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Voddie Baucham - Adapting to the Culture...Or Not · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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  Speaker 1: Good morning, and I bring you greetings once again from
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  Speaker 1: the Republic of Texas, and it is good to be
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  Speaker 1: here on the West coast once again. It is difficult
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  Speaker 1: to be here on the West coast once again, as
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  Speaker 1: we have a new baby in our family, and actually
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  Speaker 1: we are in the process of adopting this baby, and
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  Speaker 1: he's in Atlanta. So right now my wife is in
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  Speaker 1: a hotel room in Atlanta with a one week old
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  Speaker 1: waiting for the State of Georgia and the State of
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  Speaker 1: Texas to agree that she can leave from there. So
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  Speaker 1: I am looking forward to hotailing it out of here
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  Speaker 1: as quickly as I possibly can to be reunited with them.
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  Speaker 1: But if you had any extra time to pray for anything,
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  Speaker 1: I would just ask that you would pray that we
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  Speaker 1: could get our newest baby home as quickly as possible.
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  Speaker 1: If you have your Bibles with you this morning, open
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  Speaker 1: them to the Acts of the Apostles, Acts chapter seventeen.
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  Speaker 1: Now as you look here in Acts chapter seventeen, I
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  Speaker 1: want us to think about something. I want us to
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  Speaker 1: think about the question of culture and how we interact
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  Speaker 1: with and impact culture. There's much talk today about how
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  Speaker 1: we do that, how we interact with culture, how we
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  Speaker 1: impact culture, what the most effective way is for us
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  Speaker 1: to impact culture, And there's a there's been a pendulum swing,
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  Speaker 1: and right now there is this sense in which we
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  Speaker 1: believe that if we're going to impact culture, the way
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  Speaker 1: we do that is by becoming more like the culture,
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  Speaker 1: by becoming more palatable to the culture. We have to
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  Speaker 1: learn the culture's language, the culture's music, that we have
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  Speaker 1: to learn that the culture's styles, and not just learn them,
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  Speaker 1: but we have to adopt them. And not just adopt them,
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  Speaker 1: but we have to master them and mirror them so
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  Speaker 1: that we actually become what the culture is. Because it's
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  Speaker 1: only to the degree that we become what the culture
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  Speaker 1: is that we are able to impact the culture and
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  Speaker 1: transform the culture. That's the prevailing ideology, especially with younger generations,
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  Speaker 1: it's the prevailing ideology. And oftentimes, ironically people will run
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  Speaker 1: to places First Acts, Chapter seventeen in order to make
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  Speaker 1: that argument. There's also a sense in which we believe
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  Speaker 1: that what we have to do to impact culture is
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  Speaker 1: not just become like the culture, but we have to
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  Speaker 1: go into the most influential areas in the culture. Master
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  Speaker 1: those most influential areas in the culture, be received and
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  Speaker 1: accepted in those most influential areas in the culture, so
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  Speaker 1: that then we can transform the culture. The classic example
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  Speaker 1: of this is the Christian musician who wants to go
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  Speaker 1: and do music so that through becoming the most popular
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  Speaker 1: music star of our day, he or she can then
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  Speaker 1: have a platform for the gospel. It's a classic bait
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  Speaker 1: and switch. I will be all that the world desires,
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  Speaker 1: so that I can become incredibly popular in the world.
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  Speaker 1: And then once I am enthroned and the world is
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  Speaker 1: worshiping me, I will flip the script and tell them
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  Speaker 1: about Jesus, and of course then the world will be saved.
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  Speaker 1: Is that what we see in the New Testament is
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  Speaker 1: that what we see from the Apostle Paul. I would
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  Speaker 1: argue that it is not. But it's not enough for
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  Speaker 1: me to just say that. Acts Chapter seventeen begin with me.
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  Speaker 1: In verse eighteen, we find these words. Now, while Paul
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  Speaker 1: was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked
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  Speaker 1: within him as he saw the city was filled with idols.
