The Jewish Final Solution to the World's Problem - Israel's Disobedience Brings Discipline

[0:00] The past many Sundays we have been exploring a theme that has focused upon the nation of Israel. And for those who are somewhat students of Scripture, they will undoubtedly notice that throughout the Old Testament, the great deal of emphasis that God places upon humanity is centered on the nation of Israel.

[0:28] And as we read what is commonly referred to as the Law of Moses, those first five books, it is significant to note while they provide the moral underpinning for the whole of Christendom, they nonetheless were originally given to one particular nation, not to a multitude of nations.

[0:49] They were given to the nation of Israel exclusively. The requirements that are set forth for obedience in the Ten Commandments or in all of the Law of Moses, including Genesis through Deuteronomy, were never imposed upon Egyptians or Babylonians or Assyrians, but only upon Israel.

[1:11] And this was because God had a peculiar relationship that he established with Israel that remains in force to this day.

[1:22] There are those who are convinced that that relationship has been severed and that God no longer has a special aptitude at all for the nation of Israel, and that instead the church, which is the body of Christ, has moved in to take the place for Israel, and that whereas the nation Israel once were the chosen people of God, they no longer are.

[1:50] Now the church is. And of course they believe that that coveted position was forfeited by Israel due to their manifold disobediences and ultimately the crucifixion of their Messiah, that God has just completely written them off.

[2:10] We are not of that opinion. We believe that the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance. That means that God is not going to change his mind or take back what he has said.

[2:22] We would be the first to admit that Israel's behavior in many ways, many times, in many places, certainly would have justified a disruption of that connection.

[2:37] Certainly would have justified God setting them aside because their disobedience and their repeated sinfulness and their abominations certainly would have called for that.

[2:51] And there's only one reason that God hasn't set them aside. And it has nothing to do with Israel's behavior. It has everything to do with the promises that God made.

[3:04] They are unconditional promises that he made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And that means God is going to see to it that those promises are fulfilled regardless of the behavior of Israel.

[3:17] Of course, he enjoins them to obedient behavior, but they, being children of Adam, just like we are, were given to disobedient behavior. So, as it becomes very apparent as you move through the scriptures, that God is displeased with these people, and he has set them aside, they are temporarily set aside until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.

[3:45] Now, I want to create a little bit of an illustration for you, if I can. And let's picture a train station. And at this train station, there are trains that come and go every hour of the day.

[4:02] And on this one particular track, there is a train from New York that, the New York Limited, it's going to be coming through in about 15 minutes. So, another train pulls in on the same track from another direction.

[4:16] Well, of course, you're going to have to get that train out of the way. So, the New York Limited will have free access, and there won't be a big collision there. So, they have what is known as a siding track.

[4:29] And the train that is on that track is moved to the siding track. So, it will be out of the way and not create a problem when the New York Limited comes flying through.

[4:42] The nation of Israel is on a siding track right now. And the New York Limited is the church. And we are coming through.

[4:53] We are the focus of God's activity right now. He is operating through the body of Christ. The time is coming when the New York Limited, the body of Christ, is going to pass on through, or I should say, pass on up, and we are gone in the rapture of the church.

[5:15] Then God turns to the train that's on the siding, and he moves them back over onto the main track again where we were to accomplish what yet remains to be done on behalf of the nation Israel.

[5:33] This time that we are now living in is referred to as the times of the Gentiles. That means that it is Gentile influence and domination on the world stage that is conducting and maneuvering events today, not the nation of Israel.

[5:55] We would be the first to agree that the nation of Israel, however, remains in a very strategic position, and the rest of the world is kind of on pins and needles to see what's going to happen in Israel with the production of atomic capability in Iran that everybody's talking about and concerned about because they insist that if they had the ability, they would eliminate Israel.

[6:18] So we see these potential fireworks looming day by day, and yet we know that these things are really eventually going to pop.

[6:31] It's going to happen. We don't know exactly when. But during this time of the Gentiles, Israel as a nation is in a kind of subjugated position.

[6:43] They are surrounded by seven hostile nations. The only side that is halfway friendly to them is the Mediterranean Ocean, and everybody else has it in for them.

[6:55] They have actually one ally that they have been able to count on in all of the world, and that's the USA. And how long those sentiments will be in place is really questionable.

