Pathway to Victory

Speaker 1

Hey, podcast listeners, thanks for streaming today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress.

And right now, your generous gift will have twice the impact, thanks to the Salt and Light Matching Challenge, active now through July 6th. To give a special matching challenge gift, go to ptv.org/donate or follow the link in our show notes.

Now here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 2

Hi, this is Robert Jeffress, and I'm glad to study God's word with every day on this Bible teaching program on today's edition of Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 3

You know, we keep hearing over and over again that our culture is evolving. We are getting better and better as a civilization.

But the evidence suggests the contrary. We are devolving.

And it is that moral and spiritual deterioration that is the final sign of the coming of Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1

Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress.

As you read the headlines these days, our country seems to be spiraling deeper and deeper into moral decline. How much worse will things get?

Well, today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress explains why our country's rapid spiritual deterioration will ultimately lead to its demise. It's a message called the New Moral Disorder.

Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message. Dr. Jeffress.

Speaker 2

Thanks, David. And welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Did you ever think we'd come to this dark place in our world where animals would take priority over human life? Where one's God-given gender could be eclipsed by personal preference? This is the new normal in which we live today. And it's frightening. Unless, of course, we surrender our fears to the one who brings light and life.

And that's our position at Pathway to Victory because we truly believe God remains in control. It's our duty and our privilege to reflect his glorious light in the darkness that pervades America today. This is one of the many reasons we're thrilled to be the recipients of a $1 million matching challenge. We decided to call it the Salt and Light Matching Challenge, and we're inviting you to participate.

Jesus said you are the light of the world. When you give generously to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, you're becoming a beacon of his hope and a testament to the enduring strength of the Christian spirit in America.

Now, in addition to making an impact on our country and our world through the Salt and Light Matching Challenge, I want to thank you for your generous gift by providing an inspirational book for your entire family. It's called Shine the Light. In this new book, I'll show you how your acts of kindness and compassion will be used by God to renew Christian values in your family, your community, and even your nation.

David and I will give further details about these opportunities later on. But right now, it's time to open our Bibles to 2 Timothy. Today's message is titled The New Moral Disorder.

Speaker 3

Perhaps you've seen this headline: Most Americans think the country is headed in the wrong direction. Did you know a recent survey revealed that 66% of Americans agree with that sentiment? We saw what happened when an Amtrak train went off the tracks. Many were injured, and some were killed. But as tragic as that was, even more tragic is when a nation goes off the rails; the results are even more disastrous. And we're seeing that happening right now in our nation and our world. How is it that our nation has gotten so far off track?

Billy Graham provides an insightful answer. He writes that moral and spiritual decadence is upon us today, becoming evident at every turn of our daily newspaper. We live in a day when old values are rejected, and the sense of significance and purpose has disappeared from many people's lives. Yes, we need to cry out to be saved—saved from ourselves—for it is the soul of a nation and a culture that is dying. The world is on a moral binge such as was not known even in the days of Rome. We have at our fingertips every pleasure that man is capable of enjoying, and man has abused every gift God ever gave him, including sex, until he no longer finds joy and satisfaction in them. Dr. Graham wrote those words in his book *World of Flame*, which was published in 1965, 50 years ago. If it was true then, how much more true is it now?

You know, we keep hearing over and over again that our culture is evolving. We are getting better and better as a civilization, but the evidence suggests the contrary. We are devolving as a nation and as a world. And it is that moral and spiritual deterioration of our world that is the final sign of the coming of Jesus Christ. And that's what we're going to talk about today as we continue our series. We're going to look at what the Bible says about the moral deterioration of our world and how it will be a precursor to the return of Jesus Christ. Is our culture really devolving? What evidence is there? Pastor, let me point out three signs of the moral deterioration of our nation and of our world.

First of all, consider the spiritual deterioration of our culture. Pew Research released a major survey in which they revealed that the number of Christians is declining in America. From 2007 until now, that number has gone from 78% of the population who identify as Christians to 70%. For the first time ever, the number of people who don't identify with any faith has risen to one-fourth of our population—nearly 75 million who don't identify with any faith at all. This decline in Christianity doesn't just affect Christians; it affects our entire nation and our world.