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  Speaker 1: Stop there. It's very important to understand why Paul was
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  Speaker 1: waiting for them at Athens. The reason that Paul was
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  Speaker 1: waiting for them at Athens is because he had been
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  Speaker 1: in Thessalonika, and he had been in Maria, and just
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  Speaker 1: like everywhere else that he had been, wherever Paul went
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  Speaker 1: there was either a revival or a riot or both,
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  Speaker 1: and he had been run out of town. But this time,
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  Speaker 1: when he was run out of town, the group's sent
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  Speaker 1: him on ahead. Now that the text doesn't say this,
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  Speaker 1: but it's hard not to imagine that after a while,
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  Speaker 1: this lightning rod, who always brings about riots, people wanting
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  Speaker 1: to kill him and everyone with him, is told by
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  Speaker 1: his friends, man, why don't you go to Athens and
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  Speaker 1: we'll meet you. Just wait for us, bro, If you
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  Speaker 1: can stay out of trouble for a few days, we'll
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  Speaker 1: be on. But here he is waiting for them at Athens,
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  Speaker 1: and his spirit is provoked within him as he sees
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  Speaker 1: the city full of idols. He looks at the city
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  Speaker 1: full of idols, and he almost can't take it. It
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  Speaker 1: provokes him. This is not just an anger, he's undone.
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  Speaker 1: As he looks around at this city filled with idols,
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  Speaker 1: he worships the one true and Living God. Not only
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  Speaker 1: is he a born again, blood washed believer in the
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  Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ, but he is a Jew and a Benjamite,
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  Speaker 1: and if he abhors anything, it is idolatry. And here
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  Speaker 1: he is looking at temples, statues, and monuments, and it
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  Speaker 1: sickens him. But what he is experiencing is not a
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  Speaker 1: sense of superiority over those in this culture who are
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  Speaker 1: worshiping idols. What he senses is an overwhelming mandate to
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  Speaker 1: proclaim the Gospel to these who simply do not know
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  Speaker 1: and have not heard, and are worshiping idols because they
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  Speaker 1: do not know and have not heard. And unfortunately, this
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  Speaker 1: is often the first departure between us and the apostle
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  Speaker 1: in this missionary endeavor, because many of us, when we
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  Speaker 1: look at the culture's idols, we don't say it sickens me.
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  Speaker 1: We say, how can I be one of those? How
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  Speaker 1: can I get that kind of attention? How can I
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  Speaker 1: get that kind of worship? How can I have that
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  Speaker 1: kind of juice? It doesn't bother us. We will often
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  Speaker 1: embrace these very idols, as opposed to coming to a
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  Speaker 1: place where we simply cannot stand it and feel as
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  Speaker 1: though we have to do and say something. So what
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  Speaker 1: does he do? He reasoned in the synagogue with the
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  Speaker 1: Jews and the devout persons, that's what he always did.
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  Speaker 1: He goes to the synagogue regularly and reasons with the Jews,
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  Speaker 1: and in the marketplace every day with those who happened
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  Speaker 1: to be there. So on the one hand, he is
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  Speaker 1: going to the people of his own ethnicity, his own worldview,
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  Speaker 1: and he's communicating with them, by the way, communicates with
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  Speaker 1: them very differently. If we had time, we could go
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  Speaker 1: back and look early year in chapter seventeen when he's
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  Speaker 1: in Thesalonaika and how he reasons in the synagogue and
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  Speaker 1: the kind of preaching that he does there as opposed
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  Speaker 1: to the kind of preaching that he does here when
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  Speaker 1: he is in Athens. It is very different. So in
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  Speaker 1: the synagogue he's going and he's reasoning with the Jews
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  Speaker 1: and basically showing them scripturally how Jesus is the Christ,
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  Speaker 1: how the Old Testament points to Jesus. He's showing them
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  Speaker 1: what Jesus showed to his apostles. He shows the men
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  Speaker 1: on the Road to Amas in Luke chapter twenty four,
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  Speaker 1: that all of the scriptures point to him. Then John
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  Speaker 1: chapter five, Moses spoke of me, this was the message
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus that the Old Testament pointed forward to the
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  Speaker 1: coming of the Messiah. I am that Messiah to whom
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  Speaker 1: the Old Testament pointed. That's what he does in the synagogue.
