2/2/2020 - 7 Deadly Types Of Ignorance

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. You need to know. From Alex McFarland Ministries, this is 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. Have you ever been driving in the winter and seen a sign that said, chains required beyond this point? I've seen that in two places in Colorado and once in Pennsylvania when I was driving in the snow in, frankly, a blizzard. And there were signs, chains required beyond this point.

And there was a warning that if you were trying to drive through the blizzard without the right equipment, you could be pulled over. And you know, I think about that as it relates to life, because as we live and grow and age and mature, there are some key types of equipment required as we navigate this path of life. And we're going to read from a scripture passage in a moment, Ephesians 4, 17 through 19. I invite you to turn there if you're at a place where you can follow along in the Bible. But I want to welcome you to the program Truth for a New Generation.

Alex McFarland here, very honored to have you with us. 2020 is an exciting year with Truth for a New Generation and all that we have going on. For one thing, listen very carefully, please, we have our apologetics camp coming up July 20 through 24. We want your kids to do like the title of my book and stand strong in college. I do a seminar all over the country called What You'll Hear Your Freshman Year, preparing for the ways that college can challenge your faith. And at the TNG camp, we help kids drill down deeply and then know what they believe and why they believe it. And so it's going to be July 20 through 24 in western North Carolina.

It's going to be amazing. Last year, I give God the glory, but we had 86 decisions for Christ. And so go to my website, alexmcfarland.com, alexmcfarland.com, or you can call us at 877-YES-GOD-1. And you know, it's important to win young people to Christ, but it's equally important to teach them about America.

Look, the fight is on, folks. So we want your kids to know what they believe and why they believe it. The other thing, and it's big, it's the highlight of my year, and that's going to the Cove, the Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove in western North Carolina near Asheville. I will be there at the end of July, July 27 through 31, right after our camp. And I'll be there to teach Daniel and Revelation, how God writes history in advance, Bible prophecy. And I would love to invite you to join us for that. You can go to the Cove website, thecove.org. And so it's going to be July 27 through 31 here, 2020.

And we look forward to seeing you at the Cove, and we hope you can join us for that. But I want to read a little bit from Ephesians 4, and I want to talk with you about deadly types of ignorance. Ignorance is not bliss, as some people say.

Ignorance can be very costly and very tragic. And in Ephesians chapter 4, the Apostle Paul writes about the different members of the body of Christ coming together in the unity of belief in Jesus, in the unity of the Word of God, and in the unity of Spirit. And it talks about not being like children anymore, not being tossed back and forth, but coming up in love, in unity, in agreement, and in Christ-likeness, into the head of the body, Jesus.

And it says, Jesus, you know, we are all fitly formed in Him, joined together, and this is the love of Christ and the plan of God that would impact the world for all of eternity. Now, verse 17 of Ephesians 4, this I say therefore and testify in the Lord that you henceforth, in other words from this point on, do not walk as the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness, but you have not so learned in Christ. Okay, lasciviousness, which is a word that that really means callous disobedience and iniquity and blindness, which obviously means to be in the dark spiritually.

These types of ignorance that we are not to walk in as those who do not know God. You know, there were the Jews and the Gentiles, there are the Jews and the Gentiles, and when the New Testament speaks of Gentiles, it is really speaking of those who do not yet know the true God. And in fact, there was a euphemism, I am sure many people have heard it discussed, that Gentiles were dogs, and it really meant profane. And the word profane, from which we get the word profanity, means outside the temple.

Things that were outside the presence of God and not in a relationship with God were profane. And the Gentiles, the Gentiles here, speaks of those who do not know the true God. All right, in verse 17, the walk or the manner of life of those who do not know God is for one thing vanity, in other words empty, literally void and empty, and dark and understanding.

I mean they do not really know truth. Alienated from the life of God. In other words, dead, verse 18. Dead and alienated from God, and they are ignorant, blind, lascivious, just given over to living for sin and indulgence. And it says in verse 19 that they have done this for so long they are past feeling.

Do you know what it talks about in Romans 1 about being given over to a depraved mind? And depravity means no longer being able to discern between right and wrong. Many people speculate about the condition of our world. Maybe we are in a depraved culture. A culture that we've for so long tried to rationalize and legitimize that which is false. Maybe we can't even understand right from wrong anymore. Well let me say I'm going to give several types of deadly ignorance that I fear our culture is flirting with and in some cases even embracing.

