Standing Firm: Biblical Truths in a Changing Culture

"What do I say to my friends in the LGBTQ community who are pressuring me to join them?" Right? She wasn't asking, you know, they weren't asking to be tolerant; they were pressuring her to join. And, you know, I just so appreciate that we can get in front of these teenagers and show them what the Bible says on these topics, encourage them to stand firm on the Bible's convictions on these issues, because they're experiencing it from every direction, and with their devices, they're almost getting this 24/7 coming at them, this very sinful, very false worldview. [00:17:59]

These are very central issues. They're biblical issues. They're gospel issues. But when you stop and think about it, they're actually woven into the created order. In the opening chapters of Genesis, we have gender. The Bible says that God created male and female. We need to stand in front of teenagers, well, all ages, and say, "Gender is not a social construct. Gender is created by God. It is woven into the fabric of the natural order of things." [00:02:55]

The other thing about the early church is there were a lot of controversies, especially when we get into Nicaea, which is in the 300's, and the Council of Nicaea, the Nicene Creed, and then Chalcedon in the 400's. A lot of the theological work in the church fathers were around the controversies of the day. And so, the church fathers are very helpful for the issues of Christology, you know, the person of Christ, the true humanity and the true deity, and that Jesus is two natures in one person. [00:06:12]

I believe in the doctrine of election and predestination because it's biblical. But I also believe in it because we are dead in our trespasses and sins. And whether we are New Testament people, we are dead; Old Testament people, we are dead; or twenty-first century people, we are dead in our trespasses and sins. And so, I am so thankful for the doctrine of predestination and election, because without it, none of us would be saved. [00:09:05]

So, we've got to be careful here, because sometimes we like to use illustrations, but the illustrations can sometimes, and again, well-intentioned, can sometimes actually be teaching heretical views. And one of the easiest heretical views to sort of slip into is modalism, and it's sort of the idea that there is one God, but that God appears in different modes, in different manifestations. [00:10:36]

This is so crucial to be disciplined in our time. You think of "redeeming the time" is a biblical command. We think of how Proverbs speaks of our stewardship of our time and resources. So, first of all, I want to encourage you. I want to say, "It's encouraging to hear you say you want to have discipline about your time. Good for you to recognize that that's important." [00:13:08]

I love the Gospel of John, and I think the Gospel of John was written ultimately to drive home who is Jesus and what am I going to do about it? And we find in John, it is so well crafted that John brings these fascinating characters to our attention. So, we come in at John 3, and we meet, well, first we meet the disciples. They are the first group we meet. Fascinating. And all of them are confronted with Jesus, and all of them have to do something about it. [00:15:59]

So, salvation is not; salvation is the work of God alone. But what happens at salvation is we become a new creature. We do a 180, right? As unregenerate, we are walking away from God. We want everything, our desires are what is not God, and we are dead in our trespasses and sins. When we are converted, it's a 180, and we are new creatures. We have the Holy Spirit within us. We are raised in the newness of life. [00:39:51]

So, when we look at the attributes of God, it's going to be easy for us to want to pit them against each other. And I think one of the doctrines of God that we don't think about enough is what we call the simplicity of God. Now, that sounds insulting to God to say that God is simple, but it's sort of a technical term when we use it in this case. And what it means is that God is not made up of parts, that as a simple God, or as a simple being, He is a unified being. [00:42:58]

God doesn't need us, didn't need to create us. There was perfect, unbroken, beautiful, glorious, pure fellowship among the triune God, eternity past, eternity future. That's the reality. What do you add to that? God needs nothing. So, then you ask, "Well, why? Why create? Why have creation? Why have creatures?" Because God wants us, that's why. And I actually learned that from Edwards, it is this view that, you know, the desire for fellowship and love, intra-Trinitarian being of God was so strong that it spills out, as it were, in the creation of the world, so that we can now participate in that triune fellowship and relationship. [00:48:04]

I think it's harder, I think, than it used to be. You have, they won't come out and say it, but you have a disdain for the Bible in mainline Christianity. You know, it used to be, we would argue that "we," they would argue that, you know, "David loved Jonathan. There's a biblical precedent for homosexuality." I don't hear that anymore. I don't hear mainline liberalism, mainline denominations trying to make a biblical case. They've so capitulated to culture that they really, they won't come out and say it, but they don't care what the Bible says. [00:57:42]

I tend to be a pretty high output kind of individual. And I think, you know, as you get older, you think, "Okay. It's okay if I don't have X number of books. If I have this number of books, that's probably okay." Whereas when I was younger, I just felt like I really had to just do this, and I had to do that. I'm not sure I had to do all those things. So, I'd probably tell myself, "Relax. You don't have to get it all done." [00:59:39]