direct your attention to the Westminster Larger Catechism handout sheet. Once again, these sheets are available by the door as you came walking in. Please do avail yourself if you do not yet have one. Westminster Larger Catechism, it's just one sheet with two questions and answers that we will use as our catechism instruction and recitation. As is our custom, I'll go ahead and read the question in the dark print. I'll ask that you respond together in unison with the answer in the light prints. Westminster Larger Catechism, question number 135. What are the duties required in the Sixth Commandment? The duties required in the Sixth Commandment are all careful studies and lawful endeavors to preserve the life of ourselves and others by resisting all thoughts and purposes subduing all passions, and avoiding all occasions, temptations, and practices which tend to the unjust taking away the life of any, by just defense thereof against violence, patient bearing of the hand of God, quietness of mind, cheerfulness of spirit, a sober use of meat, drink, sleep, labor, and recreations, by charitable thoughts, love, compassion, meekness, gentleness, kindness, peaceable, mild, and courteous speeches and behavior, forbearance, readiness to be reconciled, patient bearing and forgiving of injuries, and requiting good for evil, comforting and securing the distressed, and protecting and defending the innocent. What are the sins forbidden in the sixth commandment? The sins forbidden in the sixth commandment are all taking away the life of ourselves or of others, except in case of public justice, lawful war, or necessary defense. the neglecting or withdrawing the lawful and necessary means of preservation of life, sinful anger, hatred, envy, desire of revenge, all excessive passions, distracting cares, immoderate use of meat, drink, labor, and recreations, provoking words, oppression, quarreling, striking, wounding, and whatsoever else tends to the destruction of the life of any. thus far our catechetical instruction. We have two scripture lessons for this evening both coming from the New Testament and the first reading comes to us from the book of Acts chapter 10 selected verses out of the book of Acts chapter 10. Then we'll move to the book of Galatians chapter 2. Acts chapter 10, we find Peter at a very awkward time in his life. Really, the life of Peter is a life of awkwardness. He's a poor guy, but a recipient of God's grace. And here is another awkward situation, but he is told to go and to be with a Gentile by the name of Cornelius, to go to be in his home and to eat at his table. And it's in that context I want to read to you verses 28 and then verses 34 and 35. So just verse 28 for right now. And he said to them, you yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. And then now down to verse 34. So Peter opened his mouth and said, truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. And then now over to the book of Galatians chapter two. Speaking of awkward Peter moments, we have another one here as the Apostle Paul, the great persecutor of the church, after his conversion, calls Peter out on the carpet. Beginning in verse 11, Galatians 2. But when Cephas, who is of course Peter, when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, if you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews? This is the word of God, let's pray briefly. Father, thank you for your word. illuminate our minds, and soften our hearts that we might be made to see Jesus. To love Him, and to love His people, and to love all the things that He has made. For we pray it in Jesus' name, amen. Our culture, for various and sundry reasons, despises superiority and authority. In our culture there is in fact a crass egalitarianism, that is to say an evening or leveling of all people and all things regardless of any consideration whatsoever. Our culture has in fact perverted attempts at making everyone equal in every way whatsoever. Which is by the way an impossible thing really to do and to still affirm the nature of reality. Not everyone is equal in every respect. And to force equality when there is in fact a lack of equality by nature can only bring about disaster. But there is a biblical view of equality that Christians must affirm. What the world perverts, the church must reclaim. The world perverts the idea of equality. It perverts its rejection of superiority. But the church, with Bible in hand, must proclaim to the world and to itself God's ethical standards with regard to the question of superiority and equality. And particularly here tonight, I want to address the question and the issue of racial superiority or supremacy on the one hand and equality on the other. Now, approaching that subject, let us begin with the fact that part and parcel of the fallen human condition is the natural, fallen, sinful, rebellious inclination of our hearts to believe that we, ourselves, we, whoever we are, are superior to others. That is the nature of your heart. It's the nature of my heart. As individuals, we are self-justifiers. We believe that we are right and in the right all the time. We believe we are better than others. Now that is certainly, or certainly was the case with the Pharisees in the day of Jesus. They believed that they, the Pharisees, were morally and religiously superior to all others, particularly those who were non-Jews. They were what we might call self-righteous, the Pharisees were. They thought that they were righteous, that they were not sinners, particularly they saw their ethnicity as Jews as a reason for them believing that they were superior to those of other races and ethnicities, namely the Gentiles, Galatians 2 verse 15. But this is the reason why the Christian ethic with regard to others, how we are to regard others and see others, is well established by the Apostle Paul in Philippians 2. You may remember Philippians 2 verse 3 where Paul Given the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ exhorts the congregation, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. The Christian ethic is one, in fact, of self-humiliation. It is to regard others as being more significant, we might say to regard others as superior to ourselves. Now the heart disposition of the Christian has to be that of a servant. Consider with me what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9, this time in verse 19. The apostle says