Reformed Baptist Church in O'Fallon, Missouri
HomeSermonsRenew Your Mind

Renew Your Mind

Sermon Transcript

The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.

An Election Sermon: Discern the Times

Matthew 16, as you’re turning there, you can consider my sermon today as my annual or semiannual election sermon. If you say, what’s an election sermon? Well, actually, in America, there’s a long tradition going way back to the founding of the country and even before the founding of the country, where pastors addressed political and civic issues on a regular basis. Technically speaking, an election sermon actually happened after the election. And the election sermon was actually given not to the people first, but it was given to the people that got elected. And so it was common for pastors to come to the legislature and then give a sermon to the governor and to the representatives, senators, whoever. And this happened on a regular basis, common practice. But then in the American tradition, there was also what are called artillery sermons. I’ll let you figure that out. There were what’s called Thursday lectures, where on Thursday afternoon, everybody shut down shop and they went to church and they heard sermons on civics and politics and things of that nature. There were special events, commemorative events, where pastors spoke on civic duty. There were also special days of prayer and fasting which were declared by the civil government and were observed by the churches and pastors, again, would address the needs of the nation, the needs of society. This is a common, common practice in our culture, probably until sometime after the Civil War, probably close to 1900 or so, things began to change. It’s a tradition that needs to be revived. Not only do God’s people need to be instructed in civics, but the people in office need to be instructed in civics. That is, civics from the perspective of God’s Word. So if our governor would invite me to the state capitol to preach to them, I would gladly come. The people of God need to be aware of what’s happening, they need to be informed, and they need to see culture through the lens of the Word of God. Amen. Now we all have a lot of political opinions just like we have armpits and they usually stink, right? So I’m not going to give you my opinion on various issues today, but rather give you an exhortation to be yourself aware and informed and be able to understand the times in which we live.

Matthew 16 verse 1, Jesus said, excuse me, the Word says, “Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him,” meaning Jesus, “asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said to them, ‘When it is evening you say, “It will be fair weather, for the sky is red”; and in the morning, “It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.” Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.’ And He left them and departed.” Here’s the phrase in verse 3, he says, “and you cannot discern the signs of the times.” If you read your Old Testament, you’ll remember in Chronicles, and David appointed various men to serve in his government. He picked the sons of Issachar, and it says in 1 Chronicles 12:32 that he picked them because they were able to discern the times. Men who were able to read the times. And the book of Esther says that the king called his counselors together, men who were able to understand the times, to be aware what was going on around them and then to act accordingly with wisdom and justice. So we, meaning the people of God, need to understand the times, or should I say, discern the times.

Be Missionaries to Our Own Culture

Why? One, because we’re called first of all to be missionaries to our own culture. Amen? Amen. You all know Matthew 28, you don’t need to turn there, but Jesus said that all the authority in heaven and earth has been given to Him. All authority in heaven and earth, not just authority over your soul or authority over your church, but all authority in heaven and earth. Jesus is the authority over Jefferson City, Missouri. Jesus is the authority over the White House and the Supreme Court and the Congress. Jesus is the Lord of lords and the King of kings. When those words were used in the first century, Lord of lords, we could translate it realistically: He is the president of presidents. He is the prime minister of prime ministers. He is the judge of judges. He presides in authority over all. Therefore, go to all the world and preach the gospel, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded, He says. And lo, I am with you always. So the all authority of Jesus is linked to the all going. In other words, when He sends us, He’s sending us to a place over which He already has authority. And that place is every place. It’s everywhere. So we’re called to be missionaries in our own culture. But in order to be an effective missionary, one of the things we need to do is we need to discern the times. We need to understand what’s going on.