You see, for the first 200 years, this nation benefited from a Christian foundation. And although the beliefs of Christianity were not accepted by everyone, everyone, including non-Christians, benefited from that Christian foundation. It gave our nation a universal and a common understanding of right and wrong. It provided a compelling reason for people to obey what is right because of a fear of God. For the last 200 years, in essence 250 years, everyone, including non-Christians, have been freeloading, so to speak, off the benefits of a Christian nation. But now that that foundation is deteriorating and eroding, we are beginning to see the cultural effects of a nation that has moved away from God.

You see that secondly in the family; that spiritual and moral deterioration manifests itself in the family. Did you know that from 1970 to 2010, the rate of marriage in our country declined by 50%? We had the lowest rate of marriage in 93 years, and that presents all kinds of instability in society: single-parent homes, children being reared without the benefit of a father and a mother. It's also of interest that since 1960, the divorce rate in our country has nearly doubled.

You see thirdly, the deterioration of our culture in violence. Every year for the last 20 years, there have been over 1 million violent crimes in our country. In 1947, a sociologist named Dr. Carl Zimmerman wrote a book entitled *Family and Civilization*. He identified 11 symptoms of decay that were the cause of the fall of the Roman and Greek civilizations. Now I want you to listen to these 11 signs or symptoms that caused the decay of these civilizations. See if any of them sound familiar:

1. No-fault divorce.

2. What he calls the birth dearth, increased disrespect for parenthood and parents.

3. Meaningless marriage rights and ceremonies.

4. Defamation of past national heroes.

5. Acceptance of alternative marriage forms.

6. Widespread attitudes of feminism, narcissism, and hedonism.

7. Propagation of anti-family sentiment.

8. Acceptance of most forms of adultery.

9. Rebellious children.

10. Increased juvenile delinquency.

11. Common acceptance of all forms of sexual perversion.

Now, Dr. Zimmerman wrote that in 1947, citing the cause of the decline of civilizations thousands of years ago. What is the solution to our moral deterioration? How do you reverse this downward trend? In a word, repentance. You know, when we think of repentance, we think of the scraggly guy with a sandwich board roaming the streets saying, "Repent, the end of the world is near." The word repent actually is a Greek word, *metanoeo*. It means a change of mind that leads to a change in behavior. As individuals and as a nation, we need to have a change of mind that leads to a change of direction in our lives. Instead of rebelling against what God has said, we need to start obeying what God has said.

Listen, as an individual or a nation, we will never experience God's blessing when we are rebelling against Him. It is impossible. No individual, no nation will be blessed that rebels against God. And as a nation, we are rebelling against God. We are shaking our fist in the face of God in two distinct areas. First of all, in the area of what God says about marriage. Let's look and see what the Bible really says about marriage. And the best place to start is the starting place. That's profound, isn’t it? Let's go back to the book of Genesis, and I want you to look at the opening sentence in the Bible: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." In this simple statement, we find the answers to the questions: Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going?

We find in these opening chapters of Genesis a description of how God created everything that is in the world. You'll remember that on the sixth day of creation, He performed His crowning work of creation: the creation of mankind. Look at verses 26 through 28: "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over the cattle, and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' And God created man in His own image. In the image of God, He created him. Male and female, He created them. God blessed them. And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over everything that moves on the earth.'"

Now, in this passage, we find several important principles about God's purpose from the beginning. First of all, man is created in the image of God. Look at verse 27: "And God created man in His own image, in the image of God, He created him." That Hebrew word for image literally means statue. A statue is a representation of something else. You and I have been created as statues, as images of someone greater than us. We are created in the image of God.

Now, you may love your dog, you may love your cat, you may treat them like little gods, but they're not, okay? They were never created, the Bible says, in the image of God. Only man has been created in the image of God. There is a great gulf between the animal world and humanity. The Bible says there is a great gulf of separation between men and animals. In 1 Corinthians 15:39, Paul said, "All flesh is not the same flesh. There is one flesh of men and another flesh of beasts and another flesh of birds and another of fish." The Bible says God created man in His own image.