[7:09] So we are more than justified, I feel, in spending the time that we are with the nation of Israel in their history, and we're going to look at their present, and then in the Gospels, and then in the Epistles, and then we will conclude with activity of the nation of Israel in the book of the Revelation, and in particular in Matthew 24 and 25 in the Olivet Discourse.

[7:30] All of these are prophetic. So what we are saying is, Israel is so important because they remain the apple of God's eye, and when the fullness of the Gentiles become in, and what that means is, you see, every person and every nation on the earth that is not Jewish or that is not Israeli is Gentile.

[7:55] England is Gentile. France is Gentile. Spain is Gentile. The USA is Gentile. And the only thing Jewish about any of those just happens to be the Jewish individuals who were living in those countries.

[8:08] They, of course, are Jews. But everyone else is a Gentile. So the world is made up of 99% Gentiles. Actually, even more than that.

[8:20] The general population of the Jewish people worldwide is not even 1%. It's not 1%. It is two-tenths of 1%.

[8:35] That's not very many people in the world order. And yet, all of the rest of that, 99 and eight-tenths, is Gentile.

[8:49] And we are now in the driver's seat. Gentiles are in charge of the world. The USA is referred to as the world's greatest superpower. And up there, vying for competition is the Soviet Union and some other nations of lesser power.

[9:05] But by and large, we, the nations of the world, we Gentiles, we're calling the shots. The time is going to come when the times of the Gentiles will be fulfilled.

[9:18] And this day will be over. And then it will be Israel that will be back in the driver's seat again. For our last foray into the Old Testament, I want you to turn to Jeremiah chapter 31.

[9:32] And we will see how this is reinforced by the prophecy of Jeremiah. Now, if you read earlier chapters, which we have considered, but will not take time to do this morning, you will see that Jeremiah was raised up of God to deliver absolutely blistering prophecies to these disobedient people.

[9:58] And he warned them in great detail what was coming if they did not abandon their idolatry and return to Jehovah in obedience.

[10:10] And Jeremiah tells them who the enemy is even going to be. He says they're coming from the north and they will be the Babylonians and it will be Nebuchadnezzar. And he is going to come against Israel and utterly defeat it and reduce it to ruin and take your people into slavery and captivity.

[10:27] And the people responded with, oh, he's just blowing smoke. He doesn't know what he's talking about. He's an alarmist. He's just trying to scare people. He's just trying to get a refugee. And on and on it goes. But numerous prophets have been raised up of God and sent both to the northern kingdom and to the southern kingdom.

[10:42] And they just dismiss them. Just like they are dismissing Jeremiah. This man had a great heart. He is referred to as the weeping prophet. And he is given that name because in one of his statements he said, oh, that my eyes or that my head were a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for the slain of my people, Jerusalem.

[11:09] He was a weeping prophet. He was filled with anxiety over what he knew was going to befall his people. And he couldn't get anybody to listen.

[11:21] They just dismissed him. They abused him. They threw him in this pit. The king took a knife and sliced the scroll that he had written, the original prophecy of Jeremiah.

[11:34] And the man was brokenhearted. And in addition to it all, he was a weeping prophet. God said, this is what I want you to tell my people. And by the way, something you need to know, Jeremiah, you're not going to be successful.

[11:51] Hate to tell you that. I'd like to think more positive about these things, but your ministry is not going to succeed. The people are not going to repent. They're going to be carried into captivity.

[12:02] And the reason I think that Jeremiah was called to give that message anyway, I mean, one might think, I know, I know as a preacher, I might think, if God told me, preach to these people, but by the way, nobody's going to believe you, my response would be, what's the point?

[12:23] Why am I doing this? Why am I spending myself? Why the energy and activity? If they're not going to listen anyway, why even bother? And I am satisfied that one of the principal reasons is that they will never be able to say they were not adequately forewarned.

[12:41] Because unto whom much is given, of him shall much be required. And a person's culpability and guilt increases with the frequency of the warnings.

[12:53] And that is why just about everywhere you see a law placed that always tells you what the penalty is if you violate this law. A warning, trespassers will be prosecuted, a possible fine, $5,000, six months in jail, blah, blah, blah.

[13:10] They tell you what you're getting into. If you want to go ahead and break that law, that's the possibility that awaits you. So, these people of Israel would never be able to say, you didn't warn us.

