Session 9: Wokeness, Whiteness, and the New Racism with Virgil Walker

Y 'all don't know what I'm laughing at, he's got me a little card up here for a little personal humor.

I appreciate that, Pastor Jim.

Oh, no, I'm not even—that's going to wreck everything, that'll derail everything we're trying

to accomplish.

Well, again, thank you for having me.

I appreciate the opportunity to be here before you.

There are a number of things that I want to cover in this session, but what I'd like to do to begin with is really to

slow some things down.

What I mean is, I've had a number of you come up and have said,

wokeness.

Can you explain that?

Like I know that I'm supposed to know what that means, but I'm not exactly sure what that

means.

How many of you are in that boat?

Oh, wow.

Okay.

Whiteness.

Well, I know it has to do with the color of my skin, but what's whiteness?

If I had to explain that to somebody, what is that?

How many of you are still kind of like, what is that, really?

Okay, more of you know what whiteness is.

Okay.

Then, the new racism.

The new racism.

How many of you could explain, if someone asked you, what is the new racism?

How many of you feel like you couldn't really explain that?

Okay, that's most of you.

Okay, so from the title alone, right, of the talk, we've got to pause and

answer some questions.

So I want to do that, and by way of doing that, my goal over the course of the next few sessions

is to do two things.

One, I want to slow things down for you, right?

Yesterday, both between Daryl and me, you got a dump truck load of,

bigger than the Tonka that he got yesterday.

You got a dump truck load full of information, and while that's wonderful, and we,

that's just, I mean, Daryl said it very well, that's kind of how we do things.

We don't cut corners.

We don't, I mean, we just give you what we've been given, because we want you to have it.

The beauty of it is, and I noticed this last night, that this is being live -streamed.

So if you want to be diligent about the homework, I'd say go back and re

-listen to the live -stream, and then pause, and then write down some things and take notes, and then

do your homework that way, because that'll be incredibly, incredibly helpful.

So I'm going to encourage you to do that.

The other thing that, like I said, my intent is to really slow down.

This session will be shorter than the last few, I think.

That's my plan.

That's my intention.

How about that?

We'll start with that.

Yesterday I took two and a half hours for my one session, and this time I'll, I'm just.

Kidding.

I'll take a shorter period of time for this one, but let's start with some definitions.

So if you got a sheet of paper in front of you, grab that, and I want to give you a definition.

Of woke.

So the title of this session is Wokeness, Whiteness, and the New Racism.

Wokeness, Whiteness, and the New Racism.

So let's start with a definition of woke, or wokeness.

This is kind of just an urban vernacular.

I could go back to the origins and walk you through all of the history of who first said it, and who started

it, and like Daryl said, we always go back to original sources.

But rather than do that, I want to give you something that you can use.

Something that you can go, okay, I can tell my friend that, right?

I can explain that.

So wokeness, you ready?

This is really deep, okay?

To be awakened.

All right?

So it's real deep, real hard, real theological.

It's to be awakened, but let me add some things to that.

In the current culture, it means to be awakened to the idea that America is

systemically racist.

It's to be awakened to the idea that America is systemically

racist.

As a result of that understanding, you then understand that every single inequity,

everywhere that you see someone having more than someone else, as it relates to

race.

In this instance, when white people have more than a black person, or any black person for that matter,

doesn't have something that someone else has, or more of it, then that is the result

of racism.

Being awakened to that truth is what is being

woke.

Got it?

Pretty simple.

You can explain that to somebody, right?

You could just say, hey, it means being awakened to the idea that America is systemically racist, and any inequity

that is seen in culture is the result of racism.

Pretty simple, straightforward.

You got it.

Next up, whiteness.

The majority of you knew what whiteness was, but I'm going to try to bring a definition that might be helpful.

The other thing is I would tell you that there are two episodes that Daryl and I did on

whiteness.

You can write these down.

It's episode 67 and episode 100.

Episode 67 and episode 100.

Episode 67 was called whiteness, so you got a two -hour show about whiteness

that you can enjoy.

Then the other one was, I can't believe we did that, the other one is episode 100, and it was called A

Biblical Exposition of Whiteness, A Biblical Exposition of

Whiteness.

Whiteness.

Whiteness is, you ready for this?

This is really, really deep.

Whiteness is not blackness.

That's important, and if you listen to the episode, you'll understand why it's important, but

whiteness is not blackness.

Whiteness refers to the ways white people and their traditions,

attitudes, and way of life have been normalized.

Whiteness refers to the white people and their traditions, their attitudes, and their

way of life has been normalized.

Normalized to the degree that they're considered standard practices in the United States.

Now, I thought that this was simply American culture, but that's what's being attempted.

What's being attempted is to attach American culture to something connected

to melanin, and as a result, we're going to look at melanin as something that's sinful,

and because of that, we can talk poorly about it, which leads us right into the idea of

the new racism.

