2/5/2022 - 5 Facts About Worldview

TNG Radio, where today's culture and timeless truths come together.

It's reasoned, relevant content apologetics, worldview, and answers to the questions that you need to know. From Alex McFarland Evangelistic Ministries, welcome to Truth For A New Generation Radio. And now the man who preached in 50 states in 50 days, speaker, writer, and advocate for Christian apologetics, Dr. Alex McFarland. What would you say are the three sermons you are least likely to hear in church these days?

Hi, Alex McFarland. Welcome to Truth For A New Generation. I'm going to read a passage out of Luke chapter 4, and I want to talk about worldview, five facts about biblical worldview, and how it relates to our life today.

But think about it. Going to church, I do hope you go to church. I hope you're part of a local church, and I hope it's a good church, a Bible-believing church. But nevertheless, even in churches where people hear the Word of God, and pastors are conservative, biblical in their theology, but I would submit there are probably three sermons you are very unlikely to hear these days in churches. What would they be?

Can you name them? You'll probably hear sermons about how God is for you, and you can make it, and sermons of encouragement, and that's fine. But you know what? We are to preach and teach and live and proclaim what the Bible calls the whole counsel of God. And there are parts of the Bible that are unpalatable to modern ears, but nevertheless, it's in the Word of God, and the Lord in his providence and in his mercy, he gave us his Word because he knows what we need to hear. Because in this life, the purpose of this life is to fit you for heaven. You know, like it says in the song, Away in a Manger, fit us for heaven to live with thee there. This world is a laboratory for the making of saints. You are to come to Christ and be born again, then the rest of life sanctification, you grow in the Lord.

There's a purgation as God liberates us from self and sin and carnality, and we're not only to be saved, but we're to be increasingly conformed to the image of Christ. And so to achieve that, in the Bible, there are things that you probably don't hear talked about, and certainly carnal fallen man would never think these things are true or worth talking about, but God has put things in his Word to help us and to convict us and to draw us to himself. Now three sermons you're probably never going to hear in most American churches. I would say you'll probably never hear a sermon about hell, though it is in the Bible. You probably will never hear a sermon about Satan, though spiritual warfare is a part of life, and I would say, and I will say in the context of this message, that America is probably in the most intense season of spiritual warfare in our nation's history. You'll probably never hear a sermon about Satan. But the third thing, you'll probably never hear a sermon about a clear lay the cards on the table, call sin, sin, and invite sinners to repentance. You'll probably never hear a sermon about the homosexual movement and the LGBTQ trans movements, and why they are based on abuse and homosexual ideation, homosexual inclination is a means of trying to deal with pain.

People are not born gay. If people are born gay and if God made people to be transgender, non-binary, ambiguous in their gender, then the Word of God is false, and we know that is not the case. The Word of God is true. There are times when people are so riled and blind that they cannot perceive God. In Luke chapter 4, there's an account where Jesus is in the synagogue at Nazareth, and he says very famously, in his hometown, a prophet has no honor, and he reads from Isaiah, verse 18 of Luke 4, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath appointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, and to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Notice that Jesus Christ, Christos, he is the anointed one in the fulfillment of this Isaiah 61 passage. So the Spirit of the Lord was upon him. He definitely was anointed. He was sent to preach the gospel, the good news of salvation, that's right, to heal the brokenhearted, and certainly the presence of the Lord in our life does that, to preach deliverance to the captives.

That's true. If you don't have Jesus, you are a captive, you're a prisoner, you're enslaved. We hear so much nowadays about human trafficking, but I will tell you, the most egregious human trafficker in history is Satan, because he's enslaved so many billions of people. They're captive to sin, and the only means of deliverance is through Jesus. But notice also in the Isaiah 61 passage that Jesus reads in the Nazareth synagogue, and he appoints to himself, is the recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those that are bruised. Okay, the recovering of sight, that's healing. And part of Jesus' ministry is healing, and I believe part of the ministry of the church today, yes, is healing. And we've talked about this, but I will say this, the biblical worldview and apologetics content that we have these days is sufficient to logically defend the biblical worldview against any and all comers. That's right. The atheist, the skeptic, the agnostic, all of their questions have substantive answers.