[13:21] You didn't tell us this was coming. And by the way, to just update this thing to where we are right now, do you realize that each person here is going to be more accountable to God for the decisions they make or don't make regarding the person of Jesus Christ and his claim on your life, you're going to be more responsible for that decision after you leave here than you were when you came in.

[13:54] Because you're going to hear some things now that are tantamount to a warning that Jeremiah gave to the people of Judah and of Israel. So, information has consequences and we are accountable and responsible for what we do with what we hear.

[14:14] So, let's go to Jeremiah 31 and we'll just jump in here. We've got to start somewhere. So, let's start with verse 23. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, once again, they will speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities when I restore their fortunes.

[14:36] When I restore their fortunes? That doesn't sound like judgment, does it? The Lord bless you, O abode of righteousness, O holy hill.

[14:47] And of course, he's talking about Jerusalem. And Judah and all its cities will dwell together in it, the farmer and they who go about with flocks.

[15:00] For I satisfy the weary ones and refresh everyone who languishes. At this I woke and looked and my sleep was pleasant.

[15:12] Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast.

[15:23] What's that mean? It means there's going to be a population boom, going to be an explosion. This is talking about a time of restoration.

[15:35] Now, Jeremiah has already delivered his gloom and doom message. This is what is going to happen later. And it is all because of that unconditional covenant of which we spoke.

[15:48] Because God, through the prophet Jeremiah, is going to warn them repeatedly of the way they're headed and where they're going in judgment and chastisement. And because you will not listen, you're not going to avoid that.

[16:02] It will involve the 70-year captivity. The whole generation is going to die off. Only a few will be able to return and take up things, business again in Israel. And even though that has become a reality, this is a message here of restoration.

[16:19] Why is God going to restore these disobedient people that he has used a 70-year captivity period as a woodshed to spank them?

[16:31] Why is he going to restore them? Because they're still his people. He still has an unfulfilled promise to them. There still is a future for Israel.

[16:42] We get the same thing in Isaiah. Now, I'm not going to go back there even though I'm tempted to do so, but let me just point this out. Isaiah, if you just read a few of the first verses in the first chapter, and we've already done that in this series, and it too is a scathing indictment of the nation of Israel.

[17:04] And he really, Isaiah really reads them out. It's one judgment after another. God says, I'm sick of your sacrifices. I'm sick of your offerings. You're just going through the motions.

[17:15] Your heart isn't in it. And he really ripped them over the coals. And then when you come to chapter 40 of Isaiah, we have a sudden change.

[17:30] It becomes, comfort ye, comfort ye, my people. What is that? That's restoration and blessing and revival.

[17:41] how can you correlate the two from judgment to restoration? Well, the answer is simple. The way to restoration is always, always has been, always will be.

[17:56] The way to restoration and blessing with God is through repentance. Israel is going to repent. And when they do, God is going to restore them.

[18:09] They are going to repent from their disobedience. Remember when Peter preached his message on the day of Pentecost? And they said, what shall we do? Peter said, repent. You need to change your mind.

[18:21] You need to reverse yourself. You need to stop saying that Jesus was an imposter and that he really was the Messiah and we crucified him. You need to own up to that.

[18:32] That's what repentance means. And when Isaiah started delivering that message, some scholars were taken back by it and they said they came up with this famous theory, the Deutero-Isaiah theory, which means Isaiah didn't really write the whole book.

[18:49] Somebody else wrote it. Why would you say that? Well, because there is such a change between the first 39 chapters and then from chapter 40 through 66. The whole theme is different.

[19:02] It's written by a different person. No, no, no, no. It's written by the same man. Isaiah. But with a different message. The first 39 chapters are gloom and doom and judgment and punishment.

[19:17] And sandwiched in between is the reality of repentance and revival. And God will comfort his people conditioned upon their repentance.

[19:30] So let's read on. Verse 28. And it will come about that as I have watched over them to pluck up.

[19:40] What's that mean? It's kind of like pull up by the roots. Pluck up. To break down. Destruction. To overthrow.

[19:52] To destroy. And to bring disaster. This is all bad news. things. So. I will watch over them to build and to plant.

[20:06] Declares the Lord. There's their future. In those days they will not say again. The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge.

[20:20] But everyone will die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant.

[20:35] A new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Why are both of those mentioned? Brief history. Remember, in the year 931 B.C., nine centuries before Christ came.