this, for though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all that I might win more of them." Particularly in view, Paul has unbelievers and Gentiles in mind. He seeks to become the servant of them, to place themselves under their service in order to win them for Christ. Paul's attitude then, as must be the attitude of every Christian, is that of a servant towards others. And not just those in the church, although first and foremost, those in the church, but not just those in the church. And in this context, of course, particularly those who are unbelievers. Paul seeks to be the servant of all, even unbelievers, people of every tribe, of every nation, of every tongue, of every ethnicity, in order to win them to Christ. Now how can we do that? How is it possible that one could serve others? How is it possible that we can think our minds as being the servants of others when we regard our race as superior to theirs, whatever race that might be? The sense of racial superiority, you must understand, extends to all cultures and races. This is a problem that is not just a white problem. It is not just an American problem, although it is an American problem and a white problem. It is a European problem. It is an African problem. It is a South American problem. It is an Asian problem. It is a problem everywhere because every single human being that makes up Every single race and culture has a fallen heart It is not a particular problem with one race or another is a problem with all races We all naturally by nature with fallen perverted hearts Regard our people as better than others as more pure It's more righteous as superior to all others To see why this is, we need to go back to the curse at the Tower of Babel. We've recently discussed that passage in the book of Genesis, in our Genesis Theory, even this morning we discussed it. But for now, while we can't get into all the details, it's important for us to understand just briefly the theology of that passage and what's going on there. The problem is that the human race as a whole has been trying to work itself up to God. In an act of idolatrous use of cultural products, mankind as a united people build themselves up towards God by the works of their own hands. They seek to exalt themselves. And God in his wrath comes down and he confuses their languages. And because of the confusion of languages, the people are scattered. And the one people now become many peoples. They are scattered throughout the world and they form the nations, the ethnicities, the cultures of the world. From this one nation, many nations are formed. Many tribes, nations, and tongues are established. Many races, ethnicities, cultures arise because of the curse of God on rebellious humanity. Become the new covenant. On the day of Pentecost, particularly, that curse is reversed. God on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two, you may remember it, when the Spirit falls from heaven in the form of tongues. The Holy Spirit in the form of flaming tongues comes and falls upon the church so that all the nations begin to speak each other's languages. And we see something significant in Acts chapter two. The many peoples now become one people. The many nations become one nation in Jesus Christ. That is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now one people gathered in from the many. One people who would be made up of Jew and Gentile are reconciled to God and they are reconciled to one another. In this way, the church is God's new people. The church of Jesus Christ is a chosen race, we are told. It is a holy nation, we are told, 1 Peter 2.9. This new people, this one people now made up of many, so that in Christ then, Paul can say that there is neither Jew nor Gentile, barbarian or Scythian, Colossians 3.11. This means that various nations, tribes, and languages are not, in fact, the desirable effect of evolution, as the secularists would want us to believe. On the contrary, ethnic differences are undesirable. Ethnic differences, the ethnic division among the nations, is a product of the divine curse, not of natural selection. A curse which is gloriously overcome, by the way, by the gospel. That means that the differences that separate us as human beings are in one sense lamentable. We have to understand that in a certain respect, the differences that make us different from one another, that separate us as different ethnicities with different races, different colors of skin, et cetera, different cultures, different languages that put us apart from one another is in fact a lamentable thing that should be and is overcome by the gospel. Now, we have to say, just as a sideline here, in another sense, many of the differences that separate us as cultures are quite understandable. They're not sinful. There are certain differences that separate us as cultures that are things that make each of our cultures distinct. And those cultures have both good things and bad things that characterize their culture, that make them distinct from other cultures. Since I'm Irish, I'll give you an example of the Irish. The Irish are known for certain things. They are known for their friendliness. They are known for their long history and tradition of beautiful music, dancing, and artwork. But the Irish are also known for other things as well that aren't so good. Addictive behavior, particularly the abuse of alcohol. The Irish are known for having other things that make them distinct that aren't good or bad. They are known for having pale skin. They are known for having dark hair or red hair or really light hair. There are certain characteristics that Irish people have that are neither bad or good. Those are distinctives of the Irish people, and every nation will have their own particular ways of looking, have their own hair color, their own skin color, and they will have their own language, their own culture, their own tradition. Some of them are good, some of them are not good. But one thing that is for sure, the animosity which exists between cultures because of a sense of superiority of each culture is a bad thing, overcome by the gospel. But the point is, as all cultures have good and bad, that the good is given to each culture by the undeserved blessing of God, and the bad of course is due only to sin and to the curse. Now this is where our doctrine of total depravity comes in. Not only do all