The Restoration of Man

            We have been studying on Sunday nights about man from a biblical perspective. One of the truths that the Bible teaches us about man is that man needs to be restored. If people sin and become lost, and if they have an opportunity to be brought back into a restored state in Christ, then people need to be restored.

What Does it Mean to be Restored?

According to Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Restoration means: “a restoring to an unimpaired or improved condition.” Restore means: “to bring back to or put back into a former or original state: renew.”

            We can find an example of one type of restoration in the book of Genesis, with the butler that was imprisoned with Joseph. After Potiphar threw Joseph into prison, Pharaoh threw his chief baker and butler into the same prison. One night they both had a dream and Joseph asked them what their dreams were. After he told them what their dreams meant, on Pharaoh’s birthday he had the baker hanged and the butler put back into his position of butlership. The butler was “restored” but the baker was not.

And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and the head of the chief baker among his servants. And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand: but he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them. (Gen. 40:20-23)

So the baker was, as the dictionary defines it, put “back to or put back into a former or original state.”

            Jeroboam might also provide us with an example of restoration. In the book of First Kings we read about the young prophet that went up to Bethel to cry out against the altar that was there, and it says in chapter 13 and beginning in verse 4,

And it came to pass, when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Beth-el, that Jeroboam put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back again to him. The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of Jehovah. And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Entreat now the favor of Jehovah thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God entreated Jehovah, and the king's hand was restored him again, and became as it was before.

“…A restoring to an unimpaired or improved condition?” “…To bring back to or put back into a former or original state?” Well, yes, that’s what took place there with Jeroboam’s hand; his hand was restored.

            Just like the butler or Jeroboam’s hand, people need to be restored. We come into this life pure and spotless, completely free from sin. We don’t need any sacrifice for our sins because we have no sin. But everyone who grows old enough to know right from wrong and makes a conscious decision to do wrong is not longer in a right relationship with God. Like the butler thrown into prison, when we sinned, we became bound by that sin and every other after that, and were lost. We were kind of like that baker, just waiting to be hanged. But if we heard the gospel, and we obeyed the gospel, Christ took our place and He has restored us to our former place, and a right relationship with God. He took that sin that was going to cause us to be lost, and He took it away so that it would no longer be held against us. We have been restored.

            A soul that is burdened by sin is a lot like that hand of Jeroboam—withered up, sick, in need of being healed. Just as God made his hand whole again, God can make us whole again. Sin will hinder us and it will cause us to perish. Just as some physical diseases can kill a person physically, sin is a spiritual disease that can kill a person spiritual. “And when Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

He is restored spiritually through the regeneration of the word in spirit” (Mk. 2:17)

All People are in Need of Restoration

            “For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God” (Ro. 3:23). That means that we all need it, and it also means that the Eskimo in Alaska needs it, the African needs it, the Indian needs it, the Aborigine needs it, and every other person in the world who has ever told a lie, stolen something, has been disobedient to his parents, or anything else that is morally wrong. He has been separated from God by sin and needs to be restored in Christ.

            Someone says, “If a person never hears the gospel, how can that person be held accountable for something he has never heard?” In the Old Testament we read of a covenant that was made with the children of Israel at Mount Sinai. That covenant was with the Jews. So if you were not a Jew, you were not under the old covenant. A Gentile was not bound by the Law of Moses to go to the temple or participate in Jewish feasts and things, because he wasn’t a Jew. If you were a Jew, you were under that covenant the moment that you were born a Jew; you entered into that covenant by birth. When Jesus died on that cross that covenant became null and void and a new covenant was established, a better covenant. “But now hath he obtained a ministry the more excellent, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which hath been enacted upon better promises” (Heb. 8:6).

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then would no place have been sought for a second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, That I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers In the day that I took them by the hand to lead them forth out of the land of Egypt; For they continued not in my covenant, And I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel After those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, And on their heart also will I write them: And I will be to them a God, And they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his fellow-citizen, And every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: For all shall know me, From the least to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And their sins will I remember no more. (Heb. 8:7-12)

The Jew entered into the old covenant by birth, and the Christian also enters into a covenant relationship with Christ through a birth. The difference is that the Jew was born physically into his covenant and the Christian is born spiritually into his covenant.

