Dr Greg Bahnsen - Interface with the World: Christianity as World Changing (Part 3)

Today I have tried to explain that the way we should look upon Christianity is that it is a worldview, meaning it brings us to an outlook, a fundamental set of presuppositions having to do with reality and knowledge and how we should live our lives. Christianity pertains to every aspect of life, not just narrowly to some domain having to do with our inward piety or our church life or the salvation of our souls after we die. Christianity encompasses the whole of life. It gives us a way of looking at it and a way of approaching it. Secondly, I said we should not endorse demonic versions of sanctification that say we will be holy if we just withdraw from the physical world, withdraw from the affairs of life and not get involved. Rather, we should as Christians be world affirming. We should be out there applying Christianity to every area of life that we might see Christ transforming everything about us. You've heard now from Dr. Gentry, who is given you something of the grand dimensions of the Great Commission and how all of the scriptures should be applied to all of life, for all of nations throughout all of this age. I think before you go home this afternoon, the question that's going to be on your minds and rightfully should be answered is, is this really going to make a difference? I mean, it's such a grand, glorious task that is set before us. Can it really come about that the world will be changed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ? And so my third presentation today is entitled Christianity is World Changing. Not only is it a worldview, not only is it world affirming, but it's a world changing faith. I must say it's very hard for me to understand how people believe in the sovereignty of God, how they believe that God is the Creator, how they believe that the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world and conquered all things, including the demonic host, became lord over heaven and earth, is going to be the one who judges the world at the end is in control of all things and yet history has been turned over to Satan and the cause of God on earth will fail. I don't see how you bring the theological conception of God the creator, the sovereign, the the King, the final judge into harmony with the notion that God cannot be victorious in history, that this world cannot be changed. It's just impossible that we'll see the Gospel do the job which we've been talking about today. And so I'd like to take just a few moments, give a little bit shorter presentation than what I have previously, but try to encourage you and give your hearts, hope that the Bible says God will see to it that this world is changed by those who are faithful to the task that we've outlined for you already. Christianity is a worldview that is world affirming will turn out to be Christianity that is world changing. Interestingly, In Acts, the 17th chapter, we see the accusation made against the Christians of that day that they have turned the world upside down. Now, even in the days of the apostles, then you see that Christians were accused of changing the world. The unbelieving world thought of course, that Christians got it topsy turvy. They got it wrong. But they certainly knew that there was something threatening about this Christian message because they come here and they turn the world upside down, you know, over against the Christianity that we see in the late 20th century. That's quite a compliment, isn't it? The Christianity that I see all around me today could not be flattered without accusation. I doubt that very many people who understand the teaching of the Christian churches would say, you know what's really frightening about this gospel? It would change everything. It would turn the world upside down. Christians aren't proclaiming a gospel like that. We've taken some of the challenge and some of the sting and some of the power out of the gospel because we don't give the impression to people that the world is supposed to really be changed by what we're talking about. Remember what Jesus taught us to pray thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. With the coming of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we have nothing less than the proclamation that there's a new king in town. Actually, there's a new king over all of the earth. The proclamation of the gospel is that the kingdoms of this world have become his. They now belong to our Lord and to his Christ. You no longer own yourself, we say to the nations. You no longer belong to this world system. Because Jesus claims everything in this world as his own. He has all power and authority in heaven and on earth. And so we pray that his kingdom would come on earth even as it is in heaven. Paul tells us in Romans the 11th chapter that as the gospel conquers the earth, it's going to bring about such a renovation that it will be like life from the dead. I think we should consider this Romans chapter 11. And I'd like to read from the 11th verse to the 15th. Romans 11:11. Paul, speaking of the situation of ethnic Israel says, I say, then did they stumble that they might fall? Israel has rejected the Messiah. Did they stumble that they might fall? God forbid. But by their salvation is Come. Excuse me. By their fall, salvation is come unto the Gentiles who to provoke them, to provoke the Jews to jealousy. Now, if their fall, if the fall of the Jews is the riches of the world and their loss the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness. Paul's asking this question. If the falling away of the Jews has meant that the Gentile world is blessed with the coming of the Gospel, so that a large number of Gentile converts are found in the kingdom of God, if that turns out to be the riches of the world, what will happen when the Jews being provoked to jealousy, turn and now all of Israel comes in as well. Now if there fall is the riches of the world and their loss the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness. But I speak to you that are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I glorify my ministry. If by any means I may provoke to jealousy them that are of my flesh and may save some of them. But if the casting away of them is the reconciling of the world, notice that word reconciling again. If the Jews having been cast off for this period of time means that the Gentile world is reconciled, what shall the receiving of the Jews be but life from the dead? Is Christianity going to change the world? It certainly is. It's going to bring about a richness to the Gentile world. It's going to provoke the Jews to jealousy so that they are brought back into the kingdom of God. And when that happens, when the Jewish and the Gentile worlds together are worshiping the same Savior and glorifying God through Him, it's going to be so wonderful on earth that it's going to be like life from the dead. Paul says, now, friends, this is not the late great planet Earth. And people who have engaged in that kind of false prophecy are being disproven time after time after time. We mustn't look upon this world as a has been. And I'm afraid that there's a mental picture that we have been given, certainly an attitude that that has been instilled in us by fundamentalists and dispensational preachers that suggest that, you know, we're just really beat back and beat back as the kingdom of God and all we can do to just kind of hold on, just hold off this onslaught of the world and unbelief and just maybe we can survive to the point of the Rapture and then pop, we're out of here and we don't have to worry about this place anymore. We have the idea, you see, that the darkness is growing and growing and growing and the poor church you see is backed up against the wall. And we just hope somehow that Satan and hell will not be able to get us. Jesus said that he would build his church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. Jesus doesn't use this image of our being in a defensive position. He says we are offensive and it's the gates of hell that should be worried. He assures us the gates of hell will not prevail. And yet we have this idea that we're being pushed back, back, back. I'd like to take a few moments to talk about another world changing metaphor that we find in the Bible. It's a pervasive one, very important one has to do with light. I brought this up a bit earlier, I'd like to expand on it now. You think about the importance of light and the power of light. Light. When you light something in a dark place, you don't find that the darkness has the ability to put it out in the very nature of the case. The light scatters the darkness. The darkness does not extinguish the light. You all know that from your natural experience. It's not surprising therefore that the Bible uses this imagery of light. And I'd like to trace that through, through very briefly for you this afternoon, that your hearts might take hope that Christianity will indeed be a world changing faith rather than a faith that's just doing its best to hold off the onslaught of the world. I'm not an adherent of the Big Bang theory of cosmology, but I think it's very interesting that those who do teach the origin of the world according to, according to some naturalistic Big Bang theory hold that all of energy was compacted at one point into a very small dimensionless point that exploded. And then out of that came everything that's in the physical world. And after a period of time, you have the gravitational condensing of this energy into areas of matter, condensations of matter, the galaxies and so forth. And ever since the point of the Big Bang, we're told ever since that original explosion, the universes have been expanding outward. The universe has been getting larger and larger and larger, and the physical things in the world have been getting further and further apart from each other. So you have an initial point of energy which explodes, and then the universe begins to expand outward. Now, according to Big Bang cosmology, it took something like 300,000 years before light appeared. And the reason for that is because molecular clouds were so dense that all light you see was caught in that gravitational force and energy field. And so it takes, like, 300,000 years of expansion until finally you have what is called the flash point for the universe. And at the flash point after the Big Bang, then there is light. And it's this which is studied when astronomers look at the background radiation and study red shift and so forth to tell us how the universe is getting larger and larger. What we are allegedly seeing is something of the history of the universe after its flash point of light. What's interesting about this theory, and I want to use as an illustration, is after that flash point of light, there is no going back. When light finally breaks forth, you see now the universe is a new place. The darkness, you see, recedes to the background. And what we have then is the expansion of light and radiation. And whatever it may be that is studied in terms of the redshift and so forth comes because of that. Light is extremely powerful. Light drives out the darkness. Jesus tells us in John the first chapter that he is the light of the world. John 1:4:9. We read of him. