Latest / Voddie Baucham Sermons / Voddie Baucham - The Supremacy of Christ in Truth in a Postmodern World
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: The following message was recorded at an event hosted by
- 0:03Speaker 1: Desiring God. More information about Desiring God events, conferences, and
- 0:07Speaker 1: resources is available at www.desiringgod.org.
- 0:17Speaker 2: Vody Baucom was born in Los Angeles and has graduated
- 0:21Speaker 2: from Southwestern and Southeastern Baptist Seminaries. He combines three that
- 0:28Speaker 2: stand out to me. One, husband and father, married to
- 0:34Speaker 2: Bridget since 1989 with one daughter and two sons. Two,
- 0:41Speaker 2: preaching and leadership at Grace Family Baptist Church in Spring, Texas,
- 0:46Speaker 2: which he planted with others in April of this year.
- 0:53Speaker 3: Three, an.
- 0:55Speaker 2: Itinerant ministry in Proclaiming the supremacy of Christ and the
- 1:00Speaker 2: compelling force of the Christian worldview with a special focus
- 1:06Speaker 2: to those who like to think hard and think clearly
- 1:08Speaker 2: about their faith. He has written The Family Driven Faith
- 1:13Speaker 2: and The Ever Loving Truth. This book here with the
- 1:19Speaker 2: subtitle Can Faith Thrive in a Post Christian Culture? which
- 1:26Speaker 2: gives me an occasion perhaps to encourage you that the
- 1:31Speaker 2: bookstore at this event is not a sidebar.
- 1:35Speaker 3: It's part of the main page.
- 1:38Speaker 2: And if you don't go there and just bask in
- 1:41Speaker 2: the riches, you're missing a very significant element of the conference.
- 1:46Speaker 2: So even if you just walk among the riches of
- 1:50Speaker 2: what God.
- 1:51Speaker 3: Has put on paper, at least do that. Just feel
- 1:56Speaker 3: the wealth In that store. And this is part of it.
- 2:00Speaker 3: So take this home I hope. Let me read you
- 2:04Speaker 3: a paragraph. To give you a flavor. Of the man.
- 2:08Speaker 2: I had a similar encounter. After a message I preached.
- 2:12Speaker 2: From the 14th chapter of John. Immediately following the service.
- 2:16Speaker 2: A woman came barreling toward me. She had no problem
- 2:19Speaker 2: with the part. Of the text which taught that Jesus.
- 2:22Speaker 2: Was preparing a place in his father's house. For those
- 2:25Speaker 2: who follow him. She did however. have, in her words,
- 2:29Speaker 2: a serious problem with the idea that Jesus is the
- 2:32Speaker 2: only way. She spoke in a sympathetic yet condescending tone
- 2:37Speaker 2: as though she were making me aware of what must
- 2:40Speaker 2: have been a monumental oversight on my part. However, her
- 2:45Speaker 2: sympathy and condescension quickly turned to outrage and disbelief when
- 2:50Speaker 2: I assured her that I meant exactly what I said
- 2:53Speaker 2: and exactly the way.
- 2:55Speaker 3: I said it.
- 2:56Speaker 2: And she said she couldn't understand how I, of all people,
- 3:01Speaker 2: could be so narrow minded. I've sat under Votie Baugham's
- 3:07Speaker 2: ministry twice now, and each time I thought to myself,
- 3:12Speaker 2: I am loving this truth.
- 3:14Speaker 3: And I am basking in this way of saying the
- 3:18Speaker 3: truth with so much pleasure.
- 3:20Speaker 2: I would love to have Votie Bauckham minister at one
- 3:24Speaker 2: of the pastors conferences or at one of the Desiring
- 3:27Speaker 2: God National Conferences. And when we conceived of this one
- 3:31Speaker 2: and I saw the title of this.
- 3:33Speaker 3: Book, I said, there's the golden opportunity.
- 3:35Speaker 2: And I got on the phone and he was willing
- 3:37Speaker 2: to to do this piece in the conference. So I
- 3:41Speaker 2: am deeply honored and happy today. that, Votie, you have
- 3:44Speaker 2: been willing to come.
- 3:45Speaker 3: Would you welcome with me Votie Baughman? Would you join
- 3:54Speaker 3: me in a word of prayer? Father, we're grateful to
- 4:00Speaker 3: be in your presence and among your people, to have
- 4:04Speaker 3: this opportunity to set our minds' attention and hearts' affection
- 4:08Speaker 3: on you and to praise you for who you are
- 4:10Speaker 3: and for what you've done. to have the privilege of
- 4:15Speaker 3: entering into this two-way conversation that we call worship, wherein
- 4:20Speaker 3: we say things to and about you that we know
- 4:23Speaker 3: and believe to be true and anxiously anticipate those moments
- 4:27Speaker 3: where you, in turn, speak to us clearly and powerfully
- 4:31Speaker 3: through your word to the end that our lives would
- 4:33Speaker 3: be touched and challenged and changed and transformed and conformed
- 4:38Speaker 3: to the very image of Christ. And it is to
- 4:42Speaker 3: that moment that we have come Confessing to you, Lord,
- 4:48Speaker 3: that we desperately need a word from you. Because we
- 4:52Speaker 3: are inadequate. We are sinful. We are limited. We are finite.
- 5:01Speaker 3: We are powerless. And apart from you, we can do nothing.
- 5:09Speaker 3: And so speak, Lord, for your servants indeed are listening.
- 5:12Speaker 3: And we desire to hear you. and to heed what
- 5:16Speaker 3: it is that you would say. We pray these things
- 5:21Speaker 3: because we believe that they are in accordance with the
- 5:23Speaker 3: will and the nature and the authority of Jesus, who
- 5:26Speaker 3: is the Christ. And all God's people said, Amen. Well,
- 5:31Speaker 3: good morning. I am honored to be here with you
- 5:35Speaker 3: this morning. I have looked forward to this for quite
- 5:38Speaker 3: some time. The only difficulty, of course, is that, you know,
- 5:43Speaker 3: I look down here and I see, for example, Dr.
- 5:45Speaker 3: Carson here, and I'm trying to figure out, because I
- 5:50Speaker 3: quote him all the time, you know, do you quote
- 5:57Speaker 3: the guy while he's sitting there? So, you know, excuse
- 6:03Speaker 3: me for a moment. Would it be okay? Okay, all right.