Now stay tuned we've got a brief break. We're going to come back and from Ephesians 4 we're going to talk about the deadly types of ignorance from which God wants to save you. Do you ever feel low, unworthy, worthless to God? Consider the story in Zechariah 3. There we see the high priest Joshua standing before God in heaven. This man who represents the best and most holy of men is shown in filthy clothes which means he's sinful, unfit to stand before the presence of God. If the high priest was shown to be unworthy then what hope do we have?

But there is hope. In Zechariah 3 Joshua is quote snatched from the fire like a stick still smelling as smoke. He's given new clothes to where he's cleansed and forgiven.

Yes satan accuses but God through Jesus Christ acquits. We all fall short but in Jesus we find hope for forgiveness and for eternal life. Be bold, be faithful, be a watchman.

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That's liberty.edu backslash explore to learn more. As a group millennials have more than a trillion dollars in purchasing power so you know businesses are watching us. By 2025 we'll comprise 75% of the workforce so employers are watching us. Despite these positives millennials are losing our faith so we know satan is watching us. Engage Magazine is for millennials by millennials and it speaks to faith purpose and a closer walk with Jesus because above all God is watching us.

Visit engagemagazine.net. Christians don't necessarily agree with one another when it comes to questions of religious pluralism, homosexuality, the role of government, abortion and war. Too often we manage these disagreements by ignoring them. Yet we're called to engage the world for the sake of Christ.

How can we be effective if we avoid society's most pressing questions? In 10 issues that divide Christians Alex McFarland challenges us to drill down to the biblical core of 10 current issues such as social justice, evil and suffering, pornography and environmentalism as he echoes the biblical invitation, come let us reason together. Only by engaging the scriptures deeply, thinking clearly and speaking truthfully can we in God's family address our differences and discover the peace that comes with unity of purpose.

10 issues that divide Christians. Find this book and many others at alexmcfarland.com. For apologetics resources, books by Alex McFarland and to find out where Alex is speaking, visit alexmcfarland.com.

Welcome back to the program Alex McFarland here. We're talking about the deadly types of ignorance and just like we need the right equipment to do a job, we need the right vehicle to get through a storm or a blizzard and we need the right types of knowledge to make the right types of decisions. We're going to talk about God's truth which is the answer against the pitfalls of deadly ignorance that Ephesians 4 warns us about. And so let's talk about some types of ignorance that really do imperil people and I would say endanger our nation today and one is historical ignorance. I meet so many people who really don't seem to care about the fact that our constitution must be preserved and therefore in the preservation of our constitution is the guarding and the preservation of our liberties. And a lot of people don't seem to care about the faraway past and what was done to birth this nation and how our government works and the Christian foundation that really permeates our our laws and our government. You know at Truth for a New Generation one of our frequent speakers is William J. Federer, Bill Federer and I would encourage you to have his wonderful book America's God and Country Quotation book. He's written many other books but that one would be a good primer to get you into an appreciation for all that was done from a Christian perspective to build our land. But he talks about the fact that in Connecticut there are plaques everywhere for a couple of preachers one in New England Roger Williams a Baptist preacher and the other was Thomas Hooker called the father of democracy and the fact that we could have a representative republic and we could govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments and we ultimately have this America with the houses of congress and the divisions of power the separation of powers.

It was birthed out of the church and out of a Christian worldview and there's a great historical ignorance right now that squelches patriotism and really opens the door for a descent into socialism and the loss of our freedoms and if we don't recover not only some knowledge of what America is all about but some love and patriotism for what America is all about the outcomes will be very sad indeed. We live in a time of great biblical ignorance. You know it's funny how people will email me and they'll often misquote the bible and they'll you know say things like well God helps those who help themselves. You know that's actually from one of Aesop's fables Hercules and the Wagoneer that there's a line that says that God's helped them that help themselves.

But God helps those who help themselves is not found in the word of God. You know I frequently hear people say you know well the bible says don't judge don't judge anything. No the bible tells us to use discernment and the bible tells us to look at life from a scriptural perspective. People think thus some of the scriptures is reduced to the idea that we're not to use any discernment or judgment.

No we are to judge all things from a biblical perspective. Money is the root of all evil. Is that a bible verse?

