Opening Text
Recap: The Unity and Diversity of the Human Race
In the previous sermons, we established from Scripture the origin of all the nations of the earth from one man — Adam — and their division into distinct nations and language groups at the Tower of Babel. We saw that the so-called races of the world are in truth the nations, the tribes, and the language groups that God himself created and scattered, and that physical differences between peoples are the natural genetic result of geographic isolation over many generations. We also saw the threefold division of mankind into the Japhetic, Semitic, and Hamitic nations from the sons of Noah.
We also examined the root causes of racial antagonism. Sin is the great dividing force. Pride, selfishness, the love of power, the desire to dominate — all the works of fallen human nature — are what transform the God-ordained diversity of nations into the hateful tribalism and racism that has plagued the world since Babel.
God Is No Respecter of Persons
Peter’s declaration to Cornelius was revolutionary in its context. A devout Gentile had been visited by an angel; a Jewish apostle had been given a vision commanding him not to call unclean what God had cleansed. The two came together, and Peter understood what God was showing him: the gospel was not for the Jews alone. It was for every nation. God is no respecter of persons — he does not favour one nation over another on account of their nationality, their colour, their culture, or their history.
In every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. This is not universalism — it does not mean that all sincere religious people of every religion are saved. It means that the conditions of acceptance with God are the same for all men of all nations: the fear of God and the righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed immediately afterwards in Peter’s sermon (Acts 10:36–43).
Every Attempt to Create World Government Has Failed
Since the Tower of Babel, men have repeatedly attempted to overthrow the God-ordained diversity of nations and recreate the unified world state that Nimrod first attempted. Every such attempt has failed, and every such attempt will fail, because it is in direct rebellion against the decree of the sovereign God who determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation.
The Roman papacy attempted it for centuries, claiming universal spiritual and temporal authority over all kings and nations. Communism attempted it under the banner of international proletarian solidarity. Hitler attempted it under the banner of Aryan racial supremacy. Today the European Union, the African Union, and the United Nations Organisation are attempting it under the banner of human rights and democratic values. All of these are, at root, the same thing: the rebellion of Babel repeated. And they are all doomed to the same end.
The Gospel Is the Only Answer to Racial Conflict
The world offers conferences, legislation, reparations, and re-education as its answers to racial conflict. None of these has worked, none will work, and none can work, because they address the symptoms while leaving the disease untouched. The disease is sin, and the only cure for sin is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Where men are truly converted — where the love of God is shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit — the tribal hatreds, the racial pride, and the spirit of domination that fuel racial conflict are replaced by the love of Christ that knows no national boundary. That has always been true. It is the only thing that has ever been true. And it remains the Christian’s commission: to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, of every nation and tongue, for the Lord has a chosen people out of every one of them.