844. The Moral Nature of Man

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. This semester we've had really a wonderful series on the theme of what is man. And one of our desires at our chapels is to be able to teach sound, solid biblical doctrine that will make a difference in sound, solid biblical living. Because ultimately we live out in our lifestyles what we believe in our heart.

Our behavior is affected by our beliefs. And so this semester we have dealt with the theme of what is man, understanding man in creation, how we relate to God, man in the fall, man in salvation, and all that has been taking place. And we've had some really very wonderful messages. We're going to end up the semester next week, which is our final week of chapel services, on really dealing with the idea of relationships that we have with one another and all the aspects of that relationship. Starting with God in the Trinity and how that there's a relationship in the Trinity and that actually is what happens in our life as we become believers. So it's been a hopeful help to you this semester as we've covered these subjects. Today's message will be preached by seminary professor Dr. Eric Newton.

The title of his message is The Moral Nature of Man and the scripture passage is from Romans chapter 1. April 16, 2007 was one of the darkest days in modern American history, certainly in the history of colleges. As you may recall, on that day in Blacksburg, Virginia, a senior English major named Xun Hui Cho entered multiple buildings on the campus of Virginia Tech and opened fire on fellow human beings, killing 32 and wounding 17 others. Also that day on that campus was a man named Liviu Librescu. He was a 76-year-old professor of engineering, science, and mathematics, a Romanian-born Jew, and a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust. On that Monday, Librescu barricaded the door of Norris Hall 204 while his students escaped. All but one of his 20 students that day survived. Librescu did not.

He was later awarded the Order of the Star of Romania, the highest honor possible in that country for a civilian. How can we understand this contrast? How can we understand a tragic event like this?

How can we understand the public outcry in response to it? We can't unless we have a category of morality. The 20th century apologist Francis Schaeffer once observed that humanity exhibits both the most sublime dignity and the most awful depravity, nobility, and cruelty.

And all of those were tragically on display that day at Virginia Tech. And your worldview and mine have to account for the difference between that nobility and that cruelty. Even in our increasingly secular society, we cannot avoid moral discussion.

Last week, the Twitter account of the New York Times Magazine conducted a poll asking whether or not readers, if they had had a chance, would have killed a baby Hitler. Now a lot of the chatter that eventuated devolved into the ridiculous, frankly. But my point is not so much how people answered it, but that the question was raised. Even in an increasingly secular society, we cannot avoid moral discussion. Now, the issue of morality has been assumed throughout our series on anthropology this semester, but we need to take focus on it today. And what we're talking about is the ability to distinguish between what is and what should be. An innate ability. And it's not just a consideration for a classroom. This is not mere theory. This is personal.

As C.S. Lewis famously remarked, there are two things that all of us as human beings know deep down inside. One is that we should behave in a certain way, and the other is that we often fail to do so. But you may ask, or someone else may ask, should we be so hard on ourselves? Couldn't morality merely be a cultural phenomenon, a preference? I mean, after all, don't different cultures respond to morality in different ways?

And that is true, of course, but I think that actually testifies that there is an underlying standard to which all cultures are appealing with varying degrees of success. As anthropologists have noted, every culture in the history of the world has had moral censure for certain types of murder, for certain types of lying and injustice and sexual misconduct and ill-treatment of children. But you might say, alright, I realize that this distinction between right and wrong is possible, but except in extreme cases like the massacre at Virginia Tech, is it really that necessary? Well actually, again, nearly everyone recognizes that it is necessary. Even recent discussions about things like same-sex marriage actually validate that the issue isn't whether there is such a thing as morality, but who defines it? I mean, think of the reversal that has happened, so that whereas once homosexuality was outlawed, same-sex marriage was not possible legally, now, if you're a photographer and you refuse to participate in the ceremony for a same-sex couple, you are in legal jeopardy.

And I want to press a little further. In the most humane moments of our existence, we are brought back to our senses about whose standard of morality is actually good. Last Tuesday was a very difficult day for my family. My wife received news that our baby that she had been carrying for 20 weeks no longer had a heartbeat. And so, over the next 24 hours, we went to the hospital and because of how far along she was, 20 weeks, she had to deliver our son stillborn. And there's a lot of emotion, of course.

There's been an outpouring of love from many of you and God's people, and we're so grateful and we have nothing but thanksgiving to the Lord. But one of the things that I reflected on in the wake of this is that no one in that hospital, regardless of his or her religious conviction, regardless of their worldview, no one treated that baby as if it was just a bunch of tissue. Everyone treated our son, dead as he was, as a life.

You know what? There's a lot of discussion about abortion, but when it comes down to reality, deep down inside, we all know what's good and we know what's evil. So how do we explain this moral nature that distinguishes us as human beings from the rest of the created world? Well, like anything else, we have to turn to Scripture. So if you turn in your Bibles with me to Romans chapter 1. Our attention has already been drawn to this passage in this series, but this really is the one the Lord brought to mind when Dr. Pettit assigned me this topic.