Whiteness is white people, their traditions, their attitudes, and way of life that have been normalized over time to be considered

standard practices.

This is the idea that all of white people hold the powers, the institutional

power in America.

That's the idea around that, again, which leads us into the next

word, which is the new racism.

The new racism.

So the new racism is a term that really you're

encountering and probably know full well.

It's really the same old racism.

It's really the same old racism.

It's just aimed at a new group that society has deemed acceptable.

The new racism is simply the same old racism aimed at a new group that society has determined is

acceptable.

As a caveat, I just wrote down, this isn't, the

idea of the new racism is not a particular to an ethnic group.

The new racism is not particular to an ethnic group.

Why do I say that?

We talked about yesterday how ethnicity or race, race in particular, rather, is a social.

Construct.

And so what happens with race being a social construct, they can target the new racism

at anybody.

It doesn't matter the color of your skin anymore.

This new phrase can be leveraged at anyone.

This is the idea where you have guys like Daryl and me who are considered white supremacists.

And they're serious when they level that charge.

Or they would say, we're providing cover for white supremacy.

This is where you have people like, you guys remember Winsome Sears?

She was the lieutenant governor of the state of Virginia.

She was a military, she had a military background.

She had done great things, was excited about being an American, stood against CRT.

All of that was a part of what she was about, and she was really excited about her win.

Well, she was immediately hailed as the puppet of white supremacy, right?

Black woman, her husband and whole family were really excited about the win, but

immediately she was labeled as a white supremacist or someone who gives cover for white

supremacy.

And this is the new racism.

It's simply targeted at anyone who does not align with the current cultural narrative.

You've heard us talk about narratology, right?

It's the storyline that permeates culture.

Narratology, it's the storyline that permeates culture.

It's this idea of victimhood.

It's the idea that people who are of a specific ethnic background all

have a shared, agreed upon experience

that permeates victimization.

That's a part of being victimized.

Well, I can tell you, like I said yesterday, I've been black my whole life.

I've never been victimized.

I just, if I have, I don't know it.

And since I don't know it, I could care less about it.

That kind of stuff just washes over me.

We live in one of the greatest countries in the world.

If there was ever a place where I was victimized, this would be the place where I could overcome that victimization because of the way

that the systems and structures are set up.

I mean, this is a place where people are trying to cross deserts to get here with

less than anything in their pocket.

Why?

Because they know that the way that our culture is set up, the Judeo -Christian manner in which it was

set up to begin with provides them the greatest opportunity to experience, to go from

poverty to wealth, to have a family that may be struggling and suffering to one that's doing well.

Now, my goal in my time is not to brag about America.

It's simply to say that those who are trying to give you an idea that the systems and structures somehow are

set up so that a certain ethnic group is on decline is just a fallacy.

Today as we begin our session, I want to recognize again the ideas that we've

covered in the.

Past.

What you're going to hear me do over the course of the next two or three sessions as well with Daryl, and we

even talked about this earlier, was you're going to hear us repeat ideas that you've heard before.

That's on purpose.

The reason I want to do that is because, like I said yesterday, you were overwhelmed.

Today, what we really want to do is to solidify those ideas in your mind.

You should be hearing ideas and terms over and over again, and now it should begin selling it, oh, I know what that

means.

I know how that's being used.

I now can use it in a conversation based upon a learned understanding of that.

Can I ask someone, if you would, to give me a bottle of water?

That would be wonderful.

That would be incredibly helpful.

Thank you.

You got me here?

All right.

Thank you, brother.

Here's where we're going to go.

First, I want to take you back three years

to 2019, or we can even go five years to 2017.

If I asked you to write down on a sheet of paper during that time what

you believed that we would experience on a cultural front, I doubt that you would be able to come up

with predicting what actually took place during the course of the last three years.

It would be next to impossible.

I would have never predicted what we've experienced.

Even following 2020, as the calendar turned the page on 2020,

there's never a way that you could write down

what was going to take place during that time.

Everything from a world pandemic to a nationwide quarantine, from Ahmaud Arbery to George Floyd, from

protests in the streets in the name of justice, to cities aflame.

Even as we think about what we're witnessing today, it's really incredible when we think about the

gender confusion.

I would love for you to sit down and go through an exercise, even as we're sitting ...

This is June, the month of June.

I would encourage you to sit down and write out what you think, culturally speaking, based upon what we recently

experienced that we will see happen in the next six months.

I guarantee you, whatever you write down will pale in comparison to

the events that will actually take place over the course of the next six months.

The events and the days that we're in often remind me of what Paul wrote to believers in

Romans chapter eight, verse 22 and 23.

They read this way, for we know that the whole of creation has been groaning together in the

pains of childbirth until now.

Not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the spirit groan inwardly as

we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Amid what seems to be perilous times, I believe it's incumbent upon us as believers to

hold on to hope.