nationalities and races trace their origins back to the one people of Babel in Genesis chapter six and the curse of God that occurred there, but even back before the Tower of Babel incident. we're able to trace our origins back to Adam and to his sin. What does the Reformed doctrine of original sin teach us? The Reformed doctrine of original sin teaches us that we are all by nature under the wrath and curse of God because Adam's sin has become our sin. He is our covenant representative whose sin gets imputed to us and with the guilt of that sin also comes its corruption as well. So that all are in Adam by nature. All are in Adam by nature and are culpable for his sin. Now it is true we can say that Some nationalities have produced some aspects of culture that are superior to others. Not that the race is superior, not that the particular ethnicity is superior, but we can say we have to acknowledge, we have to rightly acknowledge that there are some aspects of culture that some nationalities have excelled at advancing. For example, think about the Germans. The Germans are known for having made a better car than the Irish. But the Irish are known for having made better whiskey than the Germans. Fair enough. But see, we also have to keep in mind, on the negative side, that the Irish drink way too much of their whiskey and the Germans drive their cars way too fast, right? So you've got good and you've got bad. But be that as it may, before the eyes of God, and this is the point, before the eyes of God, all nationalities, all races stand condemned. And each and every one of these races are totally depraved. You see, sin becomes the great leveler of humanity. It's not like we can find a race in the world that is morally superior to another, that is perhaps only 90% depraved. Or we could find a race or an ethnicity in the world that is only 70% depraved. No, all the people of all the nations are 100% depraved. That's what our doctrine of total depravity teaches us. That doesn't mean that any given people or any given nation is as depraved as it can be by God's restraining grace. We know that sin is held in check, but sin nevertheless does reign in each of us extensively so that where then could be our boasting? Even an unbeliever. we would say even an unbeliever has no right to boast in himself or his own people over others. Why? Because sin levels the playing field for all. Sin is the great equalizer. We are all 100% depraved. What kind of deep-seated arrogance then What kind of deep-seated pride does it take to think that we, or our particular ethnicity, or our particular culture, or our particular language, whatever it is, is superior to another? You see, sin, being the great leveler, renders all men under sin. Every individual, every nation, and every race, all people are naturally condemned in Adam, and this is what we might call biblical equality. We are all equally depraved. How humbling is that? How could we ever raise our head then? Raise our pride over another. But that's not all. We have another way in which we can talk about equality. That is because the gospel is also a great equalizer. Sin means that no person should have the pride to exalt himself over another, but the gospel teaches us that Christians especially must never regard themselves as being more significant or as supreme or as superior over others. That is because the gospel teaches us that what was rent asunder at Babel has now been brought together and healed. But what is more, since the gospel means that God was the one who saved us, then we Christians stand on the same footing with one another before God. For we stand on Jesus Christ and in this sense there is equality. In this sense within the church we can speak about how every believer There are other ways in which not all believers are the same, not all believers are equal in their position in the church or in their office or whatever the case may be. But in this sense we have to speak about Christians in the church as being equal in the sense that we all equally stand on the finished work of Jesus Christ. And because we all equally stand on the basis of the finished work of Christ and not on our own particular heritage, not on our own particular flesh, not upon our own blood, not on our pedigree, not on our race, we are then to show no favoritism in the church. Jude 16, James chapter two, verse nine. John chapter 1 verse 13 says this, Christians are those who are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Do you see how our new lives in Christ have their origins in the absolute, unconditional, sovereign grace of God and not in ourselves? God chooses us out of his mere free will, his pure will, his mere pleasure, such that we cannot claim favoritism from God on the basis of anything that is inherent to us naturally, because we are all naturally depraved, totally depraved. and therefore we are to regard one another evenly and truly. We have a different standard from the world. We do not raise up church officers or we do not deny office to men on the basis of their nationality or their race, or we ought not to, despite the fact that we have seen such things happen in the history of the church, even the Reformed church here in America. Therefore, We dare not, we must not. God forbids that we would segregate within the church. Peter tried that and Paul was very upset about it, Galatians 2.11. We do not separate the people of God based on race or nationality. Ethnic churches, while understandable in one sense, are far from ideal. What is glorious, however, is when we see the people of God gather for worship and we see among the people of God many nations represented in her midst. That is Pentecost, by the way. That's what it means to have a truly Pentecostal church. A church that is made up of a people from every tribe, nation, and tongue gathered by the one spirit into and under the one Lord Jesus Christ. That should be our prayer, shouldn't it? That's why we do missions. Although I must say that oftentimes we can be very enthusiastic about missions when we think about sending missionaries from our country over to another country to gather a church that as they are gathered together are all made up of a people that look like the people of that nation. But we might get a little bit uncomfortable, we might become a little bit more uncomfortable when we think about the fact that what we ought to pray