Beware: Philosophies

[0:00] I'm going to talk about different philosophies.

[0:14] Some of these words can be a little technical, but I trust that it will be a good overview! of what I believe is happening around the world today.

[0:25] Government, education, society at large, the various philosophies that are coming in, bombarding us and our children and grandchildren. Colossians 2 from verse 6 through to 10.

[0:38] Verse 6, As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

[0:56] Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men. Notice that word, through philosophy.

[1:09] That's where I'm going to spend most of our time tonight. After the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead, orderly.

[1:23] And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word and gathering together unto it.

[1:36] Lord, help us. Help me to share that which is going to be beneficial and uplifting and edifying. Still our hearts, Lord.

[1:48] Help us to receive truth that might impact our lives and help us to walk more closely after you. For your glory and praise we pray, Lord Jesus. Amen.

[1:59] Amen. Beware lest any man spoil you, says Paul. To spoil means to take, to rob. It's a picture of a robbery.

[2:10] Highway robbery, if you like. And the devil is a thief and a liar. He's a thief. And he wants to steal from us through philosophy and vain deceit.

[2:25] This is a brief overview of some prevalent modern day philosophies. Philosophies that are commonplace in our world today.

[2:36] Philosophy. What is philosophy? Philo, Sophie. Philo, the love of. Sophie, wisdom. Sophia. The love of wisdom. Of knowledge. It's the love of knowledge. Philosophy. It's man's inventions.

[2:47] It's man's worldly wisdom, if you like. And we see way back in the garden. Way back in the garden of Eden, when the snake came, the serpent came, and the serpent came. And he said to the woman about the tree that the Lord God had said not to take of that tree.

[3:09] And when the woman saw the tree, she saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes.

[3:24] And a tree to be desired, and that it was pleasant to the eyes. And a tree to be desired, to make one wise. To make one wise. To make one wise. She took of the fruit thereof, and did eat.

[3:38] And gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. Paul in 1 Corinthians 2 verse 4 says, of enticing words of man's wisdom.

[3:52] You know, just as that serpent enticed Eve and she was deceived and the husband likewise. The serpent's work is still the same.

[4:03] Enticing words of man's wisdom. And Satan, we know the Bible calls Satan the father of lies. He makes the message sleek and appealing.

[4:15] But it is still a lie, isn't it? He's the father of lies. In contrast, the Lord Jesus is the author of truth. The Lord Jesus is in the truth business.

[4:28] He is the truth. And true Christianity is not a philosophy. These are contrary. True Christianity is not a philosophy.

[4:39] It's God's truth, which is unchanging. It's that divine revelation. It's that inward reality. That soul-saving truth of God. And philosophy, on the other side, it cannot satisfy man's deepest spiritual needs.

[4:56] Philosophy falls short. It cannot help us. And so, it says, beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy.

[5:09] Beware lest any man rob you, spoil you, steal from you. It's the sense of this word to spoil. And there's a mind shift, I put it to you today, going on in our world.

[5:22] A mind shift. There's this promotion of these various philosophies, these falsehoods that the world promotes that are really coming from the enemy of our souls as the source.

[5:37] And really, it's a blindness that is coming upon many. A blindness. You know, if you've seen someone who's blind, it's a very sad sight, isn't it?

[5:48] And we've got blindness in our home. We've got our little puppy dog getting blinder and blinder as the days go by. You know, it's like, I was just watching him lately, just bumping into things.

[6:02] He's just almost lost all of his vision. And blindness is setting in. Blindness is kind of, the minds of people are being blinded in our world today.

[6:16] And what a sad sight that is. Some are enslaved, captive, held captive in their minds. The Bible speaks about how the enemy blinds the minds of people.

[6:30] There's a mental blindness that's going on. And so there's numbers of philosophies that you could reckon that are commonly evident in our world today.

[6:43] Various philosophies. And we as Christians, as God's people, as Bible believers, we need to confront those philosophies. And counteract them. Because our business, as our Lord has called us to, is to be in the truth business.

[6:59] He has come, as we refer to this morning, to set people free. He's come to set us free. And it says the truth shall make you free. So we need to confront these philosophies.