As I was listening to Daryl speak about the issues, and he is spot on, it is

critical that you're aware that in our school systems, they are coming.

They have been coming for the kids, and even more so in the days to come.

But as believers in Christ, those who should have more hope about these issues than anybody.

Should be us.

Why?

Because we don't have to wade through the chaos to understand the clarity that Christ is

exalted, that he is what is true, that we have the word of God, and we have a responsibility to proclaim

that truth.

We have to recognize that.

You all should be more excited than ever as you're being equipped with all of the information to go and

declare truth.

And that truth that you should declare is not the elements of CRT.

This is to inform you.

You're not to go and declare the elements of social justice.

This is to inform you so that when you hear it coming, you're calm.

You're steady.

You're clear.

What are you to proclaim?

You're to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

There's anything that we can learn from walking during the times that we're in is that we live in a fallen and sin

-filled world, and the whole of creation, again, has been groaning for those who have the firstfruits of the spirit.

For those of us who have the firstfruits of the spirit, we groan inwardly as we eagerly await our redemption.

As believers in challenging times, it's imperative that we stand on the foundation of the word of God.

And as we watch and witness the roar of things around us, as things become ever

more dark, it is critical for us to realize that the point that it is darkest,

light shines brightest.

It's the Christian worldview, the biblical worldview, which explains, reveals, and even predicts

what we're currently experiencing.

I'll go further to say that there are two ideas which bear your consideration during our time together, and that's this.

One, you can write these down.

The Bible provides a proper diagnosis of the problems which ail us.

The Bible, Scripture, properly diagnoses the problems which ail us.

And number two, the gospel provides the prescription for cure.

It was Dr. John MacArthur who said this, quote, even though the Bible is an

ancient document, every person in every situation in every society that has ever existed

can find in this book things that endure forever.

Here's a book, continue to quote from MacArthur, here's a book, he says, that never needs another edition.

It never needs to be edited.

It never has to be updated.

It is never out of date or obsolete.

It speaks to us as pointedly and directly as it ever has to anyone in any century since it

was written, end quote.

It is my intention during our time together to speak to these issues related to all of

us, that through the light of this ancient document that still speaks pointedly and directly

as it ever has to anyone in any other century, that this book is the book that we stand

on.

My goal and hope is, my goal rather is to give you the hope that is found in

the pages.

Of Scripture.

Turn, if you will, in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter two.

I'm going to read this aloud and walk you through, give you kind of a glimpse.

For those who are visiting, I will spend some time on Sunday really doing a deeper dive

into this text of Scripture.

I say deeper dive almost tongue -in -cheek because I kind of had an opportunity to witness your pastor, Pastor

Jim, walk through a text of Scripture and I went, oh my goodness, oh my goodness.

I'll do a light dusting over of these verses of Scripture

on Sunday, so if you're here in town and you'd like to experience that dust over,

I would invite you to come visit.

If you're traveling from far distance, that's my invitation for you to come on Sunday morning.

Both Daryl and I will have an opportunity, Daryl will be speaking earlier in the morning during Sunday school and then

I'll have the opportunity, again, my dusting over of this.

Particular text.

Yeah, yeah.

I watched, in fact, I was telling Pastor Jim as I came in this morning, I got a chance to kind of listen to

some of his sermons, you all are going through the book of Hebrews, so I went and looked at that and looked at these other ones.

I said, oh, there's a, I looked at, I think it was maybe you guys were in, maybe two years ago when you were in Hebrews 10 and then

now you're in Hebrews 11 two years later.

Yeah, so I was looking at that and I didn't notice, though, there's a difference.

I'm going to call him Pastor Slim Jim now and, you know, the other guy was a little bit, you know,

but he's looking good.

Anyway, I digress.

That's to get you back for this note.

You left me up here, so.

Ephesians chapter 2, verses 11 through 20 read this way, therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh

called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision which is made in the flesh by hands.

Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of

Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God.

In the world.

But now in Christ Jesus you who were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ

for he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh

the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in the ordinances

that he might create in himself one new man in the place of two.

So making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body, one body

through the cross thereby killing the hostility, verse 17.

And he came and preached peace to those who were far off and peace to those who were near for through him we both have

access in one spirit to the father.

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow

citizens with the saints and members of the household of God built on the foundation of

the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.

There's so much richness in that text and

as it relates to the issues of reconciliation.

This text identifies the fact that God the father has reconciled us

through the finished work of Christ for those who are in him and completes that

through the operating power of the spirit in the life of the believer.

There are two things at work and I'm going to try not to preach my sermon right now just so awe inspired by

what I'm reading here.

The idea of what the gospel has done, the life, death, burial and resurrection of Christ

for the forgiveness of sins, reconciles us, justifies us before a holy God.

And then on the other side of that, the work of the spirit works in us, reconciling us

one to another through the course of the sanctifying work of the spirit in the life of the

believer.