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  Speaker 1: Then he's in the marketplace. He doesn't have the same
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  Speaker 1: common touchstone with the individuals in the marketplace. And it
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  Speaker 1: sounds quite differently, but is it completely different? Some go
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  Speaker 1: to this place and argue that what we need to
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  Speaker 1: do is when we're in the culture, don't be too
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  Speaker 1: overtly Christian, because, after all, you don't want to turn
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  Speaker 1: off the culture. After all, if you are an artist
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  Speaker 1: or a writer or a musician or whatever, you don't
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  Speaker 1: want to go out and offend the culture immediately. So
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  Speaker 1: you got to sort of have a different kind of strategy.
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  Speaker 1: You got to be on the down load with your
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  Speaker 1: Christianity until you get to the right place. Again, is
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  Speaker 1: that what Paul does? Some of the epicure and historic
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  Speaker 1: philosophers also conversed with him, and some said, what does
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  Speaker 1: this battler babbler wish to say? By the way, that's
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  Speaker 1: an insult spermal logos in the Greek what is this
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  Speaker 1: babel or this idol babbler? The word picture that's painted
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  Speaker 1: in the Greek language is of one who picks up
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  Speaker 1: and spits out seeds. In other words, he hasn't really
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  Speaker 1: digested these thoughts. He's just picking up these ideas and
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  Speaker 1: spinning them out all over the place. What does this
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  Speaker 1: idle babbler have to say? It's an insult. They did
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  Speaker 1: not think Paul was cool. He is about to go
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  Speaker 1: on his day's Oprah Winfrey show. And it is not
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  Speaker 1: because he hid his Christianity and talked, looked, acted and
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  Speaker 1: smelled like the culture. It is in spite of the
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  Speaker 1: fact that he refused to. He is about to go
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  Speaker 1: on the biggest stage of his day. And it is
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  Speaker 1: not because he compromised. It is not because he won
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  Speaker 1: people over by becoming like them. They call him an
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  Speaker 1: idol babbler. Others said he seems to be a preacher
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  Speaker 1: of foreign divinities because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.
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  Speaker 1: Wait stop for a minute, because here's the argument that
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  Speaker 1: people will make from First Corinthians from Acts chapter seventeen.
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  Speaker 1: They run to his message there at the Areopogus, or
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  Speaker 1: the summary of his message at the Areopogus there on
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  Speaker 1: Mars Hill, and they say, see, basically, what he did
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  Speaker 1: was he reached into their philosophy. He reached into their world,
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  Speaker 1: he quoted their philosophers, and he did all of those things.
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  Speaker 1: But he didn't really go with all of the Christianese
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  Speaker 1: when the fact of the matter is, the reason he
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  Speaker 1: got invited was because he was preaching what they thought
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  Speaker 1: were strange deities. They thought it was two different deities.
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  Speaker 1: He's preaching Jesus and the resurrection. They thought he was
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  Speaker 1: preaching one male god and another female god, this Jesus
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  Speaker 1: and Anastasia, if you will for the Greek word for resurrection.
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  Speaker 1: But the fact of the matter is he's preaching the
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  Speaker 1: resurrection in the marketplace. He's not truncating the Gospel in
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  Speaker 1: order to win popularity. He is preaching Christ, him crucified
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  Speaker 1: and Him resurrect in the marketplace. He is doing nothing
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  Speaker 1: to impress, He is doing nothing to embrace, nothing whatsoever.
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  Speaker 1: And they took him and brought him to the Areopacus, saying,
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  Speaker 1: may we know more of this new teaching? Of excuse me,
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  Speaker 1: what this new teaching is that you're preaching presenting, for
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  Speaker 1: you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish
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  Speaker 1: to know, therefore, what these things mean? Now, all the
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  Speaker 1: Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their
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  Speaker 1: time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. There's
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  Speaker 1: this big break. Note that he did not get his
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  Speaker 1: big break because he looked like the world, acted like
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  Speaker 1: the world, smelled like the world, tasted like the world.