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness. And then catch this. It's very important. The darkness apprehended it not. The light shines in darkness, and the darkness apprehends it not. There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness that he might bear witness of the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came that he might bear witness of the light. There was the true light, even the light, which lights every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him. And the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and those who were his own received him not. John tells us, Jesus was born as the light of men. He came into the world to scatter the darkness. And yet we see that, at least at first, when he came into this world, his own received him not. It seems like he's to be rejected. Of men. In John 3:19, we read, and this is the judgment that the light is come into the world. But men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil. It doesn't seem like a great beginning. The light of men is born. Here we have the one who has the light of life. John comes to bear witness to that light, but men reject it. He comes to his own, they won't receive it. Men don't want to follow the light because they live in darkness and the light exposes them. However, this isn't the end of the story. Jesus is the light of life. But if you look at the New Testament images about light, you see that there's a development from the initial beginning of the birth of this light and what it's going to eventually accomplish. The first inklings of that history of the light of the world will be found in the Gospel of Luke, chapter one, verses 78 and 79. I don't have time to expound the entire passage, but what we have is the Benedictus of Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist. Zacharias has these wonderful words to bless the Lord because of the prophecy of the birth of John and of course, the Messiah. And we read at the last part of verse 78, whereby the dayspring from on high shall visit us to shine upon them that sit in darkness and the shadow of the death to guide our feet into the way of peace. Here Zacharias uses the image of the day spring, the coming of the sun at morning. At morning break. Do you know what the darkness is like? Have you ever been up at that time? Some of you maybe have to get up and go to work at that time in the morning. It's really glorious to see the sun rise, isn't it? But you see, the sun doesn't rise by just going boom, right into the middle of the sky. The day spring rises gradually and the first beams of light are glorious. They begin to scatter the darkness, and yet you still feel darkness about. But as the sun gets higher, then more and more darkness goes, until we finally get to midday, until the full brightness of the sun. Jesus is the light of life, and he is born as the dayspring on high. He comes as the morning light does to us. Turn back to John's Gospel and we'll go through a few more verses quickly. John 8:12. Again, therefore Jesus spake unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life. He is the light of life, and he says, those who follow him will have the light of life. John 12:46. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me may not abide in the darkness. When Jesus comes into this world and people believe on him, some of the darkness is scattered. They don't abide in darkness any longer. When he comes into this world and becomes their Savior and their lord. In John 12:35 and 36 we read, Jesus therefore said unto them, yet a little while is the light among you. Walk while ye have the light that darkness overtake you not. And he that walketh in the dark darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While you have the light, believe on the light. And then here's the point of this reading. In order that you may become sons of light, you are now going to take on the character of the one who is the light of life as he is the light of life. You will have the light of life as you follow him rather than the darkness. You become sons of of light. And thus In Matthew the Fifth chapter, verse 14, Jesus doesn't say of himself that he's the light of the world. He says, you are the light of the world. He comes into this world like the daybreak. He comes into this world as the light of life. And he shines on those who believe in him that the darkness is scattered in their lives and they become sons of light. And he calls them the light of the world as they reflect his light to the world that is in darkness. Thus Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:5, for you are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness. Interestingly, Paul is in this context telling us why we don't have to worry about the second coming of Jesus Christ coming upon us as a shock, as a surprise. The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ will not be, for those who are faithful, a great surprise. He will not come as a thief in the night upon them. Now that has got to appear. It's got to sound anyway, heretical to those who have seen all the movies and the pamphlets and heard all this dispensational preaching about Jesus coming as a thief in the night. It's going to be the secret rapture no one knows, and so forth. Paul says in First Thessalonians 5, 4, but you brothers are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. An amazing verse refuting the dispensational preaching and scare tactics that we've heard for years and years and years. He says, you are not in darkness. Jesus won't come upon you suddenly, unexpectedly, as a thief, for you are all sons of the light and sons of the day. Jesus is the light of life, and we have become sons of light. We have gained the light of life ourselves. And so Paul tells us in Ephesians 5, 8:14 that this will have an effect on the world itself round about us. Ephesians 5:8 14 for you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is well pleasing unto the Lord, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them for the things which are done by them in secret. It is a shame even to speak of but all things, when they are reproved, are made manifest by the light. For everything that is made manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee. Christ comes as the the dayspring from on high the morning light. And as he rises, the light of life shines on men, and they gain the light of life, and they become sons of the light. And even as he is the light of the world, they become the light of the world. And as they become the light of the world, they reprove the darkness round about them. Beginning to get the picture how the light comes gradually into the world, but it scatters the darkness and pushes it out first in the life of Jesus and his ministry, and then as he shines on his followers and they believe in him, they become the light of the world, they reprove the darkness of the world round about them. Look at 1 John 1:571 John 1:57 and this is the message which we've heard from him, and announce unto you that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. Christians who think that they can enjoy salvation from sin, they can look forward to eternal life, their souls going to heaven after they die. But they don't have to change their lifestyle, they don't have to be sanctified, they don't have to be disciples of Christ and show a distinctiveness in this world are liars. Now if John hadn't said that, I know that you people, especially with your Southern manners and courtesy, would consider me way out of line to come here and call somebody a liar. But you see, if I'm going to be true to the word of God, I have to tell you, those who proclaim the idea of salvation without a changed life are lying. You cannot belong to the light and not scatter darkness. It's impossible. And so look at 1 John 2:8 in this regard again a new commandment write I unto you which thing is true in him and in you. Because the darkness is passing away and the true light already shines. Well, you may want to underline that in your Bibles. When you get discouraged and you listen to the six o' clock news and you say, how could it possibly be that this world is going to be changed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ? You go back and read first John 2:8. Because there you read, the darkness is passing away and the true light already shines. The darkness is passing away. In fact, In Romans the 13th chapter, verses 11 to 13, the apostle Paul agrees with John the Apostle in giving us reason to think that we shouldn't be thinking of the darkness as growing, but rather as the light spreading out and scattering the darkness. Romans 13:11, 13 and this knowing the season, that already it is time for you to awake out of sleep. For now is salvation nearer to us than when we first believed. The night is far spent and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness. Let us put on the arms armor of light. Let us walk becomingly as in the day. The biblical image I hope I have demonstrated to you is that Christ has come into this world as the morning daybreak. He has come into this world as the day spring on high. He has brought the light of life. He shines on men who believe in him, and they become sons of light. They become the light of the world. They reprove the unfair, fruitful works of darkness. And as they do, the darkness spreads. And according to the Bible, the darkness is passing away and the night is far spent. Now I know that it's very hard for people to believe this sometimes, but you have got to let your thinking be governed by the word of God rather than by your own experience in the world. We mustn't take what we read in the world and what we experience in the world and bring it back to the Bible and say, oh well, that can't be what the Bible is saying. We've got to interpret the Bible in light of what we see all around us. No, we need to interpret everything around us in light of what the Bible tells us about the light growing, the night being far spent, and the dayspring on high sending out its beams to scatter its darkness. What has John already told us? The darkness you see cannot stop the light. The light comes into the world and the darkness cannot put it out. The darkness must flee. One more verse in terms of this pervasive image in scripture. First Peter 1:19. First Peter 1: and the 19th verse. Did I say one Peter to you? Two Peter. Pardon my mistake. Second Peter 1:19. And we have the word of prophecy made more sure. Whereunto you do well that you take heed as unto a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. Ere again the confidence that the word of God. God, which is of course tied to the ministry and person and work of Jesus Christ. The word of God is like a lamp shining in a dark place. And we know that the day is going to dawn and the day star arise in our hearts. Is Christianity going to change this world? It certainly is. It's going to turn it upside down. The kingdom of God is going to come on earth. The kingdoms of this world become the law, Lord, and of our Christ. It's going to be like life from the dead. When we see the Gentile and the Jewish world together brought into the kingdom of Jesus Christ. It's going to be like the morning brightness now rising to the noontide heat so that the darkness is going to scatter before the face of God's people. Sons of the light who are the light of the world, reflecting the light of Jesus Christ, who is the light of life. That sure sounds wonderful, Dr. Bronson. Can I really believe it though? Isn't that just wishful thinking? Does the Bible teach us that the kingdom of Jesus Christ will see that kind of growth and that kind of impact in the world? Well, it's a big question. I'm only going to take a few minutes to deal with it. But let me see if I can't give you some reason believe that the Bible actually teaches that the kingdom of Jesus Christ, the light of life, is going to grow in the way that I told you. Isaiah 54:1 3 is the first indication of growth that we'll take a look at. Isaiah 54:1 3. Isaiah says, Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear, break forth into singing. Cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child. For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith Jehovah, enlarge the place of thy tent. Let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitation. Spare not, lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes. For thou shalt spread abroad on the right hand and on the left. And thy seed shall possess the nations and make the desolate cities to be Inhabited. Is the kingdom of God going to grow? It certainly is. In fact, the call of Isaiah is, lengthen the cords, get more material for the tent. We're going to need a bigger place. And the reason why we're going to need it is because on the right hand and on the left, God's kingdom is going to spread abroad and his seed shall possess the nations. Yes, there's going to be a period of growth. We're going to have to make bigger and bigger and bigger churches. We're going to have to have more and more and more churches, and we're going to need more Christian schools. And we're going to need to anticipate a day where even the desolate cities will be inhabited again, because the kingdom of God is going to grow in that way. Isaiah has already said in the ninth chapter of his prophecy, speaking of the one who is going to be born. Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. The government shall be upon his shoulder. His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And then verse seven tells us of the increase of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to establish it and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from henceforth, even forever, the zeal of Jehovah, of hosts will perform this. Of the increase of his government, there shall be no end. Isaiah is not talking about the day after Jesus comes back. He's not talking about the eternal state, because there's not going to be an increase in his government at that point. At that point it's going to be consummated. His work is going to be done. Isaiah is talking about this age in which we live. After the son who is promised has been born, he has brought a kingdom, and that is going to grow and grow and grow, and nothing will stop it from doing so. Stretch out the state. We need more room. God's seed is going to expand on the right hand and on the left, because of the increase of his government. There will be no end. In Daniel 2:35, Daniel interprets for King Nebuchadnezzar a dream in which dream a stone that is cut without hands, that is to say a divine stone not of human making, comes and smashes the world empires. And they then, you see, are blown away by the wind, and the stone begins to grow, as Daniel says, and it fills the entire earth. And so does the Bible tell us the kingdom of God will grow. It most certainly will Stretch out the stakes, we need more room. Of the increase of his government. There shall be no end. The stone will grow to fill the earth. And Jesus in his own way, in Matthew 13, verses 31 and 32, says that the kingdom of God, very mysterious. It's like this, like a small mustard seed, looks so insignificant, is so small, but once it is planted, grows to be a huge bush in which the birds of the air flock to. And so the kingdom will be like that. It's going to experience growth in this world. And perhaps the most dramatic literary figure of this growth that we find in the Bible is in First Corinthians 15, 22, 26, Paul speaks of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And then he looks to the future resurrection of Christ's people that will take place when Christ returns again. First Corinthians 15 I begin at the 22nd verse. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive, but each in his own order. Christ, the first fruits. Christ has already been raised. He's the beginning of the harvest of resurrection. Then they that are Christ at His coming, those who belong to Christ will be raised from the dead when he returns. And at that point Paul says, then comes the end when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father. We know that when Christ returns, there's no more growth in the kingdom. When Christ returns and his people are raised from the dead, then he hands it over to the Father as a consummated work of redemption. When he shall have abolished all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until he put all his enemies under his feet. Christ has come into this world as a king. He has established that divine dominion. He is the redemptive king, lord over heaven and earth. And he must reign until every enemy is put under his feet. The last enemy that shall be abolished is death. And when will Christ abolish death? When will death have been finally defined, defeated? When he calls those who belong to him back to life? When he gives life to their mortal bodies, when they, as the follow up of the resurrection harvest, are finally resurrected themselves? Now Paul tells us human history is going to be put to an end at the resurrection of God's people, Then Jesus will hand the kingdom over to the Father, will be a consummated work of redemption. No more growth, no more work to be done. And we know that the last enemy he's going to defeat is going to be death, which he defeats at that general resurrection. And so what's going to happen before then? What's Jesus doing now? He's putting every enemy under his feet. This is a reference to Psalm 110, which you've already been told by Dr. Gentry is the most quoted portion of the Old Testament in the New Testament itself. Let's look at that real briefly. Psalm 110, the first three verses. Jehovah saith unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. As Jesus sits at the right hand of God upon the ascension being exalted and enthroned in heaven over everything having to do with earthly affairs, we read that Jehovah will make his enemies the footstool of his feet. Jehovah will send forth the rod of thy strength out of Zion Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Again, an indication we're not talking about the eternal state here, because then Jesus will not rule in the midst of his enemies. Those who are enemies will have been separated from all eternity, from those who belong to his kingdom. Here we're talking about the earthly reign of Jesus Christ. The reign of Christ during earth's duration. Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people offer themselves willingly in the day of thy power in holy array out of the womb of the morning so there we have it again. Jesus will come and out of the womb of the morning the dayspring on high will be there and gradually every enemy will be put under his feet. The darkness will be scattered and we'll see the light shine. Can you be sure that this kingdom is going to grow? Yes, you can. The Bible tells us that the zeal of Jehovah of hosts will accomplish it. Isaiah 9:7 God is jealous to see this happen. You might reflect on that for a moment. I'm afraid many preachers today give the idea that even God is somewhat stymied by the unbelief and rebellion in the world. In fact, we have a picture of Jesus given to us that suggest that even he will be defeated by the darkness of this world. Because on one interpretation of biblical prophecy, when Jesus comes back, he's going to try to establish an earthly kingdom with military might and things will go all right for a while. But then the day will come when the world nations are gathered together against him and even Jesus in his glorified body will be trapped in the city of Jerusalem and can do nothing about this onslaught of unbelief until he's rescued by fire from heaven. I'm afraid that picture of biblical prophecy has got it all wrong. Jesus is not in Jerusalem being rescued by fire from heaven. The Bible says he is the fire from heaven. He comes in flaming fire with his angels in judgment upon this world that has rebelled. Jesus is not going to fail to accomplish what he wishes to do. God is not hopeful and pleading and as it were, frustrated by this world. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will accomplish what has been promised. In fact, it is the promise of the Father to the Son that this will take place. In the second Psalm we read of Jehovah enthroning His Son upon His Holy Spirit. Here we have the anointed one of God, the King of Zion. And we are told in Psalm 2 that Jehovah says to his Son the Messiah, ask of me and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Ask me and I will do it. Has Jesus forgotten to pray that prayer? Has Jesus forgotten to ask, Will the Father deny His Son what He asked for? Of course he will not. He will see to it that every enemy is put under his feet. In Isaiah 53:11 we are told that the Messiah as a suffering servant will see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. Is Jesus satisfied today to have the nations in rebellion against Him? To have the medical profession in rebellion against Him? To have educational institutions in rebellion against Him? Is he satisfied to have governments plotting against him and Jehovah to cast off their cords from them? No. He who sits in the heavens laughs at all this rebellion. He will deride it because the day is coming when the nations of this world are truly going to own up to their true king, the Lord Jesus Christ. The promise of the Father will be granted to the Son. He will seal of the travail of his soul. He will be satisfied. As Jesus himself said, the gates of hell will not prevail against his Church. It's hell that's on the run, my friends, not the kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And so don't be misled, don't be discouraged by those who preached a gospel of defeat in this world. They would like to put us on the run, running from the world, scared that we won't be able to overcome, not be able to deal with the problems of this world. Scared so much that our only hope is to get away from this mess and be raptured out of it. It the Lord Jesus will turn you around from that and he'll send you back into this world. And he'll say, listen, hell doesn't stand a chance because of who I am, I will build my church and even the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Can you imagine the dramatic day when Queen Victoria heard for the first time Handel's Messiah presented there was this commissioned work, the grandest music that's ever been written in the English speaking world. And when Queen Victoria heard what we now call the Hallelujah Chorus, the declaration from heaven that the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. The Queen stood in her place and took her crown off her head. My friends, that's just the beginning of better days ahead. The day is coming when all monarchs are going to take the crowns off their head and cast them at the feet of Jesus and acknowledge that he is truly the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and that his kingdom is that which has dominion and might over all the world. That'll be a great day when the darkness has finally been scattered and Jesus reigns in noonday brightness. Please continue your work for the reform of this country. Please continue your work for the reform of your vocation, of your schools, your churches, your families. Do not be discouraged in that work. Please see that Christianity is a discipleship that requires a world and life view. Please do not run from this world and retreat, but transform all areas of life because Christianity affirms this world. And please don't ever stop in this work. Be assured of this that your labor is not in vain in the Lord, Christianity shall truly in the power of the Holy Spirit because of the resurrected might of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, be a world changing faith.

