The New Moral Disorder

Part 1

Dr. Reagan: Greetings in the name of Jesus, our Blessed Hope, and welcome to Christ in Prophecy. The theme of our 2015 annual Bible conference was “Messages for a Rebellious Nation.” The keynote speaker who kicked off the conference was Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church of Dallas. He is a great friend of this ministry, and this was the third time he had spoken at one of our Bible conferences.

Pastor Jeffress’ topic at this conference was “The New Moral (Dis) Order.” He began by providing a brief overview of his latest book called, Countdown to the Apocalypse. The book focuses on three topics: the Rise of Radical Islam, the Increasing Persecution of Christians, and the Moral Decline of Our Nation. In his presentation to us, Pastor Jeffress focused on our nation’s moral decline. Again, he called it “The New Moral (Dis) Order.” As you listen to Pastor Jeffress, keep in mind that he delivered his presentation just two weeks after our Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage. And now, here is Pastor Jeffress.

Dr. Jeffress Presentation

Dr. Jeffress: But the third sign is the one that I want to talk to you about tonight. And that is the increasing moral disorder in our world. Billy Graham wrote, “That moral and spiritual decadence is upon us today becomes evident at every turn of our daily newspaper. We live in a day when old values are rejected and the sense of significance and purpose has disappeared from many people’s lives. Yes, we need to cry out to be saved. Saved from ourselves, for it is the soul of a nation and a culture that is dying! The world is on a moral binge such as was not known even in the days of Rome. We have at our fingertips every pleasure that man is capable of enjoying, and man has abused every gift God ever gave him, including sex, until he no longer finds joy and satisfaction in them.” Those words were written by Billy Graham in 1965 in his book, “World Aflame.” Fifty years ago that was Billy Graham’s diagnosis of our culture. If it was true fifty years ago, how much more is it true today?

You know liberals love to talk about evolution, our culture is evolving, it is getting better, and better, and better, and better. But by any objective standard that could be shown to be false. We are not evolving we are devolving as a world. Let me give you a couple of instances of that.

Let’s look at the devolution of our culture. First of all let’s look at the spiritual devolving of our culture. Of the 7 billion people on our planet today, more than 4 billion of them don’t even acknowledge that they worship the one true God. You saw a few weeks ago Pew Research came out with a study that said, “One-fourth of the American population says they have no religious belief system whatsoever.”

Or secondly look at the family. In America, marriage has become a gamble. The rate of marriage declined by over 50% from 1970-2010. Last year 2014 it reached the lowest level it’s reached in 93 years. And when you quite marrying and have single family households and rearing children in that environment we know all the sociological problems. And by the way the reason for the low marriage rate I think is very clear. Any time you counterfeit something like marriage you cheapen the value of the real thing. And homosexual marriage is nothing by counterfeit marriage. It cheapens, it diminishes the value of marriage. Let me be real clear about this as well it’s not the only thing that devalues marriage, adultery, pre-marital sex, unbiblical divorce, all of these things cheapen marriage. And that is why we are seeing the marriage rate decline.

Or thirdly, look at the violence in our culture. I was up at the crack of dawn this morning on Fox and Friends talking about the horrific case of Kate Steinle, the young women in San Francisco gunned down by an illegal immigrant who had no business being in this country. Or look at what happened in Chicago just a few days ago over the Fourth of July weekend. There were over one million violent crimes in America every year, and it’s been that way for the last 20 years. I found this amazing in 1947 a sociologist named Carle Zimmerman wrote a book entitled “Family and Civilization.” And in that book he identified 11 symptoms of decay that led to the downfall of the Greek and Roman civilizations. Now I’ve got these in my book so you don’t have to write them down but listen to these 11 symptoms, now this is being written in 1947 about Rome and Greece: (1) No Fault-Divorce. (2) The birth dearth that is increased disrespect for parenthood and parents. (3) Meaningless marriage rites and ceremonies. (4) Defamation of past national heroes. (5) Acceptance of alternative marriage forms. (6) Widespread attitudes of feminism, narcissism, hedonism. (7) Propagation of antifamily sentiment. (8) Acceptance of most forms of adultery. (9) Rebellious children. (10) Increase juvenile delinquency. (11) Common acceptance of all forms of sexual perversion. That is what Carle Zimmerman wrote in 1947 that led to the downfall of Rome and Greece.

