Welcome to the InTouch podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, June 30th. The constant influence of phones, tablets, and streaming services is quietly reshaping us. often without us even realizing it. Today, we'll get a biblical frame of reference, one that, if applied, will help us in surviving our present culture. A culture like you and I live in is certainly not a big friend to Christians.
And so what we have to ask is this. How do you and I live? in a culture. that is so opposed to what we believe. and whose lifestyle is so totally different from ours, how do we live in a culture like this without being captivated by it?
overwhelmed by it, overcome by it. and most of all without becoming like it. How do we live in this culture but live above it?
Well, that's what I want to talk about in this message, and I want to talk about the key to living in the culture as we live in, and yet not becoming a part of it.
So I want you to turn to the little book of Titus. And beginning in verse 5, he gives us a little reasoning here. He says, For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order. What remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you? Then he tells him what kind of people he should be looking for, and so forth.
Then he comes to verse 9. And he talks about one of the key qualities that these people are to have, and that's this. Holding fast. The faithful word, which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able to both exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.
Now Here's the phrase I want you to notice. He says, holding fast the faithful word. What does he mean when he talks about holding fast? Simply this, when you hold something, you hold it by your hand. When he says holding fast the fateful word, the word means to cling to.
to hold it tight. to hold it close, that is to apply it to your life.
So here's what Paul is saying. He says, teaching them to hold tightly to the Word of God. Cling to the truth of the Word of God. Apply it to your life. because he knew that the Christians that live in that culture of Crete, they would be so highly influenced, very subtly influenced, that before long you couldn't tell the Christian from the non-Christian.
What a message for our day and time. Because we live in that kind of a culture. And we could use many other words to describe the things that go on around us, the laws that are being passed, the attitudes that people have, and the way Christians oftentimes find themselves, oftentimes too late, caught up in this culture with its vain philosophies, with its immoral attitudes and actions. And then we wonder why the church has such little influence and impact on our society. It does have a relationship with the fact that we have ceased to cling to.
We have listened whole tightly to the principles and the teachings of the Word of God.
Now Practically speaking, you said practically speaking, then how do we cling to it? How do you cling to the Word of God? How do you keep this in your heart, on your mind, before your eyes, and on your lips?
Well, there's seven short things, and I'm going to give you time to write them down. The first one is this. Read it carefully. Don't just read through it quickly. Let me read two or three verses right quick.
Read it carefully. What does it say? What does it say? Meditate upon it daily. Read it carefully.
Meditate upon it daily. That is, what is this really saying? And how am I to handle this? What is God saying about himself and about me? Thirdly, study it seriously.
This is not just another book. Listen, why do you suppose somebody had the idea of calling this Holy Bible? Because It's from a holy God. That's the reason this is holy. We read it carefully, we meditate upon it daily, and listen, not only that.
But we study it seriously. And we believe it wholeheartedly. We believe it wholeheartedly. We obey it consistently. We apply it personally.
And we share it. confidently.
Now What happens? How does the culture ultimately destroy us. I want you to jot these down. I'm going to give you a list. Number one, When you do not hold the Word of God closely, then the following things happen: the culture gets your attention.
They get your attention. All kinds of ways they throw things at you to get your attention. It's number one. Secondly, Eventually they begin to influence you. Because you keep listening.
And you keep watching.
So they get your attention by the, hmm, that's appealing. Then they begin to influence your thinking. The third thing that happens is this. They win your affections. And what you first We're not interested in.
Got your attention. You became very interested and the next thing you know, got you won your affections. Once it wins your affections, the next thing that happens is It redirects your focus. Before you were focused on spiritual things. But now you find yourself more focused on the culture around you.
What other people are thinking, what they're saying.
So they redirect your focus.
Next thing is, before long you realize They're dominating your conversation. The culture is dominating your conversation, who this movie star is, who this ball player is, what he's wearing, what she's wearing. In other words, all these things, what happens is your interest level has been redirected and therefore it dominates your conversation. What is your conversation primarily? filled with the day.