[20:56] David the king had died. Solomon succeeded him. Solomon died. His son Rehoboam came to the throne and Rehoboam said he was going to enact new taxes upon the people and burden them further, even more than his father Solomon had done, no doubt in an effort to keep up his father's lifestyle and ostentatiousness and all the rest of it.

[21:25] And ten tribes of the twelve said, you're not going to raise taxes on us. We're already taxed enough. This had to have been the tea party of their generation.

[21:37] They said, we've been taxed enough, we're not going to have any more of this. To your tents, O Israel, let's get out of here. What interest have we in Jacob? In other words, those ten tribes, tribes, which comprised the majority of the population of the people, of twelve tribes, ten tribes left the union.

[21:57] They seceded, pulled out. They established their own king, their own priesthood, their own capital, their own everything. They left. And the only two tribes that remain are Judah and Benjamin in the south.

[22:12] Ten northern tribes are still going to maintain and retain the name Israel, simply because they were ten twelfths of the original nation.

[22:22] And the two tribes in the south are going to take the name Judah. Judah, of course, was the fourth-born son of Jacob. And he is the one who is the father, the original father of all of the people who make up the tribe of Judah.

[22:39] So the text says, 31, I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke.

[22:58] What covenant was that? It was a Mosaic covenant. The law of Moses that was given to them on Sinai, which covenant they broke. Although, God says, I was a husband to them, declares the Lord.

[23:13] But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them and on their heart I will write it and I will be their God and they shall be my people.

[23:32] And they shall not teach again each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know the Lord. For they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them, declares the Lord.

[23:46] For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more. Now, God never forgives sin without repentance.

[24:04] Never does. He never forgives sin without repentance. That means the one who is seeking forgiveness has to acknowledge their sin, has to admit it, has to own up to it, has to take responsibility, not making excuses, just owning up to it.

[24:24] That's changing your mind about your sin. You know what most people feel about their sin today? Oh, well, nobody's perfect. I know, I know, I have my flaws and faults, but I'm better than a lot of people.

[24:40] That's the way most people feel about their sin. And you have to repent of that. You have to change your mind. Because when we are dealing with the issue of sin and acceptance with God, we're not talking about acceptance and understanding from another human being.

[24:57] We're talking about acceptance from the utterly, truly, only, absolutely, wholly, unspotted individual. human sin is an affront to absolute holiness.

[25:14] It's not that big a deal among ourselves to each other. But each other is not the ones we're trying to please or to appeal to. It is the God of heaven with whom we must have coin.

[25:28] And the coin of the realm is repentance. God has commanded all men everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness by that man, Jesus Christ.

[25:43] This means that when we hear this message and we are confronted about our sin, we have to make some decisions.

[25:54] What are we going to do with it? What are we going to say about it? Do you know some people would take the position, well, I'm proud of mine. I mean, they are those individuals back in the book of Romans who not only do evil and lascivious things, but they take pride and pleasure in them and in those who do them.

[26:16] There are people who feel that way in our culture. It's an in your face, God, if you even exist. This is what I think of you. So the first thing you have to do is acknowledge, admit, confess, agree.

[26:32] that even though you may be okay as far as other people are concerned, that doesn't mean you're okay with a God who has a standard of absolute righteousness.

[26:43] How do you fare with that? Truth of the matter is, none of us do. None of us. Not a one of us. We all fall short of the glory of God.

[26:55] We are all condemned and justly so. We are all unrighteous. And once we admit that and acknowledge that, understand that, then the next question ought to be, what can I do about it?

[27:12] Is there any hope for me? What's the answer to this dilemma? How can I be saved? What must I do to be saved? These are all logical questions and they follow a logical sequence.

[27:24] Part of the problem today is, like one of my favorite preachers of another day and one of his favorite quotes is, it's really hard to get people saved today because you can't get them lost.

[27:37] If you don't see yourself as lost, unsaved, undone, condemned, if you don't see yourself that way, what do you need a savior for? The whole point is, we do need a savior.

[27:54] And do you realize that the principal task of a preacher is to talk about this and to warn people, just like Jeremiah did, to tell people what awaits them if they do not have God's forgiveness.

[28:10] They must repent of their sin, change their mind about their sin, acknowledge their sin, and embrace the only solution that God has provided for human sin, and that is Jesus Christ.