And if we’re concerned about our society, and I know many of you are, about the moral decay, about abortion, pornography, violence, poverty, race relations, I could go on and on to the problems that we see every day in the news, then the place we begin in expressing our concern is in preaching the gospel. We preach the gospel a lot, and the gospel saves not only souls, but as souls are saved and transformed, then families are transformed and then societies get transformed. This is why Jesus talks about the yeast, the leaven, put in the bread. You put a little bit, right? But then it expands and it grows. Thus is the kingdom of God. So the foundation of any transformation in any society is really personal regeneration. And one thing we learn from history is that social transformation always follows revival. It’s never the other way around. It’s not society changes and then the church gets revived. It’s always the other way around. The church gets revived. When I say revived, I don’t mean not only that lazy Christians get activated, or dead Christians get enlivened, that’s part of it. But in addition, when there’s a genuine revival, the people of God awake, but then more people are brought into the kingdom and into the church. Because a living church produces more living people. So Christians get serious about the gospel and they share the gospel. And then more and more individuals get saved. And so what happens is that revival predates social change. This is always the pattern. Revival then reformation.

When you think about the history of slavery, William Wilberforce, who I did a book on as you probably know, he devoted his entire life to the abolition of slavery. But there’s no way that he and his friends would have been victorious if there had not been a revival that resulted from the work of Wesley and Whitefield and many, many others. In other words, the revival in England preceded and produced the proper conditions so that Wilberforce could be successful on a political plane. Are you following me? It was Christians that ended slavery, white Christians, throughout the entire dominion of Great Britain, which is really a worldwide dominion at the time. But that was rooted in the revival. In other words, it was rooted in the gospel.

Now, we need to discern the times in the sense that we need to understand what’s going on around us to preach the gospel. We have to—now the gospel is the gospel, right? I’m not saying you have to be a sociologist or philosopher to preach the gospel. I think a newborn Christian that’s on fire should just go preach the gospel. I preached the gospel before I understood anything other than the gospel. And if somebody asked me something about evolution, I’d go, I don’t know, but Jesus loves you. And I led people to Christ, because the gospel is the gospel. But that’s not an excuse for remaining ignorant about things, because sometimes people ask questions and sometimes there’s smokescreens, right? But sometimes they’re real. And so our society, people in our society are grappling with all kinds of issues. So what does the Bible say about abortion? I mean, if somebody asked you, besides saying, it says it’s wrong, could you give them chapter and verse? Could you walk them through it logically? What does the Bible say about gay marriage? What does the Bible say about transgenderism? What does the Bible say about marijuana? Oh, by the way, on the ballot November 6th, there’s a ballot, there’s an initiative about marijuana on there. Are you ready for that one? So what does the Bible say about—oh here’s a good one—what’s the Bible say about taxation? You’ve been taxed your whole freaking life, do you know the answer? Other than saying it’s got to be, the Bible’s got to say it’s too high right now. Do we know what the Bible says about these things? Well these are the things that we confront every day. What’s the Bible say about media? What’s the Bible say about art? What’s the Bible say about education? 85% of Christians have their kids in public schools. Is that a good thing? Is that a neutral thing? Is that a positive thing? We have to be aware what’s going on because we have to have answers when people ask. We have to have answers for people. And it’s part of understanding the culture to be a missionary. Now, if I was going to India, I would read some books on India. If I was going to go to a nation in Africa, I would try to learn as much about their culture and history as I could before I went. Why? So I could apply the gospel to that culture. Well, we think because we live in a culture, we don’t need to do that. But in fact, most Christians don’t live in a culture. They live in a little bubble. They live in a subculture of the culture. And if you want to know what’s going on in the culture, you have to stay informed. But it’s difficult to stay informed but not be conformed. So what does Paul tell us? He says, don’t be conformed. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Well, that requires us to really study the Word. Really study the Word. Some of us are right on the issues, but we’re only right because we just happen to be right by chance. Not because it’s a conviction that we’ve really learned from the Scripture.

And so we live in a day and age where not only is the culture trying to shape us, but we have large segments of the Sunday professing church that has ideas which I don’t mean to be critical, but I just think they’re unscriptural. And so now you have Christians telling us things like, we need to unhitch Jesus from the Old Testament. That’s Andy Stanley, right? One of the most popular megachurch guys, right? We need to get rid of the Old Testament. Well, is that what the Bible tells us? Well, it’s becoming popular. And then we have the red-letter Christians. Only Jesus, only what Jesus says. So the revelation of God is reduced to the Gospels. Well, how do you argue about that? How do you explain that that’s not true? So it’s not only the world now, it’s the church. And we need to discern the times so that we can be effective missionaries in this very culture that we live in.