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  Speaker 1: He got his big break in spite of the fact
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  Speaker 1: that he did not. Now, let me hurry to say,
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  Speaker 1: Paul is not intentionally being offensive to those around him,
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  Speaker 1: Nor am I arguing that that is what we are
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  Speaker 1: supposed to do. I stand here in front of you,
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  Speaker 1: for example, in a suit and a tie. Why because
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  Speaker 1: I love wearing suits and ties? Actually, yes, I do well,
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  Speaker 1: but no. My point is I'm here because like this,
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  Speaker 1: because of the respect that I have for this place
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  Speaker 1: and this culture here. But can I just give you
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  Speaker 1: a newsflash, None of you students wearing suits and ties.
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  Speaker 1: But I didn't come and try to dress like you.
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  Speaker 1: Is it because I don't like you? No, But it's
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  Speaker 1: because I don't believe that the message that I have
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  Speaker 1: come to bring requires for you to think or feel
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  Speaker 1: any certain way about me. But I do want you
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  Speaker 1: to know that I have respect for the place that
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  Speaker 1: I am, the opportunity and the responsibility that has been
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  Speaker 1: given to me, that's why I dress like this. It's
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  Speaker 1: not about being offensive to people. So what happens when
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  Speaker 1: he gets on the Oprah Show, He's got his big break.
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  Speaker 1: Oprah's going to hold up his book. By the way,
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  Speaker 1: anybody who's ever written a book, and any Christian author
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  Speaker 1: who tells you man, I would never want Oprah to
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  Speaker 1: hold up my book. They're not telling you the truth.
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  Speaker 1: I would go on Oprah show and let her spit
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  Speaker 1: in my face if she'll hold up one of my
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  Speaker 1: books so that people will go and read what's in there,
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  Speaker 1: because prayerfully they will encounter the gospel. How sad would
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  Speaker 1: it be, though, for a born again, blood washed follower
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord Jesus Christ to hold in and hide
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  Speaker 1: the message of the Gospel intentionally with a view toward
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  Speaker 1: getting to that place and getting to that opportunity so
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  Speaker 1: that they could achieve some kind of status, and then, later,
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  Speaker 1: having achieved that kind of status, try to spring on
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  Speaker 1: people this message that they've been hiding all along. First
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  Speaker 1: and foremost, that's dishonest. Secondly, it's faithless. They give you
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  Speaker 1: a little newsflash. God is not running for God people.
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  Speaker 1: There's a lot of people running for office right now.
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  Speaker 1: God ain't one of them. He was the only one
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  Speaker 1: around when the votes were cast, and there's never going
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  Speaker 1: to be a recount. He's God all by himself. Here's
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  Speaker 1: the second thing I know about God. God doesn't need me,
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  Speaker 1: nor does he need you. In fact, by definition, God
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  Speaker 1: is completely and utterly self sufficient. If God needed anything,
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  Speaker 1: by definition, he would not be God. God needs nothing.
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  Speaker 1: He doesn't need you. He doesn't need me. He's going
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  Speaker 1: to prove it one day because we're going to die
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  Speaker 1: and the world's going to keep on spending at the
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  Speaker 1: same rate it was before we left it. God can
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  Speaker 1: get you where you need to be by his own
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  Speaker 1: might and by his own power. He demonstrates that here
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  Speaker 1: in the life of the apostle Paul. Paul goes faithfully
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  Speaker 1: to the synagogue and he reasons with him from the scriptures.
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  Speaker 1: He goes faithfully to the marketplace, and he preaches the
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  Speaker 1: Gospel full on, no holds barred, preaching Christ and the
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  Speaker 1: Resurrection to people by the way, who philosophically are opposed
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  Speaker 1: to the idea of resurrection. They call him names, they
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  Speaker 1: mock him, and the result is God puts him on
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  Speaker 1: the biggest platform of his day. What does he do
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  Speaker 1: with it. Here's what's interesting what he does with it
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  Speaker 1: is he preaches the gospel, but he preaches it in
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  Speaker 1: a way that's very unique because of his audience. You see,
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  Speaker 1: when he's talking to a Jewish audience, he has the
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  Speaker 1: same worldview. When he's talking to a non Jewish audience,
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  Speaker 1: they don't share the same worldview. If you share the
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  Speaker 1: same worldview, you can sort of assume that they understand
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  Speaker 1: where you're going and where you're coming from. But if
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  Speaker 1: they don't share the same worldview, somehow you have got
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  Speaker 1: to bring them into your worldview. So how do you
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  Speaker 1: bring them into your worldview? Well, the overarching meta narrative
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  Speaker 1: of the Christian worldview is what creation, fall, redemption, consummation.