The next thing that happens, you know what? It influences your dress. The way you dress. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, that would. You don't think so?
Let me give you an example. Enough Christian young women. Have watched? It got their attention. influence their thinking.
Change their focus. And you know what happens?
Now they're cutting their blouses off. They're lowering whatever else they're wearing. I Why? I'll tell you why. They're doing it because that's what seems to be the thing to do.
You know what they've done? They have allowed. the culture to determine the way they dress. And I would say to any young lady, Would you dress like that? and walk into the presence.
Of the Son of God. No, you wouldn't. Why do you let the culture around you influence you to dress in a way. That is certainly far from being. The best.
or even oftentimes just plain decency. Let me ask you a question. For a Christian, What do you want people to look at? It is their eyes we want people to look at. Why?
Because that's who we are. Don't let the culture Clog your mind. with false ideas. and patterns of belief and behavior. that you become less than what God wants you to be.
You know, If you have good self-esteem, you don't have to show off anything. The fact that you want to show off something says you have poor self-esteem and you're trying to do something to get somebody's attention. If you live a godly life, you won't have to worry about getting anybody's attention. Listen to this. They will see it in your eyes.
They will see it in your countenance. and they will feel it. in your presence. You don't have to undress to get their attention. But the culture is working at it.
Listen, dominating your conversation, influencing your dress, and also influencing. Your choice of music. There's no doubt about it. that music the way we have it today. oftentimes.
has been one of the key weapons of Satan. To drag. millions of young people away from godly ideas. The Word of God. Truth.
decency, morality, godliness. And what do they do? You see, there's all kinds of music.
Somebody says, Well, everybody has all kinds of music. That's right, there's all kinds. What does it do to you? Does it cause you to worship God?
Now, there's lots of songs out there that are just pleasant, good songs, and doesn't have any physical effect. Can have you make you have an emotional feeling of feeling good because of it. But if it so works in your body, That you began to feel sensual, what you have to ask is this: where did that come from? That's why you have to be careful what you listen to. How you dress.
The world culture, the world culture has penetrated every facet of our society. One of the most powerful weapons is music. You know what else will happen? Watch this. We talk about the effect of the culture.
The culture will steal God's tithe from God's work. Because they'll say, you ought to have this. Get in debt. You got to buy, I'll have a new one of these, some of that, and some of this over here. And after all, you only have one life, you got to live it up.
Next thing you know, you're in debt.
Next thing you know, you're taking God's tithe to pay off debts because you've misused God's money because you let the world persuade you. indoctrinate you, cloud your mind, fog your whole belief system. And now what happens? They got you trapped. Debt is a trap.
I've never heard anybody in all of my years say, I love being in debt. Shut up. No, but I've heard Many, many people say it. Oh, I wish to God. I will not in debt.
You know what else the secular society around us is going to do? They alter your schedule. He said, well, now they can't alter my schedule. Oh, yes, they have. And yes they do.
You know how? Because you stopped clinging to the Word of God and following its principles. And the teachings of Jesus is what happened. Altered your schedule so you don't read it much anymore. Time you spent reading the scriptures and filling your mind with the thoughts of God, now you fill it with the thoughts of the world.
You let them listen, you know what you did? You had allowed them. The change. Your schedule. You know what else they'll do?
They'll fiddle your mind. With sensuality and immoral thoughts over and over and over and over and over again until finally, you know what's happening? You're committing. The very things you see on TV. Or The lust pattern in your life has become so strong, you feel that you're in bondage.
Isn't it interesting? That Satan offers these awesome promises. only to find yourself in bondage of something now you hate because you cannot stop. You know why? You severed yourself from the anchor.
The living word of God. Then what happens? They want to ruin your witness. The culture wants to drag you away from God. He can't, listen, the culture can't get you away from God until they get you away from the book.
Until they get you away from God's book, they can't get you away from God. And once they do, it runs your witness. then you're so much like them it doesn't make any difference any longer. They love your company now because you're no longer a contradiction to the way they live. You're so much like them, you don't bother them anymore.
