How Sin Changed the World pt. 1

Introduction

There is the way that God designed this world to be…and there is the way that the world currently is.

And the people of the world want to blame God for their pain and for their suffering…but when God created the world, the Bible says that it was good.

But then something happened. Sin entered into the world and it changed the world.

Well, how exactly did sin change the world?

There’s a lot of ways that sin changed the world, and in the next coming weeks we are going to talk about some of those ways…but this morning we are going to begin with this truth.

That sin changed the world by devaluing humanity.

We are God’s unique creation. And we are made in God’s image. There is not another creation that has that honor. Not the angels, not the animals, not the trees or the grass…but it was man that was created in the image of God.

And what sin has done, and what the powers of darkness have tried to do, is rob our world of knowing the truth, that every person is valuable, and that every person is worthy of protection and prosperity.

Here are three truths the Bible tells us about the way He intended us to be.

The Bible tells us that God created us in His image. It tells us that He created us to have dominion over the earth. And it tells us that He created us as male and as female so that we could fill the earth with His image and His glory.

Yet, our world and our culture is trying to erase all of that.

The social battles that are taking place today are more than just a difference of political opinion, but they are a war on the truth of God’s word. And as people of God, we must be sure that our worldview is in line with God and that it sees life through His perspective.

I thank God for the wisdom of our founding fathers who intertwined so deeply into our founding documents the truth of God’s word. They were not perfect men by any means, but I believe that God used them to give us the greatest nation that has ever existed apart from God’s chosen nation, the nation of Israel…and we would be wise to protect our nation and our minds.

But church, we cannot live with the full blessing of God if we don’t understand exactly how God intended the world to be…we are men and women created in His image, and we have a responsibility to represent ourselves accordingly.

I. How Sin Has Devalued Humanity

In what ways has sinned caused us to devalue humanity?

A. By Attempting to erase the Image of God in Man

Genesis 1:26 NKJV

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness”

There is no other creation that God created in His image.

When God created the race of man, He created us as a unique creation that reflects His glory and that accomplishes His purposes.

Now, often times you’ll hear me say that we are no longer in the image of God because of what sin has done, but that simply means that we are a shell or a shadow of what God intended us to be.

The Bible tells us that when God saw the race of man, He saw that man was good.

Genesis 1:31 NKJV

Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

However, because of sin, the Bible says that there are none that are good.

Romans 3:12 NKJV

There is none who does good, no, not one.

Because sin has entered into the world, and because man is now born into sin, we are incapable of accurately reflecting God’s goodness.

However, we are still in God’s image in the sense that we are eternal beings, and in the sense that all life in intrinsically valuable.

Intrinsic Value

Written into our Declaration of Independence are these words.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

Well, how is it that we are all equal?

We are all equal because we were created by God, and that means that all of human life is intrinsically valuable.

This means that we are valuable simply because we exist. It means that all life is equal. It also means that life is valuable regardless of development or circumstance

1. Valuable Regardless of Development

Downs in Iceland

It’s no secret that within the past two decades the country of Iceland has seen a major drop in children born with down syndrome.

The reason that this drop has taken place is not because of an increase in genetic normalcy, but because women who have pre-natal screenings and discover that they are having a child with down syndrome, are choosing to murderously abort those children.

Abortions in the US

Here in the United States there are only 13 states that have a ban on abortions.

The rest of our states allow for an abortion after the baby is conceived.

It is estimated that 73 million babies were aborted in the United States in 2025.

What this Shows

What this shows us is that we as a perverted and sin cursed people are allowing the value of people to be determined based on their level of development.

This logic applied consistently would say that everyone in the nursing home is less valuable than those outside of the nursing homes.

This logic applied consistently says that people with mental and physical handicaps are less valuable than people without mental or physical handicaps.

This logic applied consistently says that a child in the womb or outside of the womb is less valuable than an independent and functioning adult.

To give value to people based on their mental or physical development is sinful. And any justifications made to allow for this type of ideology is wrought from Satan and not from God.

For the Bible says that God created in His image.

From the time that Adam was being formed, to the time that Adam died, he was valuable to God.

Such is the same, that development does not determine value, but from the time that a child has the potential for sentient life to the time that a person dies, they are intrinsically valuable because they are the image bearers of God.

Genesis 9:6 NKJV

“Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.

Not only are we valuable regardless of development…

2. Valuable Regardless of Circumstance

It doesn’t matter if someone is poor, it doesn’t matter if someone is different, and it doesn’t matter if someone is the product of sin, they are valuable.

And the reason that they are valuable is because they, just like everyone else, are made in the image of God.

We have devalued humanity by attempting to erase the reality that we are God’s image bearers…

B. By attempting to equate humanity with other creation.

Some people who call themselves scientist have spent a lot of man hours trying to convince us that we are animals and that we are from animals.

They are men and women that are Godless, and they are men and women that don’t understand that God created us as His unique creation, and that God has placed us in dominion over the rest of creation, not equal to other creation, and certainly not in subjection to other creation.

Now we have these organizations out there and they demand that we be in subjection to the environment. They call themselves environmentalists.