- 6:09Speaker 3: Just had to clear that up, you know. In all honesty,
- 6:16Speaker 3: this is an honor for me. And my intention, as
- 6:20Speaker 3: I prayed through this, and as I thought about the
- 6:23Speaker 3: wealth of knowledge, the wealth of information, as I thought
- 6:30Speaker 3: about the treasure of men who have come together for
- 6:34Speaker 3: this conference, and I thought about my piece and my
- 6:36Speaker 3: part in this conference, My prayer was, Lord, grant me
- 6:39Speaker 3: grace to stand up, speak up, and shut up, and
- 6:43Speaker 3: to do it quickly. And so that is my intention
- 6:46Speaker 3: here this morning, so that we can get on with
- 6:49Speaker 3: it and continue to be blessed and at times overwhelmed.
- 6:55Speaker 3: I was just tremendously blessed on last night. And for
- 6:59Speaker 3: those of you who were here on last night, you
- 7:01Speaker 3: know what I'm talking about. And we got off to
- 7:04Speaker 3: a roaring start. And so I'm looking forward to the
- 7:08Speaker 3: rest of this conference as much as I can stay
- 7:11Speaker 3: and be a part of it. I want to do
- 7:15Speaker 3: my job and talk about the supremacy of Christ and
- 7:18Speaker 3: truth in a postmodern world. Now, That is an ironic title,
- 7:26Speaker 3: the supremacy of Christ in truth in a postmodern world.
- 7:30Speaker 3: Because if you know anything about postmodernity, you know that
- 7:33Speaker 3: that word truth at times is a difficult one to
- 7:40Speaker 3: grasp and is a difficult one to bring alongside postmodern epistemology.
- 7:47Speaker 3: But being difficult to grasp or difficult to sort of
- 7:52Speaker 3: incorporate in postmodern epistemology epistemology, is not really the issue
- 7:57Speaker 3: at hand. Because the first part of that title, the
- 8:00Speaker 3: supremacy of Christ, is the issue at hand. See, postmodernism
- 8:07Speaker 3: is not what is supreme in this world. Christ is
- 8:12Speaker 3: that which is supreme in this world. So if there
- 8:15Speaker 3: is an issue between Christ and postmodernity, guess who wins
- 8:21Speaker 3: all day, every day, and twice on Sunday? There are
- 8:28Speaker 3: two main competing worldviews in our culture. Those two main
- 8:34Speaker 3: competing worldviews have been referred to by many different titles.
- 8:39Speaker 3: But for the sake of this morning, let me sort
- 8:42Speaker 3: of distinguish them this way. There is Christian theism on
- 8:46Speaker 3: the one hand, and this secular humanism, this post-modern version
- 8:52Speaker 3: of secular humanism on the other. And although it is
- 8:56Speaker 3: somewhat of an oversimplification, just bear with me for a moment.
- 8:59Speaker 3: Because what I would like to do is sort of
- 9:02Speaker 3: set the stage for you in looking at these two
- 9:04Speaker 3: competing worldviews. Then address what I like to call life's
- 9:10Speaker 3: ultimate questions from the perspective of each of these two worldviews.
- 9:16Speaker 3: And look at what the scriptures have to say in
- 9:19Speaker 3: regard to these ultimate questions. As it relates to these
- 9:24Speaker 3: two worldviews, I want to look at them categorically. We'll
- 9:28Speaker 3: look at them through the major categories of how they
- 9:32Speaker 3: answer questions of God, the question of man, the question
- 9:37Speaker 3: of truth, the question of knowledge, and the question of ethics. Now,
- 9:42Speaker 3: there are some who would add a couple of other
- 9:44Speaker 3: worldview categories, but for now, those five will suffice. When
- 9:49Speaker 3: it comes to the question of God, for example, Christian
- 9:51Speaker 3: theism obviously looks at the question from a theistic perspective.
- 9:57Speaker 3: There is a God who is a necessary. and intelligent, sovereign,
- 10:03Speaker 3: all-powerful being. On the other hand, however, this postmodern secular
- 10:10Speaker 3: humanism is really, at its core, atheistic. There is no
- 10:15Speaker 3: God in secular humanism. Man is the starting point in
- 10:21Speaker 3: secular humanism. Now, that is rather ironic in our culture
- 10:25Speaker 3: because secular humanism is the overriding worldview of most of
- 10:28Speaker 3: the people in our culture. Yet, when we poll Americans,
- 10:32Speaker 3: for example, the overwhelming majority say that they believe in God.
- 10:38Speaker 3: Just put a pin there for a moment. We'll come
- 10:40Speaker 3: back to it. Secondly, as to the question of the
- 10:43Speaker 3: nature of man, Christian theism sees man as God. special
- 10:49Speaker 3: creation made in the very image of God, whereas this
- 10:53Speaker 3: postmodern secular humanism sees man as a single-celled organism run amok,
- 11:01Speaker 3: a glorified ape who has lost most of his hair
- 11:04Speaker 3: and gained opposable thumbs, a cosmic accident with no real
- 11:10Speaker 3: rhyme or reason. To the question of truth, Christian theism
- 11:14Speaker 3: looks to the question of truth and says that truth
- 11:18Speaker 3: is absolute. Whatever is true is true for all people
- 11:22Speaker 3: in all places at all times. Whereas this postmodern secular
- 11:27Speaker 3: humanism views truth differently. Classic secular humanism viewed truth through
- 11:33Speaker 3: the epistemological lens of naturalistic materialism. Nature is a closed system.
- 11:39Speaker 3: And so all that we can know We can only
- 11:43Speaker 3: know through this closed system called nature, which is why
- 11:47Speaker 3: it's inherently atheistic. Because if nature is a closed system,
- 11:51Speaker 3: then there is by definition no such thing as the supernatural. Now,
- 11:57Speaker 3: when you combine these things, and it doesn't seem that
- 12:00Speaker 3: you would be able to combine these things, if you
- 12:02Speaker 3: believe in this sort of naturalistic materialism, why would you
- 12:06Speaker 3: ever presume to refer to yourself as a Christian or
- 12:10Speaker 3: anything like a Christian as Or say that you have
- 12:13Speaker 3: a belief in some God, when from an epistemological perspective,
- 12:17Speaker 3: you have excluded even the possibility of God. Folks, trust
- 12:20Speaker 3: me when I tell you that there are plenty of
- 12:22Speaker 3: people who openly make this assertion. For example, John Shelby Spong,
- 12:28Speaker 3: in his book, A New Christianity for a New World,
- 12:30Speaker 3: openly argues from the perspective of naturalistic materialism. And he
- 12:35Speaker 3: argues that what we need to do is move toward
- 12:39Speaker 3: a non-theistic view of God. And you can help me
- 12:46Speaker 3: on that. Come see me later on. But we have
- 12:51Speaker 3: evolved to this theistic perspective, and we need to continue
- 12:55Speaker 3: to evolve to a non-theistic view of God. And so
- 13:00Speaker 3: as a result of latching on to this epistemology, you
- 13:04Speaker 3: have a man who spent 30 years in pastoral ministry,
- 13:08Speaker 3: was a lecturer at Harvard Divinity School, who says things like,
- 13:13Speaker 3: and I quote, I do not believe that Jesus was
- 13:16Speaker 3: born by the miracle of a virgin birth, nor do
- 13:19Speaker 3: I believe virgin births happen anywhere except in mythology. I
- 13:23Speaker 3: do not believe that angels sang to hillside shepherds to
- 13:27Speaker 3: announce his birth or that he fled to Egypt to
- 13:30Speaker 3: escape the wrath of King Herod. I do not believe
- 13:34Speaker 3: that the event Christians celebrate at Easter was the literal
- 13:37Speaker 3: resurrection of the three days dead body of Jesus. That's
- 13:48Speaker 3: what happens when you cloak yourself in priestly robes but
- 13:54Speaker 3: hold on to this kind of secular human epistemology that
- 14:00Speaker 3: views nature as a closed system and man is no
- 14:03Speaker 3: more than an evolved beast. What about the view of ethics? Well,
- 14:10Speaker 3: Christian theism views ethics as absolute, whereas secular humanism and
- 14:16Speaker 3: its postmodern secular humanism views ethics as cultural and negotiable.