[28:22] Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures. We've got to do business with that. And I shall never forget the day, December 8, 1956, at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, in a little country church in Ellensburg, Washington, where I made that decision, was confronted with my sin, and realized being what it was, and put my faith in Jesus Christ, and I knew absolutely next to nothing, about the Bible, about spiritual things, or anything else.

[28:58] But listen, I'd spent three years in the army, most of it in an army barracks, and I knew something about sin. Yeah. And there was no denying it.

[29:09] And I knew where that put me in light of a holy God, and it put me on the outside. And when it was explained to me that Jesus Christ died for me for that very reason, because I could not save myself, and I saw him as the Savior, as the only way out, and as best as I know how, I took Christ as my personal Savior, and nothing has been the same since.

[29:39] I enjoyed a freedom, an exhilaration, a liberation from sin, a reality that I had never known before, and it all came through repentance, acknowledging, admitting.

[29:55] You know, the word confesses as if we confess our sin. You know what it means? The word confess means to agree with, means to agree. And the Bible says that we're all sinners, and we say, no, we're not.

[30:10] No, we're not. We're nice people. Give you the shirt off my back, blah, blah, blah, did this, did that, did the other thing. No, no, where else? And when you come to a place where you agree, you say, I'm nailed.

[30:24] Got me. Guilty. That's what I am. I agree. I understand. I may be better than other people, but I'm not what God requires for acceptance.

[30:40] God accepts only one standard of righteousness, and that is a perfect righteousness. Don't have that. But Jesus does. And he'll give it to anyone who wants it.

[30:54] It's a free gift. Isn't that something? The principle is the same back here in Jeremiah and all through the New Testament. We'll see it. It'll surface time and again.

[31:06] I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more. And how permanent are these people? Verse 35, Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day, and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar, the Lord of hosts is his name.

[31:24] If this fixed order departs from before me, what's this fixed order? That's the sun and the moon. The sun and the moon are the fixed order. They're really fixed. You can depend on them. Every day, you can depend on them showing up where they're supposed to be.

[31:38] That's the fixed order. And the Lord says, you know what? If this fixed order departs from me, then Israel will no longer be my people.

[31:50] Well, how likely is that to happen? Cedarville College, University now, is a college when I was there. Little podunk school at the time. I think they had about four faculty members that were full-time and the rest were part-time and now the place is mushroomed.

[32:06] One of my favorite teachers was Dr. Arthur F. Williams and he taught theology. He'd spent a number of years in New York City and was the pastor at one time of Calvary Baptist Church in New York City.

[32:18] And this was during World War II in the 1940s. And of course, there's a huge Jewish population in New York City. And rumors were starting to get out about the extermination of the Jews and the Holocaust, but most people were not believing it.

[32:36] they were considered just to be rumors because the very idea that tens of thousands of people could be exterminated and put to death in gas ovens and all the rest of that was just too gross to even believe and entertain for a moment.

[32:50] No, no, no, that wouldn't be happening. That couldn't be going on. And people even in Europe denied it. And Dr. Williams put an ad in the New York newspaper that he was going to preach on Sunday evening on how to rid the world of the Jew.

[33:13] And he said the place was packed. And I think most of the audience was Jews. They wanted to know what is this Baptist preacher going to have to say about getting rid of all the Jews.

[33:26] And they of course were very antsy and very upset because of what was happening with Judaism all throughout. And he took this for his text. And he told the audience that the only way you can rid the world of the Jew is if you're able to reach up there and pull down the sun and the moon and dispose of them.

[33:49] When you can do that, then you can rid the world of the Jew. And of course there was a corporate sigh of relief among all the Jews in the audience.

[34:02] And they came in with furrowed brows and they went out with a smile on their face. But I know Dr. Williams well enough to know you can be sure he also got in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[34:15] So, if this fixed order departs from before me, declares the Lord, then the offspring of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever.

[34:27] Thus says the Lord, if the heavens above can be measured and the foundation of the earth searched out below, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel.

[34:38] For all that they have done, declares the Lord. You see that? That is saying contrary to their disobedience, contrary to their rebellion, contrary to their violence, contrary to their unbelief, they are still my people, and I am locked into them, not because of their behavior, good or bad, but because of my promise to them.

[35:05] I'm not holding them to anything. God says, I'm holding myself to everything. You need to understand that.

[35:16] not only does it work that way with Israel, but it works that way for all who are in Christ. As we saw in our Sunday school lesson this morning, this great theme of being in Christ and the security and the peace that we have in Him.