Well not actually it's first Timothy 6 10 for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. But we live in a time of great biblical ignorance and the bible says you must be born again and there's no way to heaven except through a relationship with Jesus. And let me say biblically we can't declassify any sins. What was wrong in the eyes of God is still wrong.

Adultery, fornication, lying, yes all homosexual activity in the eyes of God is a sin. Now the good news is we can repent of sin. We can turn to Christ and be forgiven. But to be saved you must repent and forsake sin and turn to Christ.

And read luke 13 3 and read first corinthians chapter six and unrepentant sinners those that are doggedly resolved to continue in what the bible specifically condemns what they're showing is they've not met the true and living God yet. Because if you are born again and regenerated made alive that which is dead is made alive. And second Corinthians 5 17 to pass from death to life and to become a new creature and the old things pass away. That's being born again. In Christ we are new and we're on a different path because we've done a 180. We've turned and there's biblical ignorance to think that you can go to heaven without having repented of sin and turned to Christ. That's biblical ignorance.

I would say there is number three a real eschatological ignorance, eschatology. The bible says that evil men will wax worse and worse. The bible says that in the last days perilous times will come and people will deny truth and false Christ will arise. People will say they are Jesus or they have the way to Jesus and the bible says there'll be a time of violence and greed, lack of self-control and in the end times before the return of the Lord there'll be an increase in demonic activity. And let me say this dear friends we're not going to usher in utopia here on earth. We're not going to usher in this humanistic heaven on earth.

There will be the ushering in of heaven and the new Jerusalem but it will only be after Christ returns. We with all of our accomplishments and all of our technological advances what's really happened rather than man progressing we're degenerating because the rise of technology has been paralleled with an absolute erosion of morality and really this is what God predicts in the last days just before Christ's return. People need to have eschatological truth, eschatology, knowledge of the last days not ignorance. Fourthly there's what I would call really a soteriological ignorance, lack of knowledge about salvation and we're going to have to come back to this after the break but salvation the Greek word soterios means to save and back in Ephesians 4 it says that we're to walk in the new life and put off the old life in verse 17 of the Ephesians 4.

Henceforth don't walk in the ways of the lost world as we used to but having been saved having been born again let that be evidenced by a new life but a new set of priorities living planning valuing that which God's word says and do you know in the third century the Christian leader Jerome said knowledge of the scriptures is knowledge of Christ ignorance of the scriptures is ignorance of Christ we need this knowledge of our Savior the Son of God whom we find in the pages of the Word of God. Stay tuned and we'll come back and finish our talk about the deadly types of ignorance present in our world today. Alex has written many books to help you defend your faith. One of them answers questions from skeptics. It's cleverly titled 10 answers for skeptics. Today's skeptics are looking for authenticity, integrity and straightforward truth and in the book Alex McFarland identifies the 10 most common types of skepticism that plague doubters minds and offers believers proven strategies for connecting intellectually and spiritually with those who are skeptical about the claims of Christianity. Learn how to answer intimidating questions identify the root issue behind those questions and dismantle the spiritual bombshells dropped by atheists plus find encouragement to face hostility by persevering in love. The ultimate apologetic Christians can offer as a witness to our loving God.

Check out 10 answers for skeptics when you visit alexmcfarland.com. If you're a Christian parent you of course want to instill a biblical view of life in the hearts of your children. If you're a pastor you want to offer ministry that draws young families to your church. This is Alex McFarland encouraging you to check out my new book and video curriculum the 21 toughest questions your kids will ask about Christianity. Why do bad things happen? I interviewed hundreds of children ages 5 to 12 and we address actual questions from actual children the spiritual issues that are on the minds of your kids. Did Jesus ever sin? The book and video lessons are great for groups of any size and was produced with the goal of equipping kids to stand strong for Christ in any situation.