Principle number two: God separated mankind into two categories, male and female. Look at verse 27 again: "He created him male and female." There are two categories of creation: male and female. Now, I don't want to get off into the weeds, but we understand that since the Fall, because of the Fall, there have been some genetic abnormalities that occur. You see it in people who are born deformed, people with handicaps. There are genetic deformities that are part of the Fall. But don't miss the big point. The big point is God's original purpose in creation is two categories of human beings: male and female.

And in those two categories, you find an equality. The fact that He said He created them male and female means that both are equal in the sight of God. Don't ever forget that principle. Don't let somebody tell you that the Bible says that women are inferior to men. Nothing could be further from the truth. Peter said women are fellow heirs with men to the grace of God. He created them male and female. There's an equality. But listen, equality doesn't mean sameness. God never meant for men and women to be the same. If men and women were created to be the same, then one is unnecessary. Why didn't God create everybody to be a man? Or why didn't God create everybody to be female? Because there is a difference in function, even though there is an equality in stature before God.

And you see this difference from the very beginning in creation. He created them male and female. And that means there's a difference in the way we act. There's a difference in responsibility. There is a difference in how we relate to one another, including how we relate to one another sexually. And that's why you find the prohibition against homosexual behavior. Listen to what the Bible says in Leviticus 18:22: "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female. It is an abomination." Leviticus 20:13 states, "If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act. They shall surely be put to death; their blood guiltiness is upon them."

Could you be any more clear about what God thinks of the homosexual act? He says it is detestable. He says it is an abomination. That's the word of God. Now, some people would say, "Well, wait a minute, you Christians, you are so hypocritical because you just pick and choose which verses out of the Bible you want to obey." Because in those same Levitical passages, it also prohibits what you can eat and how you can dress. And it prescribes that you go through all of these rituals in your worship and offer bloody animals as a sacrifice. You don't do those things. Why do you disregard those rules, but you pull out and adhere to these rules?

Well, there's a very simple reason for that. There's a very simple answer. The only rules of the Old Testament that apply to us today are those rules that are repeated in the New Testament. We don't live under the Old Testament. We don't follow the Jewish rituals for diet and worship and law. We don't follow those anymore. They are part of the Old Testament. The word "old" means old, okay? It doesn't apply to us any longer. We live under the New Testament, the New Agreement, the new law of God. And the only parts of the Old Testament we follow are those parts of the Old Testament that are repeated in the New Testament.

The New Testament says nothing about dietary restrictions. It says nothing about how you dress, about wearing pieces of garments that have two fabrics in them. It says nothing about how you plant crops. It has nothing about sacrifices. Those things are old. But the Bible does repeat in the New Testament commandments about adultery, premarital sex, and homosexuality. You know, I just don't understand why it is some Christians want to go back and try to live under the Old Testament. It's gone. It's been done away with. It is idiotic to go back and try to keep the dietary restrictions and the feasts and all that. Paul said they are shadows of what is in the past. We live under the new agreement.

But in this new agreement, there are prohibitions against homosexuality. For example, in Romans 1:26 and 27, Paul said, "For this reason, God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural. And in the same way also men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their persons the due penalty of their error." God's word says homosexuality is unnatural. Literally, that means it is against nature; it is against the laws of God; it is against the natural law of God, and there are severe consequences in every area of life for it.

Or consider 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 10. Paul said, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Who are the unrighteous? Don't be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers shall inherit the kingdom of God." Did you get that? Homosexuals, Paul said, will not inherit the kingdom of God, and neither will adulterers. If you've ever committed adultery, you don't get to go to heaven.

Speaker 2

The Bible says.

Speaker 3

And by the way, Jesus said, if you've ever lusted in your heart after another person who's not your mate, you're guilty of adultery. So nobody who's lusted gets to go to heaven. No homosexual gets to go to heaven. No fornicator. That's premarital sex. If you've ever had premarital sex, you're out as well. If you're a covetous person, that is, somebody who has ever desired what somebody else has, you're not making it to heaven. You're going to hell. If you're an idolater, what's an idolater? It's anybody who loves something more than they love God. If you've ever loved a possession or a person more than you've loved God, count yourself out. You're not going to heaven. Nobody's going to heaven.