This time we'd like to give you an opportunity to ask questions of today's two speakers. And let me start by Dr. Bonson asking you a question about your second presentation on the world. I think others had a question about this as well, about Christianity being a world affirming faith and well, we see the need to affirm the world and not be retreatist. Let me ask if there are instances when people should flee from worldliness and sin and the world in this ethical sense of the cosmos.

Yes. I had a couple of people ask me during lunch a similar kind of question, wondering whether Christians are not called upon to separate from the world. Well, I hope I didn't give you the impression that we aren't to separate from the world. What I was trying to tell you is what sense in which we separate from the world. To separate from the world does not mean that we are not involved involved in the affairs of life. It doesn't mean that we retreat from the physical realm. What it means is that we don't engage in the wickedness that we find in the world, that we walk according to the will of God rather than according to worldliness and according to the desires of those who are in rebellion against God. And so when someone wants to know, well, should I read obscene literature or. Or listen to terrible, rebellious music or something, my answer is, well, of course you should separate from those things, but not because they are music and not because they are literature, not because they participate of the affairs of this temporal age, but because they are wicked examples of literature and wicked examples of music or politics or education or what have you. And so, yes, we must separate from the world. But my point is, in that sense, we are separating from unbelief and rebellion and disobedience. We're not separating from things because somehow money is bad or politics is bad or music is bad or literature is bad. What we want to separate is from wicked politics and wicked money, wicked use of money and wicked music and literature and all the rest of the.