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God! That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born anew. (Jn. 3:5-7)

Nicodemus was still thinking of a physically birth, but Jesus was talking about a spiritual one. That person out in the jungle somewhere who has never heard of Jesus has never been spiritually reborn, and is outside of the covenant of the New Testament.

            That person out in the jungle isn’t lost because he doesn’t observe the Lord’s Supper, for example, because he isn’t meant to do that anyway. The Lord’s Supper is a communing of the Saints with the Lord, with His body and His blood, and with each other; that’s why it’s called “communion.” When we drink that fruit of the vine, we are acknowledging the fact that Christ’s blood was shed for us. When we partake of that unleavened bread, we are acknowledging the fact that Christ’s body was sacrificed for us. We are there remembering and thinking upon those things.

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a communion of the body of Christ? seeing that we, who are many, are one bread, one body: for we are all partake of the one bread. (1 Cor. 10:16-17)

How could a person who is not a member of the body of Christ, and in rebellion against Christ, sit down with the Lord and His saints around the Lord’s Table and commune with Christ and with His body? The person out in the jungle isn’t lost because he doesn’t do those things that are a part of the new covenant; he’s not subject to those things. He is lost because he has transgressed God’s moral laws—lying, stealing, disobedient to parents, etc.

            The young child that dies in the Jungle without Christ is just as saved as the young child here that dies without Christ. He doesn’t need a savior because h hasn’t sinned. But, the grown man or woman who dies in the jungle without Christ is lost just like the man here who dies without Christ. If neither one has heard the truth of the gospel, and both need Christ, but both die without Him, they are both lost in the same way and for the same reason. About the only difference between the two may be opportunity. If it were true that by not hearing the gospel a person would be free from the responsibility of obeying it, then they would be better off if we just kept it to ourselves. If we didn’t share it, people wouldn’t hear it, and they would be free from the responsibility of obeying it. But, because we know that isn’t the case, we need to be doing all that we can to take it to them!

            God knew of man’s need for being restored from the very beginning:

For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren: and whom he foreordained, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. (Ro. 8:29-30)

Consider the following points in this passage. First, God knew before he created humanity that mankind would have the potential to sin. Second, in knowing this, God foreordained the plan of redemption in his Son (Eph. 1:4). Third, because people sin, and do not conform to the image of his Son, they need restoration. Fourth, because people need restoring, God calls them by the gospel (2 Thes. 2:13-15). Fifth, those accepting the call are justified, and they a can be restored to a merciful God. Sixth, those who are justified, if they remain faithful, will be glorified. (Steersman, Jackie. “Man Needs To Be Restored”. Do You Understand The Biblical View Of Man? Pulaski, TN: Sain Publications, 2008. 420-421)

The Restored Often Sin and Need Restoring

Think about David with me if you will. Here was a man hand-picked by God. He was a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam. 13:14) Yet he committed adultery with another man’s wife and manipulated things so that he would be killed in order to try and cover up his own sins (2 Sam. 11:1-12:23). In spite of all that David was and all that he had going in his favor, and in spite of all that can be said that is good about him, he still sinned. Even the best of humanity, no matter their relation to God, still has the potential to sin!

            Think about the apostle Peter. Here is a man who had all the advantages of knowledge. Jesus had taught him personally, he knew Jesus very well. He was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Not only that, but Peter also has an enormous amount of zeal. Still, even he found himself in need of being restored at times.

            There was an occasion in Antioch where Peter, in spite of his knowledge and zeal, made a mistake.

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I resisted him to the face, because he stood condemned. For before that certain came from James, he ate with the Gentiles; but when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing them that were of the circumcision. (Gal. 2:11-12)

He was corrected by Paul and was in need of being restored.