- 14:24Speaker 3: What's ethical in your culture is not necessarily what is
- 14:29Speaker 3: ethical in another culture. And each culture negotiates its own ethics.
- 14:36Speaker 3: And each period of time, each period of history negotiates
- 14:40Speaker 3: its own ethics. Therefore, there are many history professors who
- 14:45Speaker 3: are unwilling to say that what Nazi Germany did in
- 14:48Speaker 3: its attempt to exterminate the Jews was unethical because somehow
- 14:54Speaker 3: it fit within the framework of their negotiated ethics within
- 14:59Speaker 3: the context of their culture in their time. And with
- 15:06Speaker 3: these two frameworks, I want us to look at how
- 15:10Speaker 3: it lives itself out in real life. and how we
- 15:14Speaker 3: address this issue of truth and the supremacy of Christ
- 15:18Speaker 3: and truth in the postmodern world. I believe that every
- 15:22Speaker 3: human being who has ever lived or will ever live
- 15:26Speaker 3: is asking, has asked, and or will ask four basic questions.
- 15:33Speaker 3: They are the same four basic questions no matter where
- 15:35Speaker 3: you live, whether you are in Asia or Africa or
- 15:38Speaker 3: Europe or here in North America. There are the same
- 15:42Speaker 3: four basic questions, whether you lived in the first century
- 15:45Speaker 3: or the 21st century, or if the Lord should tarry,
- 15:48Speaker 3: you live in the 31st century. These four questions are these.
- 15:55Speaker 3: Who am I? Why am I here? What is wrong
- 16:04Speaker 3: with the world? And how can what is wrong be
- 16:10Speaker 3: made right? We may not all articulate those questions, but
- 16:18Speaker 3: it is in the soul of every man to wrestle
- 16:21Speaker 3: with those questions. Who am I? What is my nature?
- 16:27Speaker 3: What is my essence? Why am I here? What is
- 16:30Speaker 3: my goal? What is my purpose? What is wrong with
- 16:33Speaker 3: the world? Because it's obvious that something is wrong. And
- 16:39Speaker 3: how can what is wrong be made right? Because the
- 16:43Speaker 3: idea of a world where it cannot be made right
- 16:48Speaker 3: is unthinkable and unlivable. Allow me to answer these questions
- 16:54Speaker 3: first from the perspective of our culture. And then we'll
- 17:00Speaker 3: look at the book of Colossians, Colossians chapter 1, to
- 17:03Speaker 3: answer them from the perspective of Christian theism. If we
- 17:07Speaker 3: ask this postmodern secular humanism this question, or these four questions,
- 17:11Speaker 3: here are the answers we get. Who am I? The answer?
- 17:15Speaker 3: You are nothing. You are an accident. You are a mistake.
- 17:24Speaker 3: You are a glorified ape. That's all you are. You
- 17:27Speaker 3: are the result of random evolutionary processes. That is it.
- 17:33Speaker 3: No rhyme. No reason. No purpose. That is all you are.
- 17:42Speaker 3: Why am I here? You are here to consume and enjoy.
- 17:48Speaker 3: Get all you can. Can all you get. Sit on
- 17:50Speaker 3: the can. That's why you're here. That's the only thing
- 17:59Speaker 3: that matters. Remember when they asked the question of Lee
- 18:04Speaker 3: Iacocca when Chrysler was at its apex, and he was
- 18:09Speaker 3: making money hand over fist. How much money would be enough?
- 18:13Speaker 3: He was as honest as any man has ever been.
- 18:15Speaker 3: His answer, a little bit more. Always a little bit more.
- 18:22Speaker 3: Consume and enjoy. That's why you're here. By the way,
- 18:28Speaker 3: when you put these two things together, you get terrible results.
- 18:33Speaker 3: If I have no rhyme or reason for my existence,
- 18:36Speaker 3: if I am no more than the result of random
- 18:38Speaker 3: evolutionary processes and I only exist to consume and enjoy,
- 18:43Speaker 3: the only thing that matters is if I'm more powerful
- 18:46Speaker 3: than you and if you have something I need for
- 18:50Speaker 3: my enjoyment. Because if you have something I need for
- 18:54Speaker 3: my enjoyment and I am more powerful than you are
- 18:58Speaker 3: and there is no rhyme or reason to your existence,
- 19:01Speaker 3: then it is incumbent upon me to take from you
- 19:06Speaker 3: what I need for my own satisfaction. Have we not
- 19:15Speaker 3: seen this? Have we not seen this lived out in
- 19:19Speaker 3: the world? Have we not seen the logical conclusion of
- 19:24Speaker 3: this kind of social Darwinism? Have we not seen a
- 19:27Speaker 3: culture that at one time said, There is one race
- 19:31Speaker 3: that is further evolved than all other races. And because
- 19:35Speaker 3: the Aryan race is further evolved than all other races,
- 19:39Speaker 3: it is incumbent upon the Aryan race to dominate and
- 19:42Speaker 3: or exterminate other races in order to usher in the
- 19:46Speaker 3: next level of our evolution. But don't look down on them.