So, how are you doing? Glad to see you. Before, Because you are like salt and like light.
Now you just so much like them it doesn't make any difference anymore. If you don't cling to the Word of God, Listen carefully, you will not cling to God. He gave us this book. He gave us this truth for our, listen, not only for our salvation, but for our protection. And you know what will happen?
Eventually, the culture will make you useless for the kingdom of God. Because having altered your schedule, you have no time to serve him. Little or no time to read his word at all. And now that you're spending your money on things rather than giving God what ought to be given to Him. You're not interested in people being saved any longer because you see, now your life is so self-centered and so caught up in yourself.
And you know what's happened? You haven't even realized that it's happened. You are so far from where you used to be. When you read the scriptures every night, and you believe that somehow the Word of God must be a vital part of your life. And then the culture got your attention.
begin to affect your thinking. One your emotions. and got your focus off God. And now what happens? It'll lead you into idolatry.
You know what idolatry is? Idolatry. is listen carefully. Idolatry takes place in your life. When anything Any person any practice is more important to you Then your relationship to Jesus Christ.
You let the culture get your attention. Penetrate your thinking. Win your emotions. and get your focus off of God and off of His Word.
Now here is the tragedy of it all. Listen carefully. Here is the tragedy of it all right now. If you listen, say amen. Eventually.
If there's no genuine change in your life, here's what's going to happen. One of these days You're gonna die. And somebody's going to come and look at your body in the casket. And here's what they're going to say. Saved soul.
Wasted life. Because you let the culture. Get your attention. Influence your thinking. win your emotions.
Turn your focus from God. And what I want you to see is this. He says ho hold it tenaciously. Cling to it, he says. You say, all right.
Okay, I admit that I haven't, so what do I do?
Now, listen very carefully so you won't misunderstand. I'm going to say, I'm going to give you a word. Don't jump to any conclusion. until I define it. The way you deal with drifting.
Handling it loosely, laying it aside. It's no longer. in your heart. No longer really in your mind. no longer before your eyes, and therefore not on your lips.
The word is repent.
Now watch this carefully. Repentance, while the word means change and turn. Another direction. That will never work. until the following thing is true.
The motive must be right. If you repent, Turn away from this action or this attitude because you're afraid of God's judgment. Because you fear what may happen to you. It won't work. You know what?
Before long, you'll be right back at it. The motive must be I want to turn. I want to repent of this sin because I'm grieved. That my relationship to my God is not right. I'm grieved that I've grieved him.
Grieved in my heart that I've been trying to live and convince and persuade and argue and defend. and my relationship with him has been awesomely damaged. When that is your motive, Repentance will be a reality. I've just told you the truth. And we have one simple command.
Cling to it. Hold it tightly. Apply it to your life. Live by it. and you'll experience God's very best in your life.
If you're one of those persons who's never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, What are you going to say when you stand before him? And he says, This is the standard by which I'm judging you. You've neglected it. You denied his son. You've turned away.
You let the culture. Determine your eternal destiny. What in this world are you going to say? You won't have anything to say. And I want to encourage you.
to ask the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins. and tell him today that you acknowledge your sinfulness. You're not coming to him because you deserve to be saved. You're coming asking for mercy. You want him to forgive you and to save you from your sins.
You committing yourself to him. You want to live a godly life. You want to walk in his ways. And you know what happened? He'll change your life.
And what you used to look at and think was so important. will lose its importance. and the things you've neglected. will become the most precious things in your life. And our Father, how grateful we are for this precious book.
This indestructible, eternal, fateful word of yours. I pray that you'll sink this message into the heart of every single person. Let it cut deeply. into the heart of one who has drifted. Fallen away.
Living in sin. but knowing as they've listened. I've heard the truth. Let there be genuine repentance. and a fresh new love and devotion and clinging to the Word.
Is my prayer in Jesus' name? Amen. Thank you for listening to part two of Surviving Our Present Culture. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
