The cancer of sin in a fallen race

4. The cancer of sin in a fallen race

This aspect of mans condition needs enlarging upon. We can look at our situation in two complementary ways. As to our standing before God, our relationship to Him, we are banished sinners. But as to our present state, we can see a process of corruption and death in operation. We are a part of a dying creation. When Adam took of the Tree of Knowledge, he died immediately as to his relationship with God. At the same moment, the process of death began to operate in him and his world; he contracted the cancer of sin. We are alienated from God, and also dying spiritually.

Perhaps the clearest illustration of these two aspects in the Bible is seen in the disease of leprosy. The leper was banished from the Tabernacle and the community as unclean; he was also dying of the plague. So, it is with us. We have been banished as sinners; we are also dying of sin.

Many Scriptures point to this deadly cancer operating in this fallen race and world. It can be seen in society and individuals. Also consider the fact that most of those who respond to the gospel do so when young.

This cancer of corruption in operating, (i) in nature; (ii) in society, this present evil age, with all its activities; and (iii) in every individual.

Nature is obviously marred despite all its wonders. It has been affected by mans fall, and one day will be liberated. The power of evil in the world is also obvious. But someone may ask, if mans situation is as bad as the Bible says as it is, how are we to account for mans better nature and the good things in human culture and civilization, and the universal factor of religion? Let us consider the question.

Some say the existence of civilizations, ancient and modern, shows that man is capable of inddfinte improvement, with the help of education, for example, but is civilization really any more than a passing illusion? John says, The world is passing away. Material advances, the fact that life is more comfortable for a minority, does not mean that man himself is any better. Remember too that most of mans achievements in history are associated with human suffering and exploitation. The pyramids were built with slave labor. The industrial revolution is linked with human misery. Western civilization, often mistakenly called, Christian for there can be neither a Christian civilization, nor a Christian country, in a fallen world is only a veneer. Instead of the barbarism of bygone ages, our 21^st century has devised and have been guilty of even greater horrors. Every civilization has its dark side.

There is a tendency among Christians to think of culture as an ally, of civilization as a step in the right direction, but mans development in history, through the forbidden knowledge of good and evil, has been false; he has developed without God; without ternal life, and been the slave of sin and ally of Satan. God never intended this kind of development.

The truth is, we believe, that civilization, with its twin religion, have, in general, proved hindrances to mans salvation, by making him less receptive to the Gospel. Consider how long Christendom in The West has had the Gospel, yet only a tiny minority have truly bowed the knee to Christ. While The East which has always had, as all men have, the outward witness of Creation and the inward witness of Conscience, to guide it toward seeking the true God, has similarly rejected this witness. In The West, false Christianity and humanistic civilization, and in The East, easter religions and culture, must have hindered millions from discovering the truth which is in Christ alone. Civilization has created the illusion that things are better than they really are. False religion has provided a substitute for the True Faith, the faith of Jesus.

Is there then no value at all in civilization and religion? Ultimately none, we believe, because neither meets mans need of salvation. However, God has, in His overruling sovereignty and mercy, used certain aspects of these for mans benefit and to save him from destroying himself. For example, governments exist for the maintenance of law and order.

Because man was made in the likeness of God, and that likeness has not been totally destroyed, there are still counter-acting forces, restraining the progress of corruption, in every man (e.g. Conscience), and therefore in Society (e.g. The recognition of the need for law and order), which God uses, among other things, to restrain evil, until His purposes in Redemption are complete. While mans better nature and any commendable aspects of civilization and religion may help to restrain mans corruption, under Gods sovereign hand, they contribute nothing, in themselves, to mans salvation. Such traces of Gods image that remain in the race, only point to mans high origin, calling and amazing potential. There is, of course, nothing truly, wholly, good in this fallen creation.

For the individual, the progress of corruption is inevitable, apart from Gods restraining hand or miraculous intervention. The cancer of sin will kill us in the end. But note three points:-

Firstly, this cancer is not always obvious. In some, the disease is clearly in its last stages. But in many it is hidden, unsuspected, covered over with a veneer of niceness, good manners, civilized behavior or humanitarian concern for people in need, so often thought to be Christianity. The cancer is hidden but there. Such, of course, stand condemned in any case as rebels against Gods Son, and quietly give themselves away when confronted with the claims of Christ.

Secondly, as we have said, traces of Gods likeness may remain. Glimpses of goodness may be seen. But, there is no divine spark in man that simply needs re-kindling for him to be saved, as some would have us believe. Apart from grace and the miracle of new birth, we are irretrievably lost for ever.

Thirdly, some awareness of Gods presence in His creation remains. Most of the race have always believed in some kind of Supreme Being. Also, some have, for example, experiences of deliverance from danger, or of comfort in suffering, or even of answers to prayer, which they attribute to God. This does not alter their need of salvation. Gods kindness as Creator is no ground for sinners to rest upon. We need a Savior. To ignore Gods Son and bank upon Gods love is to court disaster.

Finally, while our plight means that we cannot reach God, He can reach us. In fact, He is always seeking to do just that.