What is the answer to this downward spiral of moral disorder? In a word it is repentance. Repentance. What is the word repentance mean? You know when we think about repentance we think of some homeless guy and a sandwich board, you know, that says, “Repent! The End of the World is near.” The word repent literally “metanoia” it means to have a change of mind that leads to a change of action. As a nation it is time for us to change our mind. It is time for us to quit rebelling against Almighty God and to start obeying God. That decision last Friday by the Supreme Court was nothing more than our nation collectively shaking its fist in the face of Almighty God, saying, “We don’t care what you think.” God is not going to allow that to go unanswered. The only hope we have is to repent. We are a nation in rebellion and this year’s conference theme captures that. For the few moments that we have tonight I’d like to talk about how our nation has rebelled against God. Two specific areas of this new moral disorder, and then I want to tie it in at the very end to Bible prophecy.

First of all the first area of rebellion is in what God says about marriage. We have shaken our fists in God’s face saying, “We don’t care what you say about marriage.” Now let’s look and see what God does say about marriage. If you have your Bibles tonight turn to Genesis chapter 1 and if you don’t have your Bibles you’re going to have to trust me that I’m not making it up, ok. But let’s look at Genesis 1. Let’s look at the plan, Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” In that simple sentence we find the answer to every question we have: Who we are? Why we are here? And where we are going?

And as you know God in six days of creation finally the last day, the climatic day, His climatic act of creation is noted is mentioned in verses 26-28 then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. And He created man in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.”

Now if you are taking notes tonight I want you to jot down just a couple of principles that we find in this passage. First of all man is created in the image of God. Look at verse 27, “And God created man in His own image, in the image of God.” That word image in Hebrew is a word that means a statue. Man is a statue, he is a representation of God. Now many of you have pets, you may have a dog, a cat, a salamander, a frog I don’t know what you have. You may love your pet but never anywhere does the Scripture say your pet was made in the image of God. Man alone is made in the image of God. There was a great gulf between Adam and Eve and all the other created animals and that gulf was called the image of God. In 1 Corinthians 15:39 Paul said the same thing, he said, “All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another of beasts, and another of birds, and another of fish.” That verse alone drives a nail through the idea of Theistic Evolution. Anybody who says, “Well you know I believe in God but I believe God used evolution to bring about the creation of man.” Anybody who says that knows nothing about science and evolution, and certainly knows nothing about God. The Bible says very clear man is different than all the other created beings, all flesh is not the same flesh.

Now notice principle number two God separated mankind into two categories. Look again at verse 27, “And God created man; male, female and question mark.” Caitlyn is that right? Is that what it says? He created two, male and female, He created them. And that means, that involves that means first of all men and women are equal in their stature before God. Both Adam and Eve were absolutely equal in their position before God, but they were different in the function God gave each one of them. And that means that we respond to one another differently. We have different roles. We have different functions. Just think about this, this is a simple concept but if God meant us all to be equal in function He needed just to create one sex, didn’t He? He just needed to create everybody male, or everybody female. But he didn’t do that; He made them male and female.

Now, ladies you are going to appreciate me doing this. But let me just talk to the men for just a moment here. Guys, quit trying to make your wife just like you. Quit insisting that your wife think like you think. Like the same temperature you like. React to every situation like you would react. You know what the Bible says? When God looked down after creating man, and after God created you He said one of you is plenty I’m not going to make a carbon copy of you. God said to Adam I’m going to make a helper suitable, literally in Hebrew that word means opposite you. God never intended your wife, men, to be a carbon copy of you. He gave you somebody who would complement you; who would sure up the deficiencies in your life. You know the same word that is used for God throughout the Hebrew Old Testament is also used of woman, she is the savior of man. She is the one who sures up the deficiencies; comes along side man and helps him. That means that we are to relate to women differently than we do to men.

