Session 10: Marxism and Social Justice in the Church with Virgil Walker

Kootenai Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

All of you. And then my last announcement is just that the Build Black Better t -shirts are available by the end of this conference at Just Thinking Ministries' site.

00:10

If you click on gear, they're $23 a piece and they are there and up. All right, yeah, it's good work.

00:19

They didn't use our designs, but it's similar, it's close. And it doesn't say

00:25

Founded Kootenai Community Church 2022 at the bottom of it, but we're going to let the legal entities wrangle that out as far as how we handle that going forward from this point.

00:36

So you might want to get these while they're up and available before there's a legal injunction and they're no longer available.

00:43

So one of the things that I wanted to do with this conference was not just to inform us about what CRT is, what social justice is, and how it is infiltrating the culture and the society, but also one of the things

00:55

I specifically asked Virgil for was explain to us how it is affecting the church, how it is getting into the church, and how we stop it.

01:04

And then how it is that pastors and teachers and leaders and people who are alert to what's going on, how is it that they serve to guard the flock against this?

01:14

Because if these things are threats, and they are, given that they're threats, I guess I should say, and they are, how do we protect ourselves against it?

01:23

How do we protect the churches against it? How do we protect the flock against it? Because that's really a key, and that is what Virgil is going to address in these last two sessions.

01:30

So please welcome Virgil Walker. I'm grateful to be before you once again, and appreciate the clarity of what the next two sessions will entail.

01:47

Let me do a little bit of housekeeping for us as we've got now something up on a website and all kinds of things for just thinking.

01:55

Dow and I don't do what we do alone. There's a team of people who are amazingly talented in their area of expertise who help us to do what we do at Just Thinking.

02:09

I see Ms. Rachel all the way in the back. Her husband, Nathan or Nate, which he prefers to go by, are here.

02:16

They came out to us from Washington, and so we're pleased about a five, six -hour drive. If you'll give them a hand.

02:22

She's right at the back door. Everything that you see from Daryl and me in social media, we don't touch it.

02:34

They do. She does. She has an assist. Her name is Esther Bills. Those ladies take care of everything in social media for us.

02:43

They have us on social media daily. Now, Daryl's job is to do that, but he's doing that for another organization, and he's working with GTY doing that.

02:52

Everything related to Just Thinking, Rachel takes care of. Again, her husband,

02:58

Nathan, is just gracious. They've got a number of kids and mamas at home handling that, but she's also in her spare time taking care of what we're doing.

03:05

Thank you so much for loaning her to us in the way that you do and with the help that she provides. We're tremendously appreciative.

03:12

We also, again, have a larger team. In the case that the rest of the team happens to catch this live stream and see that we mentioned

03:21

Rachel and not them, I thought I'd at least take a moment and mention their efforts.

03:26

We have Charles Simpson. He takes great care of our website design and all the things pertaining to that.

03:32

We've got Jacob Arthur, who handles everything for us legally, Nick, so he'll be talking to you, I'm sure.

03:38

Yeah, I'll have him. I'll get ahold of your people. We'll make that work. Nick Siebler, who handles all of our accounting work,

03:46

Jennifer Bell, communications, Dwayne Atkinson. We mentioned him. He's the executive producer that actually put Daryl and me together in the first place.

03:54

Joe Zerati, we call him Joe Z. He does everything graphically for us. Every episode where you see some really cool design or some cool graphic, it's a combination of Daryl and I coming up with a topic.

04:08

Daryl's a renaissance man. He's very creative and artistic on that end of the spectrum, me not so much, but Daryl and I will get with Joe Z and create an idea or a graphic design and come up with something that's really eye -popping and catching, and it's incredibly helpful, but that's our team.

04:24

We are a 501c3, and man, we'd encourage you to jump on our website, check out things there.

04:31

All of it's free of charge to you with resources. I'm going to mention some of those things that will be helpful to you in the days to come, but we definitely would love your support, but we appreciate your prayers as we press on to do what we do.

04:43

Daryl and I, we're looking at our calendar. I think we're somewhere every month of this year, almost, except for the holidays, and it's exciting.

04:52

It's something that we're humbled by. At the same time, it's something that we ask for your prayers regarding so that we stay strong and maintain a path that continues to honor

05:03

God. Those things I wanted to briefly mention just by way of maybe some housekeeping on our part.

05:10

This session is called Marxism, Social Justice in the Church, and to the point that Pastor Jim made, he really wanted me to begin honing things into,

05:17

A, how does this thing enter the church? Where is its trajectory? Then in the last session,

05:23

I'll walk through how do we guard against this in the church? How do shepherds in particular, leaders in particular, begin protecting the flock?

