“TIME AND TIME AGAIN AS WE WATCH THE NEWS AND SEE THE HORRENDOUS VIOLENCE, TORTURE AND DEATH OUR HUMANITY PERPETRATES UPON EACH OTHER, WE WONDER IS THERE IS ANY HOPE FOR OUR FUTURE?”

 I’m Dennis Finnan, host and speaker on the World, the Word & You! Broadcast and in a moment we’ll talk about the world of humanity in which we live and what God says about it…

…All of us have memories. I can remember back in 1953 when I graduated from primary grade school my public school principle gave a speech to the graduates. The one thing that stuck in my mind was her encouragement to us as students moving on, to aim high in our goals for life, living and success. She coined a phrase taken from one of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s books and said to us --  “be sure to hitch your wagon to a star!” That always stuck with me, as I tried to do my best in my years of education.  Yet later in life when I became a Christian, I realized how futile that statement was, not to mention impossible.  What do I mean by this? Well after our 2^nd pause for another moment of music I’ll tell you all about it in my message entitled THERE IS NO COMPROMISE…

… One of the greatest minds of law and legal evidences, our world has ever experienced once said,

"The religion of Jesus Christ aims at nothing less than the utter overthrow of all other systems of religions [philosophies] of the world, by denouncing them as inadequate to the wants of man; false in their foundations and dangerous in their tendency…" [1]

That’s a partial quote from a man named Dr. Simon Greenleaf, who was one of the world's greatest legal minds of a past century. He aptly captured the reason and essence for the world's dislike and distrust of the ancient faith and philosophy of Christianity. Indeed, for centuries those who hold to the fundamentals of the Christian faith realize there are but two destinations for every human being who has ever lived, and that each person has the freedom to choose one of the two, be it Heaven and eternal life, or Hell, and everlasting damnation.

Yet mankind in general has denied the reality of this truth, and continues to think he is in and of himself, great and good, and destined for the stars! Well today my friend, I want to look at what God says about mankind, and from there come to a better understanding of who we are and where we are all going; for knowing that, it will help us to be better men and women, and leave this world a better place when we depart.

I’m sure right now as we march through the 21^st century; we are becoming disillusioned by our actions in this world? For everywhere we look we sin the horror of man’s evil striking out against fellow man. From the unrepentant “BTK” killer in America , to the growing abductions and killings of innocent children, to the crazed Islamic terrorists murdering thousands, it seems a growing humanity delights in the torture, destruction and death of innocent people.

It’s disgusting to say the least, as we hear the nightly news reports of more and more evil surfacing in our world day by day. We certainly are not growing better as a race of beings, rather far worse.

Yet, perhaps no man has captured the essence of our depraved humanity and our relationship to the Creator God better than the biblical writers themselves who wrote…

Isa 1:2-6 (NIV)  “Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: "I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me… 4 Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD… Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted. 6 From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness-- only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil.”

Rom 1:28-32 (NIV)  Furthermore, since [humanity] did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”.

What a mind numbing description of the depravity of humanity God gives us from the Old Testament to the New. Yet this is reinforced daily by the murder, destruction and ruination caused by man against man.

Why King David, Israel 's ancient leader, one warm and starry night, look up into the night sky and wondered "Who Am I?" Let me read his psalm he wrote for you to ponder his words …

Psalms 8:1-4 (NIV)  “… O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens…. 3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?”

Someone has said, life's most important question is "Who am I?" Are we only a highly developed animal as Charles Darwin fantasized, or an “underdeveloped child,” as Freud believed? Or are we as secular atheism muses, just an economic factor in the cogwheel of time?

Questions and paltry answers such as these, have led men of every century to hopelessness, despair and even anger. This is perhaps one of the reasons growing segments of our humanity strike out at others because of this hopelessness of life.  Man has no real understanding, apart from the Christian bible’s teaching, that he is a created being of great worth to the God who made us. For without this knowledge and hope, we are nothing but a depraved human race heading toward oblivion by our sinful desires and wicked actions.

Why just think about it. Our human depravity is centered in one thing – religion! Religion that is that is false and deadly. Today, the world’s greatest terrorism has spawned from the world’s greatest false religion Islam. Every day half a billion Muslims place the false and depraved deity of Allah on the throne of their hearts, who calls for the death and destruction of millions of innocents who reject him; then another quarter billion Buddhists bow down to the repulsive idol image of Buddha. Moreover, another half billion Hindus grovel at the feet of countless dead idols; and worse, hundreds of millions of people worldwide believe in atheism and agnosticism, the secular religion of hopelessness that says -- there is no God at all and worship themselves only to find there is nothing but emptiness and despair within the hollow form of man's own depraved righteousness.