Verse 11 says, but you were washed, you were covered with the blood. You were sanctified. You were forgiven. Ladies and gentlemen, there is no sin from which you can't be forgiven. Homosexuality is not the unpardonable sin; you can be forgiven of any sin. But get this: to be forgiven of a sin, you first must admit that you have sinned. And we have to admit what the Bible says. Homosexuality is a sin. That's what the Bible teaches. There's a prohibition against homosexual behavior.

Secondly, that leads to a prohibition against homosexual marriage. You can take this message when you hear this said in your classroom and hear it in other places in the university. Well, Jesus never talked about homosexuality, and he certainly never said anything about homosexual marriage. Oh yes, he did. Where did he talk about it? He talked about it in Matthew 19. Turn over to Matthew chapter 19.

Remember, the Pharisees were trying to trip Jesus up, and they came to the Lord and they said, "Lord, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?" Some of the Pharisees believed in no-fault divorce, while others were very strict about it. So they wanted the Lord to try to take a stand and trip himself up. They said, "Lord, answer this divorce question for us." He was so wise in how he did it; he went to the Old Testament that they said they revered.

Verse four, Matthew 19, and Jesus answered and said, "Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female? And he said, 'For this cause a man shall leave his mother and father, and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' Consequently, they are no longer two, but they are one. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate."

Speaker 2

When we fast forward from the first century to our own, you can certainly see the parallels of moral confusion in our day. Our critics, those who oppose Christian values, often try to trip us up with their clever barbs, just as the Pharisees did with Jesus. Most of these assaults do little more than take the dialogue off the main point at Pathway to Victory. I promise to remain on point. I will never stray from biblical truth, and I will give every effort toward shining the bright light of the Gospel to everyone within the sound of Pathway to Victory.

But I need partners like you who will stand beside me and who agree to generously support Pathway to Victory. Gratefully, we're actively engaged in the Salt and Light Matching Challenge. Because of this tremendous opportunity, you're able to double the size and impact of your generous gift up until the deadline of July 6th. Our goal is $1 million, meaning that we have the potential of receiving a combined total of $2 million to shine the light of Jesus Christ in our nation. So while there's still time, please step forward with your generous gift to the Matching Challenge.

In a moment, David will describe several resources we've set aside for you as a means of saying thank you for your generous gift. There's one I'd like to highlight. It's a brand new book for you and your family called Shine the Light. My book will inspire you to express courageous acts of kindness so that others are drawn into the light of God's truth.

As we come into the weekend, don't forget you can watch Pathway to Victory on television on Saturdays. You can catch us at noon Eastern on TBN on Sundays. We're on hundreds of television stations, including TBN, the Trinity Broadcasting Network, at 10:00 am Eastern.

Speaker 1

David thanks Dr. Jeffress. Today, when you invest in the ministry of Pathway to Victory by giving a generous gift, we'll say thanks by sending you the brand new book by Dr. Jeffress, *Shine the Light*. Call 866-999-2965 or visit our website at ptv.org now. When your gift is $100 or more, we'll also send you the complete, unedited collection of audio and video discs for the *Shine the Light* teaching series.

Remember, every dollar you give right now will be doubled in impact by our Salt and Light Matching Challenge. That's until we reach the goal of $1 million. So please get in touch with us today. One more time, call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org. You could also write to us if you'd like. Here's that mailing address: P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222. Again, that's P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222.

I'm David J. Mullins wishing you a great weekend. Then join us again next week for the conclusion of this message, *The New Moral Disorder*, that's coming up Monday on Pathway to Victory.

Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible.

And right now, your ministry gift will be matched and therefore doubled in impact thanks to the Salt and Light Matching Challenge. Take advantage of this opportunity to double your impact before the deadline on July 6th. To give toward the matching challenge, go to ptv.org/donate or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.