05:34

Truth be told, this is one of the ways that you do it. I'll go into greater detail, but simply to say most pastors who are faithful to the text of Scripture are doing exposition.

05:47

They're going through verse by verse by verse by verse. When you see things in culture that rear their ugly heads, it's great if that pastor has connection to either a subject matter expert on the issue or someone who understands it and maybe has studied it.

06:03

We often, Darrell and I, often hear pastors say, I wanted to address the topic or the subject, but I don't have the time to go and get a library like what

06:12

Darrell has or what you guys are putting together in the way of information to give to my people. Often, many pastors will grab a podcast episode from our podcast and do a listen, grab notes, and then go and do a study to bring to people.

06:29

There are a number of different ways that pastors and leaders can understand these issues without having to be a subject matter expert in the area and can provide spaces either on a

06:40

Sunday evening service or maybe a Wednesday service or even in a forum like this where they bring the church together and we tackle the issue over the course of a two -day intensive so that you're equipped and know how to address those things.

06:53

Again, the next session, I'll go into a little bit of a deeper dive regarding that. For this one, my task is to unpack the

06:59

Marxism, social justice in the church. You've heard us talk about the landscape of current culture.

07:07

As I listen to what we've talked about, discussed, and looked around and examined,

07:13

I think about the story of Jesus, right, as He's gathering His disciples together and He's preparing them as they go out and preach the gospel.

07:22

There's a warning that He provides for them in Matthew 10 verses 16 through 20 where Jesus says the following to the disciples.

07:30

He says, behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

07:39

Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to the courts and flog you in their synagogues. You will be dragged out to the governors for the king's sake and for my sake to bear witness before them to the

07:48

Gentiles. Then they will deliver you over, but do not be anxious for how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour.

07:58

For it is not for you who speak, but the spirit of your Father is speaking through you.

08:04

The beauty of that verse is to know that we don't have to know everything and be knowledgeable about all things, but that we can rely, once given the information, we can rely on the spirit to help us to say the right thing.

08:16

I want to address one more thing. I had a great conversation with my brother Peter in the back. We were talking about issues related to apologetics and evangelism, right, evangelism and apologetics.

08:29

There are a number of people in particular camps who see these two things as completely polar opposites, right?

08:37

You're either an apologist or you're an evangelist. Well, either you're an evangelist or you're an apologist, and I don't think

08:44

Scripture provides that option, right? I think we need to know about both. Scripture definitely tells us, 1

08:49

Peter 3, 15 and 16, tells us to always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for the hope that is in you.

08:57

The Scripture goes on to instruct you that we're to do so with gentleness and respect.

09:04

But Scripture also says that the power for change and transformation, I quoted to you from Romans 1, 16, right, and it told you about how the gospel is the power of God and the salvation.

09:16

So the Bible is clear. It gives you a both and, not an either or, but the power is in the gospel.

09:26

It's not in your apologetic. The power is not in your ability to know and dissect culture and understand these issues and be a master of swords, if you will, for the purpose of winning an argument and planting your flag.

09:42

The goal of the gospel, therefore, is to proclaim in an effort to see the

09:48

Spirit of God move on the heart of the individual to see heart transformation take place, and that may require you to be effective in apologetics.

09:57

You may need to know these ideas that we've shared with you for the purpose of engaging in conversation, but they're always used for the purpose of a deeper conversation about the gospel, because that's where true transformation takes place.

10:12

It was great to have that conversation for us to engage in that and talk about that. My hope would be in your hearing, you would hear us strike the right balance between the two of those particular issues.

10:25

However, like many of you, as I read the headlines, I can't help but be concerned about the state of our country, the divisiveness of politics, and the issues surrounding ethnicity.

10:36

Many in our nation are calling for justice, and it's with that in mind that I thought it might be helpful at this time when we talk about Marxism and social justice,

10:45

I really want to focus on the justice component. You've heard Dow just spend two sessions unpacking

10:51

Marxism and its origins and how they've infected every aspect of CRT. I want to focus on the component of social justice as it moves into our modern day experience.

11:07

In fact, it's the Biden administration currently who seeks to implement social justice in every facet of American life.

11:16

When you saw the rollout for the vaccine, they wanted to make sure that blacks and other underprivileged minority groups were able to receive health benefits first.