- 19:55Speaker 3: Don't look down on their scientists and their biologists who
- 20:02Speaker 3: looked upon Jews as things and not people. in order
- 20:06Speaker 3: to justify their extermination, because that's exactly what our scientists
- 20:10Speaker 3: and biologists do to the baby in the womb. The
- 20:16Speaker 3: same concept of eugenics. The same concept of all that is,
- 20:23Speaker 3: is an inconvenient lump of flesh. Or even more sinister,
- 20:32Speaker 3: this child will be severely deformed. Deformed. and will therefore
- 20:38Speaker 3: hinder your ability to consume and enjoy. Or worse, you
- 20:51Speaker 3: are old and feeble. The end is near. You not
- 20:57Speaker 3: only have a right to die, but you have a
- 20:59Speaker 3: duty to die. We can give you this cocktail and
- 21:04Speaker 3: your children won't have to take care of you anymore.
- 21:14Speaker 3: Who am I? According to secular humanism, I'm nothing. Why
- 21:20Speaker 3: am I here? To make the most of it. To
- 21:24Speaker 3: consume and enjoy while I can. What is wrong with
- 21:29Speaker 3: the world? Well, If you ask secular humanism what is
- 21:35Speaker 3: wrong with the world, the answer is very simple. People
- 21:39Speaker 3: are either insufficiently educated or insufficiently governed. That's what's wrong
- 21:45Speaker 3: with the world. People either don't know enough or they're
- 21:50Speaker 3: not being watched enough. That's what's wrong with the world.
- 21:56Speaker 3: How can what is wrong be made right? More education.
- 22:01Speaker 3: More education. More government. That's the only answer our culture
- 22:07Speaker 3: can come up with. Teach people more stuff. The only
- 22:12Speaker 3: problem with that is if you take a sinful, murderous
- 22:17Speaker 3: human being and educate that individual, they merely become more
- 22:21Speaker 3: sophisticated in their ability to destroy. Well, then we need
- 22:28Speaker 3: to govern them more. Really? Who's governing the governors? The
- 22:38Speaker 3: answers to these questions leave those who adhere to this
- 22:43Speaker 3: philosophy wanting and empty and lacking. How then do we respond?
- 22:53Speaker 3: I'm so glad you asked. Open your Bibles with me
- 22:56Speaker 3: to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. And let's see
- 23:11Speaker 3: how the Bible responds to these same questions. Let's see
- 23:16Speaker 3: how the Christian worldview responds to these same issues. Let's
- 23:21Speaker 3: see how the supremacy of Christ can be applied to
- 23:26Speaker 3: life's ultimate questions. To the questions of who am I
- 23:30Speaker 3: and why am I here and what is wrong with
- 23:32Speaker 3: the world and how can what is wrong be made right.
- 23:37Speaker 3: Colossians chapter 1. Begin with me in verse 15 as
- 23:46Speaker 3: we take these questions in turn. Question number one, who
- 23:51Speaker 3: am I? Look beginning verse 15. He is the image
- 23:55Speaker 3: of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For
- 23:58Speaker 3: by him all things were created both in the heavens
- 24:01Speaker 3: and on the earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or
- 24:05Speaker 3: dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created
- 24:08Speaker 3: through him and for him. Here's the irony. The question is,
- 24:12Speaker 3: who am I? It almost seems like the text didn't
- 24:18Speaker 3: answer the question. If you're starting with me, if you're
- 24:22Speaker 3: starting with man, and my question is, who am I?
- 24:25Speaker 3: Why does the text start with, he is? Because of
- 24:31Speaker 3: the supremacy of Christ and truth. You see, the text
- 24:36Speaker 3: begins with Christ as the creator of all things. So
- 24:40Speaker 3: the answer to the question, who am I, begins with
- 24:42Speaker 3: who Jesus is. He is the image of the invisible God.
- 24:46Speaker 3: He is the icon, if you will. He is the
- 24:49Speaker 3: exact representation. He is the picture in human flesh of
- 24:54Speaker 3: who God is. He is God on this earth. He
- 24:58Speaker 3: is God with us, God among us. He is the Almighty.
- 25:04Speaker 3: For by Him all things were created. He is the
- 25:07Speaker 3: creator of all things. Well, which things? In heaven? On earth, thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities,
- 25:21Speaker 3: all things were made by Him. All things were made
- 25:25Speaker 3: through Him. This harkens back to John 1.1. In the
- 25:29Speaker 3: beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
- 25:31Speaker 3: and the Word was God. Which also harkens back to
- 25:35Speaker 3: Genesis 1.1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and
- 25:39Speaker 3: the earth. If we continue to read, we find these
- 25:42Speaker 3: marvelous words. Let us make man in our image and
- 25:46Speaker 3: in our likeness. So who am I? Secular humanism says
- 25:54Speaker 3: that I am the result of random processes. Christian theism
- 25:58Speaker 3: says I am the crowning glory of the creation of God.
- 26:01Speaker 3: Christian theism says he knit me together in my mother's womb.
- 26:05Speaker 3: Christian theism says I am no accident. I am no
- 26:09Speaker 3: result of random processes. Christian theism says whether I am
- 26:14Speaker 3: tall and beautiful or whether I am small and not
- 26:18Speaker 3: so handsome, whether my body functions perfectly or I am
- 26:22Speaker 3: deformed severely, I am the crowning glory of the creation
- 26:27Speaker 3: of God. And as a result, I have inherent dignity
- 26:32Speaker 3: and inherent worth and inherent value. Christian theism cannot comprehend
- 26:39Speaker 3: ideas like racism and classism and eugenics. Christian theism looks
- 26:52Speaker 3: at the black man And the not so black man.
- 27:00Speaker 3: You categorize the world how you want to, I categorize
- 27:03Speaker 3: the world how I want to. When it's okay that
- 27:11Speaker 3: you're not black like me. God loves you just like
- 27:16Speaker 3: you are. And the question always comes. Well, if that's
- 27:35Speaker 3: the case, it's always hovering, even when people don't ask it.
- 27:41Speaker 3: The question hovers. It lingers. I don't like lingering and
- 27:44Speaker 3: hovering questions. I say let's get it over with. Here's
- 27:50Speaker 3: the lingering and hovering question. You say that in the
- 27:53Speaker 3: context and confines of this Christian theism, there is no
- 27:57Speaker 3: room for this kind of racism, but we know for
- 28:00Speaker 3: a fact that there have been cultures who claimed on
- 28:06Speaker 3: the one hand this allegiance to Christian theism, and on
- 28:10Speaker 3: the other hand, they embraced racism and slavery. What are
- 28:17Speaker 3: you going to do with that? I don't have to
- 28:19Speaker 3: do anything with that. Narrative is not normative. Just because
- 28:28Speaker 3: it happened doesn't mean it was right. Here's my issue.