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  Speaker 1: That's the overarching meda narrative, creation fall, redemption, consummation. Somehow
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  Speaker 1: you have to communicate that to people. So what does
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  Speaker 1: Paul do when he gets this big shot of the Areopogus?
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  Speaker 1: Watch him. So, Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopogust, said,
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  Speaker 1: men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you
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  Speaker 1: are very religious. For I passed along and observe the
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  Speaker 1: objects of your worship. I found also an altar with
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  Speaker 1: this inscription to an unknown God. He observed the culture,
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  Speaker 1: and let me say that it's important that we do that.
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  Speaker 1: You need to observe the culture. I am not arguing
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  Speaker 1: that you need to be an enemy of the culture,
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  Speaker 1: or that you need to be ignorant of the culture.
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  Speaker 1: You must observe the culture. We just heard from some
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  Speaker 1: individuals who are going to Ecuador. They are learning things
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  Speaker 1: about Ecuador so that when they get there they're not
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  Speaker 1: completely ignorant of the culture, so that when they have
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  Speaker 1: conversations with people, they understand who these individuals are. Paul
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  Speaker 1: observed his culture. We should observe our culture. We should
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  Speaker 1: be objective observers of culture. But there is a difference
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  Speaker 1: between being an objective observer of culture and being an
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  Speaker 1: indiscriminate consumer of culture. One of those is completely and
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  Speaker 1: utterly unacceptable. An indiscriminate consumer of culture says that it's
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  Speaker 1: right because it's popular in the culture, and the goal
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  Speaker 1: is to be popular in the culture. Therefore we must
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  Speaker 1: adopt and adapt whatever it is that the culture celebrates.
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  Speaker 1: Paul is not making that argument. He is observing his
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  Speaker 1: culture with a view toward the proclamation of the Gospel
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  Speaker 1: and notice was what he says next, Well, therefore you
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  Speaker 1: worship as unknown that I proclaim to you. I observed
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  Speaker 1: your culture, and I saw some statues. I really liked
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  Speaker 1: that one over there that was, you know, to an
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  Speaker 1: unknown God. By the way, that God that you say
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  Speaker 1: is unknown, let me introduce him to you. And then
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  Speaker 1: what does he do? Look at the next verse, the
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  Speaker 1: God who made the world and everything in it, by
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  Speaker 1: the way, that would be what come on creation? God
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  Speaker 1: made the world and everything in it. By the way.
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  Speaker 1: He's already going directly against the philosophies of the individuals
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  Speaker 1: who we talked to in the marketplace. God created the world.
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  Speaker 1: This is not the philosophy that they believe. It's not
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  Speaker 1: the philosophy that they receive. God created the world. Guess
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  Speaker 1: what in our culture people say, you are an ignorant,
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  Speaker 1: narrow minded hick. If you believe that God created the world.
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  Speaker 1: Guess what they said to him at the areopagus. You
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  Speaker 1: are an ignorant, narrow minded hick. If you believe that
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  Speaker 1: God created the world, guess what he started with. God
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  Speaker 1: created the world. I'm on many a Christian many a
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  Speaker 1: college campus. Some of them are Christian, many of them
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  Speaker 1: are not. You know, my favorite thing to do when
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  Speaker 1: I'm on non Christian college campuses Genesis. I love it,
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  Speaker 1: why because that's one of the traps that everybody wants
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  Speaker 1: to set. You know, are you a real intellectual or
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  Speaker 1: are you one of those sort of you know, narrow
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  Speaker 1: minded Bible people. Which is it? I don't even wait
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  Speaker 1: long for them to figure it out. It's some of you.