Or maybe even wicked money. Yes. Can you speak louder? It's a question about the use of light in the Old Testament. Is your question for Dr. Bonson.

What is the question? Is there a difference in the history of life in the New Testament contrasting the Old Testament? Why don't you suggest to me why that question has been provoked in your mind and see if I can help resolve it? What would suggest to you that there is a difference, probably with the children of Israel? Oh, okay. I thought you were asking me about a difference in the use of the literary figure of light in Old Testament and New. What you're talking about is there a difference between the development of God's kingdom in the Old Testament and the development of God's kingdom in the New? And the answer is absolutely. That's why a new covenant is made. Jeremiah says that God made a covenant with Israel. There was nothing wrong with the covenant, that covenant, but they broke it, they didn't follow it. And the days are coming in the new covenant when God will now write the law upon the heart so that we will now have a new disposition. And out of the heart are the issues of life. We will now live the issues of life in obedience to God and to his law. Israel is a long history of failure for God's kingdom in the sense of accomplishing what God wanted Israel to do in this world. Israel was supposed to be a light to the nations in the old covenant. Israel failed to do that. Israel had to be judged by God for its own idolatry. And by the time God sends his Son into this world, Israel rejects its own Messiah. Israel calls upon Rome to crucify the Son of God. So we have this long history where finally Israel is apostate and rejected by God. Jesus says the kingdom of God is taken from you and given to a nation producing the fruit thereof. And so yes, there is a definite transition. There's a real point of change from the kingdom of God in anticipation Israel of old to the kingdom of God in realization in the New Testament. Because now Jesus having come and accomplished salvation and giving the power of the Spirit and writing the law upon our hearts, now Jesus is going to accomplish what the Old Testament Jews could never have done, so without the coming of the king. You know, sometimes dispensationalists give us that little motto, no kingdom without a king. And that's why they think we have to wait for the return of Jesus Christ. Well, I happen to agree with their motto no kingdom without a king. To which I say, and the king has come.

Other questions? Yes.

Why is it regarding Christianity as a worldview? Why is it so seems to be that the body of Christ as a whole is so much more counterattack body of Christ rather than the worldview around us?