That's true. I've spent 25 plus years preaching and writing 18 books, and goodness, Josh McDowell, Chuck Colson, Lee Strobel, William Lane Craig, Eric Metaxas, Frank Turek, on and on we could go. God has raised up incredibly brilliant thinkers, articulate expositors and defenders of the Christian faith, and yet many people don't believe.

Why is that? Because it is a spiritual battle. That's one of the reasons that I believe the church must say, Mark 9, 26 and following, some things are only accomplished with prayer and fasting. So one of the things, and I'll share this further in this message about five facts regarding biblical worldview, is that there are spiritual dynamics always present in culture. And when Jesus came to give sight to the blind, that's a miracle, of course.

I believe the church in America is going to have to rediscover the power of the supernatural, because here's the thing. When arguments and good data simply will not pierce through the hardened hearts and the willful unbelief of a lost world, the final level of revelation that God will give a culture is undeniable, miraculous, what the Bible says, the finger of God, the hand of God. Now, when we come back, we're going to finish this Luke 4 passage, and then we're going to talk about five facts related to worldview that we must be mindful of at this moment.

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Well, here's your chance. Hi, Alex McFarland here from the nationally syndicated radio program, Exploring the Word. For more than 10 years, my cohost Bert Harper and I have taught scripture and answered hundreds of Bible questions. We've compiled a brand new book of the top 100 Bible questions from listeners of all ages, from questions about supposed Bible contradictions to apologetics facts that prove the truths of Scripture. This new book features practical content that will make the Bible come alive for you.

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Alex McFarland here. We are in Luke chapter 4, and we're talking about worldview. And I'm going to give you five facts about worldview, but we're sort of setting this up with a passage from Luke chapter 4 about the way people react and often reject truth when it's presented to them. But Jesus has read from Isaiah 61, he amazingly says in verse 21, this day, Scripture is fulfilled in your ears. In other words, this Messiah you've heard about, the miracles, the anointed one of God, well, he's here, and yet you're not believing. Just like many in Elijah's time didn't believe, he alludes to that.

Now, in verse 22, they had stood amazed, listening to the gracious words of Jesus' amazing teaching, and they said, isn't this Joseph's son? And yet he's handling the word of God like we've never heard. Well, just a few verses later, verse 28, when Jesus essentially says, be careful, because when you get truth, you have an obligation to respond. And many people don't respond.

And even a prophet in his own country, nobody really takes him seriously. They, in the synagogue, verse 28, when they heard these things, they were filled with wrath. They were enraged. They were angry. How dare you say that we don't accept the word of God, and therefore we're not accepting the word of God today.

I mean, it's ironic. They rose up and thrust him out of the city, so a riot breaks out, and they are demanding Jesus be cancelled. They physically are going to throw him out of the city. They take him to the brow of a hill whereon their city was built, this is at Nazareth, that they might cast him head first down a hill. This is terrible, Luke 4 29. Very interesting verse, verse 30, but Jesus, passing through the midst of them, went his way.

Luke 4 30. Scholars have long speculated, what happened? Were the people in such an enraged riot that Jesus sort of slipped through the crowd and they didn't know it? Jesus was able to walk away?

Or did Jesus supernaturally disappear? And they are there just to fight things out. You know what's amazing is, okay, these were religious leaders.

These were people of the synagogue and the pious church attenders, and no doubt pillars in the community. And they are so enraged, because Jesus is saying, look, either you accept me or you're captive to sin. You either face liberation in Jesus and are born again and conformed to the truth of God's revelation, or you're a captive of the devil. And here I am, the embodiment of prophecy.

Scripture is fulfilled in your ears, and yet you're not accepting the message of salvation that I'm telling you. Well, the people are enraged and they're so wroth with anger and rejection. They want to kill Jesus. Do you know, that's like cancel culture today. If we tell people the biblical truth, the only message of deliverance there is, it's through Jesus.