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  Speaker 1: I'll say something like, you know, some of y'all are
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  Speaker 1: sitting out there right now and I'm opening to the
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  Speaker 1: Genesis and we're having this conversation, having this discussion. There's
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  Speaker 1: a series of lectures, and right now all you're wondering
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  Speaker 1: is this. Am I a real intellectual? Or am I
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  Speaker 1: one of these narrow minded hicks who happens to have
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  Speaker 1: some credentials. You're sitting there going, is this one of
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  Speaker 1: those guys who believes that God created the world in
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  Speaker 1: seven days? And my answer to you is absolutely not.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: He did it in six And I think if you
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: don't believe that, you're an idiot, you're not a real intellectual.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: I think it's for real. Did he just he got playing? Y'all?
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: Paul says, God created the world. Watch this this God
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: who made the world and everything in it, being Lord
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: of heaven and Earth, does not live in temples made
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: by man, nor he's he served by human hands, as
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: mankind life and breath and everything. He just exploded their
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: philosophy God made the world. Those people who had deistic
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: ideas were kind of like, Okay, I can still go
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: with that he created the world. I mean, it's not
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: like he's arguing that God is actually actively involved with
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: the world. That's fine. So the first statement he eliminates some,
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: but he's holding on to the others who have more
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: of a deistic view. And any kind of goes. And
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: for those of you who have a deistic view who
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: think that, I'm just here to insult those guys. God
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: didn't just create the world, stains the world. He doesn't
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: live in temples made by hands. He's not served by
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: human hands. Folks, Can we just back up for a minute.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: I want you to realize what just happened. Paul says,
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: I observed your culture, I observed your statues, and I
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: observed your temples. Now what I want to say to
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: you is this, It's all wrong. God doesn't live in
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: those places you built. God's not served by human hands.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: He's not impressed with those statues that you built or
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: those monuments that you built. Does this sound like somebody
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: who showed up on Oprah trying to make her happy.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: He didn't compromise to get there. He doesn't compromise while
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: he is there. Well, if we started with creation, now
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: we've gone to fall. Why because now we've got sin. First,
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: God made the world. Secondly, God's not worshiped the way
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: you're worshiping him. So we've gone from creation to fall.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: Go to verse twenty eight. And He made from one
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: man every nation of mankind to live on all the
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: face of the earth, having determined the allotted periods and
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: in the hope that they might feel their way toward
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: him and find him. Yet He is actually not far
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: from each one of us, for in Him we live
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: and move and have our being. Even as some of
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: your own prophets have said, for we indeed are his
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: offspring being, then God's offspring. We ought not to think
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: that divine being is like gold or silver or stone,
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: and image formed by the art and imagination of man.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: You're sinful, you're not right with God. You haven't pleased God.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: You've sinned against God and your attempt to honor him,
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: even in your attempt to cover yourself in case there
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: was a God out there who's not one of these
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: gods that you've worshiped. You made this statue to an
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: unknown God so that if the God who you haven't
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: named comes down among you, you can basically say, we
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: didn't know you, but we made you want anyway, he's
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: here and he's not pleased. Look at redemption next verse
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: the times of ignorance, God overlooked, but now he commands
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: all people everywhere to repent. How do you get right
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: with this God? Repent, turn from your sin. Is it
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: not amazing to you that people go here and argue
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: for cultural compromise. People go to Acts chapter seventeen and
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: look at Paul, you know here before the Areopacus, and
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: basically make an argument for look like the world, sound
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: like the world, smell like the world, taste like the world,
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: so that perchance you can get in there and get
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: an opportunity with the world. Then you can spring it
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: on them. Now, not only has Paul not compromised in
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: order to get here. But once he's here, he says,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: your worldview is wrong, your philosophy is wrong. It's not
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: just wrong, it's an affront to God. You ought to
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: know better. You're in sin. But the good news is
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: God has extended to you an opportunity to repent, to
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: turn away from your sin, to turn away from the
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: things that you have attempted to do in order to
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: appease this God that you don't even know. Well, if
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: we've got creation, fall and redemption, next, we ought to
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: see consummation verse thirty one, because he has fixed a
