John 8:44
The Missing Class
Today at our church is Back to School Sunday. I believe most of our
children have already begun school, most starting this past week; but
some children will not start until later. But I want to join this
exciting event with one not so exciting, the two mass shootings last
week in Texas and Ohio.
No one can deny that our country is becoming more and more dangerous,
and not from auto accidents, not from new diseases, and not even from
terrorists that sneak into our country. Our danger has become
ourselves.
An article from Every Town Research listed several facts about mass
shootings. I copied two of them.
1. From 2009 to 2017, there were at least 173
mass shootings in the U.S.
2. 2017 was the deadliest year on record for
mass shootings. There were four times as
many people shot in mass shootings in 2017
than the average of the eight years prior.
https://everytownresearch.org/reports/mass-shootings-analysis/
An article By Jason Silverstein for CBS News
August 5, 2019
The amount of mass shootings across the U.S. so
far in 2019 has outpaced the number of days this
year, according to a gun violence research group.
This puts 2019 on pace to be the first year since
2016 with an average of more than one mass
shooting a day.
As of Aug. 5, which was the 217th day of the year,
there have been 255 mass shootings in the U.S.,
according to data from the nonprofit Gun Violence
Archive (GVA), which tracks every mass shooting
in the country. The GVA defines a mass shooting
as any incident in which at least four people
were shot, excluding the shooter.
(These numbers would include the most recent high-profile shootings
in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas.)
I did some number crunching on the shootings from the beginning
of 2014 up August 9, 2019, with the information that one web
site listed. From their information, there were:
1. 47 mass shooting
2. 391 fatalities
3. The average age of the shooter was 32.404
4. The median or the middle most age was 29. (Half the shooters
were younger than 29, half were older.)
5. The most common age of the shooter was just 21.
6. 44 of the shooters were male, 2 were female, 1 was a male and
a female.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/mass-shootings-mother-
jones-full-data/
What is going on? Let me see if I can explain with three thoughts.
I. The Cause - The cause is man separated from God is a violent
being.
A. I do not believe anything about the Bible is accidental.
1. I believe the message God gives, the words God uses, and
even the order of the words is by divine guidance.
2. I do not believe I that I could answer all the questions
you and others could ask to challenge that statement, but
I believe it none-the-less.
3. I believe the Word of God is such a work of God that there
are truths, principals, and types in it that the human
heart will never figure out.
4. I saw all of that to say that I do not believe the events
of Genesis 3 and 4 are there by accident.
a. In Genesis 3, we have the fall and judgment of
mankind.
b. In Genesis 4, we have the birth of the first two
humans and by verse 8, we have the first act of
violence.
c. By Genesis 4:8!!
Gen 4:8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother:
and it came to pass, when they were in the field,
that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and
slew him.
5. Three things strike me as telling in this passage.
a. The proximity of the fall to the first murder.
(1) The first murder is only 8 verses away from the
fall.
(2) Do you realize before there was thief, idol
worship, adultery—even before the first lie is
recorded in the Bible, there was murder!
(3) Does that tell us something? I believe it tells
us that the human spirit without God tends to
be violent.
b. The extremity of the murder.
(1) These are two brothers.
(2) They are the first two brothers.
(3) Yet, already one is killing the other.
(4) Does that tell us something? I believe it tells
us that without God, man is a violent creature.
c. The unreasonableness of the murder.
(1) There were only 4 people on the whole planet.
(2) Can could have moved to the other side of the
earth!
(3) Does that tell us something? I believe it tells
us that without God, man is a violent creature.
6. Why is man so violent without God?
a. Because he was not designed to be without God.
(1) God knew it would happen but God did not design
us for it.
(2) That is why life is so tough.
b. Man is not:
(1) Strong enough to live without God.
(2) Smart enough to live without God.
(3) Too easily lead by the devil.
John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and
the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a
murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the
truth, because there is no truth in him.
c. Jesus said the devil was a murderer from the
beginning.
(1) Who did he kill before Adam and Eve? No one was
there.
(2) This is a reference to Cain killing Abel. Cain
may have picked up the rock but the devil put
the tormented thought in his head.
7. Is there any other evidence?
B. How about Genesis 6 and the flood?
1. The Bible clearly teaches that there was a flood.
2. I suppose there were several things that caused it, but
notice the one thing what the Bible says caused it,
TWICE:
Genesis 6:11 The earth also was corrupt before
God, and the earth was filled with violence.
