Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] This morning. It is the third.
[00:00:03] Sorry. Pardon me. It's the third week of our freedom in Christ. Course.
[00:00:09] Today's title should appear on the screen in a minute. The world's view of truth.
[00:00:16] Sorry. These are my favorite trousers as well. I'll try these again in a minute. I'll try these again in a minute. The world's view of truth. It prepared those specially.
[00:00:30] Thank you.
[00:00:32] Today's message could also be called, who did you buy your belt from?
[00:00:39] That's cryptic. That's cryptic. The world's view of truth. Church. Could we read the scripture together from romans twelve? Let's read it all together.
[00:00:51] Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
[00:01:00] Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is. His good, pleasing and perfect will.
[00:01:10] This is so key for week three.
[00:01:13] Just want to read that again.
[00:01:15] Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
[00:01:22] Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is. His good, pleasing and perfect will.
[00:01:30] I know there's a lot when we see phrases like the renewing of the mind. We're not going to get on mats this morning and start emptying our minds and any of that stuff this morning is all about renewing our minds and deciding whether we are aligning ourself with the world's view of truth or with God's view of truth.
[00:01:53] That's week three.
[00:01:55] He's gone now. He's gone now. You know the little dude playing the drums? That's my Oliver. That's my youngest son. I love Ollie.
[00:02:04] You've seen my big one, Sam. And Ollie's my little one. And when Ollie was about ten, Rachel and I were having tea with our sons, with Sam and Ollie. And we like to be really open with our children.
[00:02:18] We talk about all sorts of stuff. So we thought, come on, let's talk about marriage, relationships, all that stuff.
[00:02:24] Ollie's about ten. And I said, son, you know what God created? Sex.
[00:02:33] And the Bible says that you shouldn't have sex until you're. And he interrupted me and he said, dad, I know this. I know this, dad. It's until you really like them.
[00:02:51] Well, that's part of it. We should really like them. I really like my Rachel. But until we are married was the end of the sentence all over the place. There's a contradiction between the world's view of truth and God's designed version of truth, his truth. And we're going to explore that a little bit today, and in order this whole, do not conform to the pattern of this world. It's really helpful if we identify what that word world means.
[00:03:28] The freedom in Christ course, helpfully gives this definition as part of the teaching materials. And I do find this helpful, that when we think about the world, its system, a social environment or culture that we grew up in and that we live in now, that culture that shapes us, the media around us, the culture around us, it will be different for different people.
[00:03:55] That's what I mean when I'm talking about the world this morning, about us not being conformed to the world.
[00:04:02] And there's also something else to understand in one john, there's a reference made to Satan being the ruler of this world, and that's caused a bit of confusion over the years as well. Satan rules this world. Well, let me tell you, this is a fundamental truth, right? This world is in the hands of one person, and it's not him.
[00:04:30] It's not him, but Satan kind of when we think about the world as in our environment and the media around us and our culture and those voices that are influencing us wherever we are, that's the thing he tries to have his hand on the steering wheel of, to influence us through any means possible in that culture. So we've then got a choice whether we submit to the truth of his world, that culture, or this truth. Right. I hope that's helpful, because sometimes identifying what he's up to helps us just stand on solid ground and realize where we stand, like before. Lower, lower, higher.
[00:05:15] That was fun singing that again, wasn't it great? That was really cool. Okay.
[00:05:21] We're designed.
[00:05:23] We're really specifically beautifully. Time to find acceptance, significance, and security from our relationship with the Lord. Right? That truth.
[00:05:34] Next one, please, if that's all right. Oh, it's already on. Well done.
[00:05:39] And Satan, the world offers it in different ways.
[00:05:45] Diana and I have had some fun about this this morning. About this is one of the biggest lies he tells us this morning, that our performance and our accomplishments is where we get our significance from. Like this afternoon when I go home, does my significance come from who I am in God? How obedient I've been this morning in trying to deliver this message?
[00:06:11] Or does it come from whether I got more likes than mark on his sermon last week?
[00:06:18] Is it based on the fact that when Mark introduced that Diana and I were going to speak, Diana got a massive WHOOP from me son, and I didn't.
[00:06:27] I didn't.
[00:06:30] It's like, yeah, forgive us, but this constant. We'll talk about it again in a minute. But our likes culture, our affirmation culture, you. We are inviting it upon ourselves for us to find our own truth. And this morning is going to challenge that in the 8 minutes that are left.
[00:06:52] Okay?
[00:06:55] Bible takes a little bit further in, John, and it says this.
[00:07:00] And I hope now you understand a little bit more about the world when we're saying the world here. Okay? Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the father is not in them.
[00:07:16] We want to love to serve him, not serve those external voices.
[00:07:22] For everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life comes not from the father, but from the world.
[00:07:33] The world and its desires pass away.
[00:07:37] But whoever does the will of God lives forever.
[00:07:45] You know, in the next few weeks, we're going to be looking at the lust of the eyes and the flesh and some of the other things. There's an example that I really wanted to bring to us this morning that may be a bit awkward for some, but here is an example of something I am passionate about, and I will go as far as to say, in my opinion, this is one of the biggest issues on the face of the planet right now.