And, who can forget when Peter told Jesus that he would die before he would deny Him (Mt. 26:35)? Jesus said, “Verily I say unto thee, that this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.” Peter needed to acknowledge his sin, repent of it, and ask God to forgive him.

Just because we may be Christians and love God and do His will to the best of our abilities, does not mean that we won’t ever mess up and need restoring. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 Jn. 1:8). But, “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (v. 9). But the idea isn’t to just go ahead and sin whenever we want to because we know that if we confess it and ask Him to forgive us He will. If that is the case, then He won’t. “If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 Jn. 1:6-7). The idea is to not sin, but if we do sin, “we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 Jn. 2:1).

            If that is true individually, the same thing can be true collectively. Anyone who has studied church history very much should be familiar with the restoration movement in America a couple of hundred years ago. The church here in America was in need of restoration. The church first started all the way back in the first century, very shortly after the death of Jesus there upon the cross (about 50 days after). We can read about it in Acts 2, on the Day of Pentecost. As you continue reading through the book of Acts, you read about the spread of that church throughout the Roman Empire until it even reaches all the way to Rome. After the close of the New Testament, after the apostles and the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, the church continued on, but over time, human ideas and modifications began to be introduced to the early church such as having one bishop over an entire congregation. In time, the Catholic church was begun and there was a wide-spread falling away, or apostasy from the true church over into religious error. From that time until the early days of America we don’t have a record of the history of the church that I know of. That doesn’t mean that the church didn’t exist, it means that I don’t know the history of it during that time. However, we do know that in America, there were many who saw that what they saw going on in “Christianity” around them was not what they found in the Scriptures, and so a movement was begun away from human doctrines and things and back to the Bible. That was when the church was restored here during the restoration movement by going back to what was taught by Jesus and His disciples back in the first century and doing away with everything else. It’s not that the church started at that time, but it was planted here in America and took root here during that time just like it did everywhere the gospel was faithfully preached by Paul and others that we read about in the New Testament.

            There are congregations today that are again, moving away from the truth of God’s word and moving into religions error and apostasy. When a congregation no longer teaches and practices what is taught in and what the early church in the pages of the New Testament practiced, the congregation as a whole is in need of restoration. If that same things were to spread throughout the entire brotherhood, then a restoration movement among God’s people would be once again needed today in America, just as it was a couple of hundred of years ago!

We Have a Responsibility to Restore the Erring

            We can’t just sit back and be concerned about ourselves and allow others to be lost without doing anything about it. We have a responsibility, not only to see that we, ourselves, are restored, but to try and see that others are also restored if they are in need of it.

Brethren, even if a man be overtaken in any trespass, ye who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. (Gal. 6:1-2)

            God waned Ezekiel back in his day against not warning others about the approaching danger of Judgement:

Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thy hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Again, when a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thy hand. Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning; and thou hast delivered thy soul. (Ezk. 3:17-21)

And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him for their watchman; if, when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning, if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him; whereas if he had taken warning, he would have delivered his soul. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned, and the sword come, and take any person from among them; he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. So thou, son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die, and thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way; that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thy hand. (Ezk. 33:1-8)

           We, of course, aren’t prophets today as Ezekiel was, but the principle of the watchman still applies for us today. That’s why Paul could say that he was innocent of the blood of all men since he had declared unto them the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:25-27).

Conclusion

If a person can sin and return to a state acceptable to God, then he or she needs to be restored. All people fall short of the glory they should give to their Creator (Ro. 3:23); therefore, they need restoring. Even good men like David and the apostles Peter and Paul needed to be restored. In fact, the entire message of the Bible, as it relates to humanity, is expressed as follows:

But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses, and having committed unto us the word of reconciliation. We are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beseech you on behalf of Christ, be ye reconciled to God. Him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him. And working together with him we entreat also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (2 Cor. 5:18-6:1) (Steersman 439-440)

           My hope is that the points brought out by this lesson shows that man both individually and collectively, inside and outside of the body of Christ has a need for restoration and to be made whole again.

And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with the sinners and publicans, said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? And when Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. Mk. 2:16-17