This is a beautiful section of scripture that if you ever get concerned about what you see

in culture, you should use this particular text to remind yourself not of

what's to come but what God has already done for which nothing needs to be

added to or fixed on or some man made idea, ideology

be brought in in addition.

There's no analytical tool that needs to be added so that we can fix the issue of the races.

This is what God has done.

We can marvel in that work and be that much more awestruck by the goodness

of God who reconciles us to himself and to others.

I better stick with my notes before I start preaching what happens on Sunday.

For now, I just want to point out that in a time that we live in when racial

reconciliation is constantly on the minds of many in the culture and even Christian culture has adopted the new hashtag

hermeneutic regarding black lives, the hashtag black lives matter.

Scripture provides a real, a righteous, and a responsiveness rather to reconciliation

that only God can provide.

Furthermore, God has made it available to all who come to him in Christ Jesus.

You want to fix the issue of racism in the culture?

Preach the gospel.

You want to see lost people turn their lives around and get out of the debauchery that we witness in the

gender confused society that we live in?

Preach the gospel.

You want to see the situations in the school systems and all of the things that we've talked about this weekend,

turn the page, preach the gospel.

While many due to recent events have found themselves needing to quickly get up to speed on these contentious issues, Darrell and I have over

the course of the past two to three years have had the opportunity to speak in places.

We're witnessing a growing problem within the church regarding racial reconciliation.

You already know how we feel about that issue, perhaps more importantly than what we're

witnessing in the way of the problems.

As we think about the cures, the beauty of the issue is that God in his infinite wisdom has

provided a solution in his word.

That solution regards man's desire, A, for sin, and B, for what they need to

do to turn that around with regard to righteousness.

Let me begin by saying this.

The answers to the problems that we see in culture, the answers are simple.

They are very simple.

Now they are not easy, but they are indeed simple.

While there are problems with regard to ethnic hatred, it's what we call ethnic hatred, racism,

there are issues, right?

We're not here to tell you that there's not someone operating in ethnic hatred with someone.

That's never what we, you'll never hear us say that that's not the case.

Our challenge is the idea of the systemic nature of that issue.

The position I would argue is that for the Christian, any solution devoid of the gospel will only treat

symptoms and provide a false sense of security for which there is no cure.

We have got to be gospel people.

We have got to share the gospel and see it as the right solution in these instances.

For the believer in Christ, any honest conversation about the subject of ethnicity or ethnic prejudice must

first begin with a self -examination of one's own heart.

One of the things that we get charged with, yeah, you guys go around and you preach and you teach and you talk and you give cover

for everything, and so now the one or two racists that may really be in the congregation,

they get to get off scot -free.

They get to walk out the door, patting themselves on the back for the ideas that they hold that are contrary to scripture.

My response to that is, no, you don't.

That's never what we've said.

What we begin by saying is that any issue in the heart of any one of us needs to be examined

against the backdrop of what scripture says about this subject.

We have a responsibility to examine our own heart regarding sin.

Scripture is absolutely clear on this.

Psalm 139, 24 says, search me, O God, and know my heart.

Try me and know my thoughts.

See if there be any grievous way within me and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 26, 2, prove me, O Lord, and try me.

Test my heart and my mind.

Galatians chapter 6, verse 3 and 4, for if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself, but let each

one test his own work.

Matthew chapter 7, verses 4 and 5, or who can say to a brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when there is a log

in your own eye, you hypocrite.

First, take the log out of your own eye, then you will be able to see clearly the speck that is in your brother's

eye.

Scripture is replete with challenges and admonitions and

commands for us as believers to examine.

Ourselves.

Self -examination is critical when addressing this or any other issue regarding sin.

I would simply add that the self -examination that needs to take place is not aimed at one ethnic group or

one color.

The sin of racism and ethnic hatred does not

discriminate.

I recognize that those who hold the critical race theory view, and it is just that, a theory

of criticism, right?

You've heard us say this over and over again.

The critical and critical race theory has nothing to do with analyzing anything.

It is purposely a critique for the purpose of

deconstructing systems.

That's the whole purpose.

Critical and critical race theory has nothing to do with examination and analysis

for the purpose of making something correct.

Okay, here's the correct standard.

I'm going to analyze it and see if this issue aligns with that standard.

That is not the purpose of anything critical with critical theory, critical gender studies, critical, you

name it.

None of that is true.

What is true about the critical nature is it is designed to ask questions, to

criticize.

And then when you come up with an answer, it's to criticize it more.

In the last talk, I remember Darrell saying, you know, hey, you need to define woke.

And he said, don't bother.

Why?

Because as soon as you do, the critic will simply criticize your

definition.

And then they won't give you one that they're working with.

And then if you spend all the time doing the research and figuring out what you need to figure out and then come back and provide a

new definition, what is the critic going.

