1695. CFR: Creation Fall and Redemption

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. The school was founded in 1927 by the evangelist Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. His intent was to make a school where Christ would be the center of everything so he established daily chapel services. Today, that tradition continues with fervent biblical preaching from The University Chapel platform.

We're continuing a study of the doctrine of man titled, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. Today's message will be preached by Dr. Greg Mazak, who has served in Christian ministry for over 25 years as a youth pastor, pastor, camp and conference speaker and professor. In addition to teaching in the BJU Seminary, he oversees both the undergraduate and graduate degrees in biblical counseling at Bob Jones University. Dr. Mazak is burdened that his students have a biblical view of every aspect of life, including counseling. He is fully committed to the sufficiency of Scripture and the ability of the Holy Spirit to radically change believers as they progress in their sanctification. Today, Dr. Mazak will be continuing our series of Fearfully and Wonderfully Made with a sermon called, Creation, Fall and Redemption. Well, I'm grateful to have the opportunity to open up the scripture this morning.

And I am grateful that I have the joy of spending a large part of my life in ministry at Bob Jones University and Bob Jones Seminary. So we're working on a theme called Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. And I want to begin, just kind of warm us up, get us thinking a little bit. Are you good with abbreviations? If I put up five abbreviations on the screen, would you get them? Let's start with an easy one. NFL stands for what?

Come on and say it out loud. National Football League. Good, National Football League.

Second one, ready? FBI stands for? Federal Bureau of Investigation. Okay, Federal Bureau of Investigation. How about a third one? FYI stands for?

Okay, and then how about one if you text a lot, you may use IDK? You don't know that one, okay. And then finally, let's say this fifth one altogether, CFR?

That's what I thought. We lost a lot of people on CFR. What does CFR stand for? It stands for Creation, Fall and Redemption. And that's what we're going to be talking about in chapel today. You say, what does it mean to be a person to be fearfully and wonderfully made? One way to think about it that's very common is CFR. Some people put an R at the end, they go CFR, R and that's fine, that's another message. Today we're going to talk about Creation, Fall, Redemption. Creation, Fall is going to be kind of a review of what you've already heard and then we'll try to focus on the third point, redemption.

You say, what do you mean by CFR? Why should I care? Let's review SEAP.

SEAP has to do with Creation. And I hope you'll pay attention this morning because you matter in a way that maybe you're not used to thinking about. You matter because God made you in His image. You know, sometimes I think we go through dark times in life, we have various challenges, and we wonder, why am I here? Is there a purpose?

I mean, what is my life all about? Do I even matter? And the fact of the matter is, yes you do matter, because you are made in the image of God.

And we've seen this verse many times, but I'd like to review Genesis 127. God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them. So you matter because you're made in the image of our holy God. So just starting right there, sometimes life gets dark, discouraging. Do I have a purpose? Is there a reason I'm here? And the answer is yes, you do have a purpose.

There is a reason and it always goes back to you have been created in the image of God. That's why you matter, but let's broaden it out. All people matter because all people are created in God's image.

I mean, just think about, if you would, the two great commandments that the New Testament gives us, right? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. Why should we love our neighbor as we love ourselves? And the reason is because our neighbors are created in God's image. All people deserve our respect. All people deserve our love. Those we like, those we don't like, those we agree with, those we disagree with. There is something special about people. We are created in God's image. That's not true of things other than people.

Let me just use a simple illustration. How about a tree? Now, I like trees. I enjoy trees.

I like working in my yard, the previous place my wife and I lived. I counted, I planted over 50 trees. Every time I dig a hole, pop a tree in the ground and put the dirt around, fertilize it, irrigate it over the years, watch it grow.

I actually enjoy that. And it gets up, it grows, and I enjoy cutting down trees. You know, on a Saturday morning, if I have a tree to cut down, I remember years ago, Nancy and I and my wife, we moved into a house, and it had these two very large magnolia. You know what a magnolia tree is? They're beautiful like if they're far away, but you know, not up close. They're not like oaks or maples. They're like big bushes, and their leaves are really thick. They're like leather, and they just mess your yard up.

I hate them. And I bought an ugly house that needed repairs. I mean, we're talking about a house that had green shag, carpet, that's stunk of dog urine. The former owner smoked heavily. The walls are all like painted with nicotine.

And the house was just ugly. My wife said to me, honey, what are you gonna do first? I said, I'm gonna cut those trees down.