People get angry. That is why school systems right now, public school systems are implementing socialist, Marxist, sexual revisionism, denigrating America, because our entire culture for 240 years plus has been based on the Judeo-Christian worldview. That's why you see commercials now. There are commercials, the Freedom From Religion Foundation. And for the first time, I just learned this a few days ago, the largest voting block in American history has always been Christians, Protestant, Catholic, conservative, what they call values voters. And for the first time, this was announced last week, the nones, N-O-N-E-S, nones, when they asked, you know, what is your religious, moral orientation? None. Don't believe in God. For the first time ever, the nones outnumber the Christians as a voting block.

And it's a huge margin too. Whereas it used to be something like 50% of registered voters identified as conservative, Christian, biblical, moral, now it's more like 13%, whereas the secularists, and I would say they're militant secularists, are now at around 20%. Very, very sad. We are to the point that for a spiritual turnaround in our nation, it is absolutely going to have to take a miracle of God. Now, when I think of shows like The View, and I think of social media that regularly engages in censorship, and we're watching the rise of fascism all around us. This is what 20 years ago in our conferences and the Truth for a New Generation conferences, I would have Chuck Colson on stage and James Dobson and Dinesh D'Souza and Eric Metaxas, and they warned of these things.

They absolutely did. I think about David Noble, the founder of Summit Ministries, wrote one of the most important books you need to read. Two books, one was called Understanding the Times, and the other was Mind Siege that he wrote with Tim LaHaye.

You need to read these books, because 20, 25 years ago, God's prescient four-sided thinkers were warning of these things. I remember we had David Noble speak at a big conference, probably about 2005, and David Noble said, the monster in the room that nobody's talking about is the rise of socialism. And everybody looked around. The economy was booming. Socialism, you know, maybe Islam, but socialism is gone. The USSR fell. Capitalism is going to Russia and the Asian world. Socialism? David Noble, from our stage, said, watch.

Marxism, socialism, guaranteed universal income, forgive student loan, all these things. And he was warning of this 16, 17 years ago. Well, people get enraged, and in Luke 4, 28-30, the people were enraged, they rejected Jesus, they wanted to cancel him, throw him over a cliff headfirst, and he passed through, and they didn't even know.

So here's the thing. Do you notice when Jesus was calling his disciples, this is amazing, did you notice he didn't call any of the professional clergy from the synagogue? I mean, he got ordinary workaday people, and this crowd that wanted Jesus cancelled in Luke 4, these were the academics and the clergy, because this was at the synagogue when this thing blew up. Well, we're living in a time of cancel culture today, and that is why it is all the more imperative that we can, while we have opportunity, we live the faith, we proclaim the faith, we walk under the control of the Holy Spirit, and we fearlessly, boldly tell a lost world about Jesus. C.S. Lewis said, in fearful times, we need a fearless church. That's for sure.

Stay tuned, we're going to be back right after this. It's effectively engage and transform the culture. Campers will also enjoy swimming, canoeing, fishing, soccer, volleyball, archery, and a whole lot more. A great summer camp of fun and faith building. The TNG Unashamed Biblical Worldview Camp, July 17th through 27th, at the Refuge Camp in Aiton, North Carolina.

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Alex McFarland here. So glad you're listening, and we're talking about worldview. I do want to remind you that our camp is coming up, a very exciting year of ministry ahead, and we want you to participate. We want your family and your church to be involved, and frankly, we are asking for your prayers and support.

We have the privilege just already this year, in the month of January, I was in Texas, I was in two cities in Kansas, I've been to Colorado twice already to preach the gospel, and in several parts around North Carolina, and of course, the reach of our radio and television is growing. Now we've got some exciting things coming up, so let me share this, and then I want to give you some facts about worldview. Okay, July 17 through 22, our worldview camp. The theme this year is Unashamed, Building Your Biblical Worldview. And I will say this, no teen is ever turned away. It costs us $91 a day.

That's program, insurance, the whole nine yards. Ninety-one dollars a day to take a teenager to camp, and so you might want to underwrite a day of Christian camp for a young person, and we're intentionally trying to bring in a lot of, shall we say, underserved kids that might never hear the gospel, much less get to go to a Christian camp. July 17 through 22, Biblical worldview camp. Will and Miki Addison will be there from AFA. It's going to be amazing.