To do?

They're going to criticize your new definition in an effort to deconstruct what you just.

Said.

And then you go and you're trying to figure out, well, how can I, how can I make this thing work?

That's why yesterday when there was a question, my neighbor, my friend is into CRT.

They've kind of bought it.

What do I do?

Well, you pray.

That's what you do.

You pray and believe that prayer has the power, if this is a believer, to change their heart so that they can see

the light of the gospel.

If they're an unbeliever, you pray that they would receive the gospel so that they can even understand the light of truth that you're

coming to share with them.

And those are the kinds of things that we have to think about.

Critical theory holds the idea that the ethnic majority who holds power

is the only participant in enacting racial or ethnic hatred.

The Bible is clear that every one of us can hold hatred in our hearts against one another.

The first step in reconciling this division, however, is to begin with a biblical anthropology.

We have to begin using biblical terms.

You heard Darrell talk about this yesterday.

We have to use biblical terminology to explain the subjects that we're talking about

with regard to ethnicity.

Let me be the first to point you to an issue or an idea that I want to make, the

point that I want to make here, and that is this, and you've heard us say this repeatedly, so I'm going to share it with you and I hope that you'll write this

down.

Number one, point one is this, that there is only one human race.

If you received nothing out of the talk that I gave, the very first talk, where I walked through the theology of

man, right, I did the theology of man, the theology, I think, of race or racism, and the

theology of the church, truth be told, those topics could have been a

two -part, you know, study all by themselves, right?

But I gave you kind of a cliff notes.

Let me give you a cliff of the cliff notes in this talk here.

Point one, again, there's one human race.

Again, the title is Wokeness, Whiteness, and the New Racism.

We deal with that.

How do we address that?

We start by understanding that there's one human race.

There's one human race.

Scripture is clear that we all came from one man, Adam, in my first talk, again, I gave you these scriptures.

If you didn't write them down, I'm going to repeat them so that you have them.

We told you Acts 17, 26, and he, that is God, made from one man every nation of

mankind to live on the face of the earth, having determined the allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling,

Acts 17, 26.

Genesis 1, 27, so God created man in his own image, and in the image of God, he created them male and female, he

created them.

I gave you Malachi 2, 10.

Have we not all one Father?

Has not one God created us?

Then why are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

For those who are in Christ, however, there's another level of oneness.

I talked about that new level of oneness.

We are one human race.

I share a commonness with every person on the planet as a human

being created in the image of God.

As a result of that, I should share a gladness or a sorrow when an image -bearer suffers.

I should be sad when an image -bearer triumphs.

I should get joy.

It's the very reason why when you watch something on television, you see someone doing something that maybe had a

tremendous struggle, and you see them overcome that struggle to triumph.

There's something that wells up in your heart.

What's funny for me is the older I get, the more that tears well up in my eyes.

Why?

I'm identifying with another image -bearer.

That's our connection point.

There's an even greater degree of that for us who are believers in Christ.

There's a oneness that we share.

I can't emphasize this enough.

My hope, I know, one of the things that's been a joy to be around you all is you all like each other.

You all enjoy fellowshipping with one another.

Why?

Because you're identifying the fact that while, yes, I share in the common humanity that's out there,

there is something special about the local body of believers that's here.

For me, someone who came from Atlanta and flown here, you know that as I'm in

Christ, you've embraced me as one of your own.

I've got more people trying to help us and trying to take care of us.

All of this systemic racism, I guess

that ain't in here, but the reality is

we share a oneness that is eternal.

Do you recognize that?

Do you understand the magnitude of that?

I get the joy of spending eternity with the people of God.

That's amazing.

That's glorious.

The beauty of that will be this, we'll be sinless in that space.

Look, I almost went Pentecostal on y 'all.

Take a moment to wrap your mind around the beauty of that.

Every week when you gather as the people of God, remind yourself of that so that you can grow in the

hope that is in you.

That light and the beauty of the implications, the applications of the gospel in your life

can be seen out there.

At the end of the day, that's really what they're searching for.

That's what they're hoping for.

They don't trust God, so they're trying to create their own utopia.

The utopia they're trying to create, the eschaton they're trying to create is something you and I experience every week.

That's why we're looking around, what's wrong with you people?

That's why we're looking at culture, trying to figure out how do you not get this?

Well, they don't get it because we haven't preached it.

They don't get it because you haven't shared it.

And it's not CRT, it's not social justice, it's the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Lest we forget the oneness that we have, the text in Ephesians 2 reminds us.

Take a look there at verse 14.

It says this, for he himself is our peace who made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility

by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in the ordinances that he might create in himself.

What does that say?

One new man in the place of two.

We are one body of Christ.

That's who we are.

So making peace.

This is much more than an issue of semantics.

This is an issue of biblical anthropology, it's a biblical view of who man is.