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: day on which he will judge the world in righteousness
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: by a man whom he is appointed. And of this
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: he has given assurance to all. By here it is
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: again raising him from the dead. Not only do we
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: have consummation, but he throws that resurrection thing in there again.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: By the way, you remember, the resurrection thing is what
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: made them call him names in the first place. There's
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: his sermon, Creation, Fall, redemption, consummation. That's his message. What's
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: the impact now, when they heard of the resurrection of
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: the dead, please follow this. The comic comes after they
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: hear about the resurrection of the dead, before he gets
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: to Mars Hill. They call him names mainly because he's
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: preaching the resurrection of the dead. So before he gets
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: this opportunity, what he knows is they don't like this
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: idea of resurrection. Now he gets the opportunity and stands
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: before the most influential influencers in the culture. And as
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: he stands before the most influential influencers in the culture,
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: he preaches a message that not only calls their worldview
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: and their worship into question, but directly calls them sinners
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: against the god who created the world. He calls them
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: to turn from their sin and repent, and just for
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: extra measure, before he's finished, he throws back in there
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: the one thing that made them insult him earlier on.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: It's working real hard to win friends and influence people.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: All that other stuff was the problem. But when they
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: heard the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, but others said,
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: we will hear you again about this. So Paul went
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: out from their midst but some men joined him and believed,
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: named Demaris and others with him. You know what happens
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: when you compromise, and men finally get an opportunity to
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: preach the gospel having compromise and sinned against God. You
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: know what, if you preach the gospel, even if you
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: compromise and get an opportunity to eventually preach the gospel,
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: some are going to mock you, some will hear you further,
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: and some will believe. You know what happens when you
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: don't compromise and God opens an opportunity for you to
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: preach the gospel. Some will mock you, some will listen
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: to you further, and some will believe. So why bother
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: compromising in the first place. Compromising is not going to
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: save anyone. Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the Gospel
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ because it is the power of God
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: unto salvation for all those who believe that. You first,
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: and also the Greek. What's the power of God unto salvation?
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: And that is the ultimate question? Now we get to
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: the heart of the issue. We think that the power
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: of God unto salvation is popularity in the culture. We
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: believe that God really needs just for us to be
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: powerful and popular so that God can use our name
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: to get the gospel out That's why we get so
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: inflamed and enraptured when we find out that some popular
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: or powerful person is Christian. Did you hear that so
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: and so was a Christian? No? Well, well he is, okay,
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: But do you realize how popular and how powerful he
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: is and how God can use his name and his platform.
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: Stop right there. God already has a name that is
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: above every name, the name at which every knee will
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: and every tongue will confess that he is Lord to
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: the glory of God the Father. If God already has
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: the name that's above every name, what makes you think
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: he needs yours. God's not in the business of borrowing
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: people names. He may give you a name, but God's
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: not going to borrow your name. That thinking, in and
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: of itself, belittles God. I'm going to to strive to
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: make a name for myself so that through my name
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: and my platform, I can make much of God. Read
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: First Corinthians, Chapter one. Paul uses the despised things, the
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: things that are not to shame. Those things that are.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: He uses the weak things of the world. You know
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: what Christians ought to pray for? Oh God, make me
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: a weak thing, Make me a weak thing. Had a
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: conversation with a student. It was, you know, this student was,
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: you know, one of those high achieving Christian students, and
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: he wanted to impact the world. And this student was,
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: you know, did great grades and all this sort of stuff.
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: And he said, you know, I want to go to
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: Harvard Law School. I said, why do you want to
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: go to Havid. Why in the world do you want
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: to go there? I hate God there. Why do you
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: want to go there. His response to me was, well,
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: because almost all the Supreme Court justices in the modern
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: era came from Harvard. So I want to go to
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: Harvard because ultimately I want to serve on the Supreme Court.
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: I said, So, let me see if I get this straight.