And that leads to the prohibition against homosexual behavior. God created male and female which has great sexual implications. Throughout the Bible there are prohibitions against homosexual relations. Look at Leviticus 18:22, “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.” Or Leviticus 20:13, “If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their blood guiltiness is upon them.”

Do you know what the comeback to that is? Even among Christians? They say, “Well, you’re just picking verses out of the Old Testament. You are taking them out of context. You are picking and choosing which Old Testament verses because after all in Leviticus 19 that prohibits homosexual conduct it also says you are not to wear a garment that is made with two different types of material. You don’t follow that law. Then why do you follow this prohibition against homosexuality? Why do you feel free to pick and choose which parts of the Old Testament you are going to obey?” You know what most Christians do when they try to answer that question? Blah, blah, blah, blah, I don’t know. They don’t know how to answer that because they are so ignorant in the Word of God, they don’t know what to say.

Look you know what the answer to that question is? The answer to that questions is we don’t follow the Old Testament. We don’t follow the Old Testament. The Old Testament is called old for a reason. It’s old. It was God’s covenant with Israel. It’s not God’s covenant with us. We are under the New Testament, the new agreement. And yes, the New Testament does incorporate some of the Old Testament. It incorporates some of the Ten Commandments. It incorporates some of the moral principles but it doesn’t incorporate all of them. We follow the New Testament, and the New Testament also prohibits homosexual behavior. Just listen to some of these verses, Romans 1:26-27, “For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural.” That word means against nature. Homosexuality is unnatural. It is against nature.

Did you see two weeks ago that after that Supreme Court ruling the largest newspaper in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania announced as a result of this ruling we will no longer allow any letters to the editor, or any op-ed pieces that refer to homosexuality as unnatural. How’s that for freedom of the press, and freedom of speech? And yet that’s the word the Bible actually uses. It is unnatural. “And in the same way the men also abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.” That’s what the New Testament says about homosexuality. And yet in defiance of that on the eve of that tragic decision two weeks ago, Barack Obama bathed the White House in colors that represent what the Word of God says is nothing but sexual perversion, degradation, and degenerate behavior. That’s what the Word of God says.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” Now don’t misinterpret that verse, the verse isn’t saying homosexuality is the unpardonable sin, that’s not what it’s saying at all. You know if homosexuality is the unpardonable sin, and no homosexual can get into Heaven, notice who else can’t get into Heaven. No adulterer can get into Heaven. Remember what Jesus said, if you ever looked on somebody with lust you are guilty of adultery. No covetous person can enter into Heaven. Have you ever desired something that somebody else has? You’re out too buddy. No, idolater gets into Heaven. Have you ever loved anything or anybody more than you loved God? Out you go as well.

The fact is by this standard none of us can go to Heaven. But you know what He says in verse 11? “And such were some of you, but you were washed, and you were cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.” Make no mistake about it any homosexual can be forgiven of his sin, but he first has to ask and that means acknowledging that it is a sin. That’s what the Bible says, it is a sin. 1 Timothy 1:8-10, “But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, realizing that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for those who are lawless.” And look at the category, “for the unholy, the profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching.” The Bible is clear that homosexuality is a perversion, it is a distortion of God’s plan for humanity.

And that leads to the prohibition against homosexual marriage. How many of you have ever heard anybody say, “Well Jesus never spoke out about homosexuality.” Have you ever heard that one before? Have you ever heard that one before? Well there is a Greek word for that baloney. Baloney. He certainly did condemn homosexuality. And let me show you where He did it. In Matthew 19 the Pharisees were trying to stump Jesus and they said in verse 3,”Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?” And notice how Jesus answered He said, “Have you not read,” you’re the experts go back to the Old Testament, “He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and for this cause a man shall leave his mother and father and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? Consequently, they are no longer two, but they are one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”

Jesus said here is the standard one man, with one woman in a lifetime relationship called marriage. And any deviation from that whether it be adultery, whether it be unbiblical divorce, whether it be premarital sex, whether it be homosexuality, whether it be bestiality, whether it be incest, any deviation is sin. He could have gone on forever talking about every deviation He didn’t do it. He said, “Here is the standard.” He believed one man with one woman for life is the pattern. Ladies and Gentleman what I am trying to say to you tonight is the Bible is not a spiritual buffet where you get to go and pick and choose those parts that are appealing to you. You know I think I’ll have a helping of God, and two helpings of Jesus, and some salvation but I think I’ll leave off that same-sex marriage stuff. You don’t get to do that. We do the world no favors when we refuse to share God’s standards.