This is why it's important to understand these kinds of things for two reasons.

I told you about the shared humanity that we all experience and then the unique brotherhood that we

have as believers in Christ.

This is important for a couple of reasons.

First is that the culture would have you to separate human life into categories.

They're trying to provide additional categories for you to be a part of.

And if you remember the talk from yesterday, we had the non -binary, non -gender affirming,

I mean, there were like 20 different categories to describe one person.

The press secretary, the brand new press secretary for Joe Biden had to get up and I think she gave at least three

or four different labels to describe who she was in an effort to categorize

herself as a first.

That's where culture is.

That's not where we are.

Secondarily, I think it's important for us to have a biblical anthropology for the reason that identity politics

has given way to intersectionality.

Again, intersectionality is a term that was coined by Kimberly Crenshaw.

Darrell, in one of his talks, gave you that name.

So let me spell that for you so that if you're interested in going and understanding the origins of

intersectionality, the person who gave you that phrase was Kimberly Crenshaw.

Kimberly Crenshaw, K -I -M -B -E -R -L -E, Kimberly Crenshaw, C

-R -E -N -S -H -A -W.

Again, Kimberly, K -I -M -B -E -R -L -E, Crenshaw, C -R -E -N -S

-H -A -W.

She was the first person that established intersectionality.

If that's a term that you don't understand or don't know, it's when one person's truth is established as a

priority on the basis of the intersections for which they can identify a victimhood status.

Now, I realize that sounded like gobbledygook.

I recognize that.

Let me give you an example.

For example, a white male's truth claim might not

bear consideration if someone with more intersections of victimhood made

a contradicting statement.

Let me give you another example.

If a black transgender, I have to say this slow because you've got to wrap your mind around all these different isms and

breakdowns.

If a black transgender woman, that's a biological male who has believed himself

to be a woman, if they had a truth claim that contradicted a white male's truth claim, the black

transgender woman having more intersections of victimhood would need

to be heard.

Darrell talked about it yesterday when he mentioned the voices of color theory.

Voices of color theory.

Intersectionality plays a role in that.

It plays a role in that.

But it basically states if you're a voice of color, your voice matters.

Of course, that's subjective because my color is irrelevant because

my voice says something different than what the tribe actually says.

Their idea is that they have a narrative that's tribalistic.

If I submit myself to it, then I'm as black as black can be.

I'm blacker than Darrell.

Blackity black.

But if it doesn't align with that tribalistic point of view, then what happens?

I'm a white supremacist.

That's kind of how that is played.

Therefore, again, we take issue with the idea of races, with the idea of using the terminology race says.

That's why Darrell has been so dogmatic in his approach about this.

That's why I try to do my best to make sure that whenever I'm speaking, especially in a public space, that we use the

term ethnicities.

What we're dealing with with regard to the issue of racism is just ethnic hatred.

You just hate your brother.

Whether we're talking about brotherhood of the common man created in the image of God or if we're talking about a brother in

the Lord.

You hate them on the basis of the color of their skin.

That's ethnic hatred.

That's ethnic hatred.

You hate your brother.

Scripture is very clear about that.

Yesterday, Darrell mentioned the Nat Geo, short for National Geographic

article.

If you didn't get it down, I want to repeat it here for your hearing.

It was entitled, it was a Nat Geo article, I think it was April, April 2018,

April 2018.

It was a Nat Geo article.

I want to commend this one to you because it is a fantastic article.

It really is something that you could probably, I think it's online, I think it's accessible.

Online.

You may have to pay something for it.

If I remember, I think, yeah, I think it's behind a paywall now, but it's worth it for the purpose of having

to use in conversation.

If you want to have a conversation with someone who's actually willing to read, willing to listen, this would be something that you'd want to pass

along to them.

The title of the article is, There's No Scientific Basis for Race.

It's a made up label.

There's no scientific basis for race.

It's a made up label.

National Geographic, April 2018.

I'm looking at you, Daryl.

2018, correct?

Okay.

For some that were hearing about this article for the first time, it was their first glimpse at the pseudoscience of

Samuel Morton.

Great name to remember.

Samuel Morton was the one who promoted craniometry.

Remember, Daryl was talking about how they had the skulls that, excuse me, that he would collect,

and then as a result, he would put the seeds in them to test the cavity.

Now listen, if brain size or skull size or skull volume

had any correlation to intelligence, I'd probably be one of the smartest

guys in the room.

But they made that correlation apart from really going and making the

scientific connection points that required that kind of thought process to begin with.

You're able as believers, as Christians, Christians are able to be susceptible to those kinds of ideas when they

abandon biblical language regarding how man was created.

When you do that, you find yourself susceptible to worldly solutions regarding how we think about sex,

about gender, about race, ethnicity.

All of these things are important.

My second point is this, point number two, and you heard us say this.