11:28

You're seeing that not only in vaccinations, but in other areas as well. Everything from economics to issues related to health care, you even have situations where people are calling for environmental social justice.

11:43

What is that, and why is it necessary? All of it is pushed through the lens of social justice.

11:53

I think it would be important for you to understand a little bit more about the ... I'll focus this talk a little bit more on the justice component, if you will.

12:01

In our time together, I want to raise the question about social justice and compare it to biblical justice.

12:09

Frederick Hayek, born May 8th of 1899, he was an economist and a philosopher.

12:16

Hayek was known for classic economic liberalism, and liberalism in the classic sense.

12:23

I could spend time there, but trust me on this, you'll understand his worldview when you hear what it is

12:30

I'll say about him. He had this to say about social justice. He said this, quote, I am certain that nothing has done so much to destroy the juridical safeguards, juridical, big fancy word for legal, the legal safeguards of individual freedom as a striving after this miracle of social justice.

12:51

Frederick Hayek received the Nobel Peace Prize in economics and science in 1974. In his book,

12:57

Individualism and Economic Order, Hayek said the following, quote, there's all the difference in the world between treating people equally and attempting to make them equal.

13:08

I want you to hear that. There's all the difference in the world between treating people equally and attempting to make them equal.

13:15

While the first is a condition of a free society, the second means, as de

13:20

Tocqueville describes it, is a form of servitude. When we aim to, and that's the end of the quote, when we aim to make people equal rather than treat them equal, what we're looking at is an outcome.

13:33

We're looking at something economically speaking. With particular note with Frederick Hayek, he's an economist.

13:41

The issue of social justice was first one of economics. It was the idea of seeing those who were oppressed and figuring out a way to make sure that they were able to take from their oppressors so that things could be equal.

13:54

As he's examining what he understands as the basic ideas that surround economics, he's got a problem.

14:01

At the time, this wasn't focused on blackness and whiteness per se. It was focused on social classes.

14:07

He saw the same problems in his day, which is why I spent time saying that he was born in 1899 so that you could see this has been a problem for quite some time.

14:18

However, those modern day social justicians, understanding the impact of social justice historically speaking, they seem undeterred in their efforts to replace equality with equity.

14:32

Again, quoting from Hayek, he would say this, the idea of social justice is that the state could treat different people unequally in order to make them equal, end quote.

14:48

Another American economist, Dr. Thomas Sowell, in his book, The Quest for Cosmic Justice, he writes this, quote, a society that puts equality and the sense of equality of outcome ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom.

15:04

He says the use of force to achieve equality will destroy freedom and the force introduced for good purposes will end up in the hands of people who use it to promote their own self -interest, end quote.

15:20

I think Dr. Sowell has it correct that neither equality nor freedom are the end result of social justice.

15:29

So what is social justice? Often defined, social justice is actually based upon the intentions of the person using the term rather than the actual mission or goal.

15:40

So my point is this, when you hear someone use the term social justice, more times than not, what they mean is their own personal kind of arbitrary idea about what will make things right.

15:55

You know, in their mind, their thought is, well, this would be fair. And they're doing that not based upon a biblical standard of justice.

16:04

They're doing it based upon their own personal idea about what is just. Furthermore, and you've heard

16:10

Darrell and I both talk about this, it's often based upon the narratology, by now you should have that word down pat, right?

16:18

It's based upon the narratology of culture, the pervasive narrative of the culture.

16:26

Rather than spending a ton of time on social justice, because you see it everywhere.

16:32

You see it in people who are engaged in Facebook posts. You see it in major headlines, you know, and the like.

16:40

Rather than spending a lot of time on that, I first want to begin by looking at the word justice and examining it as it's applied biblically, and examining it in light of what a believer should think about justice.

16:54

And then we'll circle back on the bigger picture. As it pertains to biblical justice, we want to begin by examining

17:01

God's nature. If you're going to examine biblical justice, you have to begin by understanding the nature of God, the attributes of God.

17:11

Let me give you three attributes under the idea of justice. I want to give you three attributes of God that you must think about when you think about justice.

17:21

Number one, that God is just. We're going to unpack these. I want to give you three major headings, that God is just.

17:29

Number two, that God is sovereign, that God is sovereign.

17:36

And number three, that God is holy, that God is holy. First of all,

17:42

God is just. If we're to begin to understand biblical justice, we must understand the justice of God, or that God is indeed just, in the same way that God is love, in the same way that Jesus would say,

17:53

I am the way, the truth, and the life in John 14 6. God is just.

17:59

In scripture, God's justice is most often used to express the righteousness of God.