Gen 6:13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all
flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled
with violence through them; and, behold, I will
destroy them with the earth.
a. God said "for" meaning "because.
b. Because what? Because "the earth is filled with
violence through them!"
c. If that is THE cause or even if it were just ONE of
THE CAUSES, it must have been pretty bad.
d. How bad? Look at the command God gave when Noah and
his family got off the Ark.
Ge 9:6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall
his blood be shed: for in the image of God made
he man.
e. Why did God give the command that from that point
onward, whoever killed another human being must
himself be killed?
(1) I am going to say it was because it should have
been evident to everyone what God already knew.
(2) Man without God is a violent being!
C. Throughout the Bible, God has condemned man’s violence.
1. In King David’s day:
Psalms 55:9 Destroy, O Lord, and divide their
tongues: for I have seen violence and strife in
the city.
2. In Jeremiah’s day:
Jeremiah 6:7 As a fountain casteth out her
waters, so she casteth out her wickedness:
violence and spoil is heard in her; before me
continually is grief and wounds.
3. In Ezekiel’s day:
Ezekiel 8:17 Then he said unto me, Hast thou
seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to
the house of Judah that they commit the
abominations which they commit here? for they
have filled the land with violence, and have
returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they
put the branch to their nose.
4. For that matter, what did they do to Jesus?
a. If crucifixion was not called violence, I do not know
what would be.
b. And why? Because they thought He had made a false
claim about who He was.
D. Today, Americans have become their own worst enemies.
1. And why?
2. For the same reason every other generation of people have
become violent.
3. Because we have turned sin loose into our street, and this
is what sin looks like.
II. What is the cure?
A. Believe it or not, the answer is in education.
1. Schools across American have been missing an important
class for some time now.
2. It used to be part of the curriculum; but gradually, the
world dropped it, then banned it, then outlawed.
3. In so doing, they have cut our children loose from God’s
anchor and turned them away from God’s compass.
B. What is that missing class? It is the Bible.
C. There is much that I can tell you about the Bible from the
Bible.
1. I can tell you the Bible is the Word of God.
2Peter 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old
time by the will of man: but holy men of God
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
2Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness:
2. I can tell you the Bible has the words of life.
3. i can tell you the Bible has the judgments of eternity.
D. But what I want to share with you this morning is not what the
Bible says about itself. What I want to do is to take you
into a warped, godless mind.
E. I can produce a reasonably logical argument that murder is
not wrong.
1. Is murder wrong? Yes.
a. How do you know? Because it is against the law.
b. Who made the law? Man did.
c. Is man ever wrong? All of the time.
d. Then how do you really know murder is wrong?
2. The answer, you don’t.
F. I can do it again.
1. It is wrong for one animal to kill another?
a. No. It is the cycle of life.
b. What does science teach us that we are? animals
2. If it is not wrong for a lion to murder a deer to eat it,
then how can it be wrong for a man to kill another man?
2. We cannot.
G. Like it or not, this type of logic is sound and it justifies
every wrong action a person can commit.
1. Who says it is wrong to steal?
2. Who says it is wrong to lie?
3. Who says it is wrong to rape, pillage, and oppress?
4. If man said it was wrong, it may be; but man is often
wrong so it may not be.
5. And even if it is wrong, it can be right if circumstances
get bad enough.
a. Is it wrong to steal an apple off the shelf if you are
starving?
b. Then how can it be wrong to lie, steal, and kill if
there is a good enough reason.
c. For example: Climate change - If we don’t stop the
climate change, you are going to kill me and my
family; therefore, if I deem you part of the problem
I have every right to kill you.
H. The only thing that makes murder wrong is that God, our
Creator, our Judge—said murder was wrong.
1. Where did God say that?
2. In the Bible.
3. If we do not teach our children what the Bible says, there
really is no reason for them to believe that wrong is
wrong.
I. It is not just me that says this. Listen to the Bible.
Romans 7:7 …Nay, I had not known sin, but by
the law: for I had not known lust, except the law
had said, Thou shalt not covet.
J. The bottom line is that you cannot tell a person that he is an
accident of the cosmos shaped in the form of an animal and
expect him to act like he is a divine being with a purpose.
III. What is the Course of Action?
A. Put the Bible back in the schools.
1. I am not talking about teaching the Bible in schools.
2. I would be afraid to let a society like ours teach the
Bible.
3. Just read it. (And I mean the King James Version.)
4. No comments. Let the Word speak for itself.
B. Make copies of the Bible available in every class.
C. Post the Ten Commandments.
This is not to produce salvation, doctrine, or religion. This is to
give kids back their moral compass. We need to restore the missing
class!
<OutlineIndex>
<Close Window>