[7:13] And that's why we're going to just spend a little time talking about some of the common philosophies that are at work in our world today. Here's to some of these common philosophies or world views.

[7:25] I saw a list on Wikipedia of these various philosophies and isms. And there's many, many of them. A manifold number of philosophies.

[7:37] But we're just going to touch on just a small number really. And one of them is relativism. Relativism. Everything's relative is what we're being told.

[7:49] This is what the universities are telling our up and coming professionals of today. Even in the high schools and primary schools.

[8:00] Everything's relative. There's no such thing as sure truth. That's what we're being told. The people who believe this philosophy of relativism believe that there's no such thing as right and wrong.

[8:16] You just make up your own truth, isn't it? And people used to believe, as we do still, I trust, that the truth is objective and absolute.

[8:28] To believe this, that there's no sure truth, is a lie. Nowadays, people believe that the truth is relative. Relative just depends on how you feel, how you get out of bed that morning, as to what you believe.

[8:42] And so it might be something that's true for you, but not for me. There's no such thing as absolute truth, is what we're being told. Relativism is where mankind becomes the decider of what is true and what is good and what is right.

[8:57] But we know when mankind makes choices and decisions like that, they're not always founded in God's truth. And the problem is that standards of truth and what is right, as people judge it themselves, as society decides, is very airy-fairy, isn't it?

[9:25] It's not solid. And so it can get ever more eroded than what one previous generation thought was right and true to do. Well, we might think differently. So there's a degrading, there's a downward trend where people dwindle away in what they used to hold strongly.

[9:45] But in contrast, as Bible believers, as Christians, we know that there is an unchanging standard of truth. And it's eternally relevant. Eternally relevant.

[9:57] It's called the Word of God. Psalm 119, verse 160, it says, Thy word is true from the beginning, and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever.

[10:11] Forever. Thy word is true. As God's people, we believe in absolutes, not relativism. We believe that there is absolute truth. It's the opposite of relativism.

[10:22] It's the opposite of relativism. Just as it says in Isaiah 40, verse 8, As we know, the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever.

[10:38] So relativism falls far short of the absolute truth that we have as God's people, as Bible believers, that we have absolute truth. Which is defined, as someone has defined this absolute truth as inflexible reality.

[10:54] It's fixed, it's invariable, it's unalterable facts. That there are absolutely no square circles.

[11:12] There are absolutely no round squares. It's one or the other, isn't it? Either it's a circle or it's a square. And likewise, absolute truth says this is a sure thing.

[11:26] And we as God's people, as Bible believers in our world today, we know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the truth. He is always the truth.

[11:38] He will always be the truth. He is truth personified. He is the truth incarnate in the flesh. Now we could consider opinion polls and majority rules.

[11:54] They don't determine truth. We know when you put things to a poll, they don't always determine something that accords with Scripture. We can't trust our politicians to accord with Scripture in how they govern us, in the rules they make, in the laws they make.

[12:12] But truth is truth. Regardless of who believes it, isn't it? Truth is truth. Truth is truth. And the Lord Jesus says, Thy word is truth.

[12:25] Another of the prevailing philosophies of our time is humanism. Humanism says, humans are central. Man is central. Secular humanism says that humans are the centre of existence.

[12:39] It's human-centred philosophy, humanism. It's been said that humanism is the primary modern philosophical enemy of Christianity.

[12:50] Humanism says man's at the centre. Who should be at the centre? The Lord should be at the centre. Humanism is a religion that deifies man, puts man on the throne, says man is God, and dethrones God.

[13:04] Throws God out the window. Humanism. It's a concept that is leading to much bankruptcy, intellectually, morally, in our society today.

[13:15] Because God's thrown out the window. Man decides his own destiny. He's the captain of his own ship, and such things. And yet, in contrast to humanism, that says that man is central, the Bible teaches us that human beings are morally corrupt, and they deserve God's judgement.

[13:35] Romans 3, 9-12 says that man is sinful. And it says in the word that God is holy, and he is the only sovereign being. The Bible teaches us that man needs God.