You know I am going to say something here tonight, I don’t lay the blame for this same-sex marriage decision, I don’t lay the blame for it at the feet of Barack Obama, or the Supreme Court. I don’t lay the blame for it at the feet of pagans in this country. I lay the blame for this decision at the feet of Evangelical Christians. We have failed to teach our children. We have failed to teach our people in the pew God’s standards. We think we’re going to win people to Christ if we will just shut up about these controversial issues. That is not true. The Christ you are winning them to is the Christ of your imagination not the Christ of the Bible.

You know I like what Joel Rosenberg said, he said, “It is becoming politically incorrect to accept the Bible’s teachings on these and other moral issues or to talk about them publicly. Nevertheless, the Kingdom of Heaven is not a democracy. The Lord is not running for political office. He’s not trying to cobble together a majority. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. What He says goes. How blessed is the man or woman who follows the Word of God, not his or her own desires.” Where God has spoken, we dare not be silent. Now that is the first area of rebellion; what God says about marriage.

The second area of rebellion is what God says about abortion. I want to give you a number 54 million; the number of babies who have butchered in the womb since Roe vs. Wade in 1973. 54 million. 1.3 million being added every year to that number. Do you have any grasp of what 54 million looks like? Here’s is one way to think about it: Take the population of Georgia, plus the population of Michigan, add the population of Virginia and then Nebraska, and then the population of Iowa, add South Dakota, and then Rhode Island, and then add the population of Arizona, plus Oregon, and then add Kansas and Vermont, plus Mississippi, and then add Alaska, and you would have 54 million. That’s 14 states wiped out. Vanished since our government said it is ok to kill your unborn children.

What does God say about this? Well let’s look at first of all what God says about the unborn. Probably one of the most definitive passages you know well is Psalm 139, “For Thou didst form my inward parts; Thou didst weave me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to Thee,” David said, “for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knows it well. My frame was not hidden from Thee, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth.” Who makes children? Listen to what Jeremiah said, “Now the word of the Lord,” Jeremiah 1, “came to me saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.” God is the one who forms that child in the womb.

You know one of the most amazing stories; you may not even remember this story in Luke chapter 1 verse 41 about Elizabeth who was pregnant with John the Baptist. Mary was pregnant with the Lord Jesus. Remember what it says in verse 41, “And it came about that when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby” that is John the Baptist, “leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” You know what is interesting that word baby is “brephos” in Greek, the word baby that infant in Elizabeth’s womb, “brephos.” It’s the same word that is used in the New Testament to refer to children. God sees an unborn child just the same way He sees a child after birth; it is a creation of God. And that explains why God hates violence toward children.

Closing

Dr. Reagan: Now folks, that’s what I call preaching! It’s the kind of preaching that is so desperately needed in our churches today. Instead, the kind of preaching that most people are hearing on Sunday mornings is designed to tickle the ears. It is the seeker sensitive type of preaching that tip toes through the tulips and refuses to talk about unpleasant subjects like sin and repentance for fear that someone might be offended. It is no wonder that our nation is in a state of moral disorder. I hope you will encourage your pastor to speak out strongly and biblically about the moral issues of our society. And when he does so, I hope you will stand by him and encourage him.

Well, that’s our program for this week. I hope it has been a blessing to you, and I hope you will be back with us next week, the Lord willing, when we will broadcast another presentation from our conference by Kelly Shackelford entitled, “Religious Freedom Under Fire.”

Until then, this is Dave Reagan speaking for Lamb & Lion Ministries, saying, “Look up, be watchful, for our Redemption is drawing near.”

End of Program