[35:33] It's not because of your behavior. It's not because your good works and your good deeds and your being a nice person that keeps you as a Christian.

[35:46] That which keeps you in the body of Christ is the same thing that keeps Israel as the apple of God's eye. It is God's faithfulness. It is the extent of the finished work of Christ on the cross.

[36:00] He bought you and paid for you. He's not going to let you go no matter what. You belong to Him just like Israel belongs to Him. Well, we're not going to get to this other reference or references, but if this suffices to do nothing more than show you that Israel is the apple of God's eye in perpetuity, and we will see as we move on through these messages how strategic that is going to be and how when Israel comes back on the front burner during the great tribulation period, what is going to be taking place.

[36:38] Now, in a couple of moments that I have left, I want to update you on something regarding these handouts that I've been providing, including those that you will be receiving today, because this all ties in with the sin issue.

[36:54] What was the thing that brought Israel to its Babylonian captivity, and brought the northern ten tribes into Assyrian captivity? What was it? Well, it was their idolatry, and their continual forsaking of the Lord, and their engaging in this gross immorality that God described as an abomination, and he just brought the curtain down on them, and it works that way, and it's working that way today, and I don't know.

[37:23] I realize that Israel occupied a peculiar position that the world at large does not, and yet, in my mind, I have to go back to predating Israel, and look at the destruction regarding the flood during Noah's time, and that didn't really have anything to do with Jews, because the Jewish people as a people didn't even exist as a people then, and the destruction that we see, I mean, they were, sure, they were in the loins of Noah, and they were in the loins of Shem, just like we were in the loins of Japheth, but as a nation, it didn't even exist, and yet, God brought wreck and ruin through the flood in Noah's time, and he said, as you read Genesis 6, it says that God looked upon the earth, and the whole earth was given over to violence, and God always hates violence, because violence is always done to people, and God loves people, that's why he hates violence, because it hurts people, and God loves people, and he brought wreck and ruin to the whole human race to start all over again with

[38:49] Noah and his family, and it was all because of the corporate sin of mankind at the time, their thoughts were only evil continually, are we reaching that now?

[39:03] Oh, we're seven billion people, that's a whole lot more than was ever thought of during Noah's day, but this thing of evil, and violence, and immoral sexual activity is pervading the whole planet in ways that we couldn't have even imagined, you know, I look back on Sodom, it's mentioned so many times, and the sin of homosexuality, and it was bad enough, and we know what happened in Genesis 19 to Sodom and Gomorrah, and it was given over to this gross perversion, but you know something?

[39:45] Even the Sodomites didn't engage in marriage between the same sexes, did they? I mean, at least it isn't recorded that they did.

[39:57] Folks, this is a grossest of perversities, and our whole culture is buying into it, and state governors are lining up to get on board with it.

[40:12] It's incredible, and in the few states where it is forbidden, same-sex marriage, hey, nowadays, you can find a federal judge who will do anything. And this is going on, this is pervasive.

[40:27] It isn't just the homosexual thing, it is, well, this article less than a week ago, well, less than a month ago, appeared in USA Today.

[40:41] Church expresses new acceptance of gays and divorce. Catholic bishops expressed unprecedented tolerance toward homosexuality and divorce Monday, a remarkable shift, led by Pope Francis, that could end the church's rigid stance on those issues.

[41:14] Now, I know there are a lot of Protestants who would say, well, we don't pay much attention to what the Pope says. After all, we're not Catholic, we're Protestant, and we don't believe what the Pope says anyway, we don't even believe he has a legitimate position, so I don't much care what the Pope says.

[41:27] So why should I? Well, I'll tell you why you should care. It's true, we don't consider ourselves at all under his jurisdiction, but you realize that this man has a great deal of worldwide influence with over one billion people, and people influence people, and the more people you get, the more people you can influence.

[41:53] This is a stunning, stunning position. It's stunning even to Catholics. What is going on? The new openness to gay unions, though not gay marriage, that's next, is considered groundbreaking by supporters and critics alike.

[42:18] It expands on the tone Francis struck last year when he said, who am I to judge? What?

[42:30] Who am I to judge? Well, I could say that. That could be my line. Who am I to judge?

[42:41] I'm not the judge. Neither is Pope Francis. But it is our responsibility to say, there is a judge, and he's already judged.