18:06

Often you hear righteousness and holiness in the scripture exchanged.

18:11

They're equally identifiable. God is holy, God is just, God is righteous.

18:16

Often these are used interchangeably. Scripture says it this way in Psalm 89 verses 13 and 14.

18:23

The psalmist writes this, quote, You have a mighty arm, strong is your hand, high your right hand.

18:32

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.

18:38

Steadfast love and faithfulness go before you. So what do we have here? We have a holy

18:43

God who the psalmist is acknowledging is righteous, and he's founded upon, he's the foundation, rather, of his throne is justice.

18:57

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. So understanding biblical justice begins with an understanding that God is just.

19:06

He's not creating justice separate and apart from who he is. His character, his nature is just.

19:15

To be clear about this point, the justice of God is not arbitrary. God's justice is not arbitrary, meaning that it is not based upon some random whim that's separate from reason.

19:29

The justice of God is not subjective, meaning it is equally applied throughout the whole of creation.

19:38

The justice of God is not partial, meaning that it is not applied in greater and lesser degrees to some people and not to others.

19:50

Again, this bears repeating, the justice of God is, the words, rather, about God's justice are interchangeable, righteousness, holiness, justice.

20:00

So first, to understand biblical justice, we must understand God is just. Second, we must understand that God is sovereign.

20:08

We must understand that God is sovereign. The justice of God presupposes, presumes that he's sovereign.

20:18

The nature of the justice of God presumes that he is sovereign over all things, that he sees all things and knows all things and therefore will rightly apply the justice due those who need to receive it.

20:35

So the justice of God assumes his sovereignty. In his sovereignty reside two attributes that are essential components to understanding biblical justice.

20:43

Let me give you those two components. They are his omnipotence and his omniscience.

20:49

I've kind of mentioned that. God's attribute of omnipotence, meaning that he's all powerful and by definition able to punish evildoers.

20:58

That's an important aspect of his character, an attribute of God that is incredibly important for the purpose of him exacting justice in a proper and appropriate way.

21:14

In addition to that, God is omnipotent, meaning he's all powerful or rather omniscient.

21:21

That's what I meant to say, omniscient, meaning he is all knowledgeable and by definition able to know the evil that is done with mankind.

21:30

So in his sovereignty, two attributes, his omnipotence, his omniscience.

21:37

In his omnipotence, he's powerful and able to punish. In his omniscience, he knows the evil that's being done.

21:45

I think the issue with today's social justician, one, their worldview is devoid of God to begin with.

21:53

Secondarily, those who do have a biblical worldview, a worldview that includes God in it.

21:58

If you're a believer, an evangelical who's desiring to connect with social justice, your thought process is, well,

22:05

I know God's all powerful, but maybe he needs some help. Maybe he didn't see the evil that was done 100 years ago.

22:13

Maybe he didn't see the evil of Jim Crow. Maybe he was unable to do anything. I've got to kind of help him out.

22:21

What it acknowledges is the low view of God that you have. If you're subscribing to the idea that there's a need for social justice.

22:30

Let's go back to scripture to anchor the sovereignty of God. Sovereignty by definition means that God is in divine control over everything.

22:39

Matthew 10, 29, 10 verses 29 through 30.

22:46

I'm getting tongue tied. It says this. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?

22:51

And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father? But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.

22:59

Psalm 115 verse three, it says, our God is in the heavens. He does all that he pleases.

23:07

Ephesians chapter one, verse 11, in him, in God, we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things to the counsel of his will.

23:22

Romans chapter eight, verse 28, and we know that for those who love

23:27

God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

23:34

Psalm 19, one through six are probably my favorite verse of scripture to unpack the majesty of the beauty of God's sovereignty.

23:41

It says this, the heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaim his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech and night to night reveals knowledge.

23:50

There's no speech nor are there words whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world.

23:58

In them, he has set a tent for the sun. It's the power of the sovereignty of God.

24:05

All of creation expresses the sovereignty of God.

24:12

God is holy. Thirdly, God is holy. One of the attributes of God that scripture makes plain is that he is holy.

24:24

He is holy, holy, holy. We worship a thrice holy

24:30

God. Again, a favorite passage of mine, probably of yours, is Isaiah chapter six, verses one through three, which read this way, in the year the king

24:38

Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.

24:45

Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings, with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

24:55

And one called to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is filled with his glory.

25:04

Isaiah, exposed to the holiness of God, recognized the very thing that we should all recognize when we encounter the holiness of God.