Then, of course, the Cove. July 8 through 10, I'll be at the Billy Graham Training Center in western North Carolina. Angie will be there. Friends from all over America will have a great time of fellowship.

We'll get into 1 Peter, and we'll talk about how you can share your faith confidently in any situation, and I would love for you to be there. And the website where you can find out more is thecove.org. But finally, for those that live in central North Carolina, we have got three very exciting opportunities coming up. We're going to be filming our television programs.

Now listen to this. March 8, March 15, March 22. March 8, that's a Tuesday night, 6 p.m. in person. I'll be doing two 30-minute interviews with Will Graham, son of Franklin Graham, Will Graham. And if you would like to attend this television taping, you can do that. It's going to be in High Point, North Carolina at our studios. March 8, now March 15, David Barton, the great American historian David Barton in person. And you can attend that taping, March 15. Then March 22, Lauren Green from Fox News in person. And so if you would like to attend one of these television tapings and be a part of our studio audience, we need a few people to comprise an audience. Just email us, alex at alexmcfarland.com.

That's the email to reach me, alex at alexmcfarland.com. But we have got to do what we can do to give our nation a chance to turn to Christ. And so we give God the glory for what he's doing.

But let's wrap up our time together today. Jesus, he was physically present, and yet not everyone believed. Many did, but many did not. And so we're in a spiritual battle, a battle of world views. And the Bible says in Colossians 2-8, don't be taken captive by philosophy, false beliefs, empty deceit, but be a follower of the truth of Jesus Christ. 1 John 4 verse 1 says, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. Now that is saying that we need discernment, and the only way you can have discernment is to understand that the measuring stick, the litmus test by which we evaluate everything is the Word of God, the Bible. And great revivals happen when the church again yields to and proclaims the truth of the Bible.

Now, some facts to think about as we wrap up. Number one, throughout history, world view has been a significant reality. Throughout history, now what people believe, what people think is important, what people think is valuable, world view speaks about God, man, life, what is my purpose, where are we headed, what is the basis of morality, world view. Secondly, now listen carefully please, the dominant world view always results in either blessings or burdens. What is the predominant viewpoint of a culture will either bless or curse that culture.

Now all of this, the war on police, tragically people shooting law enforcement officers, open borders, lawlessness, inflation, rising crime, abuse of the system, just things like 800,000 illegals in New York State being able to vote, that is unjust, that is unconstitutional. And the world view secularism, progressivism, liberalism, Marxism, we are seeing just in a matter of two years, just since the advent of COVID, the curse, the burden, the deconstruction that this is wreaking in our nation, may the Lord help us. Thirdly, world view always comes with spiritual dynamics, spiritual implications, always. Because what you believe about right and wrong, what you believe about human life, what you believe about our accountability to God, world view always comes with spiritual dynamics, that is unavoidable, and they are either true or false.

They are either positive or negative. They are either real or unreal. Your world view and the behaviors that result will either lead to life and blessing or destruction and death. Now number four, the Bible, the biblical world view is the only world view that is verifiably true.

And Jesus, the empty tomb, fulfilled prophecy, archeology, compelling lines of evidence point to the fact that only the biblical world view is verifiably true. But the final thing is this, that America and the world is presently in the most severe world view battle in history. Oh my goodness, we are seeing the rise of anti-Semitism. We are seeing this demonic posture that says there is no objective, male or female.

And children, oh my goodness, children are being told that they can be non-binary, it is abuse on an immeasurable scale. My goodness, the power of God could turn our nation around in an afternoon, but the power of God, the work of God must begin with the people of God. To pray, to pursue Christ's likeness, to be equipped, to seize opportunities, to influence others, and live a life of truth promotion. May God bless you, may God use you. Tell somebody about truth for a new generation. Most of all, tell everybody about Jesus. That's 877-YES-GOD-1.

That's 877-YES-GOD and the number 1. Or give online at AlexMcFarland.com. While you're there, listen to Program Archives, read Alex's blog, invite Alex to speak at your event, or contact Alex with a question or comment, AlexMcFarland.com. Thanks for listening today and join us again next time for more Truth for a New Generation on TNG Radio.