for, what we ought to desire to see and strive for to the best of our ability, is see within our own church, our own local congregation within South Austin Presbyterian Church, a representation of a people from all nations. In fact, we would do well to plan on and to actively pursue outreach to those in our community who are of different ethnic backgrounds. To be sure, our culture does have its finger on something. Our culture is all about equality. That's good in one sense, even though it perverts the idea. But they are right about something. They don't mean to be right. their rights despite themselves, that there is something, in fact, anti-biblical about racial supremacy. And our confessional standards, as they stand on the scriptures, are very clear about what it means to violate the Sixth Commandment. Consider, we read it already, Westminster Larger Catechism, when it, 135 explains the Sixth Commandment. It says, by charitable thoughts, love, compassion, meekness, gentleness, kindness, peaceable. mild and courteous speeches and behavior, forbearance, readiness to be reconciled, patient bearing and forgiving of injuries, and requitting good for evil, comforting and succoring the distressed, and protecting and defending the innocent. Our disposition towards others should be a disposition of compassion, meekness, kindness, gentleness. Furthermore, we are to be active in the defense of the innocent. For those who have done no wrong, we confessional Presbyterians should be at the front line of defending them. Furthermore, the Westminster Larger Catechism 136 says that the Sixth Commandment forbids these things, oppression and the destruction of the life of any. Now we need to ask ourselves, how does this teaching apply to issues of segregation and what we might call kinism? Kinism is the teaching that all people should stay within the ranks of their own particular races. Sometimes that means practically an approach like segregation. Not just segregation in the public sphere, but segregation in the church as well. Some who hold to this view of kinism say that whites and non-whites should have separate services. In fact, they probably should have separate churches. And that they should have their own officers so that whites should not be made officers of non-white congregations and non-whites should not be made church officers in white churches. Furthermore, some who hold kinest beliefs believe that two people, even if they are both professing Christians, should not marry people of other races. They would call that being unevenly yoked, even if they were both believers. One must wonder what type of theology allows for such a belief. Reason here with me. If every race is derived from a common origin and curse, And if the gospel has come with a view towards reconciling each race to God and in Jesus Christ, each race to one another, in his once and for all finished work, how is it then that we can have a sense of racial superiority or supremacy towards others? It seems Acts chapter 10 is quite clear here about this. Jews and Gentiles are brought together, all declared clean in Jesus Christ. God shows no partiality and neither should we. This means that these people should not be separated from one another, not just in church, but in society as well. In kinism, there is a strange kind of dispensationalism at play. For dispensational theology sees that God's people are many, not one. Rather than there being one people with one plan of redemption according to dispensational theology, there are many peoples, many peoples of God with many plans of salvation. Now that's not to say that dispensationalists are racists. That's not what I'm saying, but it seems akin to dispensationalism, the idea that would want to segregate or separate the people of God along ethnic lines. And don't forget that the sixth commandment is universal. It's not as if murdering a Christian is a sin, but murdering an unbeliever is not. Murder is murder, and it's murder when people in our society oppress people of different races because of their race, or regard people of different races with an attitude of supremacy or superiority that is anything other than compassionate, meek, or kind. Lastly, are you concerned about your neighbor? Are you concerned about their God-given rights before God, even if they are of a different race? Or does your own sense of supremacy and superiority prevent that type of compassion? Do you seek to actively relieve the oppression of your neighbor when your neighbor is oppressed because of their race? What if people of a different race walked into our church? Would they receive an equal welcome? Would they receive equal treatment as professing believers in Jesus Christ? Would we resist the idea of nominating or electing them as church officers? So much more can be said about this and probably should, but we're at the end of our time. But let me leave you with this. The glorious good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that Jesus died for racists. He died for people like you and like me, who have hearts that are naturally inclined towards racial supremacy. Each of our hearts are naturally inclined, racist. And he has redeemed us from that. Consider the profundity of this. A Jew living in the first century came to die for those like us who are natural born racists. He died for people like you and for me that he might draw from the non-Jews, the Gentiles, a people from every tribe, nation, and tongue throughout all the earth to be brought into himself and to form a glorious body. a glorious bride for himself to be presented to the Father forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you, oh Lord, for this grace. We thank you that you have given it unto us. We pray whatever our ethnic background, whatever our particular heritage or our particular culture or traditions or race, we pray, Lord, and you might check our hearts that you might prevent us from exalting ourselves over others, that we might humble ourselves and regard others as more significant than ourselves. Our Lord, we pray that you might forgive us of our sins, our past sins, our present sins, and work in us and in our hearts a biblical view of equality. that we might not only believe it, but that we would practice it in our lives, in our words, in our thoughts, in our actions. We pray it and we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.