25:14

It is that God is holy, and you and I are not. Verse five reads this way, as Isaiah understands where he is, the holiness that he is experiencing.

25:28

He says, woe is me, for I am lost. For I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.

25:38

For my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. This is the position that Isaiah finds himself in when he encounters the holiness of God.

25:51

When he encounters the righteousness of God. When he encounters the justice of God.

26:00

It is a mirror that causes him to reflect upon his wretchedness.

26:06

And he declares out loud, woe is me. For I'm a man undone.

26:15

Now if I asked you to think about our current environment, our current situation, where the word justice is being attached to every idea, do you get a sense that when justice is completely looked at with open eyes and full face, that what's actually taking place is there's a self -examination that causes us to look at our own hearts and be broken?

26:39

Or is justice simply used as an opportunity to look at others and to feel yourself superior than someone else and to point the finger to say, see, here's where you messed up.

26:52

True justice, biblical justice, should cause us to examine our own hearts and recognize our own sinful condition before a thrice holy

27:06

God. So what do we have so far? We have that we understand that to understand biblical justice we have three things, that God is just, that God is sovereign, and that God is holy.

27:18

Under the sovereignty of God we have two attributes of God, God's omnipotence and his omniscience. Next, if we really want to understand biblical justice, we need to understand something about man, that man is sinful.

27:32

I alluded to that in my comments earlier, that man is sinful. And while they're in this current culture, right, when we begin to go out and have conversations with our friends and given the nature of where we've been the last day and a half, two days, we have to explain to culture who is man or what is a man.

27:52

We have to explain what sin is because people have no idea. They've got certain pastors who are saying, oh, you know what?

27:59

I don't really talk about sin. I don't want to be a downer. I'd rather talk about mistakes.

28:10

Their desire is to lighten what is a weighty matter, to ignore, to minimize what is weighty and that is our sin.

28:20

So let's talk about who man is. I did that earlier by pointing you to Genesis 1 .27.

28:26

God creates man in his own image, the imago dei, in his own likeness. He creates male and female.

28:33

Genesis 2 .18, and then the Lord said, it is not good for man to be alone. I'll make a helper fit for him.

28:39

Genesis 2 .21, so the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall on the man. And while he slept, he took one of his rib, closed up its place with flesh.

28:46

And with the rib, the Lord God made and formed and shaped a woman and brought her to the man.

28:52

The man said at last, this is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh, and she shall be called woman.

28:58

For she was taken out of the man. Verse 24, therefore, a man will leave his father and mother and hold fast his wife.

29:05

And the two shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and not ashamed. You've heard me reference

29:11

Acts 17 .26. And he 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.

29:20

My hope would be, if nothing more, that you leave here with having memorized those verses that we've given you to arm you and equip you to have the right kinds of conversations about definitions that culture is purposely ignoring.

29:33

What they're doing is what Scripture says. They're suppressing the truth that they know in unrighteousness.

29:40

Romans 1 .18 -22. So when we talk about the word man in this context, we're talking about male, a man, right?

29:50

We're talking about mankind. We're talking about male and female, mankind, right? Of the same kind.

29:57

When we talk about sin, I thought Daryl did a fantastic job of unpacking the nature of sin. 1

30:03

John 3 .4 says, everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness.

30:09

Sin is lawlessness. So when we see lawlessness in our streets, we're not shocked or surprised because we understand and recognize that man is sinful.

30:21

We for sure don't engage in the process, especially those who are leaders in culture, pastors in particular, who are going out to engage in the lawlessness.

30:33

We saw that when the BLM riots were taking place. We watched pastor after pastor feel like he had to connect with someone else and went out into the streets during a

30:42

BLM riot or a protest in an effort to connect with culture. I don't see that anywhere in the pages of Scripture.

30:52

I could make a case for the opposite, but I won't do that for the sake of time. James 4 .17.

30:59

So whoever knows the right thing to do and does not do it, fails to do it, it is sin for him. Romans 3 .23,

31:05

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So I've defined man. I've also defined sin.

31:11

At this point, we must examine the error of the culture. I want to turn the page because we understand that the nature of man is that he is sinful, that God is not, that God is holy, that God is sovereign, that God is just, and man is not.

31:26

So it's with those two components that we can have a clear picture of justice. And when we do, we understand that justice must first reach you and me.

31:37

That as a result of the justice of God, what I rightly deserve before a thrice holy

31:43

God is death. I just read it to you from Romans 6 .23

31:49

that the wages of our sin is death. What you and I rightly deserve for our sin against a holy

31:57

God is death. And it is with that understanding that I then approach every other issue, situation, and culture.

