about righteousness and justice, but what’s motivating people is hatred. And I encourage you to read my book that I wrote on Wilberforce, one of the greatest reformers in the world. He helped abolish slavery in the British Empire. He was aware of this danger, the danger of the movement being fed by hatred of the opposition. And one of the reasons that I believe he ultimately won is that even his opponents knew that he was motivated by love. We must beware of the seduction [audio unclear] The unity of humanity is found in Jesus Christ and you and I, you and I, we are supposed to be modeling that right now. You hear what I’m saying? It’s not like it’s okay for us to fight and then we’ll get to heaven. We’ll be all unified then. We’re supposed to be modeling it now. Well how do we do that? We major in the majors and minor in the minors. We realize the true basis of our unity is Jesus Christ and the gospel. That’s the true basis. The last point I want to make is this. The church of Jesus Christ has the solution to the problem and it’s in the gospel. You are not going to get people who hate each other because of politics or race to come together if they are not born again. It’s not going to happen. So what that means is the people with the mic don’t have the answer, but we do. We have the answer. So let’s start acting like we have the answer. Right? Let’s start talking about these things with people and on social media in light of the gospel. Highlight the gospel. Let’s highlight what Jesus has done and what Jesus can do to help heal our nation. Because Jesus can produce reconciliation. If He could bring Jew and Gentile together in the early church the way He did, He can heal racial division in our country. He is able to do this. Preach the gospel. Jesus is the healer of the nations. Let’s stand and pray.

Bow your heads for a moment. I’ve talked a lot about the gospel and I don’t know if you know the Lord when you came in here, I don’t know if you have the assurance of your eternal destiny, but Christ died for sinners. And if you understand that you’re a sinner, you can come to Him and ask for forgiveness and ask for the gift of eternal life, and He will give it to you. For by grace we are saved through faith. Grace is unmerited favor. It’s God giving you something you don’t deserve. And as I shared earlier, we have all sinned, fallen short of the glory of God. But the salvation that Jesus Christ offers, the forgiveness and the renewal, the eternal life, this gift He offers to all who acknowledge their need for it. So you say, yes Jesus, I know I’ve sinned, I know I need to be forgiven, then the Word of God to you is, “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” No matter what you’ve done, where you’ve been, no matter your race, your language, your background, whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. So call on Jesus and He will save you. Lord, I thank You for Your gracious, unbelievable, just unbelievable [audio unclear] forbearance and patience toward us and toward the human race. Lord, we thank You that as Your people, You’ve called us out of darkness into light. We thank You that You’ve called us out of the world of division into a world of unity. You’ve called us out of a world of hate into a world of love. Your kingdom is a kingdom that is to express Your love as we walk in this very broken [audio unclear] hostile dark world. I pray, Lord, for each one of us to walk in a way that really honors You, that puts You first, that acknowledges that You really are the solution. And remind us, Lord, we have the answer because we have You. You are the answer. Your gospel is the answer. So I pray that as Your people, God, we would share the answer. We thank You, Lord, that we can look forward to the glorious day we read about this morning of standing before the throne with those of all tribes, all tongues, all cultures. And we’ll be before the throne worshiping You forever and ever and ever. We look forward to that day when all the tears and all the sorrow’s gone, all the strife, all the hatred, it’s all removed. We thank You, Jesus, that You already bought that. It is done. It will happen. We will stand before You forever. O Lord, teach us to walk in light of that. I pray all these things in Your name for Your glory. Amen.