[42:54] And this is his finding. Folks, that's what preaching is all about. it's to tell people where they're wrong in light of what God has said.

[43:06] They don't need to be told where they're right. No preacher ever went out and said, folks, Isaiah, Jeremiah, it's just a lovely day. I just wanted you to know that God is just so happy with you and everything is wonderful in this world.

[43:22] And you're just such delightful people. Just keep being as nice as you are. good day. Is there any place? Well, maybe today there are places where you can hear that preached.

[43:35] I don't know. Listen to this. Who am I to judge? This pope is changing everything, and his views are making their way down the hierarchy.

[43:48] What's the hierarchy? The hierarchy is the chain of command, from the pope to the cardinals to the bishops to the priests to the people in the pew. The tolerant attitude in a document released halfway through a two-week meeting of bishops mentions the gifts and qualities of gay Catholics.

[44:12] Regarding divorced Catholics who remarry outside the church, it calls on pastors to avoid any language or behavior that might make them feel discriminated against. The bishops used unusually conciliatory words to urge pastors to recognize positive aspects on civil unions and cohabitation so couples would commit to a church wedding.

[44:40] Conservative Catholics quickly criticized the document. Catholics criticizing a document from the Vatican?

[44:52] Roman? Polish Archbishop Stanislaw Gidecki told Vatican Radio on Monday that the report is not acceptable to many bishops.

[45:04] Harvesting the fruit, which is a conservative website, warned the document could divide bishops who support Francis' stances from those willing to stand up in defense of our holy Catholic faith.

[45:16] people who are in this is really something and this is something more. I don't know if you've already picked up one of these or not, but this is well beyond the pale.

[45:40] A trend seen by pro-life activists that frequently engage college students on campuses nationwide is the growing acceptance of post-birth abortion or the killing of the infant after he or she is born.

[46:06] Anecdotal evidence by leaders of pro-life groups such as Created Equal and Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust said in interviews that not only do they see more college students willing to say they support post-birth abortion, which is actually a contradiction in terms, is it not?

[46:25] Post-birth abortion? What would you call that? Execution? Murder? Yeah. But some students even suggest children up to four or five years old can be killed because they are not yet self-aware.

[46:48] people are not people who think it is morally acceptable to kill babies after birth on a regular basis at almost every campus we visit, said Mark Harrington.

[47:04] While this viewpoint is still seen as shocking by most people, I would hope, it is becoming increasingly popular.

[47:15] Now, where in the world would anybody get an idea like that? The plot thickens. Campuses where the high school, college students, local activists, and staff members of Created Equal have encountered this opinion include Purdue, University of Minnesota, University of Central Florida, and at Ohio State earlier this year, the group captured a debate on video between one of its members and an older woman on campus who defended infanticide.

[47:57] This is the whole problem with devaluing human life at any stage. It will naturally grow to include other groups of humans.

[48:07] Yes, yes, yes. This is what Francis Schaefer was hammering on in the 1970s. Once you create that slippery slope and legalize abortion, Katie, bar the door.

[48:22] Everything is going to follow. And we haven't seen anything yet as regards euthanasia and the refusal of health care or certain procedures to the elderly.

[48:36] Better, they just take a pill and we'll help them exit. I talked with one young man at the University of Minnesota who thought it was alright to kill children if they were under the age of five years old as he did not consider them persons until that age.

[49:01] Does this give any credence to what I was saying about people thinking with a flawed, warped intellect? Christina Garza, spokeswoman for survivors of the abortion holocaust, a pro-life organization that often sets up anti-abortion displays on campuses along the west coast, said her group also frequently encounters college students who accept infanticide.

[49:26] for those who are firmly for abortion because they understand for those who are firmly for abortion because they understand it kills a human being, it's very easy for them to accept killing a human being after birth, Garza said.

[49:43] There is this notion that is common on campus that it's okay to kill babies because somehow we don't become human until we are self-aware. A common number that is going around is four years old, she adds.

[49:58] Now, listen to this. As to where they get these ideas, who in the world came up with this kind of stuff? Where did this start? Remember my emphasizing how people of influence, influence, they have ideas, they spread, people pick up on them.

[50:14] If it is avant-garde and new and daring and different and refreshing, et cetera, it finds a ready audience. As for the trend, Garza said there's an explanation for it.

[50:24] For one, the arguments put forth by Peter Singer. Well, who's he? Peter Singer. Never heard of him. Well, let's read on.