32:09

Paul would say he was the chief of sinners, understood this. But again, you don't get the sense that there's any understanding or recognition of that by the social justician.

32:23

Everywhere we turn, again, in secular culture, there's a cultural war taking place, whether it's the gender binary of male and female, whether it's the war on race and ethnicity.

32:36

Every facet of life seems to be engaged in this kind of outright war.

32:42

What it is is the culture is engaged in a perpetual Genesis 3 overthrow, right?

32:48

They're asking the question, did God really say? And if not, then first I'm going to ignore

32:53

God and I'm going to dictate how my life will be lived out. Well, Scripture is clear on this as well.

32:58

I alluded to it earlier. Romans 1 .18 -23 read, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

33:13

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because He has shown it to them.

33:20

His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the beginning of the world, so that men are without excuse.

33:34

I want to pause here and examine that. The culture is attempting to abandon the idea that even individuals can be created in the image of God.

33:41

You heard me walk through that earlier. We've got everything that you can imagine militating against the order of God.

33:49

Daily now, we're bombarded with coalitions of oppressed groups, from Black Lives Mattering to the

33:55

LGBTQIA2S +, the indigenous people, immigrants, migrant workers.

34:04

The list goes on and on. And while all of us have been newly exposed that tomorrow when you wake up, there will be a new class of oppressed people for which we now have to acknowledge the historic wrongs that were done to them so that we can be ready to engage in kind of a kowtow that the culture will frame for us.

34:24

It was Voddie Backham when he delivered a talk a while back.

34:29

There was a wonderful excerpt that I want to share with you because I think it's important for us to understand the nature of what we're dealing with when we think about culture and its strive for social justice.

34:41

We understand biblical justice, that God is sovereign, that God is just, that God is holy.

34:46

We understand the nature of our sinful condition before a holy God, and that gives us a right picture, a right framework for how we understand biblical justice and how it should be merited out to you and me.

34:58

If I got what I deserved, I would go straight to hell. For me, they would wrap me up and pour gasoline on me because I need that kind of impact for the manner in which

35:08

I've sinned. I, like Paul, am the chief of sinners. But when we turn the page and begin to look at social justice, that idea is very different.

35:19

And it begins with a different framework. There's a different idea that surrounds it.

35:25

Again, Voddie Backham explains that idea very well when he says that all of our lives are driven by a particular narrative, a meta -narrative.

35:35

You've heard of narratology? All of us have a storyline about how life began.

35:41

And when we do, we have to answer a few questions. He posited this idea, and it's really not unique to Dr.

35:48

Backham. It's actually the idea that all of us have to wrestle with, that philosophy has wrestled with for centuries, for millennia.

35:56

And the questions are these. Who am I? The second question is, why am I here? The third question is, what is wrong with the world?

36:06

And the fourth question is, how do I make things right? When I heard

36:12

Dr. Backham unpack these and he would explain to this group, he answered those questions this way.

36:17

He said that the Christian would answer these questions this way. Who am I? Well, I'm the crown jewel of the creation of God, created in His image and likeness.

36:30

Why am I here? Well, I'm here to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

36:36

What's wrong with the world? I am what's wrong with the world. I'm sinful, fallen, and I need a

36:44

Savior. And finally, how do I make things right? I don't make things right.

36:51

Christ has entered the world and has done what I cannot do. Therefore, I repent of my sin and I place my faith in Christ.

37:01

These are the questions that everyone is driven to ask and answer. And as Dr.

37:07

Backham unpacked these for a group, I would encourage you if you get an opportunity to go online and to look this up and watch him do it.

37:14

He spent about an hour and a half on just this area. It is very helpful and beneficial. I'm just giving you an excerpt of that portion of his talk.

37:23

He said the social justician, however, who's appealing to critical race theory, intersectionality, black liberation theology, and the social gospel.

37:31

Of course, I added a couple of extras in there. He didn't actually have all of that. I added a few.

37:37

They would answer these questions this way. Who am I? Well, I'm the victim of an oppressed group of people.

37:44

Why am I here? I'm here as the result of how others have taken advantage of me and have subjugated my people.

37:51

What's wrong with the world? Well, the oppressor, the patriarchy, the white man, the cisgender, the heteronormative, the heterosexual, the able -bodied, capitalism, racism, the

38:03

Western nuclear family structure, you name it. The list goes on and on and on.