For instance, in the area of contemporary.

Christian music, the other music that's pumped over our Airways, our FM stations 24 hours a day, is far more ungodly. That's far more harm than society temporary Christian music does.

I understand your question. I believe that Christians have an innate sense of the authority of Christ, knowing that he has fundamental authority over them and they have failed in it. And when there are other Christians who come along urging them to a fuller commitment and when you're on the right, someone that makes them on your left and consequently it makes the Christians who are complacent in their watered down Christianity to feel uneasy because there's someone on their right calling their hand at not putting their hand properly to the plow to plow for the kingdom's sake. And in my experience, in Christian reconstruction circles, Christian reconstructionists are maligned on all sides, largely due to the fact that we're trying to be rigorously biblical, whereas the rest of the Christian world is adapting to natural law and to cultural norms and to personal feelings, whereas our call is to go back to the word of God. Does that answer your question? Is that what you were getting toward? Why do Christians why there are more criticism body Christ among itself than towards.

Those forces on the outside that are far more destructive.

Well, that's, that's unfortunate, but that's partly the experience I have had within the Christian reconstructionist circles that we're embarrassing those who haven't been attacking those outside of the church and there's a tendency to retreat and a reduced view of the gospel, that it is not a world affirming gospel, but it's a gospel that saves us and we pray for the Rapture to take us out of the world and consequently we're meddling in the affairs of the world which we should never do. Chris Chan.

Chris Oh Chris, good question.

Dr. Bonson, you mentioned about the world getting better in the sense of the light shining and slowly scattering the darkness.

One of your comment on the I've.

Always understood the scriptures speak of a time when Satan's going to be loosed at the end and coming against the church. And how does that fit into the whole scenario of the church growing stronger and larger? When I said it in class back in the old days, the Scripture teaches in Revelation 20 that at the end of this long era of righteousness, which neither Dr. Bonson nor I believe to be exactly a thousand year reign of Christ, it's a symbolic time frame that Satan will be loosed from the binding of that God has placed upon him in the ministry of Christ. For a season he is loosed by external forces. In other words, he doesn't break loose. God looses him. Evil might come to its full fruition as Christianity and righteousness has come to its full fruition in history. And during that brief time the scripture is very clear, it's a brief time. Satan takes those who have been following along with the Christian norms because it works, or for reasons other than to worship the true and the living God and incites them to rebellion. And then at that point in time Jesus comes in flaming fire taking vengeance upon his enemies. But we need to keep in mind that is a brief era at the very end that God specifically ordains. And it's after a long period of time of conquest of the world by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Yes, I have a formal work for this question. We have been in 1990 years of growth of the Kingdom of Christ. How do we know that we're not in that time where Satan has been loosed? I'm glad you asked that question because I had a the question has to do how do we know after 1900 years that we haven't seen that long period of time and now maybe we're approaching or in the short season when Satan has been loosed. And the answer to the question is because God has not accomplished all the things he has promised to do in the period of the reign of his Son before his Son returns. I had a section in my last lecture where I wanted to go over some of the characteristics of this age, and we just ran out of time, so I went ahead and I chopped that out. But since you've asked, maybe I could take a moment and just tell you a few of these things. Actually, I'm doing it without my notes, so I'll do it real briefly here. The Bible tells us Malachi 111 this is a real killer. I think that a pure offering will be made to Jehovah from the rising of the sun to the going down of the saints. Malachi says that the day is going to come when around the world the sun will never set on a place where God is not being worshipped purely. That is to say, God is going to take away idolatry, he's going to take away paganism, he's going to lead his people to worship him properly, and that's going to consume the earth. We've never seen a day in the history of these last 1900 years where that could be said of the earth. Isaiah tells us in chapter two of his prophecy that the nations are going to want to hear the law of God, and the law of God will go forth. And as the nations hear and do these things, they'll change their focus from military pursuits to agricultural and positive pursuits. They will beat their swords into plowshares. To use the poetic imagery of the prophet, the day is going to come when they will learn war no more. Why? Because they're learning the law of God. We've not seen such a day on earth yet. In Isaiah, the 65th chapter, we read that God is going to give such prosperity to this world that when a person dies at 100 years old, it will be considered a child who is born, who has died. My mouth will start working pretty soon. And so we have a day when there's going to be longevity of life promised a day when there's going to be peace on earth, where there's going to be the gospel heard around the world, and the nations are going to hear those things and believe them. Psalm 72 tells us that righteousness is going to prevail in his day. The righteous shall flourish, which means the oppressed will be delivered in the law courts, and the laws of God are going to be followed. We haven't seen such a day in earth's history up to this point. In Isaiah, the 11th chapter, we read that the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. And as much as there's been evangelistic and missionary success over the last nearly 2,000 years, we haven't yet seen the day when the earth is so flooded with the knowledge of the Lord. It's a reversal of the curse of Noah's flood. We haven't seen that kind of widespread conversion. The nations have not come in concert. They have not learned the law of God. There has not been widespread conversion. There has not been peace on earth, the longevity of life, and the oppressed being delivered by the righteous laws of God. But I'm waiting for that day to come. It's going to.

Yes, Brent.

According to God's covenant, obedience to God's word brings blessedness and disobedience brings a curse. It doesn't matter whether you are professing and professing unbelievers in one sense of that. You have been in these circles for a number of years, it seems to me, and I want to ask because you both have access to large numbers of people, it seems to me that particularly the United States, but possibly around the world, that people are being forced to be what we call epistemologically self conscious. How we know what we know and actually acting in accordance with what we believe. Do you see that it is in your circles that it is getting harder to stay on the fence, that you are either having to come down to serve Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, or not to. And how do you see that as being positive or negative?