Indeed, Dr. Greenleaf was right "the religion of Jesus Christ aims at nothing less than the utter overthrow of all other systems of religions of the world," for they are inadequate to the wants of man; for, they are false in their foundations and dangerous in their tendency to exalt sinful and fall man. Indeed, the Psalmist declared:

Psalms 8:3-5 (NIV)   When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? 5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.”

You see the Bible tells us that the human race was created by the direct, personal act of God, apart from any organic evolutionary process ( Gen. 1:27;2:7, 21-22; 5:1-2; 9:6; Ps. 100:3; Ecc. 7:29; Mat. 19:4) In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth and everything in it, mankind was God's last and greatest creation. Rather than being the highest animal, God made man unique and special as He forged us in the image of Himself. Like the other life forms on the newly formed planet, God created Adam's body from the existing material  "the dry, fine crumbs of the earth" (Gen. 3:19; 7:21 -22). 

Secondly, God then did something He had not done for any other creature. He breathed into Adam's body the "breath of lives," and with that man "became a living soul" (Gen. 1:20-21,24; 2:19 ). This animated the human body by placing in it a soul and spirit (Gen 6:17 ; 7:21 -22; Ps. 104:29; I Kings 17:21 -22) giving it the image of God Himself. And, as God is king over all creation, God ordained humanity to be king over all the earth on which he was to live.

Although we share the same mineral matter of the earth as other creatures do, mankind is unique and special and was designed for greatness. This is what the Psalmist meant when he said, "man was created a little lower than the angels" (Psa. 8:5). Interestingly, the word translated “angels” is the Hebrew word, ELOHIM, one of the Old Testament names for God Himself. Therefore an acceptable translation of David's words rightly reads: 

"For You have made man a little lower than GOD!" (Psa. 8:5, literal translation).

What does this imply? Well, think about it. It means you and me, why we are the very mirror image of God, a likeness of Him in that we can think! Having a mind of intrinsic brilliance, we have emotions, whereby we can love or hate, and we have an independent will whereby we can act upon any of the emotions God endowed us with. So when you look in the mirror next time look at what you are -- a spirit being housed in a body for but a time, one day to be released to live either in the loving presence of God, or banished forever from that love and presence for all eternity in a place called Hell!

You see all of us were created for God's glory and to do great things on His behalf. But something happened! Man's kingship was lost as it's plain to see. Nothing in human or secular history can account for the failure of the human race to reach its greatness and potential. However, only the Christian Bible gives us answers to our dilemma. It tells us mankind suffered what is called a "great fall." Man lost his throne and his crown. 

This is the story of Adam and Eve, whom God created perfect, ready for glory and the stars, but were given the right to accept or reject the authority of God to rule over them. This story is recorded in Genesis 3 and the theological explanation is found in Romans 5. Yes, Adam and Eve’s choice to reject God's authority over them, led to a ruinous change in their total being and generated within them what the Bible calls the "sin-principle." These cataclysmic results extended to the whole human race, since not one being was formed until after Adam and Eve's nature and being had been totally corrupted.

Now the Bible teaches us that all humanity suffers from a deadly disease called “sin.” Sin is an impersonal, temporal, evil force, which is confined to fallen creatures such as mankind and the fallen angels which expresses itself throughout their nature.

Since we are a fallen race, we can only reproduce ourselves in the same fallen state. There is no improvement, rather the opposite as time goes on. All one needs to do is listen to the nightly news to see its effects. The sin-principle that has tainted our nature is an evil law or force that drives us to sin (Rom 7:23 ;8:2). It is the root, of  all the evil fruit in our lives. Although humanity can do good at times, even remarkable feats of kindness and sacrifice, still the Bible says its work is through the sin-principle as its object is to glorify, elevate and display the righteousness of man in his independent rebellious state. Make no mistake, sin dominates every life and makes all of us slaves to it (Rom 3:9-12; John 8:34 ).

This accounts for the continued eruptions of man's corruption, selfishness and evil around us.  Now I realize that most listening will scoff at this and reject the idea that all of us are inwardly depraved and sinful. Yet we shake our finger and fist at God and His will at every turn. We've cursed God daily and most of all His blessed Son Jesus Christ. We've rejected God’s laws for our lives and even for our land. We've mocked the things of God and ridiculed His greatness. Yet amazingly GOD STILL CARES FOR ALL OF US!