38:10

How do I make things right? For the social justician, they respond, well, I'm going to fight.

38:17

I'm going to fight to tear down the structures that have oppressed me and thereby receive social justice.

38:28

When you compare those two ideas, biblical justice, an understanding of the holiness of God, an understanding of the sovereignty of God, an understanding of the justice of God, when you think about the fact that man is sinful and what he rightly deserves for the sins that he's committed against the

38:46

Holy God is hell, and it causes great reflection in the heart of that individual for the purpose of having them bow the knee, repent of sin, and place their faith in Christ.

38:58

Biblical justice is designed for that purpose. Social justice, on the other hand, is designed for the complete opposite.

39:09

It's for me, an oppressed people group, to feel righteous, to have my own self -righteousness.

39:18

From a standpoint of sin, I don't see sin. If I see sin, it's out there. It's not in here.

39:24

And as a result, I'm going to go, I'm going to fight. I've got to go tear that system down.

39:31

Anyone who understands biblical justice would never, by any stretch of the imagination, appeal to social justice.

39:39

What the social justician is attempting to do is they're attempting to remake what God has already created.

39:46

They, the social justician, they're offering their own form of utopia. By the way, if you ever go look up the word utopia, it actually means a place to nowhere.

39:59

Literally means a place to nowhere. But the promise of utopia has been with us for thousands of years.

40:06

Darrell covered it in two very lengthy, detailed sessions where he walked through how the

40:13

Marxian ideology has eschatological ideas.

40:18

Eschatological, the study of end times, the idea that they're going to end the structures that we see in an effort to recreate something new in their own image and in their own liking.

40:32

This is something that we must reject. This is something that we all must identify, know, and with crystal clarity, when we engage in conversations with others, have the biblical framework by which to explain to people what justice actually is.

40:49

And how true justice, justice that's examined against the backdrop of the word of God, should be used as a mirror that causes us to look at our own hearts and know how depraved and corrupt we actually are.

41:09

And to be broken about that so that we bow the knee to Christ.

41:15

As a result, thereafter, that mirror then becomes a window, a window through which we understand what's happening out there.

41:23

It's not that we don't call evil, evil, or that we begin calling evil, good. We still call it evil, recognizing apart from Christ, that same evil out there is the same evil that would be in here.

41:39

Biblical justice is designed to bring you to the cross of Christ. Social justice is a tragic road to hell.

41:53

They keep using words like systemic. You hear the word systemic, that we experience systemic racism.

42:02

This is systemic, that is systemic. I thought, again, Darrell did a fantastic job of explaining whenever you deal with something that's systemic, that means it's throughout the whole system.

42:11

It's throughout the whole of structure. The only thing that is systemic, that we can understand with crystal clarity, is the sin that permeates the hearts of every single human being here.

42:26

I can, without question, declare that everyone in here is a sinner. I don't even have to know you.

42:35

I simply know what God's word declares. And if you were honest about your own condition, you would say, yep, that's me.

42:43

I don't do that from a standpoint of condemnation. I do that from a standpoint of declaration. It's the truth of what

42:48

God says in his word. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

42:54

Fortunately, the scripture doesn't end there. We have the opportunity, based upon the finished work of Christ, to experience eternal life.

43:05

But we need to apply that to our lives. In our current culture, again, we hear the word systemic applied to racism.

43:11

In order for something to be systemic, it therefore must apply to all things equally. By definition, something is systemic if it affects the whole rather than just the parts.

43:23

As it pertains to the overuse of the word systemic racism, I will appeal to a quote by the great swordsman

43:30

Inigo Montoya from the movie The Princess Bride. He said, you keep using that word.

43:39

I don't think it means what you think it means. Now, I want to be clear, and Darrell and I are always doing this wherever we go.

43:52

We often get tagged with the idea that we ignore history. We ignore slavery.

44:00

We ignore Jim Crow. We ignore the real problems that took place historically and in the modern day.

44:08

Darrell mentioned during his talk that apart from theology, the biggest section of his library, and I've been at his office,

44:16

I've seen the books that are on his shelf that relate to the issue of slavery. I would encourage anyone who would lay the charge, he doesn't know or hadn't done his homework in that area,

44:26

I wouldn't try to test the brother in that area because I promise you he's probably spent more time reading about that than most people.

44:35

We had an episode where we addressed the issue of reparations. It was one that I'll remember because of how powerful that episode actually was.

44:46

During that episode, Darrell actually walked through slave narrative. I don't know if you've ever been exposed to slave narrative.