Walk in Wisdom, Be Salt and Light

But secondly, we need to walk in wisdom. We’re told repeatedly in Scripture to do this. Colossians 4:5, let’s go ahead and turn there and read it. Colossians chapter 4, Paul says to them, he says, “Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.” So we have to walk in wisdom, which means we need to be discerning and understanding. We need to be renewing our minds, and we need to understand what’s going on around us in order to do this. We need to be better equipped, if you will, to answer questions and to handle objections about the faith.

Thirdly, we need to be salt and light, and this is all related. In Matthew 5:13, Jesus says this, and I think this verse is often maybe misquoted or misused. In Matthew 5, Jesus says this in verse 13, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” So we need to be informed and discerning of the times so that we can be more effective as being salt and light. Why? Because the assumption here is that salt and light is different from the culture. You hear what I’m saying? It’s different from. So salt is a preservative. The culture’s corrupt, so salt then works its way to limit and prevent corruption. Society is in darkness, we’re the light, and the light shines on the darkness. So there’s this opposition between salt and light and society. But if we’re not discerning of the times, what happens is that we end up being transformed like the society. We start thinking like the world. And if we’re like the world in our thinking, in our values, then we’re not salt because we’re like the world. We’ve lost the savor. If we think like the world, we’re not a light, we’re darkness also in our thinking. So we can’t fulfill the role of being salt and light in our society. We have to be aware and we need to evaluate and think about the messages that constantly come at us through the MSM—mainstream media. What is it? All right, you learned one thing today. Good job.

Now I won’t get into, I’m going to skip all this for the sake of time, but surveys continue to be done almost annually by different organizations like Barna or Ligonier or whatever, and you can go to their websites and look at these and read the results of the surveys they do on the knowledge of theology in the church and in our culture. And it’s deplorable. Now, I’m not surprised that it’s deplorable in the culture because if people aren’t learning the Bible in the church, what are they going to learn? Are they going to learn it in the MSM? No, will they learn it in the public schools? Will they learn it in a typical movie? Will they learn it in a typical TV sitcom? No, where are we supposed to be learning the Bible? In the church, right? And in the family. Well, we’re not learning the Bible. When I got saved, which was way back, BC, before cassettes, I think it was, when you witnessed to people, it wasn’t uncommon for someone to say, oh, I’m a Christian. I’m a Christian. And what they meant was, I live in America. I mean, seriously. Aren’t we all kind of Christians around here? I mean, you know, where we have seen this radical change in our culture where now you have temples and mosques everywhere. You know, it was just churches, Christian churches everywhere. But today now when you share the gospel, you talk to people, they have never even read a Bible. They don’t even have a Bible in their home. They don’t know anything about anything when it comes to Scripture. So the results in our culture of these surveys is pretty bad, but that’s not surprising. What’s concerning is the results you get of people that claim to be evangelicals. These are very troubling, where you see numbers like over 50% say that mankind is basically good. I don’t know about you, but in Romans it says there’s none righteous, no not one. And you can read many Scriptures that talk about man’s fallen nature. Jesus just said amen to that. Okay, thank you Lord. So what was the other one? Oh yeah, it was like, I forget the number, but a lot of Christians said there are more than one way to God. So in other words, Jesus isn’t the only way. Although Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Even they will say, well, that’s not really true. There’s other ways. So it’s not good. Things are not well, if you will, in terms of Bible knowledge. And so what happens is the salt ceases to be salty, the light gets dimmer and dimmer. And in effect, it ends up being hidden under a bushel. Ignorance is not bliss, amen? Ignorance is not a blessing. It does not aid us in our function as salt and light. We need to be learners and students of the Scripture, and we need to be discerners of the times.

