Truth Unchanged, Unchanging_ What is Man?

1.     What is Man? Any true consideration of man and his problems in the modern world must answer that question.

             A.      Modern popular view of man and his nature departs radically from the Biblical and Christian view, which up to approximately the last hundred years was almost universally believed and accepted.

                            i.          Modern View can be best describe as cult of self-expression(Manifesting itself)

                                                 1.       Nazism as example.

2.     Author argues we shall be concerned for this modern philosophy as it expresses itself particularly in the realm of religion and the world of the soul.

             A.      This shift of self-expression led to great and radical change in the attitude of the average man and woman to the whole question of Religion.

                            i.          The result of the shift led to defending themselves against their own consciences, and against the opinion of the Church and the Bible.

3.     The view of religion which is based upon this cult of self-expression is, on the other hand, thoroughly positive.

             A.      Instead of resisting the attack of religion, it assails religion and all its adherents.

                            i.          Self-expressionist say old talk about sin is utterly foolish. They say Man is a creature possessing various powers, faculties, and instincts, and his highest good is to be found in the exercise of those powers.

4.     The criticism which Christians make of this modern cult of self-expression is that it fails to realize the true nature of self.

             A.      The Gospel answer to this modern cult is not a doctrine of repression, but rather a call to the realization of the true nature of the self.

5.     The modern view does not differentiate between the self and the various factors that tend to influence the self, the various factors which the self uses to express itself.

             A.      View that is so popular today tends to regard man as a mere aggregate of various powers and forces which in their interaction produce a certain result.

             B.      Man according to this view is determined by the interaction of the various instincts, or by the predominance of any one of several instincts, such as the herd instinct, the protective instinct, the fear instinct, the sex instinct, the hunger instinct.

                            i.          Man’s essential personality, his real self, is only the product to these forces.

6.     According to Christ, man is not a mere collection of biological forces. He is something infinitely greater.

7.     All the other forces, instincts, and powers that are within man, in and of themselves are harmless, but as the result of sin become a source of danger.

8.     If you desire merely to satisfy the lust and the craving for pleasure, then go in for the modem cult. But if you desire the whole of yourself to be developed and expressed, regard this suggestion as the very suggestion of hell itself, and apply the other test.

             A.      The way to express self truly is the way of discipline and order, the way of reason and prayer, the way of hearkening to the voice of conscience and encouraging every uplifting thought and desire.

             B.      To live, his whole being and nature must be used and exercised. Otherwise he will die.

9.     The fact that it ignores recklessly the ultimate destiny of this self of ours must also be mentioned.

             A.      That it does so from a merely earthly and human standpoint has been made plain

             B.      But there is a important one, which it also entirely ignores.Lord said, “t is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed rather than having two hands and two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.

                            i.          On the purely human plane we have seen that this talk of self-expression is utterly degrading to the true self. But, over and above that, there is God’s view of us, which is of infinitely greater consequence, as we are in his hands and He is the Judge eternal.

                                                 1.      It is the self that He asks us to express and expects us to express. And at the end of life and of time He will test our performance.

             A.      The standard of judgement will be the moral law as given to Moses, the teachings of the prophets, the Sermon on the Mount, and above all, our believing knowledge of Himself and our approximation to the life lived by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

10.  If you have lived only according to your instincts, desires, and impulses, the true self is long since dead, as you can easily discover if you but try to live the other life, and, above all, if you try to find God.

             A.      Man cannot rehabilitate his true self. Man can lose his own soul, but he can never find it again.

                            i.          But, He restores our soul to us. He gives us a new nature and fills us with power that will enable us to express this new and true self even as He expressed it Himself.

The world reduces man to the level of the beast, offends the holy Judge and leads to eternal death.