44:56

It is the circumstance of the slave written in their own vernacular.

45:02

You would hear him read what the slaves went through. If you get a chance to listen to it, bring a box of tissue.

45:13

It is the most heart -wrenching episode I think we've ever done because you hear the words of a slave girl who had just been beaten brutally by her master.

45:27

As she writes out or as someone's taking down what she's saying about the interaction,

45:34

I guarantee you won't be able to listen to that without losing it. I share that with you simply to say we look with open eyes and full face at these kinds of issues.

45:48

We don't shy away from it, but here's what we've done. We understand before we call for some form of justice that in my own heart is the same kind of wickedness that was in the slave owner's heart.

46:03

That apart from the gospel of Christ, apart from the sovereign work of God in my life to transform my heart, that would be me.

46:14

We don't wash over any of that. At the same time, we don't ignore the pain, the hurt, and the true suffering that has taken place because we too have family members and loved ones and people we know who are all engaged in this human condition called the sinful fallen world.

46:37

We see real hurt and real pain, and we identify with that because we recognize image bearers of God created in His image and likeness are just like us and that all of us to some degree or another are reeling with this fallen condition that we all find ourselves in.

46:56

For example, back in the day, I'll name a few things for slaves and what they encountered. There were movement restrictions.

47:02

There were most regions of the slave environment or the part of the culture in the south where slaves were, when they were away from plantations or out to cities, they had to have a pass that they were given by their master in order to go to a certain place or location.

47:22

Many towns and slave states, they needed a slave tag, a small copper badge that they wore in an effort to allow them to move about.

47:29

There were marriage restrictions. Most of these were placed upon enslaved people. They did not have rights to marry.

47:36

They were told that you can only marry this one and only marry that one, and certain slaves were given the responsibility to impregnate specific women because of their physical shape or size, and this for them was a demoralizing condition for them to be in.

47:51

There were slave patrols in the slave -dependent portions of North America, varying degrees of legal authority, and patrols by plantations.

48:02

What plantation owners would do is they would go to the north. They would pay a certain police department to find runaway slaves in an effort to bring them back to an area of the country where they knew that the slave owner was.

48:15

There were education restrictions. There were all kinds of issues, but here's the understanding that we need to have.

48:23

Sin is systemic. We shouldn't be surprised when we hear these kinds of atrocities that have happened to people during the course of all of human history.

48:36

Why? Well, because sin is systemic. Romans 5, verse 12 makes this abundantly clear.

48:43

As Paul explains, The beauty of what

48:55

Christ has done is that he's given us a new opportunity.

49:03

We've been given, basically in verse 13, it says, For sin indeed was in the world before there was the law and was given, but sin was not counted where there was no law.

49:11

Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who were still sinning.

49:20

Romans 5, 17 explains what Christ did this way. If you have a problem with the systemic nature of sin on the basis of what

49:42

Adam did, you're definitely going to have a problem of what Christ did, because what he does affects us systemically for those who are in Christ.

49:54

We experience the free grace of God, the forgiveness of our sin, a payment of a debt that we could not repay.

50:02

Romans 8, 1 expresses it this way. For the law of the

50:08

Spirit of life has set you free in Christ from the law of sin and death. You see, the gospel is good news.

50:18

It is good news that those who were condemned to death for their sins, for our sins against God, have been forgiven by the blood of Christ.

50:28

And this is a grace upon grace that none of us deserve. David understood the magnitude of God's grace when he wrote in Psalm 51,

51:03

Here, David understands with crystal clarity the justice of God.

51:10

And what does he do? He asks for mercy. Verse 5, If we want to talk about privilege, you and I, believers in Christ, have more privilege than anyone in the world.

51:46

The beauty of that truth is that that privilege is available to those who would repent of their sin and place their full faith in Jesus Christ.

51:56

The beauty of biblical justice is that it points you to Christ. The tragedy of social justice is it puffs up the individual as they're on their way to hell.

52:11

It's imperative that we who are believers in Christ present the message of the gospel.

52:21

My hope and prayer would be that as we depart from here in just a few hours that we never forget the beauty of the gospel, the beauty of biblical justice, what it points us to, and who we can proclaim as a result.

52:37

Let's pray. Father God, I thank you for your goodness, for your grace, for your mercies which are new every morning.

52:45

Grateful for these, your people. My prayer would be that you would seal our hearts with these truths, that we would become more bold in our proclamation of the truth, and like Paul, that we would pray that we would have ever increasing boldness as we proclaim these truths to others.