I hate them. A neighbor came by, and he came by just to say hi, and he said to me, hey, you know, my name's so-and-so. Yeah, my name's Greg. He said, I remember when those two trees were planted. And I said, you know, that's awesome. And he said, my kids have played in those trees growing up. And I said, that's wonderful. And he said, you're still gonna cut them down?

I said, yes, sir. He said, why are you gonna cut them down? I said, because I hate magnolia trees. And that's — now, maybe I should have been more, you know, diplomatic, but that's okay because, see, they're just trees. This might be simple, but trees don't matter.

You matter because you're made in God's image. Let's pick it up and leave plants. Let's go to animals. My oldest daughter has a dog that looks like this. Kind of part lab, part coon dog. It sleeps all the time, 100 pounds, but an awesome dog.

His name's Watson, okay? My youngest daughter has this kind of a dog, okay? I call it a purse dog, a yap-yap dog. Just, you know what I mean.

It's just different. I don't really even think of it as a dog. My youngest daughter says to me — and then I have a middle daughter who has a medium-sized dog, so that works out well.

And I didn't know what picture to use. My youngest will say to me, Maggie's the dog's name, the little one. Dad, you don't like Maggie, do you? And I'm a dad, and I just say something like, honey, I love you, and I'm so proud you're my daughter. And she'll say, but you don't like my dog. And I say, well, I like you, and I like your husband, and you like Watson better than Maggie.

And I usually say, let's go out to eat, and that normally just, we're good, okay? You can like either one of those, or you can like them both, or you can like neither. This is a simple thing. But guys, those two dogs, they don't really matter. You matter. All people matter, because we are made in God's image.

I just thought maybe this picture would help. Here's a man and he's made in God's image. Here's a woman. She's created in God's image. They're a married couple, you see, he has a ring on his finger. And they're celebrating that they have this ultrasound picture. I assume they're really excited about, hey, we're gonna have a baby. That baby is made in God's image.

All three of those people matter, because all three of them are made in God's image. So when we talk about people, CFR, we always begin with creation, and then we have to go to the F, and here's the bad news. The bad news is something is wrong. The fact of the matter is something is very wrong. I have never met anyone who didn't have a sense of the reality that something is wrong.

We may disagree on what's wrong, we'll certainly disagree on how to fix it, but I think everyone has a sense that things should be better than they really are. The Bible addresses that, it's called the fall. You say, what does the Bible teach? You are a sinner and a sufferer.

What do we mean by those two different terms? Sometimes the problems that we struggle with would be because I'm a sinner. Sometimes I'm not doing anything wrong and people are sinning against me and I'm a sufferer. Sometimes we're just in a sinful world where things go bad.

Not only are you a sinner and a sufferer, but all people are sinners, all people are sufferers. And that's just the world we live in. I don't know if you know this, I realize you're in school, you might not be paying so much attention to state politics, but the national media has been focused on South Carolina for like these last two months because of a double murder case that's been going on. And a very well respected community leader, who's from a very well respected family, who people have looked up to for generations, was convicted of a double murder.

He shot, an attorney shot his own son and his wife, one with the shotgun, one with the rifle, both at close range. And I won't give you any details because it's, it's, it's just very sad to talk about. And everybody looks at that and says, something's wrong. I've talked to family up in Ohio and they said, hey, I've been reading about South Carolina, something's wrong. Something's very wrong. And the Bible talks about what's wrong.

We call it the fall. Adam and Eve have sinned and we've all joined them in sinning. The Bible addresses the issue that something wrong is wrong.

Just think about what happened right after Adam and Eve sinned, right? What did the Lord say to the woman? I will surely multiply your pain and child bearing. In pain you shall bring forth children, pain twice. The best I understand that childbirth should not be painful.

It should be a wonderful thing. And it is wonderful in some ways, but now it's going to be an intense pain. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband. I'm reading from an ESV and he shall rule over you. Now there's different interpretations of that, but just real quick to give you one.

What happened because of sin? A woman's desire contrary to that of her husband, she wants to naturally usurp the leadership of her husband, but the guy's just as bad. He shall rule over you.

That's not a reference to loving leadership, but a man who rules over his wife in a way that Christ would say is wrong. You say, what's that the result of? That's the result of sin in the fall. What did God say to the man, to Adam? Because you've listened to the voice of your wife and you've eaten of the tree which I commanded you, you shall not eat. Cursed is the ground because of you. In pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken.