The 21 toughest questions your kids will ask the book study guide and video series you'll find it at afastore.net that's afastore.net. In the midst of a culture obsessed with relativism Alex McFarland is a voice you can trust to speak the timeless truths of Christianity in a timely way. You're listening to truth for a new generation radio. Welcome back to the program Alex McFarland here we're talking about deadly types of ignorance and and by the way as 2020 and 2021 are even discussed you can follow my speaking schedule where I'm speaking or debating or presenting the truth for new generation events go to my website which is alexmcfarland.com and we put out a regular newsletter if you want to keep up with what we're doing give us your email and you can reach us alex at alexmcfarland.com yes it will come to me and we will do our best to respond and if you have a Bible question or you want to know about the ministry or when we're coming to your region reach out to us alexmcfarland.com or the email alex at alexmcfarland.com well before the break we were we were talking about historical ignorance biblical ignorance eschatological ignorance and now ignorance of salvation soteriological ignorance there's a book I've been reading by a man named John Carroll called the wreck of western culture humanism revisited and it's talking about the fact that there will never be a man-made heaven on earth a lot of people think there will be and a lot of socialists and progressives today you know everybody else has failed at socialism but it would work for us and do you know there are a lot of people that really hate capitalism and and frankly what America is and I think whether they know it or not they don't like America because America was based on Christianity but let me read from the the wreck of western culture by John Carroll he says humanism desired to create a city of light but today it is culture's metropolis that is in ruins the wreck of humanist culture is in stark contrast to the physical edifice that humanism desired to create now listen what he's saying is there was this drive to create this utopia on earth and and he felt humans felt like they could do it now listen to this Carroll says this drive was quote channeled into science and technology the material comfort enjoyed by western societies in the last century represents a giant advance in the human experience and we are duty-bound to acknowledge that okay now the good news of all of our accomplishments were things like medicine and improvements in agriculture and technology but do you know that what really science and industry was birthed out of a Christian worldview on two fronts now follow me here for one thing science came out of the church because they believed it's an orderly world the product of an orderly god creator god the creator is orderly therefore creation is orderly observable and intelligible in other words we can make sense of it well there were scientific discoveries there was technological advances industry and do you know it was really out of the 17th and 18th century Europe that was under the Wesley led revival that people begin to work and morality took a greater hold in the lives of people and there was prosperity capitalism and also not only in Europe but over here in the colonies with William Bradford the idea that we should have personal property ownership rights if you work hard by the sweat of your brow till the ground and grow things you ought to be able to keep it so listen to this socialism today and earth worship and the climate change activists and the anti-capitalist they want to undo the good things that came out of the Industrial Revolution and Western culture and capitalism now I'm going to continue to quote John Carroll from the book the wreck of Western culture which is not a Christian book per se although the conclusions dovetail nicely with Christian thought Carroll asked this question who in their right mind would give up clean water sanitation and sewers antibiotics reliable supplies of food civic police the jumbo jet computers and skyscrapers in exchange for what had come before the filth contagion and stench of medieval Europe well who would give up all that progressives those that hate God and hate our accomplishments people that want to take America and Americans backward into the times of medieval Europe liberals secular educators anti-vaxxers climate change activists and frankly and having been to more than 200 universities to speak delusional pampered Western left-wingers look as the culture teeters on disorder some that are enamored with the hyper structure of fundamental Islam some want to incorporate Muslim ways further and further into America and that would really be a journey backward into the culture of sixth century desert indigents of Muslim life and folks there's a there's a social and cultural and historical and spiritual ignorance present in so many lives now we were talking about if you're in inclement weather you need chains on the wheels if you're going to make it I want to say there's not only a spiritual blindness and moral ignorance relational ignorance practical ignorance there's just an arrogance to think that we can live without God you know Yale University Press just recently put out a book on hubris and they said this each generation seems to believe that the truths learned in the past are now irrelevant and the paradigm has changed or that there are now better techniques to avoid past mistakes listen we can't fool ourselves without God we can't do it without truth we're not going to make it we need to humble ourselves before God you know the Chinese the Chinese say that the fuller a stock of rice the more it bends down the fact that we are standing up shaking our fist in the face of God shows that we're not full we're empty because in the in the spirit of humility if we were full of God's truth we would be bowing humbly repentantly before God and Ephesians 4 verse 20 says you have not learned so of Christ if it so be that you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth which is in Jesus put off the former conversation or the former lifestyle of the old man which is corrupt according to deceitful lust and be renewed in the spirit of your mind we need our lives renewed we need our behaviors renewed we need our mind restored and renewed and we need our soul made alive and that comes my dear friend through Jesus call on him today he's as close by as a prayer and as lives are changed our nation will be changed so follow Christ live by his truth and please take it upon yourself to pray for the United States of America. P. O. Box 10231 Greensboro, North Carolina 27404 call us at 877-YesGod1 that's 877-YesGod 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 as we bring you more truth for a new generation on TNG radio.