Ideas Have Consequences

Last thing I want to say, well, two more things, but this’ll be quick. Ideas have consequences. They really do. And we need to be aware of what’s going on around us, and how the things that are being said and taught influence and determine morals and actions, government and many other areas of life. Ideas have consequences. Hitler had an idea. You know what it was? It was the Jews were subhuman. That was just an idea. He wrote it in a book. Oh, he’s crazy. So a lot of people said, he’s crazy. Well, what happened from that idea? At least six million Jews were killed as a result of that idea. Karl Marx had an idea. He said religion was the opium of the people. So as a result of Marxism, millions and millions of Christians around the world have been tortured and killed because of a simple idea, simple idea. Ideas are what rule the world. And what people think and what we think has consequences. The U.S. Supreme Court came up with an idea that was the unborn child was not a person. And the result has been how many abortions now? Fifty million or more? Sixty million lives lost. Now that’s an important idea. So ideas have consequences and we need to be aware of the ideas that are around us. And we need to be informed and able to answer the false ideas. Amen.

Pray Intelligently for Those in Authority

And lastly, we need to be able to pray intelligently. That’s a novel idea, isn’t it? And pray intelligently. Go to 1 Timothy, if you will. 1 Timothy, Paul is talking about church order, or church government, and he says this in chapter 2. He says in verse 1, “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings”—or presidents or congressmen or representatives or judges—“and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” Verse 8: “I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.”

So number one, we need to be praying for those in authority. We need to be praying for not only our national leaders, but for our state leaders and even local leaders. In order to pray intelligently, we have to be informed. What are the things that they’re making decisions about? How can we pray intelligently if we’re not aware of what’s going on? So in order to fulfill this injunction, yes, we need to pray for their salvation if they’re not Christians. And we need to pray for the salvation even if they’re professing Christians. Because many politicians profess things in public that are not true in private, right? So we need to pray for the conversion. That’s easy. But we need to pray about the many things that they are making decisions about because the role of civil government in accordance with Scripture is the administration of justice. Justice. But not justice as defined by the culture, but justice as defined by the Word of God. And so we pray for them, for their conversion, yes, we pray for their protection, we pray for their perseverance, we pray for wisdom according to the Word, we pray that they will govern in justice and mercy as defined by the Bible, right? And we need to pray intelligently. What decisions are going to be made? What are the issues that need to be made? Right? What are we going to do about gun control? You’re aware of the recent shooting in the synagogue? This is an ongoing debate. Decisions will be made. Ideas have consequences. So we need to be informed and know the issues that are confronting those in authority and pray for them that they would make decisions in accord with the Word of God. Accord with the Word of God. Amen.

Closing Prayers

So on that note, let’s stand and let’s go ahead and pray as we close. Let’s stand together and pray. I want to give you a few minutes to pray. And then I’ll close the prayer time. Jess, you want to kind of pass that around or have people come forward. Yeah, come forward and you can use the mic so we can hear you pray. I’ll go ahead and open. Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You that Your Word is true, Your Word is pure, Your Word is right. We thank You, Lord, that You’ve called us to be salt and light. We thank You that You’ve called us to be missionaries, ambassadors of the gospel. We thank You for the privilege. I pray, Lord, that You would strengthen us and encourage us to fulfill our role, both these roles, Lord, in a way that honors You. So I first of all pray for Your people, myself included, my family included, that we would be discerners of the times, that we would be informed, that we would be supplicating and praying with all watchfulness, all watchfulness. I want to thank You, Lord, for my wife and the work she does in her pro-life ministry. I thank You, Lord, for the many, many children that have been saved. We thank You for the women who have come to Christ. I pray for strength, wisdom, and perseverance for her and the staff as they daily engage in the battle for life. We ask for Your protection and Your care over, not just her, but also the entire staff and all the volunteers. Use them, God, to be light, use them to be salt. We ask in Your name.