These are the same people that want us to kill all the cows because they supposedly produce too much gas. Meanwhile they’re flying around in their private jets claiming that the world is going to end if everyone else doesn’t change.

I want to say this morning that they aren’t real environmentalists. What they are, are people who don’t understand the way God intended for things to be.

How did God intend for things to be?

1. For Man to Rule Creation

Genesis 1:26 NKJV

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Genesis 1:29 NKJV

And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.

What this tells us is that God does not equate us with animals.

It also tells us that God does not equate us with the trees or the grass.

But what it shows is that we are far and above all other creation, and that creation is subject to us, we are not subject to creation.

2. For Man to Worship God

Genesis 1:26 NKJV

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.

God has designed things in a particular order.

He is God and He is far above man, and we are to worship Him.

Isaiah 45:5–6 NKJV

I am the Lord, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me, That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting That there is none besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other;

Man is in subject to God, and creation is in subjection to man.

Genesis 1:28 NKJV

Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

So, the truth that we have to realize is that we are not made to exalt creation and we are not made to serve creation. Creation is there to serve us, and we are here to serve God.

God intended man to rule creation, he intended that we worship Him and Him alone…

3. For Man to Think Rationally

What separates us from animals is our ability to understand and to ask questions.

Animals behave solely on instinct. Man surpasses instinct and they can reason, and they can build, and ask questions that animals cannot ask.

Most importantly, man can understand that there is life after death.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 NKJV

He has put eternity in their hearts

That is something that God has given us that He has not given the rest of creation. We have purpose.

That’s why there are so many today battling with the issue of purpose and identity, because they have devalued themselves and they have forgotten that we don’t exist to serve ourselves, but that we exist to serve and to worship God.

God has intended that man be the ruler over creation, he intended that we worship Him and Him alone, and He intended for us to think rationally with the mind that He gave us…

4. For Man to Work According to Order.

God has designed and ordained a way of life where there is structure and there are measures of accountability.

At our very core, we desire structure and we desire governing bodies.

And in God’s creation, He ordained and He established governments and He established order. And for us to have an unhealthy view of governing structures is another way that satan is attempting to overthrow the order that God established. It is another way that sin is trying to make us nothing more than animals given over to instinct and passion.

Here’s what the Bible says about all that are in authority.

Romans 13:1 NKJV

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

What counts as authority?

Authority is anyone who is in charge.

If your child is disrespectful to you, it’s not cute, it’s sin.

I want you to know that you as a parent are the first line of God-given authority. A child that cannot respect their parents will never respect anyone else.

If you’re rude to the waitress, it doesn’t matter if she deserves it, it’s sin.

I actually had to apologize to my boys team this year because I spoke to a referee that wasn’t appropriate. Instead of making my appeal on the sideline like I was supposed to, I shouted down the floor to let them know what the right call was.

Now, I’m not saying that criticism and being passionate about the game is sinful, but we are wise to watch our tone with those that are in authority. They may not be able to do anything to us, but God is watching…ask me how I know.

It’s one thing to recognize that something is wrong or not being done right, it’s another to allow sin to dictate how we respond to that.

What exactly does this mean?

It means that Christians ought not be anarchists.

It means that Christians ought not be disrespectful to those that are in authority.

God has given us government for it to be a blessing and not for it to be a curse.

God has given us order and structure in the church and in society for our benefit, not for our demise.

Is there ever a time to defy governing authorities?

If they are forcing you or attempting to force you to do something that is against God’s word.

Daniel did not bow down to false gods and he was thrown into the lion’s den.

His friends did the same and they were tossed into the fiery furnace.

In both cases, these men accepted the consequences for their rebellion.

If they are negating their role as God’s blessing and are a terror to the people, then we can challenge the authorities according to the laws and pathways that exists.

This erases any kind of anarchy or insurrection and promotes good and legal behavior for God’s people.

This also applies to paying our taxes. You can’t commit tax fraud and do it in the name of Jesus Christ.

First, Jesus tells us to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.

Paul also says this in Romans 13:6

Romans 13:6 NKJV

For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing.

The major point here is that so called libertarianism is not biblical, and that we are to respect and we are to honor those that God has placed in authority over us.

At such time we feel the need to change or replace those that are in authority over us, we must do two things.

Pray them out.

This goes for pastors, deacons, bosses, presidents, or any other kind of governing authority you can think of. Sometimes we are so quick to come up with a solution and put it into action that we never take the time to ask God to remove the person that He has established, and that’s sinful.

Work according to the appropriate laws and avenues.

In our government, we have that avenue and its called the ballot box.

Now, I know that there has been a lot of scrutiny over the years about stolen elections, but I pray that you will open your eyes and see that the news media is trying to distract us and give us a reason to act outside of how God has intended us to act.

The rhetoric about stolen elections has been going on since at least 1876 when Rutherford B. Hayes won by just one single electoral vote.

It was one of the most controversial elections in American history.

Thank God that we live in a nation where we have the freedom to peacefully assemble, that we live in a nation where we can have a voice in local, state, and national politics, and that we live in a nation that had the wisest founding father’s that it could have possibly had.