I told you in the next few talks, you're going to hear us repeat things, and again, the purpose of the repetition is

to settle in your brain the things that we've dump trucked, okay?

So you've heard this said as well.

Number two is races don't reconcile, hearts do.

You remember Daryl saying that yesterday?

Races don't reconcile, hearts do.

Take a look again at the text of Scripture, Ephesians chapter 2, verses 17 through

20.

And again, I'll unpack this a little bit to a greater degree, the separation of the Jew and

Gentile and how they were separated from one another.

I've got to give you a little context before I read this section because what you're going to see is that both needed to be

preached, both needed to be preached to, and peace needed to be preached to them

both.

Both the Jew who had the law but were ignoring the law, and to the Gentile

who did not have the law but needed to understand that they were lawbreakers, and in addition,

that there was a Savior that could reconcile them to God and to one another.

Again, more than I needed to say there, but let me read Ephesians chapter 2, verses 17 through 20.

And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.

The far off were the Gentiles, the Jews were the near.

For through him we have both access in one spirit to the Father, so then you are no longer strangers and aliens,

but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the

apostles and the prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.

We are reconciled one to another.

Second Corinthians chapter 5, verses 17 through 19, write that down, it says this,.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away, and behold, the new has come.

All of this is from God who, through Christ, reconciled us to himself and gave us

the ministry of reconciliation.

That'll preach.

If I had some Hammond B, I could just sit right here and we can go to town.

That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself,

not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

You have the ministry of reconciliation.

You and I have that ministry.

That's not for CRTers.

That's not for social justicians.

That's not for all of these folks proclaiming their false gospels.

That ministry has been given to you and I, Romans chapter 5, verses 10 and 11.

For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now that

we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life.

More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we now have received

reconciliation.

We have received reconciliation.

We are ministers of reconciliation.

Our reconciliation comes through the power of the gospel and the work of Christ.

The gospel is more than just the good news that saves us.

The gospel is the good news that sanctifies us as well.

You never get past the gospel.

You can't move past the gospel.

You're not, well, you know, I graduated from that.

Check the box.

Let me figure out what's next.

No.

Every week you come as believers in Christ, gather to the local assembly.

Why?

For the purpose of hearing the gospel again.

You're being gospeled every time you gather.

Why?

So that you can remember, A, that you are a sinner and that you need a savior.

That last week you didn't love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength in a perfect way.

And as a result, you need to collectively come together, individually repent of your sin, and even corporately confess

your sin as you enter this space to

hear from the word of God.

You should be reminded of the gospel.

Our worship should take a gospel shape.

When we gather, we should be reminded of the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ for the forgiveness of our

sin.

We should hear the word declared and exhorted so that our lives can more align itself to be conformed

into the image of Christ.

That is the purpose of the gospel.

The gospel is more than just the good news that saves us.

The gospel is the good news that sanctifies us.

Romans chapter 1 verse 16, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation.

I love how Dr. Martin Lloyd -Jones, the doctor, says or walks through this verse.

He says that the gospel is the power of God to save.

It's God's power to save.

So while justification is in view regarding the gospel, the gospel is a message that sanctifies.

Us.

I mentioned it conforming us into the image of Christ, Romans 8, 28, and 29.

Here's the real problem.

The real problem is that the majority of believers, I'm not talking about the people in here.

I'm talking about the vast majority of American culture, American Christian culture.

They really don't believe that the gospel does all of that.

They really don't.

They think, well, yeah, the gospel saves me, but now what?

They really don't trust the gospel to do its work.

So they rather put their trust in man -made philosophies and ideas of sociology or ethnic

soteriology to save and change and transform what God himself said he is the

only one able to do through the preached word of the gospel.

Jeremiah chapter 27, verse 7 says, I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord and

that they shall be my people and I will be their God for they shall return with me with their whole heart.

Ezekiel chapter 36, verse 26, and I will give you a new heart and I will put my spirit within.

You.

I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

The issue of racism has been an issue long before it's ever evidenced in one's heart.

Let me say that again.

The issue of racism, the sin of racism, it is an

issue of sin in the heart long before it's evidenced in

one's skin, right?

We're talking about an issue that is a heart issue.

You won't be able to legislate your way out of that.

You can fix the legislation, but at the end of the day, the heart transformation only takes place in one way,

and that's through the proclamation of the gospel.

Hopefully I've said enough about gospel proclamation and this time for you to get that that's the solution.

I talked about this yesterday in an interview, and this is under the heading, Races Don't Reconcile.

Races Don't Reconcile, Hearts Do, where I was asked the question,

what do we need to do to reconcile the races?

I made the statement, I think I shared this with you yesterday.

I asked the question, who's the black representative that they're going to send to reconcile the races?

And then who's the white representative that they're going to send somewhere to reconcile the races?

Then what are going to be the terms of their agreement?