- 28:32Speaker 3: It stopped. What made it stop? What was the underlying
- 28:36Speaker 3: worldview that rose up and said this is inconsistent? What
- 28:42Speaker 3: was the underlying worldview that says we are an exercise
- 28:46Speaker 3: in cognitive dissonance here? What was the underlying worldview that
- 28:50Speaker 3: rose up and said, you cannot on the one hand
- 28:54Speaker 3: claim allegiance to Christian theism and on the other hand
- 28:58Speaker 3: despise men because of the color of their skin? Was
- 29:03Speaker 3: it wrong? Yes, it was wrong. But by what standard?
- 29:09Speaker 3: By the standard of the supremacy of Christ. Secular humanism
- 29:23Speaker 3: can't grasp this truth. But when we grasp the supremacy
- 29:29Speaker 3: of Christ, we can't escape this truth. Who am I?
- 29:37Speaker 3: Who are you? The crowning glory of the creation of God.
- 29:43Speaker 3: I don't care what anyone has ever said to you,
- 29:45Speaker 3: what anyone has ever told you. I don't care if
- 29:48Speaker 3: your mother and your father looked you in your eye
- 29:51Speaker 3: and told you that you were a mistake. You are
- 29:54Speaker 3: the crowning glory of the creation of God. I will
- 29:59Speaker 3: never forget The moment I grasped this, I spent much
- 30:05Speaker 3: of my life wondering why. I was raised by a
- 30:10Speaker 3: single teenage mother in the projects in South Central Los Angeles.
- 30:15Speaker 3: She was 17 years old when she became pregnant with me.
- 30:20Speaker 3: She and my father married briefly. But she ended up
- 30:24Speaker 3: raising me alone from the time I was about a
- 30:26Speaker 3: year old. Raising me in the drug-infested, gang-infested projects in
- 30:32Speaker 3: South Central Los Angeles, where at that time the average
- 30:36Speaker 3: life expectancy for a young black male was somewhere around 24.
- 30:43Speaker 3: I have often asked why. Especially in light of our
- 30:51Speaker 3: culture today that looks at young women in my mother's
- 30:54Speaker 3: condition and says, it would be irresponsible. For you to
- 30:59Speaker 3: carry this pregnancy through. But who am I? The crown
- 31:09Speaker 3: and glory of the creation of God. Regardless of the
- 31:14Speaker 3: circumstances surrounding my birth or yours. Regardless of difficulties or
- 31:20Speaker 3: infirmities with which you wrestle. Regardless of your class or
- 31:26Speaker 3: your station in life. Because of the supremacy of Christ
- 31:30Speaker 3: in truth, you are what the creator of the universe
- 31:35Speaker 3: says you are. And by breathing into you the very
- 31:39Speaker 3: breath of life, he says you have value. He says
- 31:44Speaker 3: you have dignity. He says you have worth. And he
- 31:48Speaker 3: says that I had better recognize that in you as
- 31:52Speaker 3: well as in myself. And so we see the supremacy
- 31:57Speaker 3: of Christ in truth in question number one. Question number two,
- 32:00Speaker 3: why am I here? This postmodern secular humanism basically says
- 32:06Speaker 3: that we are here to make the most of it.
- 32:08Speaker 3: There is no rhyme or reason, so we're here to
- 32:11Speaker 3: make the most of it. Consume, enjoy. That's why you're here.
- 32:16Speaker 3: This is the overarching mentality in our culture, both inside
- 32:21Speaker 3: and outside of the church. This is the overarching mentality
- 32:25Speaker 3: that brings us to this place of unquenchable materialism. This
- 32:33Speaker 3: is the overarching and overriding mentality that causes people in
- 32:37Speaker 3: our culture, where the rest of the world looks at
- 32:39Speaker 3: children as a blessing. We look at them as a
- 32:42Speaker 3: blight and as a burden. Where the poorest nations in
- 32:46Speaker 3: the world talk about how many children they can have,
- 32:49Speaker 3: we talk about how many children we can afford. We
- 32:54Speaker 3: have houses that are larger than they've ever been and
- 32:58Speaker 3: families that are smaller than they've ever been. Cars, minivans. Why?
- 33:08Speaker 3: When our attitude toward children is, a boy for me
- 33:11Speaker 3: and a girl for you, and praise the Lord, we're
- 33:12Speaker 3: finally through. Why? Why? Because they get in the way
- 33:22Speaker 3: of our consumption and our enjoyment. They cost too much.
- 33:31Speaker 3: That's secular humanism. Christian theism looks at the question of
- 33:38Speaker 3: why are we here and answers it very differently. Again,
- 33:42Speaker 3: we go to the supremacy of Christ. Look at the
- 33:44Speaker 3: next part of the text. All things have been created
- 33:48Speaker 3: through him and for him. He is before all things,
- 33:53Speaker 3: and him all things hold together. He is also the
- 33:55Speaker 3: head of the body, the church. He is the beginning,
- 33:58Speaker 3: the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself might
- 34:01Speaker 3: come to have first place in everything. All things were
- 34:05Speaker 3: created through him and all things were created for him.
- 34:09Speaker 3: The ultimate purpose of all things is to bring Him
- 34:12Speaker 3: glory and honor. And that He might have the supremacy
- 34:16Speaker 3: in all things. So who am I? The crowning glory
- 34:20Speaker 3: of the creation of God. Why am I here? To
- 34:22Speaker 3: bring glory and honor to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
- 34:29Speaker 3: why I exist. That is why you exist. That is
- 34:35Speaker 3: why He breathed into us the very breath of life.
- 34:40Speaker 3: He is to have supremacy and preeminence in all things.
- 34:45Speaker 3: He is to have supremacy and preeminence in your life.
- 34:48Speaker 3: Supremacy and preeminence in the church. Supremacy and preeminence over
- 34:52Speaker 3: death and hell and the grave. Supremacy and preeminence over all.
- 34:57Speaker 3: So why am I here? Not just to consume and
- 35:03Speaker 3: to enjoy. And listen, let me clarify this. God is
- 35:07Speaker 3: not against you having things. He's just against things having you.
- 35:14Speaker 3: And there's a vast difference between the two. But we
- 35:18Speaker 3: exist to bring glory and honor to the Lord Jesus Christ.
- 35:23Speaker 3: I had the privilege of lecturing on college campuses all
- 35:26Speaker 3: around this country. And this is an issue that And
- 35:31Speaker 3: I love to bring to the fore when dealing with
- 35:33Speaker 3: these college students because most of them walk onto that
- 35:37Speaker 3: campus and they have one thing in mind. What can
- 35:41Speaker 3: I get here that will facilitate my consumption and enjoyment?