There is nothing wrong with Christians being involved in government. That’s how God designed us, and that is how God created us…He created us to work according to order and according to structure, and we must take full advantage of our rights as American Citizens…so long as we do it God’s way and not satan’s way.

Sin has caused us to devalue humanity by attempting to erase the image of God in us, by attempting to equate humanity with other creation…

C. By attempting to blur the lines between male and female.

Genesis 1:27 NKJV

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Right now, we are battling the perverted idea that a man can be a woman and that a woman can be a man.

Before that, we battled the perverted idea that men don’t need to be men and that women don’t need to be women.

This perverted ideology has all come about because sin and sinful people want to blur the lines between male and female.

Why is that the goal?

Because if we can erase the most basic and obvious truths of God then sin and depravity can take us anywhere they want us to go.

How has society blurred the lines between male and female?

1. By Changing the Language

Any time that sin begins to take precedence over the Word of God, there is going to be a language change.

For instance…

Instead of adultery, we call it cheating.

Instead of murder, we call it abortion.

Instead of fornication, we call it hooking up.

We’ll call sin anything that we can so it doesn’t seem that bad.

They’ve done the same thing with biology.

Gender is a Language Term

The term gender is not a biological or scientific term, it’s a language term.

And what do we say? Well, we began to ask people’s preferred gender or pronouns.

What that does it confuses sex, which is a biological term, with gender, which is a language term, and has allowed society to degrade and to confuse people about what God has clearly designed.

Anytime satan wants to push sin, he will always attempt to change the language.

2. By Confusing the Roles

I’ll talk more about this when it comes to marriage, but what sin and perversion seeks to do is blur the lines on what God has clearly defined as the role of a man and a woman.

And because the lines are being blurred on the roles of men and women, and because of the usage of gender to describe biology, what we see now is a fight over if men ought to be able to compete in women’s sports.

I don’t like when people ask, “What if the roles were reveresed?”

I don’t like that question..and I’ll tell you why…

Because men don’t, or shouldn’t, need protection from women.

Women are to be protected, and women are to be cared for, and women are to be respected.

Why?

Because it is the woman, not the man that is vulnerable.

There was a student in my youth group and he was doing a school project where he was supposed to propose some kind of change to a government policy, and one of the questions or one of the topics that he was assigned was, “Should women have to register for selective service?”

So, he calls me, and he says that his opinion is that women should have to register for selective service because that’s equal. We’re supposed to have an equal society, and men and women should be equal, so they should have to do it.

So I responded and this is what I said,

“Women ought to be allowed to voluntarily enlist in the military and I don’t see any issue with that, but forcing women to serve in the military is unethical and immoral and it shouldn’t be done.”

“Really?” He said, “how come?”

Imagine your sitting at home, and you see on the news that we are in a war and things are getting really bad, and they’re having to start drafting people into the military again.

Then a few days later you get a letter in the mail and it says that someone in your house is being drafted to war…but it’s not your dad, it’s your mom.

Now imagine how strange it would be if your dad was at home on the couch and your mom was out in the middle of the dessert an m4 strapped to her chest.

He changed his opinion.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that there is a clear distinction between the functions and the capacities of men and women. And all these people that are running around trying to prove that there is no distinction are either intellectually dishonest or they don’t have any meaningful relationships in their life and they’re speaking out of ignorance.

We’ve gotten so backwards in our world that if you go on the internet and ask can a man get pregnant, this is what it will say:

“The question of whether a man can get pregnant depends on the distinction between biological sex and gender identity”

And the fact that we even have to explain it like that shows how far from God we are.

God has designed men and women as equal, but He has also designed them to perform functions that are unique to them.

The only thing that a man is better at than a woman is being a man. And the only thing that a woman is better at than a man is being a woman.

Satan and sin are trying their best to blur the functions and the roles of men and women in society. Because if they can get us to deny what is so obviously true then they have control over everything.

Conclusion

All of this is being done to limit the effectiveness of the church. God’s sovereign plan is not to preserve this world, but God’s desire is to see every person come to repentance, and His plan to preach the gospel to the entire world.

When the Christian is satisfied with the status quo, when the Christian doesn’t take the time to understand truth, when the Christian becomes like the world instead of conforming to the image of Jesus, we become part of the problem.

Instead of helping God accomplish His work here on earth we become a hinderance to God’s work here on earth.

When we allow the pagan media, whether they are labeled as liberal or conservative drive how we think about the world and the culture, we assist sin in darkening our world.

We are not to be a people that simply take information at face value or react based on how we feel, but God has called us to be people that investigate and seek truth.

Not the wisdom of the world, but He has called us to seek the truth that is found in His word.

One of the major challenges that we face today is that people are largely biblically illiterate. When you live in a world where it’s controversial to say that men are men and women are women and that we can’t choose who we want to be, then that is a clear sign that the church has not been effective in doing it’s job.

If you really want to change the world for the better, get off of Facebook, get off the recliner in front of the news, and get into God’s word and then go and share the hope of Jesus Christ to a lost and a dying world.

Matthew 28:19 NKJV

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,