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: You're a Christian and you serve the one true and
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: Living God, and what you have found is a human
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: path to the Supreme Court through a school that hates God.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: So you want to go to that place so that
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: you can get to the Supreme Court and bring more
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: glory to Harvard as it continues to flood the Supreme Court.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: How about you go someplace that's not Havevid and get
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: on the Supreme Court. So that God and not a
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: school gets to glory. And he looked at me, as
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: we'd say in the South, like a calf staring at
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: a new gate. Dude, what's wrong with you? What are
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: you thinking? Some of you face that because you come
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: to the master's college. Why did you go to the
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: master's college? Why did you go to this place or
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: that place or the other place? Because you know how
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: much more prestige your degree would have if you got
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: it from there. Go amongst the pagans, let them certify you.
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: And here's what's ironic about that. I'm introduced at these schools.
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: And you know, if you have an individual who's studying
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: places like Harvard and Oxford where I studied, and they
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: stand up there and they spout godless anti Christian rhetoric,
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: people look at them and go, dude's brilliant. You don't
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: what to Harvard, you don't what to Oand but if
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: you have someone with credentials from praises like Harvard and
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: Oxford and they stand up and go, God created the
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: world in six days and it's not millions and billions
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: and boons of years old, they don't say, dude's brilliant.
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: He went to Oxford, They go, he's an idiot. I
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: don't care where his credentials are from. Some will mock you,
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: some will hear you further, and some will believe. So
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: what do we do with this? Let me be clear
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: about what I'm saying to you. The goal of your
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: life must not be a scheme to game popularity so
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: that you can use it for God. The goal of
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: your life must be to know God better that you
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: might serve Him more faithfully in whatever arena He opens
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: up for you. That's the goal of your life. Am
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: I saying that you cannot go and be a lawyer
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: or judge on a supreme court. Absolutely not. But you
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: do not pursue a path that compromises your knowledge of
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: God in order to get there. Am I saying that
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: you cannot be a popular musician who writes songs that
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: people out there can appreciate. No, But I'm saying you
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: do not compromise your path and your knowledge of God
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: and your pursuit of the knowledge of God in order
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: to get there. And I'm saying that you can't write
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: books that people would appreciate and that Oprah might hold
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: up some No, that's not what I'm saying. But what
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: I'm saying to you is enough already of this belief
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: that somehow you have to manipulate and satisfy the world
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: in order to get into a position where God can
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: use you. Because the fact of the matter is God's
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: bigger than that. If you think you need the right credential,
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: your God is not big enough. God uses the weak
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: things of the world, the despised things of the world.
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: Pursue excellence in everything that you do. And even as
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: you pursue excellence, make this your prayer, God, make me
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: a weak thing. The Apostle Paul was one of the
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: most educated men of his day, of any day for
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: that matter. He was more educated and better educated than
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: just about anyone who was listening to him on this day.
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: That he did not stand up and tout his education.
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: He stood up and made much of God, and he
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: did so without compromise. And my prayer for you is
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: that you would do that, That you would take these
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: formative years and dig deep roots, that you would know
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: God and pursue God, and that wherever He places you,
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: you would be faithful to Him. That you would place
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: your faith not in yourself, your abilities, credentials, your popularity
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: or anything else. Put in the simple plane, unadulterated, uncompromised
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our world is not
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: aching for another superstar. We got too many of those.
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: What our world desperately needs is the King of kings
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: and Lord of lords. Make much of him, Make much
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: of him. Did you pray with me? Father, our world
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: continues to desperately seek someone to worship. Grant us grace
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: that we might fight not to be that someone, but
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: instead that we might point clearly, consistently and relentlessly to
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: the only one who is worthy of our worship. Make
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: us weak things, make us nothing, make us despised, and
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: in doing so, make your son known. Make us people
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: who will gladly decrease that he might increase. We pray
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: this in that name that is indeed above every name,
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: in that name at which every knee will bow, every
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: tongue will confess, that he is Lord to the glory
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: of God the Father, not to the glory of any man.
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: We ask in that name, we serve, in that name,
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: we live for that name, and should it bring you glory,
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: may we die in that name