I'm going to start reading in verse 16 of Romans 1. Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. And there are two things that this gospel, this powerful gospel reveals. One, verse 17, therein is the righteousness of God, the saving righteousness revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. And two, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold down, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

Paul is launching, as you know, into probably the greatest explanation of the gospel anywhere in Scripture. The gospel, as Tim Chapman reminded us last week, is the solution to our problem. So what is our core problem? What problem is the gospel addressing? Well, it's a moral problem.

There is a standard to which we have to measure up, and we haven't. We are, in Paul's terms, unrighteous. And this leads us to the first part of our understanding of this moral nature of mankind, and that is, as chapter 1 explains, the revelation of God is in every place. God has revealed Himself everywhere.

Notice verse 19, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, we'll come back to that, for God hath showed it unto them, outside of them, for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, and His eternal power in Godhead, so that they are without excuse. We see that in addition to being able to distinguish between good and evil, between right and wrong, in order to have morality, you have to have accountability. You have to have responsibility.

You have to be accountable to something, and ultimately someone who is outside of you. Several years ago, I showed up for a discipleship group prayer meeting, as I always do, just to pray with guys, to get to know them a little bit better, to share in their joys and sorrows, and hang out afterward. And I came in just before the bell at 10.30 and sat down kind of in the corner, and one of the guys in the discipleship group, whom I knew very well because of where he grew up, came in just as the bell was ringing and sat down in front of me, but with his back turned to me. He obviously didn't notice I was there. And he immediately, before the group leader could take control of the meeting, immediately launched into some mockery of the resident supervisor. And as he did that, suddenly the room became sort of tense. People's eyes got really big.

People were kind of, you know, doing this number. And all of a sudden, he turned around and he saw me. And he had the sheepish smile on his face, and he said, Hi, Dr. Newton.

It was an unforgettable moment. I have not let him live that down. You know, that really is a poor analogy, because I didn't create that young man, and I didn't set the rules for how you should respond to and refer to your authority. But God has created us. And he has set the rules according to his own character about how we should live. We are responsible to a righteous creator, and he has revealed himself to the extent that we are, again, verse 20, without excuse. You see, God created the world in a moral way.

The very fabric of the universe. Not just us, but the universe around us has a moral tint to it. That's why wisdom that we've been studying all semester is at its root a moral skill to understand life well and live successfully. And the core of this morality, as we see in verse 21, is worship. It's honoring God as God. Morality starts not with us, it starts with God. When they, when we knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Our knowledge of him isn't merely informational.

It's not like, okay, if I know about God, that kind of helps me out in life. There are moral implications, there are eternal ramifications, for the fact that there is a God who has revealed himself to us. Ultimately, morality is the humble acknowledgement that God is God, and God is right.

Let me say that again. Morality, at its root, is the humble acknowledgement that God is God, and that God is right. And the essence, as the passage goes on to explain, of our problems, is idolatry. It's rebellion against God.

Unrighteousness starts in our minds and our hearts, and then it plays out in our thoughts and our words and our actions eventually. And we see that this immorality, in its most basic sense, has consequences. We see this pattern in verse 24 and 26 and 28 where God gives us over. That's the same word as Pilate handing over Jesus to crucifixion. God gives us over, first to uncleanness, then verse 26 to unnatural affections, then verse 28 to a debased mind, which means it doesn't work the right way. It's like a compass that's shattered. It doesn't point to true north anymore.

It's still there, but it doesn't work right. And we end up, by the time we get to verse 32 and the end of this chapter, it says, We know the judgment of God, deep down inside, that they which commit such things are worthy of death. But not only do we do these things, but we have pleasure in them that do them.

We not only do them ourselves, or maybe we don't do them ourselves, but we approve of this unrighteousness. As the Russian literary giant Dostoevsky once wrote, If God doesn't exist, everything is possible. And if you read verses 29 to 31, you've got a pretty good, not an exhaustive, but a representative list of everything that's possible when you take God out of the picture. Morality collapses if there is no God. We have to understand ourselves by prioritizing the revelation of God.

But what do we have in addition to that? In addition to the revelation of God all around us. Well secondly, we have a reflection of evidence of the law of God actually in our hearts. As Paul goes on to teach us in Romans 2, 14, and 15, there is a replica of God's law that's actually etched onto our very hearts.

Look at verse 14 of chapter 2. When the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these Gentiles, having not the law, are a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts, the meanwhile accusing or excusing one another. There is a fundamental moral law that is written on our very hearts. And our conscience either accuses or excuses. The conscience is not the moral law. The conscience doesn't make up the rules. The conscience is like an umpire in baseball.

He calls us safe or he calls us out. It either excuses us or accuses us. And the frightening reality is that even if we've salved our conscience, even if we've placated it, even if we've tried to get rid of the idea of God, ultimately that conscience never goes away because it's innate. God gave it to us. And we, of course, not only have this law of God written in our hearts, but we have the law of God right in front of us. Not everyone in the world does, but many, many of us do.