For you are dust and to dust you shall return. Life is hard. Life is painful. Life is difficult.

We work by the sweat of our brow. You say, why is life so hard, so difficult, so challenging? It's because of sin.

Everybody knows something's wrong. Now here we are people, we're still in God's image, but there is definitely something wrong. The Bible speaks to that. The Bible calls that the fall. So in CFR, creation, and then comes fall.

But that's not the end of the story. We usually talk about CFR as creation, fall, and redemption. What do you mean by redemption? It means that there's help. See when you know that life is challenging and life is tough, you realize I somehow need help.

There's help. It's called redemption. The word redemption can be translated set free, liberated, delivered. It's the idea that someone pays a price for a ransom and then he sets you free. You say who is that person?

Obviously you know. His name is Jesus. And Jesus redeems us. He rescues us.

And that's true for all people who trust in Him. He delivers us from our sin, which is our greatest need in life. I think many of us are familiar with this text, right? Romans 3, 23, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But can I remind us of the very next verse? For everybody who puts faith in Christ, Romans 3, 24, and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Just real quick, justified means to be declared righteous. That's what happens when you put your faith in Jesus Christ. It's by God's grace. It's a gift. It's you putting faith in Jesus Christ and you are set free.

You are delivered. Paul put it this way in Ephesians 1, 7. In Him, in Christ, we have redemption through His blood. The forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace. How are we set free, delivered, rescued from sin?

It's through the Lord Jesus Christ. Colossians 1, 13-14 puts it this way. The Bible says here in Colossians, He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Let's just slow down on that one just a little bit. Every person apart from Christ, creation, yeah, they're created in God's image, fall, but here they are sinful. Apart from Christ, they're in the domain of darkness. I mean, what is that like to be in the domain of darkness before you're redeemed by Jesus?

So many different illustrations. I'm going to go back to 2018 and I think you may remember this. It took place in Thailand. There were 12 teenagers and a soccer coach and they were going exploring into caves. And I guess that's just what they were doing for fun.

They're boys, they're kids. And they go into these caves, but it was heavy rain at that time. And monsoon or something comes and the water level rises and all of a sudden we have 12 children trapped somewhere in the caves and for two whole weeks, no one hears about them.

And I don't know if you remember, but it was like the head story on the internet and the whole world got concerned. It said that 10,000 people worked to try to find those kids. 100 divers were actively diving through the water of those caves, trying to find the kids. 100 separate government agencies were involved.

2000 soldiers, 900 policemen. And then two weeks after they were lost, at least they identified them and they found them. And it was just like this incredible, wow. You know, could you imagine, I would hate to be in a cave in the dark thinking I might drown knowing there's no way out. I mean, I could think of many other ways I'd rather die than that.

Just to be in darkness, frightening. And then all of a sudden out of nowhere, out of the water comes a diver and to see a human being and for him to be able to say, we're going to get you out of here. I mean, our hearts would just leap with joy. That's redemption. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ does for everyone who puts faith in Him. We are set free.

We are delivered. You say, how does Jesus do that? Some people call 2 Corinthians 5 21 the greatest Gospel text in the Bible. I know at football games, we always see the John 3 16 sign and I'm fine with that. I sometimes think maybe we should do 2 Corinthians 5 21 signs. Here's what it says. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God.

Let me just kind of go slow one more time. God the Father made him, that's Jesus, who had no sin. Jesus never sinned. God the Father made the sinless Jesus to be sin for us. So here I am, I'm a very sinful person.

I've fallen. God takes my sin and imputes it, puts it on, I think Dr. Pettit just this week used an illustration, downloaded it. My sin is placed on the Lord Jesus Christ and He suffers and dies in my place.

We just sang a song that had the word propitiation in it. And the wrath of God against me is satisfied, Jesus thank you. That's what Christ has done.

But guys, it's more than that. Because think about it. If I'm a sinner and all my sin is placed on Jesus and He dies on the cross in my place, where does that leave me? I think I'm just back to neutral. Not only is my sin placed on Christ, it says in this verse, so that in Him, in Jesus, we might become the righteousness of God in Him. You say, how does that happen? The righteousness of Christ is put on my account. My sin placed on Christ, His righteousness placed on me. Let me just try a simple illustration.

It's not perfect but maybe something to think about. Let's pretend you had a new credit card and you had a $20,000 limit. And you thought, this is so cool. And you went out shopping and you spent all $20,000 in one weekend. And so here you are, your card's loaded, you're now in debt big time, you got the credit card companies harassing you, and you think, boy am I stupid.