- 35:46Speaker 3: That's why most people change their majors three or four
- 35:49Speaker 3: times before they get out of college. Here's how you
- 35:54Speaker 3: do it. You come to college and you have major
- 35:56Speaker 3: number one, oftentimes a dream major. has nothing to do
- 36:00Speaker 3: with your aptitude. It's a dream. I meet students all
- 36:08Speaker 3: the time, and I always shake their hand and ask
- 36:10Speaker 3: them a couple of questions. I ask them where they're from.
- 36:12Speaker 3: I ask them what they're studying. I ask them what
- 36:14Speaker 3: year they're in. And this happens. I walk up and
- 36:17Speaker 3: I shake hands. Hey, how you doing? Where you from? Oh,
- 36:19Speaker 3: I'm from Podoc, Iowa. Great. What are you studying? Pre-med
- 36:23Speaker 3: and microbiology. My next question is, you're a freshman, right?
- 36:32Speaker 3: To which they respond, well, yes, how did you know that?
- 36:36Speaker 3: That stuff is hard. You won't be in it next year.
- 36:39Speaker 3: But again, hey, if that's your aptitude, I'm not talking
- 36:44Speaker 3: about if that's your aptitude. I'm talking about if you
- 36:46Speaker 3: just walk in and that's your dream because of the
- 36:49Speaker 3: prestige of that position. That's how we get major number one,
- 36:53Speaker 3: that dream major. How do we get major number two?
- 36:56Speaker 3: You go to Fortune 500 magazine, find out who's making
- 36:58Speaker 3: the most money, which one of them have the least
- 36:59Speaker 3: amount of education, you major in that. That becomes difficult.
- 37:11Speaker 3: How do you get major number three? Oh, around the
- 37:14Speaker 3: second semester of your junior year, you walk into a
- 37:17Speaker 3: counselor's office and say, excuse me, but what do I
- 37:21Speaker 3: have the most hours in? Yep, sounds like I'll be
- 37:31Speaker 3: taking that right there. By that time, our major is
- 37:40Speaker 3: get out ology. How about this radical idea? God met
- 37:50Speaker 3: you together in your mother's womb and gave you a
- 37:54Speaker 3: unique mix of gifts and talents and abilities and desires.
- 37:58Speaker 3: And what would it look like if we grasped the
- 38:03Speaker 3: supremacy of Christ in truth as it relates to our
- 38:07Speaker 3: very purpose for existing and saw to it that all
- 38:13Speaker 3: of our education, as Richard Baxter would say, that Christ
- 38:17Speaker 3: would be the beginning and the end and the supreme
- 38:22Speaker 3: goal of all of our education? What if we saw
- 38:27Speaker 3: our studies as stewardship? What if we raised our children
- 38:32Speaker 3: not to go and do something that would make us proud?
- 38:36Speaker 3: But what if we raised them with a keen eye
- 38:39Speaker 3: toward discovering the way that God has put them together
- 38:42Speaker 3: so that we could shepherd them and nurture them toward
- 38:46Speaker 3: allowing God to squeeze out of them all that He
- 38:49Speaker 3: has put into them because we continually taught them and
- 38:53Speaker 3: focused on the supremacy of Christ in truth as it
- 38:57Speaker 3: relates to their very purpose for existing. He is before
- 39:09Speaker 3: all things. Why did you choose your last job? Was
- 39:20Speaker 3: it because of the supremacy of Christ in truth as
- 39:24Speaker 3: it relates to your purpose for existing? Or was it
- 39:28Speaker 3: because it paid you more than the place you were before? Pastor,
- 39:34Speaker 3: how did you choose your current church? Was it because
- 39:38Speaker 3: of a pursuit of the supremacy of Christ in truth
- 39:43Speaker 3: in all things? Even as it relates to your pastoral purpose?
- 39:49Speaker 3: Or was it because this position is a little more
- 39:51Speaker 3: prestigious than your last one? All things were made through
- 40:00Speaker 3: him and for him. What about the next question? What
- 40:07Speaker 3: is wrong with the world? There's obviously something wrong with
- 40:11Speaker 3: the world. Look at the next part of the text.
- 40:18Speaker 3: For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the
- 40:20Speaker 3: fullness to dwell in him and through him to reconcile
- 40:23Speaker 3: all things to himself, having made peace through the blood
- 40:25Speaker 3: of his cross. Through him, I say, were the things
- 40:28Speaker 3: on earth or things in heaven. And although you were
- 40:32Speaker 3: formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds. Stop.
- 40:39Speaker 3: What is wrong with the world? You. You. I mean,
- 40:46Speaker 3: me too, but mainly you. Hostile in mind and engaged
- 40:58Speaker 3: in evil deeds. What is wrong with the world? You
- 41:02Speaker 3: are the crowning glory of the creation of God. You
- 41:06Speaker 3: were created to live. and bring glory and honor to
- 41:10Speaker 3: the Lord Jesus Christ, and instead you are hostile toward
- 41:14Speaker 3: the one by whom and for whom you were created.
- 41:18Speaker 3: That is what's wrong with the world. I have students
- 41:24Speaker 3: come up to me all the time after taking a
- 41:26Speaker 3: semester in philosophy. There ought to be a rule. You
- 41:32Speaker 3: should not be able to talk about philosophy unless you've
- 41:36Speaker 3: had more than a semester of philosophy. If you haven't
- 41:42Speaker 3: had any, that's fine. Talk away. But if you've had
- 41:46Speaker 3: a semester, you are messed up. You're better off just
- 41:53Speaker 3: not taking it at all. And they'll come up and
- 41:58Speaker 3: they'll say things to me and they fuck these things out.
- 42:01Speaker 3: And I'm on the campus to talk about these issues
- 42:03Speaker 3: and dealing with apologetics and they want to catch me
- 42:06Speaker 3: alone and ask me these questions and they look at
- 42:10Speaker 3: me and they say, I just wanted to ask you
- 42:12Speaker 3: that if you believe in a God that is omnipotent
- 42:15Speaker 3: and omnibenevolent, then how do you reconcile the issue of theodicy?
- 42:24Speaker 3: To which I respond, took a semester of philosophy, right? Well, yes,
- 42:32Speaker 3: how did you know? Because if you hadn't, you'd have
- 42:34Speaker 3: just said, listen, God's so powerful and so good, how
- 42:37Speaker 3: come bad stuff happens? But I'm not going to answer
- 42:50Speaker 3: the question until you ask it correctly. I've worked on
- 42:59Speaker 3: that all week. What do you mean ask it correctly?