We are accountable. But I think there's another major question that we have to tackle, and that is not only does morality exist, which is questioned by many people in our world today, but does it matter? Does morality really matter? And I think Paul gives us at least three reasons why it ultimately, it eternally matters.

First of all, it matters because we are all under condemnation due to our unrighteousness. The judgment of God is on every sinner. You see, what Paul is doing is he's driving toward chapter 3, verse 9.

Look at that with me. Chapter 3, verse 9, he says, What then? Are we, the Jews, better than they, the Gentiles? No, and no wise, for we have proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin. And then he goes through a series of Old Testament citations to drive home the point, and he comes to verse 19. Notice he says, We know that whatsoever the things of the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. We have nothing left to say. We will render to God our works, and He will come back with a verdict on that.

And there is nothing left to say. Every mouth is stopped because the law is written in our hearts, and the law has been given to us in our Bibles. We're all accountable. And so, the judgment of God being on every sinner reminds us that this morality really matters.

But that's not where the story ends, right? Paul goes on in this section to tell us that morality matters because God sacrificed His very own Son in our place to deal with our unrighteousness. Morality matters because the imputed righteousness of God liberates every believer. Our moral rebellion against this God is something that He cannot take lightly. I mean, what kind of world would it be if God was powerful, and if He was nice, but if He was not righteous?

What if He had come up with a solution to our greatest problem that somehow smoothed things over, but didn't set things right? In that hospital last week, it was comforting that God is love. It was comforting that God is sovereign. But we had to have faith that God is righteous, that He does all things well, and He will ultimately make all things right. And so, He had to come up with a way to be both the just and the justifier of us who believe.

Notice verse 26 in chapter 3. To declare, I say at this time, His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of Him which believeth in Jesus. God accomplished what no one else could have done. He paid the price for our sin.

He sent His very own Son to endure more than any of us could ever imagine, and all that He got in return was a death on a cross. But He was raised from the dead, and now as we sang right before the message, our filthy lives are clothed with His perfect robe of righteousness. And that liberates us. We are no longer under the condemnation of the Law. We are free from the penalty of our sin. We are free from the dominion of our flesh. This is God's great Emancipation Proclamation, our justification in Christ. What more personal or what stronger statement could God have made about the importance of morality than sending His very own Son to obey all the Law and die in our place so that we could have His righteousness? How much do you think it matters? Well, it matters that much. But there's one final indication in these opening chapters of Romans of how important morality is.

I turn your attention actually to chapter 6. After explaining the doctrine of justification, Paul raises this question. If we understand justification well, we should come to this question. What then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

It seems like it doesn't matter. It seems like it glorifies God if we actually sin, because His righteousness is so great. And Paul says, may it never be, by no means.

That's a disastrous conclusion. And he goes on in chapter 6, as many of you know very well, to talk about how we can live free from sin. We can actually pursue righteousness.

In fact, he uses this phrase in verse 18. Notice at the end of it, ye became the servants, the bond slaves of righteousness. Morality matters because the practical righteousness of God, our sanctification, governs every believer. We have been freed, liberated from our sin, and we're freed, what? To be enslaved to the joyful tyranny of righteousness. Not to use righteousness as if we're in control to merit God's favor, to impress other people, but actually to understand that that righteousness is worth living for, and to do so in the freedom of the cross. To do so with the joy and love of God on our hearts.

To do so for His glory. Believing and thinking and loving and saying and doing the right thing matters. Giving God glory in our lives instead of taking it for ourselves matters. Using social media to build up, not tear down, regardless of whether or not our identity is visible, matters.

Choosing to avoid sensuality instead of clicking on it matters. Honoring our parents instead of ignoring their counsel matters. Speaking God's truth and love about tough subjects like homosexuality, even when they're unpopular, matters.

Maintaining academic integrity instead of taking shortcuts matters. Repenting of our sin humbly instead of harboring it matters. You see, we were made in the moral image of God, and we are being remade in that image in Jesus Christ.

How much does it matter? God gave His very own Son to live righteously, to die vicariously, to be raised victoriously so that you and I could live out His moral will faultingly but sincerely for His glory. May He give us grace to do so. Would you pray with me?

Oh God, we've been bought by such love. Our lives are not our own. We want our praise, our all, our sincerest, faith-filled, grace-enabled efforts to be for your praise alone.

Amen. My listening friend, can I ask you a question? Have you received the crucified, resurrected Jesus as your own personal Savior? No doubt, God is speaking to your heart. There's a knock on the door of your heart, and He's asking to come in. Would you personally, individually, right now, call upon the name of the Lord, ask Jesus to be your Savior, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Let me urge you to do that right now. May God bless you. Join us again tomorrow as we continue this series about the doctrine of man on The Daily Platform.