Father, God says in Your Word not to be conformed to the pattern of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind so we can test and approve what Your will is. God I pray that we would not see You through the lens of the [audio unclear] but see the world and—God, I pray that You would give us a burden for the lost in this culture, Lord, a burden to just love those around us, God, whether they agree with the things that we believe, Lord, or not. God, I pray that we would not see those to be diseases as hindrances, Lord. But see those things as a reality, that they just don’t know You, Lord. So we have an opportunity to share Your Word with them. God, I pray that the church would look different. God, I pray when someone would walk into this church, into Liberty, Lord, that they would sense something as different and that we are not conforming to the pattern of this world but that we are conforming to Your Word first, and that we see the world and the culture through that lens. Lord, I pray that You would allow us to be changed, allow us to see the things that we’re doing just because we’re obeying the pattern of the world and we’re just trying to fit in. God, I pray that we would not just try to fit into this culture, Lord. But You would allow us to see the things that we’re doing that we need to be doing for You. And we need to be changing our lives so that it conforms to Your Word first and not what other people think we should do. God, I pray that You would allow us to not care what people think about us, Lord, that we would be willing to stand for You and show Your love to the world.

Lord God, in Psalm 2 You say, “Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.’ He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure: ‘Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion.’ ‘I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, “You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.”’ Now therefore, be wise, O kings; be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.” God, You tell us in Your Word that all of creation is Yours and that creation stretches from the smallest municipality to the largest nation-state and empire. Lord there is no part, no political division, no power that You do not declare Your authority over, Lord. So Lord, I pray that You would move in this coming election, Lord. Lord, that You would move Your people, that You would move really Your nation to do homage to You, Lord God, that we would honor You in all things in our private lives and also in our public governance, Lord. Lord, I pray that You would conform our nation to Your image. Lord, we know that that begins in Your house, Lord. Lord God, I pray that Your gospel would be preached and that we would preach it to ourselves, the full gospel, that loves and conforms itself to the image of Your Son, Lord. In Jesus’ name.

Lord God, because You are all powerful and You are ever present. You are everywhere and You are watching everything that’s taking place in this world here in America. God, You know and have seen every one of those 50 million plus babies who have been [audio unclear] God, and Lord, You are holding back Your wrath and God we are grateful and thankful that You’re giving us time, God. You’re giving us time to lead others to Christ because He is their only hope, Lord. God, we pray that You would not remove Your hand from this nation. Turn our faces back to You, God. And Lord, the false doctrine, the false teaching that’s being taught in churches today, Lord, God, show these preachers the light, turn their faces back to the truth, God, the truth of Your Word, Lord. Oh, God, we pray for our children, Lord. Thank You, God, that You’re giving time for those who don’t know You, God, to be led to You, God, to be drawn to You. Draw their hearts to You, God, because You are their only hope in this world, God. We pray this in Jesus’ name.

Father God, I pray for a holy conviction throughout Your churches that we are obedient and we seek Your Word and educate ourselves in Your Word. I pray that we stop burying our heads in the sand and we open our eyes to what’s going on around in the world, in our country, in the states, in our own neighborhoods, and that blinders are torn from us and that we fiercely seek You and Your Word so it is written on our heart as You have commanded. I pray that we are fervent in Your demands, that we are continually obedient even if every day we have to start over again and that the Holy Spirit has to remind us over again every single day to seek Your Word. Please be persistent in nudging us in Your direction because we are at a point in history where we do need another Reformation. It is obvious that we have slid too far again and we all need You. So please, God, please keep that awareness on our hearts at every moment of every day and for us to do Your will, in Jesus’ name.

Those in authority most nationally, in the state and local, we ask for wisdom, guidance, perseverance. We pray, Lord, that Your Lordship would be acknowledged, and we know that there are many who serve and they do know You. And we know there’s tremendous pressure on them to not acknowledge You, to not acknowledge Your Word, to hide the light. We ask that You grant them courage and boldness. We ask that they would govern according to righteousness as defined in Your Word. Lord, we thank You for their service. We thank You for the sacrifices that they make, the sacrifices that their families make. And we ask that You bless them abundantly with Your presence. Those that do not know You, we ask that You might convert them, Lord, by the power of Your Spirit, that You would put in office those who will govern rightly according to Your Scripture. We pray for wisdom for Your people as they elect leaders as well as they vote on various ballot issues, grant them wisdom to know and discern the times and to act accordingly. We ask it in Jesus’ name and for His glory alone we pray, and God’s people said, amen.