I can't believe I did that. Let's say you have like a wealthy grandpa or someone, and he says to you, honey, I know you messed up, I want to help you. I'm going to take care of that. And your grandpa pays your $20,000 credit card bill.

He says, I love you, we all do stupid things, I forgive you, I paid your bill. So, if the mail, assuming you still get paper mail, in the mail your credit card statement comes, and you're excited because you're thinking, I want to see if there's a zero. Like did the credit card company remove my $20,000 charge? You open up your credit card statement, you look, it doesn't say zero, guys. It says $20,000. And it's not what you owe, it's a credit.

Your grandpa not only paid $20,000 to pay off your debt, he put an extra $20,000 on your card just to encourage you. Wouldn't that be awesome? Now that fails as an illustration, but Christ does more than take my sin and suffer in my face. The righteousness of Christ is imputed to my account, and here I am, and I'm declared righteous. And I think about that, I think about what Jesus has done, and I say it's absolutely awesome.

And I hope like singing a song like we sang to open, Jesus thank you just kind of wells out of your heart, because God is so good. Now you might say, you know, come on Dr. Mazek, I'm a believer and I believe what you're saying, but life is still hard. The Bible acknowledges that. Let me just give you one verse, Romans 8, 23. We ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption of sons, the redemption of our bodies. There still is groaning in this life.

You say why? Because we have not received our complete salvation yet. Careful, I didn't say you're not saved if your faith is in Jesus.

I'm just making the point as good as it is, there's more to come. There's part of our salvation we don't get until Christ returns. That's what Paul's referring to in Romans 8, 23. What should be happening is we should be people that are CFR, creation, we're made in God's image, yes we matter. We matter to God, other people should matter to us. Fall, we all are sinful, but there's great news. We've been rescued, we've been delivered. We're like the kids in the cave, we think it's all over, and the divers find us and we're like praise God.

That should be something that causes us to rejoice in Christ. What would that look like? Try to think of a picture. I have a picture of an open lock, an unlocked lock. You know, maybe that lock like signifies I've been locked into my own sin, right?

I've been chained to my own sin. And Jesus comes and opens the lock, but that's maybe kind of a cold illustration. Maybe something more freeing and beautiful, right? Like a guy maybe out jogging and he's in front of a great mountain and he's just rejoicing and he feels like wow, I'm set free.

Or maybe hot air balloons going up in the air like they're defying gravity. And here you are just like floating up and it's so awesome, maybe it's sitting in a field. And here you are, your heart's just filled with joy that Jesus Christ is your redeemer.

And you should be able to sing out in a really joyful way, right? My chains are gone, I've been set free. My God, my Savior has ransomed me. Jesus paid the ransom to set me free. That's redemption. And like a flood, His mercy reigns on ending love.

Amazing grace. CFR ends with redemption. And if your faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ and you have a personal relationship with Him, I don't mean like yeah, said the prayer, made the decision, checked the box and forget about it. But you have an active relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

You know Him as your God, your King, your Lord, your Savior. You have experienced redemption. And it's something I trust that by God's grace, you will rejoice in. Even as you think about CFR, Creation Fall Redemption, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Let's pray. Father, we so thank you for our great Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, and we pray as we go out through the rest of this day that we Lord would have hearts that are filled with joy at how we've been rescued from the bondage of our sin. We'll thank you in Christ's name.

Amen. You've been listening to a sermon preached at Bob Jones University by Dr. Greg Mazak. If you would like more information about how the biblical principles of creation, fall, and redemption are applied in Christian education, we would like to make you aware of the textbook division of Bob Jones University called BJU Press. BJU Press produces textbooks and educational materials for preschool through 12th grade, and the textbooks are filled with biblical worldview integration, not just in the Bible course textbooks, but in all academic subjects. As stated on their website, we shape each subject according to the lens of Scripture. Each discipline takes on a new meaning when we apply the themes of creation, fall, and redemption. If you would like more information about BJU Press for both Christian schools and home schools, go to www.bjupress.com slash about, where you can find out more about how biblical worldview, academic rigor, and critical thinking is integrated into all of their textbooks and classroom material. Once again, that's www.bjupress.com slash about. Thanks for listening, and join us again next week as we continue the series, fearfully and wonderfully made, on the radio program from Bob Jones University, The Daily Platform.