The question all of us should have right now is, is there any hope for the human race? Well my friend the answer is yes there is! For that is the message of the New Testament, that God still loves us in spite of our rebellion, rejection and ruination. This is the story of Christianity itself.  Paul the apostle writes in,

1 Corinthians 15:47 (NIV)  “The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven.”

God has made two individuals the progenitors of the human race. The first Adam, fell in sin and now produces every single human being living on the face of the earth. All Adam's children are destined to die and suffer what Scripture calls the "Second Death." This is separation from God for all eternity because of man's sin. The human race from Adam is doomed to destruction and death, not only temporally but eternally as well.  Yet, thanks be to God, He make a SECOND ADAM for us. Indeed, another man through whom a brand new race of human beings would be born. This race, a redeemed and perfect sinless people, would one day inherit the stars and all creation, and spend it with God throughout all eternity!  Yes my friend, there are two kings through which all mankind can be generated. King Adam the deposed and depraved ruler, and King Jesus the eternal King of Kings!

Now the question is how is one born into the family of King Jesus? Nicodemus the great theologian of the past asked,

John 3:4-8 (NIV)  “… 4 “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” 5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit …7‘You must be born again.’ 8 …So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.””

Friend in this passage is the greatest news anybody can ever hear. Like the ill fated passengers on the TITANIC, when the ship struck the iceberg, all who were on board were doomed to die, unless they could get off onto another ship and be rescued. It mattered not whether they were rich or poor, young or old, intelligent or not. The only thing that mattered was they were "in" and "on" the ship that was going down. 

Well the Bible warns all mankind, we too are on the ill fated voyage of the human race that has struck the iceberg of sin. When Adam sinned, in germinal form ever human being was within Adam. God said the "soul that sins shall die" ( Ezek 18:4). Adam's ship went down in the eternal flames of Hell and death, and all his passengers are going with him. But God loves this lost and sinful human race, and has sent a rescue ship to allow every passenger who wishes to board the lifeboat, may do so. It matters not whether they are rich or poor, young or old, intelligent or not. It matters not what their record of life has been either  for the universal call has gone out.

John 6:37 (NIV)  “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” 

Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)  “”Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.””

John 6:47 (NIV)  “I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.”

So the account reads, all that come to Jesus confessing their sins, calling upon Christ to forgive them through His substitutionary death on the cross, they alone will be saved and granted NEW LIFE in CHRIST! Now listen to the Bible as it clearly tells us what happens when we grant God the right to full authority over our lives through Jesus Christ,

Romans 5:17 (NLT)  “The sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over us, but all who receive God’s wonderful, gracious gift of righteousness will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”

In Jesus Christ our lost dominion and life is RESTORED! We become a new humanity, a new creature that although our bodies will die being related in the flesh to Adam, our soul and spirit will live on for eternity and be granted resurrected life. Friend, when you trust Christ as your Lord and Savior, God gives you and me a new birth we cannot see, feel or touch, but real none the less. This NEW LIFE gives us victory over the sin-principle that once ruled us, and gives us the ability and desire to love and serve God from our hearts.

Right now the entire world of creation is perishing as death claims all, but the new humanity God creates for the Christian is being renewed day by day. Say friend have you experienced this New Birth? It doesn't come by good works, church works, rituals, sacraments or anything a man can do, it comes by the power of the Spirit of God who lifts the sin-sick soul out of Adam's fallen humanity, and places him or her into the Body of Jesus Christ, a body that will live on forever and ever in the presence of its King, the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you recognized Him? Have you bowed your heart to Him? Only those who do, will be rescued from the coming fate of the second death and eternal destruction.

Let’s face it there is no compromise in this matter. You can live the best life of all, bee the kindest person who ever lived but still you are a sinner in thoughts, words and deed, for all that you do is to glorify yourself, and never the God who created you. This is sin and all sin will be judged with one consequence – death! Our world is not growing better, our sin nature is growing day by day and bursting forth on the wickedness and depravity we see perpetrated among men. There is no force on earth that can control it. 

Moreover the Bible predicts a day is coming when the whole world will be engulfed in death and destruction caused by sinners wanting to take control of others. The only hope is the truth and blessings of the Christian faith, that alone offers forgiveness of sins, eternal life and a new heart to do the things that pleases God and benefits all humanity. Have you embraced Jesus Christ and His Word? If not do so today. Now may God give to each listening heart a measure of openness and clarity of eyes to want to experience this new birth and hope as this is my prayer for Jesus sake, Amen.

 [1] Dr. Simon Greenleaf, Testimony of the Evangelists ( Baker Book House), Introduction.