[00:08:13] It's that big, and it's pornography.
[00:08:18] This is the truth of the world, right? We have world's truth.
[00:08:24] We have his truth.
[00:08:27] And it's not just fellas, but predominantly us as fellas. There is an assignment all over the face of this planet from the enemy, to take us out. And one of it, it's trying to reprogram what we believe is true about women.
[00:08:44] That's the truth.
[00:08:46] This is the lie that pornography tells us, fellas. Women are simply disposable objects that are there at our disposal. They exist to look like, behave, and fulfill whatever desire we decide to have at any given time.
[00:09:06] Rubbish.
[00:09:08] Nonsense.
[00:09:10] But that is one of the biggest lies on this planet right now.
[00:09:15] Oh, there's a scripture in our house. Rachel has this. We have this up in our house, don't we? Part of this. And this is the truth about what women are.
[00:09:26] This is part of the picture about you wonderful women.
[00:09:31] In proverbs 31, the wife of noble character. I love this. She is worth far more than rubies.
[00:09:39] She lacks nothing in value.
[00:09:42] She is clothed in strength and in dignity. Clothed in it.
[00:09:50] Honor her for all her hands have done.
[00:09:55] Now, I know I might be speaking to some girls here this morning, but I know I'm speaking predominantly to the fellas, what is your truth of what a woman is?
[00:10:07] Is it the world's view of a woman?
[00:10:11] Or is it this view of a woman?
[00:10:14] And I'm not saying that to pour shame on you, because the brilliant news we've got this kind of thing that we do in church called a pawn free diet, and there's about 60 guys. We don't do it from the stage because obviously there's sensitivity involved. There's about 60 guys from this church in the last couple of years, we've been going through it all together, getting porn free. That's cool, right? That's really, really cool.
[00:10:41] So I know that's an awkward example for some, but, fellas, align yourself, partner with the Holy Spirit, and let the truth of this replace the world's view of truth.
[00:10:56] Worldviews are different all over the world. Where we come from shapes us. There are some cultures, some non western cultures have maybe when they think about sickness, their truth about sickness might be passed down from their surroundings. Their world tells them that it's because of an evil spirit. So they might go to a witch doctor or someone to pray that out.
[00:11:19] In western societies, the world's view of truth is that the first thing we do is we go to the doctor.
[00:11:27] Praise God for doctors. Praise God for doctors.
[00:11:31] Margaret was sat in the front row in the first service. She's had some cancer successfully removed from her face. Last week, Fiona was here. Can remember that week. We prayed for Fiona. She was here in the first service.
[00:11:45] Thank you, Lord.
[00:11:48] Is the truth that we should pray before we go to the doctors or after we go to the doctors?
[00:11:59] Interesting postmodern society, which we would describe our society now, is that the world's view of truth?
[00:12:10] You might have heard the phrase my truth. Well, it's my truth. My truth.
[00:12:17] If it feels right to you, then it's true.
[00:12:22] It's my truth.
[00:12:25] And both christian and secular studies that are merging all over the place would suggest that the removal of absolute truth with your truth is one of the most destabilizing things in terms of mental health and anxiety on this planet right now.
[00:12:44] There is a truth. There is a truth. And when we go on Facebook, we go on Instagram. This is the dangerous thing as well.
[00:12:51] If your truth doesn't align with this and you've studied it and you've sought the Holy Spirit, and it still doesn't align with what this says, one of us is wrong.
[00:13:05] That's fair enough, isn't it? One of us is wrong. And when we put our truth out there. There's always someone who will validate it. Someone will like it, someone will validate you.
[00:13:19] All of these things can't be true. Even as Christians. Now, in terms of being pc, we talk about we can't disagree with people.
[00:13:34] Here's another argument on the earth right now. Hindus believe it to be true that we're reincarnated when we die, Christians, we believe we're going to be with the Father, right? Heaven's going to be awesome. We're probably going to sing higher, higher when we're there.
[00:13:53] Spiritists believe we're all going to float around like Casper the ghost.
[00:13:58] They cannot all be true.
[00:14:02] If we stand and say, yeah, it's all the same message. It's not.
[00:14:07] It cannot be true.
[00:14:10] Only one of those things can be true.
[00:14:15] So if we just go back to that very, very first scripture, guys, about renewing your mind, do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing and perfect will.
[00:14:37] My trousers kept falling down before and the Bible talks about the armor of God and one of the things it talks about is the belt of truth. It's buckled around your waist.
[00:14:51] For years I've thought about that as like, I've got to tell the truth, I have to tell the truth and that's part of it. Speak the truth. Absolutely.
[00:15:01] But I'll suggest to you that unless your belt was designed by Jesus and the word that we're getting his word, right, unless it's his truth, your trousers are going to fall down because your truth is not going to keep my truth in keeping these up. But I'm standing firm with the belt of his truth, not the world's truth. Buckled around my waist to stand firm.
[00:15:36] Lord, would you give us discernment and wisdom and, father, also courage to be able to have our trousers held securely and tightly and our lives underpinned not by my truth, but by your truth, not by the world's truth, but by your truth.
[00:16:08] To your glory, Jesus. Amen.