[50:37] Peter Singer and other philosophers who support infanticide are given as reading assignments to college students. Peter Singer, and by the way, he's not from a slouch institution, he's on the faculty at Harvard.

[50:57] Singer wrote in 1979 that human babies are not born self-aware or capable of grasping that they exist over time. They are not persons.

[51:09] Therefore, the life of a newborn is of less value than the life of a pig, a dog, or a chimpanzee. he has been saying things like this since the 1970s, but I think it has been more recently that this type of ideology is being promoted on college campuses.

[51:29] This is academia, your tax dollars at work. When he said this stuff, there was a very select few who accepted it, just a few, but it always starts with a few.

[51:48] Communism started with a few. Nazism started with a few. Evolution started with a few. It always starts with just a few.

[52:03] Nowadays, we have become so desensitized in college students lacking in a moral fiber, easily accept this kind of strange ideology.

[52:16] But pro-life advocacy and engagement on campuses has helped turn students away from pro-choice stances, she says. While the number of students who believe it is okay with killing children after birth is growing, the number of students who accept that life begins at conception is also growing, and that it is growing at a larger and faster rate than those who accept infanticide.

[52:40] yet, staunch opposition to the pro-life philosophy remains. I won't read all the rest of it, but you can get your copy on the way out. Now, you know what?

[52:51] Listen, connect the dots once again. If evolution is true, why not? Why not?

[53:03] God? I mean, whatever a given culture wants to do on behalf of its own people, they set the standard.

[53:16] They become their own standard. If evolution is true, there is no overarching authority. There is no one to whom we must give account, because there is no one there.

[53:29] There is no God. There is no creator. It doesn't exist. So, if there is no God, all things are permitted. Whatever we decide is kosher, it's kosher.

[53:41] That's it. You're hard pressed to deny infanticide. You're hard pressed to deny abortion on demand. You're hard pressed to deny same sex marriage. You have no real grounds for not legitimizing homosexuality, because everybody becomes their own authority authority.

[54:02] We are all rules only unto ourselves. There is no overarching authority. That's where we are. That's why what's going on is going on. And that's why it is proliferating and increasing.

[54:14] And you know what we are called to do? We are called to stem the tide. Because if we care for people who are being sucked into this, we've got to warn them what's out there, where this is going, and what the remedy is.

[54:29] This is what Paul meant when he wrote to the Ephesians and said, have nothing to do with the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather expose them, call them out, name them.

[54:41] That's what we're trying to do. My problem is, I'm preaching to people who probably are 99 and 9 tenths percent in alignment with what I'm saying, so we're preaching to the choir.

[54:54] But we need to find more and effective ways of getting the word out to the population in general. This is part and parcel of why Christianity Clarified was birthed, and it's just a small token effort to try and explain what Christianity really is all about.

[55:10] So, well, I'm not finished, but I quit. So, if you'll stand, we'll be dismissed.

[55:21] Father, it deeply saddens us to see the direction in which this country is going, and we can only hope that the recent election will find people in office who will aid in stemming the tide, that they may be people of moral character who see the direction in which we are going and are determined to do what they can to turn this thing around.

[55:49] We love this nation, and we know you love it, and we know we are a people, as throughout the rest of the world, as people for whom Christ gave his very life, and we've got to cry out, and we've got to tell people that our sin has alienated us from God, and that Jesus Christ died that he might bring us to himself.

[56:12] Father, it's entirely possible that there may be somebody here today hanging in the balance, undecided, can't make up their mind as to what to do. We pray that you would impress upon them the reality that to not make a decision is to make a decision, and that only a positive effort toward the finished work of Christ can deliver them from their sin and put them in a position of acceptable righteousness with you.

[56:43] And for anyone who may be here today, young or old, who is struggling with this issue, we pray the Spirit of God will continue to work with them, that they may see themselves as undone without the righteousness of Christ, and place their case in his hands simply by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ who died for their sins.

[57:05] May they put their trust and their confidence and their reliance in Christ and in Christ alone. And someone makes that decision, and we pray that you'll give them the courage to tell someone else about it so they can be encouraged.

[57:22] Thank you for the truths of the scriptures old and new and how they speak to hearts that are in a modern day society far removed from the ancient times in which these prophets spoke and yet the truth is not changed.

[57:41] And we are so glad that you are behind it all in Christ's name. Amen.