I see since Jerry Falwell started things like the Moral Majority, he has begun acting in a way that is not consistent with his dispensationalism. Now I realize it's been disbanded. He feels like his task has been accomplished. But it is remarkable that someone who has a retreatist short term view of history and an imminent rapture that would urge us not to get involved in the affairs of this world would start an organization that would confront the things of this world. We would see in that that he's beginning or has begun somewhat to act, at least in terms of more of a full orbed Christian faith. I see that in several little areas around. You know, in my experience that someone has told me here at Tennessee Temple College, where I graduated, it used to be the case that students were forbidden to get involved in abortion protests and things of that sort. But the pressure is on now. It's so obvious that as evil is becoming more mature in our culture and the effect so dramatic that the Christians, even though they don't have the exegetical foundation in terms of a proper eschatology, nevertheless they're wrong. Rising up as a reflex of a soul that is righteous in terms of their faith that they have. They're making this reflex. And I believe that this reflex action against abortion and homosexuality and various things like that will ultimately move them to consider, well, surely I have an exegetical basis somewhere in Scripture to do what I'm doing. And I'm not just doing it because I feel this way, but there must be a reason. And I believe that we will see and that we're beginning to see on a small scale more and more people responding to the evils and attempting to replace that which is evil with that which is righteous. And they're going to be looking about for foundations for what they're doing. And I believe those foundations are found in the law of God.

Yes.

I'm concerned that some might be led to moderate use of marijuana. On the basis of a study that was done some years ago at an institution in California that advanced graduate mathematical students were given tests with complicated math problems and after a brief minimal exposure to marijuana, were unable to perform these tests and even later, when tested again, never returned to being able to function. That's what they did before the exposure to marijuana on the basis of tolerance. The body is the temple or the Holy Spirit not to profane it. And the demonstration of marijuana does cause permanent brain damage. I wonder if you would like to use fine eyes or strict.

Sure. Well, I'm going to bite the bullet. Paul says that everything created by God is good. And I will then put in the second premise, Mary. Marijuana was created by God and therefore it is good. Now, I think I also said maybe I did it too much under my breath and some of you didn't catch it, that the recreational use for which it's become popular is probably not the good that God intended when he created marijuana. So before you all go home and have this juicy little tidbit about Dr. Bonson affirming marijuana, I hope that you'll remember that what I said is since it is a creation of God, it has its appropriate use. And I'm not going to get into the debate whether its appropriate use of smoking it. I doubt very seriously that it is, regardless of the claims made one way or another in the scientific community. But it is a very good source of hemp and rope. It's also apparently has its medicinal qualities that are helpful, totally apart from recreational smoking of it and so forth. And so I'm glad for the opportunity to clarify that. I'm not endorsing marijuana, understood as a party drug, but I am certainly endorsing it as a creation of God.

Thank you very much for that. There's a question over here.

Yeah, I have a question concerning, I guess, politics and religion. What do you think of mixing with non Christian channels? For example, should we look into developing.

Our own party.

Is existing as a country? Should we try to establish it? Well, it is created in the United States at this point, but we work with Spanish, we work within our own political parties. We're already in also working with non Christian organizations, at which time at Feminists for life, atheist for life, 80s for life. I was loudly tickets and funded, but I could really use their help on a Saturday in a clinic. Involvement with nitrous groups should be welcome to them if they help achieve a rank or not.

You have to be aware of the age in which you are living in order to answer that question, I think accurately. And the answer that is given today might not be the answer that was appropriate 50 years ago, past or 50 years in the future. But I would say for myself, you know, trying to make that evaluation, applying the word of God, that at this point it is probably necessary for Christians to make limited common cause with people who have the right conclusions, even though we may want to be evangelizing them out on the lines about the premises leading to their conclusions. Because you see, we live in a day where children are being slaughtered, slaughtered, where sexual perversion is being endorsed and so forth. And so, except in cases of outlandish things such as racism or people advocating violence and so forth, I think we will have to gradually and for the moment make common cause with these people without giving up an explanation of why we are doing what we are doing and trying to have the gospel be heard. Likewise, with respect to a Christian political party, my own opinion is at this point Christians would probably embarrass themselves if they tried to put together a political party. Because what the world will expect, and rightly so, is that if Christians have something to offer, they ought to be able to get together and decide what their book tells us about politics. But can you imagine what it would be like, like if we invited Christians from all these different denominations at this point, all these different opinions together? Let's say we just had a room about this size. We had 200 representatives from various Christian denominations. How many premises, how many specific Applicatory, practical premises of politics. Do you think we would agree on that? Many. I'm convinced of it and I'm not happy about that. I'm embarrassed by that. That's one of the reasons, though, that I continue in my ministry of Christian education and teaching. We have to nurture people to be theologically straight, to think consistently in terms of the teaching of the Bible, to understand the world accurately, and then to make wise application of God's word to the world. And I just don't think in our day and age, the Christian church is prepared to do that, sadly. But I do think it will, will be a great blight and a testimony against us if we cannot, throughout history, come to the point where Christians can agree and have a more unified front against the world. It is sad. This one question came about how Christians are really turned in on themselves and doing all this infighting. It's really amazing, isn't it, the foolishness that we engage in when we have all this infighting among ourselves as Christians, when in fact, you know, the humanist world is, you know, rising like a flood all around us. You might, you know, want to call out to your Christian brothers and sisters not in terms of God's redemptive plan. I've already told you, we don't have our backs against the wall in terms of the ultimate outcome, but in terms of our day and age, you know, the enemy's at the gate. Maybe we better stop fighting with each other long enough to deal with, with the real problem.

We have time for one more question. Yes.

All right.