- 43:00Speaker 3: Ask it correctly. You're not asking the question properly. What
- 43:09Speaker 3: do you mean ask the question properly? It's my question.
- 43:12Speaker 3: You can't tell me how to ask my question. I
- 43:15Speaker 3: will answer your question when you ask it properly. How
- 43:19Speaker 3: do I ask it properly? Here's how you ask that
- 43:22Speaker 3: question properly. You look me in my eyes and you
- 43:25Speaker 3: ask me this. How on earth can a holy and
- 43:34Speaker 3: righteous God Know what I did and thought and said
- 43:38Speaker 3: on yesterday and not kill me in my sleep last night.
- 43:43Speaker 3: You ask it that way and we can talk. But
- 43:46Speaker 3: until you ask the question that way, you don't understand
- 43:49Speaker 3: the issue. Until you ask the question that way, you
- 43:52Speaker 3: believe the problem is out there. Until you ask the
- 43:56Speaker 3: question that way, you believe that there are somehow some
- 44:00Speaker 3: individuals who in and of themselves deserve something other than
- 44:05Speaker 3: the wrath of Almighty God. Until you ask me the
- 44:08Speaker 3: question that way, until you flip the script. and ask
- 44:12Speaker 3: the question this way, and say, why is it that
- 44:15Speaker 3: we are here today? Why has He not consumed and
- 44:19Speaker 3: devoured each and every one of us? Why? Why, oh God,
- 44:25Speaker 3: does your judgment and your wrath tarry? When you ask
- 44:30Speaker 3: it that way, you understand the issue. When you ask
- 44:33Speaker 3: it the other way, you believe in the supremacy of man.
- 44:37Speaker 3: How dare God not employ His power On behalf of
- 44:42Speaker 3: Almighty Man. You flip the question around. You believe in
- 44:49Speaker 3: the supremacy of Christ. How dare I steal his heir?
- 44:58Speaker 3: Because the last breath I took, I borrowed it from him.
- 45:04Speaker 3: And I'm never going to give it back. When you
- 45:06Speaker 3: borrow something and never give it back, you're stealing it.
- 45:14Speaker 3: I mean, you need to take a moment and get
- 45:16Speaker 3: right right now. The problem is me. The problem is
- 45:34Speaker 3: the fact that I do not acknowledge the supremacy of
- 45:38Speaker 3: Christ in truth. The problem is I start with me
- 45:45Speaker 3: as the measure of all things. The problem is I
- 45:50Speaker 3: judge God based upon how well he carries out my
- 45:54Speaker 3: agenda for the world. And I believe in the supremacy
- 46:02Speaker 3: of me in truth. And as a result, I want
- 46:12Speaker 3: a God who is omnipotent but not sovereign. If I
- 46:18Speaker 3: have a God who is omnipotent but not sovereign, I
- 46:21Speaker 3: can wield His power. But if my God is both
- 46:28Speaker 3: omnipotent and sovereign, I am at His mercy. Who am I?
- 46:41Speaker 3: The crowning glory of the creation of God. Knit together
- 46:47Speaker 3: in my mother's womb. Why am I here? To bring
- 46:51Speaker 3: glory and honor to the Lord Jesus Christ. What is
- 46:57Speaker 3: wrong with the world? Me. I don't do what I
- 47:08Speaker 3: was meant to do. How can what is wrong be
- 47:14Speaker 3: made right? Look at the last part of the text.
- 47:22Speaker 3: Verse 22. One of the most beautiful words in the
- 47:26Speaker 3: whole Bible. Yet. I needed that. Amen? Can you imagine
- 47:38Speaker 3: what life would be like If statements like these in
- 47:43Speaker 3: the scriptures weren't followed by yet. Nevertheless. But. Yet he
- 48:02Speaker 3: has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death.
- 48:06Speaker 3: In order to present you before him holy and blameless
- 48:09Speaker 3: and beyond reproach. If indeed you continue in the faith,
- 48:19Speaker 3: firmly established, steadfast, not moved away from the hope of
- 48:22Speaker 3: the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in
- 48:27Speaker 3: all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was
- 48:30Speaker 3: made a minister. How can what is wrong be made right?
- 48:36Speaker 3: We see two things in that last set of statements.
- 48:42Speaker 3: Number one, we see that What is wrong can be
- 48:45Speaker 3: made right by the penal, substitutionary, atoning death of Christ.
- 48:52Speaker 3: And secondly, by that if statement, we see that it
- 48:55Speaker 3: cannot be made right any other way. The supremacy of
- 49:00Speaker 3: Christ in truth and redemption. We see the supremacy of
- 49:07Speaker 3: Christ in His exclusivity. There is no other means by
- 49:12Speaker 3: which man can be justified. There is no other name
- 49:15Speaker 3: under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
- 49:20Speaker 3: Christ died for sin once for all, the just for
- 49:23Speaker 3: the unjust, in order that He might bring us back
- 49:25Speaker 3: to God. All we like sheep had gone astray. Each
- 49:29Speaker 3: of us had turned to his own way. But God
- 49:32Speaker 3: hath caused the iniquity of us all to rest on Him.
- 49:37Speaker 3: How can what is wrong be made right? What is
- 49:43Speaker 3: the answer? Every other religious system in the world, and again,
- 49:47Speaker 3: an oversimplification, but forgive me for the sake of time.
- 49:50Speaker 3: Every other religion in the world basically boils down to this.
- 49:53Speaker 3: You need to have a religious experience. And from that
- 49:55Speaker 3: moment on, you need to do more good things than bad,
- 49:58Speaker 3: and then hope for the best when you die. They
- 50:04Speaker 3: may differ in what that experience needs to be, and
- 50:06Speaker 3: how they define the good. But ultimately, I need to
- 50:11Speaker 3: have an experience... And from that moment on, I need
- 50:15Speaker 3: to do everything in my power to do more of
- 50:17Speaker 3: the good and less of the bad. And still there
- 50:21Speaker 3: is no certainty or security. I wrestled with this as
- 50:29Speaker 3: a young freshman in college. See, here's what I didn't
- 50:33Speaker 3: tell you about my upbringing. I didn't grow up around
- 50:36Speaker 3: Christians or around Christianity. My mother was a practicing Buddhist.
- 50:41Speaker 3: I never heard the gospel until I got to college.
- 50:47Speaker 3: I wrestled with this. And ultimately, here's what I wrestled with.
- 50:57Speaker 3: Everything tells me I'm supposed to have a religious experience
- 50:59Speaker 3: and then do more good than bad, hope for the
- 51:01Speaker 3: best when I die. Three problems with that. Number one,
- 51:03Speaker 3: I can't be good. I tried. I can't do it.
