P2 PILLARS OF A BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW MANKIND'S SINFULNESS

Pillars of a Biblical Worldview, Part 2 – Mankind’s Sinfulness, 1/21/24

Your worldview is the framework from which you perceive reality and make sense of life and the world
Example: 3D Movies
Biblical Worldview Pillars:
God Created All Things

Romans 3:23 (NIV2011)
23  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Biblical Worldview Pillars:
Every person has a sinful nature
Example: Children

1 John 1:8 (NIV2011)
8  If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Sin affirms a moral standard
Example: 2 sides of the abortion issue
Example: Taking Test

Sin has consequences

Sin’s consequences are certain

Hebrews 4:13 (NIV2011)
13  Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.


Sin’s consequences are serious
Example: Cold vs. Cancer

Romans 5:12 (NIV2011)
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—

Romans 6:23 (NIV2011) 

…the wages of sin is death…
Example: The extent of God’s remedy

Sin’s solution requires a Savior

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV2011)
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Example: Quicksand

Hebrews 4:15 (NIV2011)
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

John 8:36 (NIV2011)
36 …if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

You. If you missed last week, we're taking a few Sundays here early in 2024 to clarify what it means to have a biblical worldview, to see things through the lens of the Bible. As I described last week, every single one of us has a worldview through which our, by which we perceive and make sense of the world. In fact, last week I shared kind of a working definition of what a worldview is. We'll bring it up on the screen for you. Your worldview is the framework from which you perceive reality and make sense of the life of life in the world. Let me give you an example of how this works. I don't know if you've ever been to a 3d movie. 3D Movies are impressive. I mean, you talk about it is an immersive experience. When you watch a 3d movie, you feel like you are in the movie. But there's a catch to watching a 3d movie. To watch a 3d movie and experience it as you're supposed to, you have to wear these 3d glasses. When you wear these 3d glasses in a 3d movie, the movie comes live. It literally jumps off the screen at you. Well, the last time I was in a 3d movie, I got curious and I just for a few moments, took my 3d glasses off and watched the movie without them, and I could make out what was going on, but it wasn't at all clear, it wasn't nearly as vivid, it wasn't nearly as immersive as it was with the 3d glasses on. To perceive. To see a 3d movie as you're supposed to, you have to view it through the right lenses. God has given us a lens through which we can perceive the world as we're supposed to. And as we discussed last week, that lens is the Bible. The truths in the Bible help us to perceive and make sense of life and the world around us from the perspective of the creator. Now, the tragic truth, the unfortunate thing that has prompted this sermon series is, as I described last week, there are very few christians in America who actually have a biblical worldview, who perceive the world through the lens of the Bible. In fact, I shared with you a study by Arizona Christian University that found that of professing Christians in the United States, of professing Christians in the United States, only 6% actually have a biblical worldview. That is to say that 94% of american Christians, the vast majority of Christians in our nation, make sense of life and the world around them through lenses other than the Bible. So this series is intended to help us put God's glasses on, to perceive the world around us from his perspective. Last week I shared with you the first pillar of a biblical worldview from scripture. And that first pillar was simply that God created all things. Practically every Christian says they believe that. But what we did last week was we covered some of the implications of that biblical truth. If God created all things, what does that mean to me? And we talked about how if God created all things, that means we're all accountable to him. If God created all things, we have purpose and we have intrinsic value, not extrinsic value. And if God created all things, that means we can rest in his sovereignty and in his providence. If you missed last week's sermon, go back and check it out online. Today we're going to look at a second pillar of a biblical worldview, and it's found in Romans chapter three in a verse very familiar to most christians. Romans chapter three, verse 23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God church. The Bible teaches that every human being shares a common problem, and that common problem that we all share is the problem of sin. Now, what does that word mean? When Paul says, all have sinned, what did he mean by that? That word sin comes from the greek word hamartia, which literally means to miss the mark. It was often used in archery. If an archer fired an arrow at a target and he missed the target, that was called a sin. A sin means to miss the mark. So when Paul says, we have all sinned, paul is saying, we have all missed the mark. When it comes to being who God intended us to be, when it comes to being who we're supposed to be, see, God created us and desires for us to share in his glory, to share in his holiness, to share in his righteousness, to love people like he loves people. That's God's intention for us. Paul's saying here, none of us, none of us hit that mark, we all fall short of sharing in God's glory. So biblical worldview pillar number two is simply this. Every person has a sinful nature. Every person has a sinful nature. We all have a nature that causes behaviors, thoughts, attitudes that are not christlike, that are not what God wants for us. Now, most of us have experienced empirical evidence of this pillar, especially if you've been around young kids. Because when our kids were small, I learned very, very quickly that I did not have to teach them to do wrong. I did not have to teach them to misbehave. I didn't have to teach them to be bad. That came naturally to them. See, part of the challenge of parenting is to teach children how to do good, how to behave, because those are the things that don't come naturally. Misbehavior comes naturally to a child. Why is that? Because every person has a sinful nature. In fact, one john chapter one says this. If we claim to be without sin, any of us claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth's not in us. We all share this common problem. We are all sinful. We all miss the mark. Now I'd like to take just a moment before I dive into the implications and what this means to us. I'd like to compare this to a non biblical worldview. A biblical worldview says that every person has a sinful nature. A non biblical worldview is very, very different. Here's what a non biblical worldview says. You're amazing just the way you are. A non biblical worldview will say you should ignore any voice that suggests that there's something wrong with you. No, you should embrace and celebrate you. You should be who you are because you're amazing just the way you are. If it feels right, if it seems to come naturally to you, you should embrace and celebrate that no matter what it is. A biblical worldview teaches exactly the opposite. A biblical worldview says there's something wrong with all of us. We all share a common problem. The Bible does not teach, you should embrace and celebrate yourself. The Bible instead teaches we should deny ourselves. In fact, Romans chapter eight teaches us that we should put to death the deeds of the flesh. What does that mean? We should put to death those things that seem to come naturally to us. So the biblical worldview and the non biblical worldview lead in opposite directions. You can see that. So, as we did last week, I'd like to share a couple of implications of this pillar of truth that we find in scripture. First, and maybe this is obvious, but it's worth stating, sin affirms a moral standard. For us to miss the mark, there must be a mark to miss. For the Bible to declare that all of mankind is sinful, there must be. There must be a standard by which that is determined. Otherwise, morality becomes ambiguous and such a statement cannot be made. Now let me just compare this to a non biblical worldview. Again, a non biblical worldview says, what's morally right for you may be different from what's morally right for me, because after all, moral truth is subjective, not objective. I live out my goal in life. What I should do is I should live out my moral truth. My truth. We hear that a lot today. I need to live out my truth, and you should live out your truth. And both of our truths are equally legitimate and virtuous. That worldview, a non biblical worldview, literally elevates everyone to godlike status. A non biblical worldview makes each individual the arbiter of what is right and wrong. They can have their own standard for how they should behave. The non biblical worldviews like this. It would be like taking a test in school, and then after you complete the test, you get to make out your own answer key by which your test is graded. Okay, if every student in a class took a test, and then every student in the class made out their own answer key, guess what? Every student in the class is going to get an a. Even if their answers were completely different. Even if their answers were wrong, every student would get an a because their test is graded based on a standard of their own making. You see, the non biblical worldview makes us like God. Our life is measured based on an answer key of our own making. We determine what's right and wrong for us, and our life is measured against that standard. But a biblical worldview understands that there is a mark, and it is a mark we all miss. A biblical worldview says there is a standard by which morality is measured, and it is an objective, not subjective one. Here's another important reason to understand this pillar, this sin, this common problem that we all share. The Bible teaches us that sin has consequences. In other words, this is not an inconsequential problem. This problem has a cost that cannot be trivialized and simply cannot be overlooked. It always leads to inevitable and destructive outcomes, regardless of how innocuous it may appear to be. Now let me just compare this to a non biblical worldview. A non biblical worldview says that immoral behavior can be, and oftentimes should be, without consequence. In other words, a reasonable goal is to do whatever I want to do whatever I think is right, and to avoid or minimize any consequence of those decisions. In fact, I heard several years ago, I was listening to some parents talk, and one of the parents said something like this. They said, I just hope and pray. My child never gets caught doing so and so, as if it's not wrong unless you get caught. And I thought to myself, you know what the hope and prayer of every parent should be? The hope and prayer of every parent should be that our kids do get caught if they're doing something that they shouldn't be, shouldn't be doing. But a non biblical worldview says that immoral behavior can, and oftentimes should be inconsequential. But the Bible has much to say about the consequences of our shared problem. For example, the Bible teaches us that sin's consequences are certain, meaning we will never get away with our sin. Now, sometimes we are tempted to think that we have gotten away with it. If nobody knows I've gotten away with my sin, if it doesn't hurt anybody or doesn't cause any waves to anybody, then I have gotten away with my sin. But the truth of the matter, according to the Bible, is that no moral offense goes unnoticed. Hebrews, chapter four, verse 13. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. This brings me to an interesting question. How might your life look different if you knew someone was always watching? How might your life, how might my life look different if we realized someone is always watching and that someone is not a casual observer? No, that someone is the one to whom we will give account. See, sin's consequences are certain. Secondly, the Bible says that sin's consequences are serious. Sin's consequences. This is not a small problem we all share. Now, one of the reasons that it's obvious that many Christians don't believe what the Bible teaches about the seriousness of sin is the way we toy with it, the way we tinker with it, the way we play around with sin. We play around with sin as if it is not a serious problem. If you go to the doctor and you're not feeling well and the doctor says, you know what? There's nothing really to worry about. All you have is a common cold. You may or may not go to the store and buy anything to take for that cold, you may just let that cold run its course. You're not concerned about it because it's not serious. But if you go to the doctor and that doctor says you have cancer, and it could very well take your life, okay, your response to that problem is going to be much different from your response to the cold. You know what you're going to do? You're going to demand the very best medical care you can find. You're going to commit your life to doing whatever it takes to rid yourself of that cancer, okay? Many in our culture today think of sin as a cold rather than of like cancer. They think it's more like a cold than it is cancer. But let me remind you, Romans, chapter five, verse twelve. Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and in this way, death came to all people, because all sinned. Romans 623. The wages of sin. What sin will earn? For you, the wages of sin is death. You see, this problem we all share is not a small problem. It's a deadly problem. It's terminal. That's why God's treatment for sin was so drastic. One of the ways you can measure the size of a problem is by measuring the size of its remedy. When it came to solving our sin problem, God didn't just throw small solutions at it. You know what he did? He gave his best. Our sin cost the creator the life of his one and only son. It is a fatal mistake to mistake sin as a cold instead of a cancer. Never understand the severity of the problem we all share. One final thing that this pillar clarifies for us. Very important. Sin's solution requires a savior. Okay, let me explain to you what I mean by this. We cannot rescue ourselves from this problem we all share. There is nothing you can do, there is nothing I can do to deal with this cancer of a problem called sin. Ephesians, chapter two, verse eight. For it is by grace. You have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves. It is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. See, a non biblical worldview would say something different. A non biblical worldview will say, look, you can do anything you put your mind to. Where there's a will, there's a way. If I work hard enough, if I put my mind to it, I can be good enough to deal with whatever problem I might have in terms of moral behavior. That's what a non biblical worldview will say. A biblical worldview says it is impossible for any of us to deal with this problem we all share. The best picture I can think of to describe the implications of this is quicksand. When I was a kid, and this goes back a long way, when I was a kid, I used to watch some westerns on television, and I remember how somebody would fall into quicksand. You all know what quicksand is, right? You start sinking. And when someone falls into quicksand, the harder they try to get out, the deeper in they sink. And if someone doesn't come along and rescue them out of the quicksand, they're going to be buried alive in the quicksand. Well, I remember this one episode on television. Somebody had fallen to this quicksand. He was calling for help. Help, I'm falling to quicksand. So this would be rescuer comes along and jumps into the quicksand to save the person in the quicksand. And now they're both in trouble. Someone who is in the quicksand with you can't save you from the quicksand you're in. You know, the only way you get out of quicksand is if someone who has not fallen into it, standing on the side, throws a rope to you and pulls you out. You can only be saved by someone who is not in the same dilemma that you're in. Hebrews, chapter four, verse 15. We do not have a high priest who's unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are. Yet he did not sin. You see, there is one, and there is only one who has ever lived, who never fell into the quicksand of sin, and he is the only one who can save us from it. Jesus, the sinless son of God, is the only one who has ever lived not fallen to sin, and he is the only one who can rescue us from it. That's why John 836 says this. If the sun sets you free, you'll be free indeed. You see, we've all sinned, folks. We have a problem. It is causing, we have missed the mark of who we're supposed to be. And it is not a small problem. It's not something we can just brush off the triviality. No, it is a serious, it is a deadly problem, and its consequences are certain. But the wonderful news of the gospel is that there is one who came to rescue us from our sin and from its consequences. Because when Jesus hung on a roman cross until he died, he paid the penalty that you owe, and that I owe for our sin. Those inevitable consequences he bore on his sinless shoulders, that whoever might believe in him might place their faith in what he accomplished for us when he died and rose again, might have eternal life and escape the destructive consequences of a problem we all share. As I close this part of our service, I'd like to give those of you who have never placed your faith in Jesus to do so. I may be speaking to people, and you feel like you're sinking in the quicksand of sin. Jesus has thrown a rope. The question is, will you respond to that? Will you take that rope by faith, placing all your trust in the one who can save you from your sin? To do so, heads are bowed, eyes are closed. If you'd like to say yes to Jesus this morning, your heartfelt prayer to the creator might sound something like this. God, I recognize that my sin has offended you, and separated me from you. But I believe Jesus, your son, died and rose again so that my sins could be forgiven. So in this moment of silence, I confess before you that I'm placing all my trust in what Jesus did for me, to rescue me from the quicksand of sin so that I can be restored to a right relationship with you. In Jesus name, amen. Everyone looking this way. If that was your heartfelt prayer this morning, we're thrilled for you. You've made a wonderful, life changing, eternity altering decision today. We'd like, as a church family, we like to help people better understand what it means to place faith in Jesus. What just happened in your heart in life? What just happened to your future when you prayed that prayer from an earnest heart? We have literature available for you back at guest services as you leave. If you'd like to know more, go by. Receive that free literature from us. We would love to give that to anyone who prayed along with me this morning and to anyone who would like to know more. If you're watching online and you prayed along with me just now, I would love the chance to be able to send to your home that same helpful literature. If you prayed along with me, go to the website imadadecision.com. Imadadecision.com. When you go there, one of the things you'll see is a place for you to send us your mailing address. If you do that, we'll put that same helpful literature in the mail to your home, wherever you may be in the coming week.