I'm Bruce, I'm from Kentucky and okay, I have a couple problems. Now, I wasn't dispensationalist a long time ago, thank heavens. I, I, I got out of it. Some people, some dispensation question if I, have I been saved or not. Because I know I'm leaving the secret rapture. But the problem I have with, with Christian reconstruction is a major problem I'm thinking on the way down here from Kentucky, too, is, well, I, I don't believe that, that the Christians should abandon the world.

The world.

Like we have a lot of dispensations thinking and everything like that. I cannot either buy the fact that the whole world's necessarily going to be converted either. And this is the one major problem I have this way thinking, especially with what you call post millennials. Millennials. Now, I want you to elaborate on that because you admitted yourself that Jerry Falwell, who certainly doesn't think our way, we start getting the Christians involved In politics, which was good. But see, like I said a second ago, I just can't buy the fact that the whole going to be converted.

Well, the zeal of Jehovah, of hosts will accomplish it. And so you have to ask yourself, why should you have any difficulty in believing that Now I'm going to take it for granted. You might tell me different later. I'm going to take it for granted that that's what you want to take place. I mean, who could be a child of God and not want the gospel to be endorsed by, you know, all mankind? Who could be, you know, a follower of the king and not want to see the nations come up under his rule and obey him and so forth. So clearly, if you're a Christian, you want these things to happen. Now it so happens God has also throughout his Word promised that he will do it. And he's backed it up with his own word. Again, the zeal of Jehovah opposed will accomplish it. You look at the Great Commission, you ask, how can these things be done that Dr. Gentry was talking about? Jesus says, because all power and authority in him, heaven and earth is mine, and I'm with you always. So why shouldn't it be able to be accomplished? We have the assurance of God that he intends to do it. He sent his Son with the power to do it. We now have the Holy Spirit in the church with that Pentecostal power to bring about conversions and sanctification and people working together to glorify God. It is the delight of the Father to grant these promises to his Son. He need only ask him, give me the nations for my inheritance, and the Father will give them. Jesus is going to rule until every enemy is put under his feet. This is said over and over again. So I suppose one reason why you might not want to believe that is that it just seems so hard to do. We don't see it happening right now. We don't see it in a visible sense sense being accomplished in some dramatic, momentous way. And so we wonder, does God really have the sovereign power to do this in the world? And the answer that I think needs to be given to that and other reconstructionists have offered the same, I think the right is God had the sovereign power to change my heart. And if he could change my heart, he can change my neighbors, he can change yours. And if he can change one or two or three, he can change 200, 300, 400, 4,000, 5,000, 6,000, 10 million, 20 million, 30 million. There's no end to what God can do with God. Nothing is impossible. So it's not a question of whether it's possible, and it's not a question of whether it's desirable. It's only a question of whether it's been promised. And I think you've been given abundant evidence today that it has indeed been promised. And so I would encourage you to labor in that hope and in the confidence that God is not going to turn over the world to Satan. And might I just add real briefly before we go, just a short commercial message some of you will have found on your tables. And then I think there's some out on the literature tables as well, a little postcard that looks like this, that has a business reply stamp on the front which will come back to us at the Southern California center for Christian Studies, if you would like to receive our monthly newsletter, which comes free of charge, and keep track of our ministry and receive some educational materials month by month, please fill this out and drop it in the mailbox. The postage is paid for you. We would love to keep in touch with you. Additionally, if you're interested in taking courses in Christian theology or biblical studies, we offer those courses without you having to leave the wonders of the south where you live. You don't have to leave Dixie or anything. You can have correspondence contact with us and we'll be glad to try to provide literature and materials and tapes that will continue to build you up. And I thought to myself, maybe I should mention just three things that would be of interest to this audience. There are many educational tools that we have available, but I'm only going to mention three things that I think would be worth giving a little commercial message for. One, a few years ago I debated a well known atheist by the name of Gordon Stein at the University of California, Irvine, and we have that debate on tape. And it has proven by God's grace to be very beneficial to people who often wonder, well, we as Christians, what do we say to these atheists and these arguments and so forth? If you'd like to order that, just put down on this card the Stein debate or the debate over the existence of God. And that is sold for $10. Another set of tapes that I would take the time to mention has to do with the distinctives of the Reformed faith. Sometimes we pick up from a lot of different places our theological insights and distinctives and we don't have any systematic presentation of them. And someone will ask me, what do you mean that you're Reformed? What is it to have a reformed outlook on things? And I have A five tape series that I did at a conference that would prove to be, I think, beneficial in building you up as theologians to understand, clarify and systematize your perspective. The five tapes deal with the authority of God's Word, the sovereignty of God, covenant theology, life in the world and life in the Church. Five distinctives that would be worth considering. And then finally one more. We didn't get into the Book of Revelation. We could have done so. We would have liked that. Maybe it's because we're afraid dispensationalists put on their prophecy conferences and we don't want to come and do the same sort of thing. But there are a lot of good materials on the Book of Revelation available. My brother Ken here has many things in print that you can get. If you would like an overview of the Book of Revelation. I have a four tape series that deals with the Book of Revelation that you can all get just by writing that down on this card. The distinctives of the reformed faith is $29. That comes in a case and so forth. And the four presentations about the Book of Revelation sell for $20. So if you're interested in debate with an atheist, that's $10. Presentation of our views systematically. 29. And if you'd like to look at the book of Revelation, $20. Just write, write them down. If you see anything else you'd like, we would like to help you. I only make that commercial message that I don't get to see you all very often. I'm not in the south that much, but it's really been good being here. I'm glad that I will be back home by the time the Dodgers win their division.

I've got a five tape series on Revelation.

Got a 61 tape series on the Book of Revelation.

Give me time. I would mention to a brother there that the Book House Divided, which he and I have co authored, deals with the exegetical defense of theonomy and its application to modern culture, and with the exegetical and biblical theological approach to postmillennialism. Trying to found it in the scriptural record against various objections, you might find that helpful. It's on the table outside.