- 51:11Speaker 3: I'm incapable of it. I am totally, radically depraved. Beyond
- 51:19Speaker 3: the shadow of any doubt. Even when I do things
- 51:23Speaker 3: that look to be good, I do them for wrong
- 51:26Speaker 3: motives and that destroys the good that was in them.
- 51:30Speaker 3: I can't be good. Second problem. What about all the
- 51:36Speaker 3: things I did before my religious experience? Third problem. Where's
- 51:48Speaker 3: my assurance? The answer? The supremacy of Christ in truth
- 51:59Speaker 3: as it relates to redemption. The answer? God made him
- 52:06Speaker 3: who knew no sin to become sin for us in
- 52:11Speaker 3: order that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
- 52:16Speaker 3: The answer, after God has apparently overlooked these sins in
- 52:25Speaker 3: days gone by, and as it would have appeared that
- 52:30Speaker 3: there could have been some question about His justice, as
- 52:34Speaker 3: it would have appeared that someone somewhere could have said, God,
- 52:38Speaker 3: how can you claim to be righteous? And you did
- 52:43Speaker 3: not crush Moses, the murderer. You did not crush Abraham,
- 52:48Speaker 3: the liar. You did not crush David, the adulterer. How,
- 52:52Speaker 3: oh God? As though there were a moment in time
- 52:57Speaker 3: where some of those questions could have been legitimately asked,
- 53:01Speaker 3: there came a day when God crushed and killed his
- 53:06Speaker 3: son and satisfied his wrath. in order that he might
- 53:12Speaker 3: be both just and the justifier of the one who
- 53:15Speaker 3: has faith in Jesus Christ. Was that enough for Adam's sin?
- 53:25Speaker 3: Was that enough for Moses' sin? Was that enough for
- 53:29Speaker 3: Abraham's sin? Can you hear the rhetorical questions from Calvary?
- 53:35Speaker 3: Was that enough for your sin? Was that enough for
- 53:41Speaker 3: you to recognize the supremacy of Christ in truth as
- 53:45Speaker 3: it relates to redemption? There was nothing else that could
- 53:50Speaker 3: have been done that would have allowed God to be
- 53:53Speaker 3: both just and our justifier. But in Christ, in His
- 54:00Speaker 3: humiliation and His exaltation, the question is answered. How? How?
- 54:11Speaker 3: Can what is wrong be made right? What can wash
- 54:16Speaker 3: away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What
- 54:21Speaker 3: can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh,
- 54:25Speaker 3: precious is the flow that makes me white as snow.
- 54:28Speaker 3: No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
- 54:30Speaker 3: There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins.
- 54:35Speaker 3: And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
- 54:42Speaker 3: How can what is wrong be made right? The spotless,
- 54:50Speaker 3: sinless Lamb of God is crushed, rejected, and killed to
- 55:03Speaker 3: pay a debt that He did not owe on behalf
- 55:07Speaker 3: of sinners who could never pay Him back. Who am I?
- 55:18Speaker 3: The crowning glory of the creation of God. Why am
- 55:22Speaker 3: I here? To bring glory and honor to the Lord
- 55:27Speaker 3: Jesus Christ. What is wrong with the world? Me and
- 55:35Speaker 3: everyone like me who refuse to acknowledge the supremacy of
- 55:40Speaker 3: Christ and live in pursuit of of the supremacy of self.
- 55:48Speaker 3: How can what is wrong be made right? Through the penal, substitutionary,
- 55:56Speaker 3: atoning death of the Son of God. And through repentance
- 56:03Speaker 3: and faith on the part of sinners. You juxtapose these
- 56:12Speaker 3: two worldviews. And something very interesting happens. On the one hand,
- 56:19Speaker 3: you are left empty and you are left hopeless. On
- 56:24Speaker 3: the one hand, man is left worthless. On the one hand,
- 56:32Speaker 3: you are left to pursue your own satisfaction and never
- 56:36Speaker 3: find it. And on the other, you are precious. You
- 56:47Speaker 3: have a purpose. But you are powerless. But it's okay.
- 56:55Speaker 3: Because you were purchased. This is the supremacy of Christ
- 57:03Speaker 3: in truth. In a postmodern world. As we walk through
- 57:11Speaker 3: the highways and byways... and look into the lifeless eyes
- 57:17Speaker 3: of individuals who have bought the lie. Let us rest
- 57:22Speaker 3: assured that we possess the answer, and we are possessed
- 57:27Speaker 3: by the answer. The answer is Christ and His supremacy
- 57:34Speaker 3: in truth. Let us rest assured that those who walk
- 57:41Speaker 3: aimlessly through this life We'll never be satisfied with the
- 57:45Speaker 3: answers that our culture has seen fit to give. And
- 57:51Speaker 3: the further we have run away from the supremacy of Christ,
- 57:55Speaker 3: the further we have run away from the only thing
- 57:58Speaker 3: that will ever satisfy. And the only thing that will
- 58:03Speaker 3: ever suffice. Let us rest assured. That the supremacy of
- 58:12Speaker 3: Christ in truth also means the sufficiency of Christ in truth.
- 58:21Speaker 3: We preach Jesus and Him crucified. And I'm not ashamed
- 58:27Speaker 3: of the gospel of Christ. Because it is the power
- 58:30Speaker 3: of God unto salvation for those who believe. To the
- 58:34Speaker 3: Jew first and also to the Greek. This is the
- 58:42Speaker 3: supremacy of Christ in truth. In a post-modern, pre-Christian, dying, rotting, decaying,
- 58:54Speaker 3: and hurting world. Let us therefore embrace it and proclaim
- 59:02Speaker 3: it passionately, confidently, and relentlessly Because after all, that is
- 59:14Speaker 3: why we are here. Without permission.
- 59:39Speaker 1: We invite you to visit Desiring God online at www.desiringgod.org,
- 59:47Speaker 1: where you'll find hundreds of sermons, articles, radio broadcasts, and more,
- 59:52Speaker 1: all available at no charge. Our online bookstore carries all
- 59:56Speaker 1: of Pastor John's books, audio and video resources, and you
- 59:59Speaker 1: can also stay up to date on what's new at
- 1:00:02Speaker 1: Desiring God. Again, our website is www.desiringgod.org. Or call us
- 1:00:11Speaker 1: toll free at 1-888-346-4700. Our mailing address is Desiring God,
- 1:00:19Speaker 1: 2601 East Franklin Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55406. Desiring God exists
- 1:00:30Speaker 1: to help you make God your treasure because God is
- 1:00:33Speaker 1: most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.