And will all of us in the race decide that those are the terms that we're all going to agree to, so that by the time they

get done, they shake hands and sign the treaty, we're all reconciled.

You see how silly that is?

It supports the truth that it's not races that reconcile, hearts do.

Some of you may be thinking, okay, I hear what you're saying, but I do know some individual racists.

I know some folks, I've got a grandfather who, man, every time the television is turned on, he's got a little something to say, and it's,

you know, I've got this brother at our church, you know, he doesn't say much, he's

kind of quiet, but he, there's some times when I'm, some of the jokes, I'm just not sure, and,

you know, it's kind of strange.

Well, what do I do in that situation?

Is there like a Bible verse that we can open up and look at?

Well, I'm glad you asked, so.

Matthew chapter 18, verse 15,

it reads this way, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone, if he listens to you,

you've gained.

Your brother.

But if he doesn't listen, take one or two brothers along with you, that every charge may be established by the

evidence of two or three witnesses, if he refuses to listen to them, then what do you do?

You tell the church.

Well, how do we clear up racism in the church?

Well, it's church discipline.

If it comes to that, but have a conversation, be willing to, because why?

You stand on the truth, and we should not tolerate any form of this sinful condition

in the body of Christ.

So this is how we deal with it.

Here's what I'm not saying to those on the other side of this spectrum, I

want to be sensitive in a pastoral way to those who may come in and say, you know, they're confused about this issue, and

they bought into some of the cultural ideas, and they maybe come into a brand new church and say, yeah, but I suffered something

out there with racism, I suffered this issue, this challenge, a police officer

did this, and what you're hearing in the culture is, well, you've got to listen, you've got to listen.

Now when they say listen, what they mean by that is, if you're white, you better shut up and listen, and

whatever they say and whatever emotional thing that they're having happen as a result of remembering

this incident, as they're re -problematizing it, and bringing it to your doorstep

as if you've done that, that's where you pump the brakes.

But at the end of the day, there's nothing wrong with listening to what someone is saying, you just don't buy what they're saying hook, line, and sinker.

I'll give you an easy example, those of you who have kids recognize this, one of your kids comes racing to you, they're

in tears, they're crying, and they can't breathe, and they're trying to tell you about what somebody did to them.

You listen, you may listen calmly, and okay, tell me what's happening, and

walk through that, and then you pause and you go grab the other person, the other

sibling, and figure out what's taking place.

You don't simply have your child say, I want you to kill my brother,

and you're like, okay,.

I'll go kill.

Right?

Wouldn't that be stupid?

Scripture tells us that we should listen to one another, bear one another's burdens.

Galatians 6 .2 tells us to bear one another's burdens so as to fulfill the law of Christ.

Proverbs 2 .2 says, make your ear attentive to wisdom and incline your heart to understanding.

Proverbs 17 .27 says, whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit

is a man of understanding.

Philippians 2 .4 says, let each of you look not into his own interest, but for the interest of others.

However, we must realize that melanin or the lack thereof is not inherently sinful.

We have to make sure that we have that lens, and when terms are used, terms like white guilt, white privilege, critical

race theory and the like, when we lean into that, we're just

missing the beauty of what Scripture provides in the way of a solution.

There's much more that I could say here, but simply in the interest of time, I told you I was making two claims.

One, that the Bible provides a proper diagnosis for the problems which ail us.

My goal was to demonstrate that.

I believe that I did.

My second goal was to share with you that only the gospel provides the

prescription for cure.

At the end of the day, the gospel is enough.

Let me close by reading Colossians 1 .13, where Paul declares the truth about the gospel of Jesus

Christ and all of its sufficiency and glory.

Colossians 1 .13 says the following, and he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness

and brought us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness.

Of sins.

The Son is the image of the invisible God.

He's the firstborn over all creation, for in him all things were created, things on heaven and on earth,

visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.

All things were created through him and for him.

This next section of Scripture, verses 21 and following, are reminiscent of what we find in Ephesians chapter 2, verses

11 to 22, as we're reminded that once you were alienated from God, you were hostile in

your mind because of your evil deeds, but now he has reconciled.

You.

There's that word again, by Christ's physical body, not by CRT, not by social

justice.

He's reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy and unblemished

and blameless in his presence.

If indeed you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope of the gospel you

heard.

Don't be moved from the gospel that you've heard with

flawed and false ideologies of.

Men.

Your hope is in the gospel in which you have

proclaimed to every creature.

You're to proclaim this to everyone, not to proclaim the gospel of CRT.

You're to proclaim the gospel of Christ to everyone,

to every creature under heaven and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

You see, Jesus is indeed enough.

The gospel is indeed enough.

The life, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ is indeed enough.

So as Paul admonished Timothy to preach the word, I challenge you

to preach the gospel, share the gospel, be effective.

The hope of the world is in the light of the gospel.

Thank you.

10 -minute break.