[13:49] For guidance, for direction. And that there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

[14:01] You know, some people say when they've got to make a decision, and I've said this before, but trust your heart. Just trust your heart. Whatever feels right. We can't trust our heart.

[14:14] Because the Bible says, the heart is deceitful, and desperately wicked. We can't be led by such impressions, or emotions, or feelings. When something might feel right, we get a buzz, or a, you know, we get some goosebumps about something.

[14:30] No. We mustn't be led by such things, but rather be in tune with what God wants for our lives. So from this humanistic philosophy, humanism is really something that, from which emanates many other philosophies.

[14:49] Which we'll just touch on in passing now. The philosophy of humanism is one from which springs many other various philosophies. For example, secularism. Secularism is another one. Secularism. Secular means the world. Secularism is the belief that all things are earthly, physical, temporal.

[15:15] There is nothing heavenly, spiritual, or eternal. This is all there is. Planet Earth. Things you can touch and feel. Secularism. What a limitation that is.

[15:32] Nothing spiritual, they say. Another philosophy is nihilism. Nihilism is the philosophy that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value.

[15:45] Imagine living a life where you believe in nihilism. Everything is meaningless. That's what they're teaching. That's what some people believe. It denies all truth. Everything is meaningless.

[15:59] There's no absolutes. There's no value. There's no purpose. It's pointless. Some people believe that. And they live accordingly. Another philosophy is existentialism. Which is about the autonomy of man.

[16:15] Autonomy means self-government. That it's a humanistic philosophy again that follows on. That holds again that life is meaningless. And it asserts the total autonomy of man.

[16:28] So in other words, man is again at the centre. It's all about man. What I want. Me. Ego. Existentialism. Another one which kind of follows on is hedonism. If you believe all of those things that we talked about. Humanism. Existentialism. It leads to hedonism. Hedonism.

[16:50] I know some of these are big words. I had to look them all up myself. Believe me. But hedonism is another philosophy that flows from humanism. In other words, it says, do your own thing. Just do your own thing.

[17:02] If it feels good, just do it. Hedonism. This is a view that pleasure is the primary or most important intrinsic good. If it feels good, that's what's right. How do we see that being acted in our world today?

[17:20] Just go and do whatever you want to do. No God to answer to. No right or wrong. It's pleasure that's the ultimate and absolute good.

[17:32] Some people live a life like that. They just go blotto, paralytic every weekend or every night of the week. They just smash all the time. Just pleasure. No consequence to it.

[17:48] They end up with all kinds of diseases. You name it. This is the mindset that says that getting pleasure and enjoyment is the highest priority in life. What a waste to think that life is all about pleasure and enjoyment without thinking through the consequences, without thinking through that we have a God to answer to.

[18:10] And so hedonism, views, the worship of a holy God, of fulfilling our obligations to Him, and pretty much everything else is secondary.

[18:22] Having fun is all that counts. People live like that. But they live a life of regret. They live a life with hangovers and with a sorry state of affairs.

[18:34] It's not the way to go. It goes on. Another philosophy which we know is very evident today. Atheism. It's the absence of belief that any deities exist.

[18:46] Absence of belief. Some people kind of sit on the fence a bit and they're a non-committal agnostic. They think, well, God could exist or He might not.

[18:58] And some of these things really stem from the fanciful theory of evolution. They underpin these kind of ideas. Evolution. Think of that. It tells us that our race oozed up from some primordial soup. It was just some mixture of elements and it somehow got all together and then life happened.

[19:20] Life happened. And then it crawled onto the shore and eventually we became apes and then we progressed to our current form. It's been said that atheists claim not to have any belief about God but then they vigorously deny that God could exist.

[19:38] You know, they deny God but they become God haters because they attack God and they attack those who know God. Truly, as in Psalm 14 verse 1, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God.

[19:54] It's a very foolish course of action, a very foolish philosophy to deny God. Because the Bible teaches us that we are made for a reason. We've been designed, we've been created, the special creation of a loving, personal God.

[20:09] And the first chapter of Genesis plainly shows us that God has created everything out of nothing. By his power, he spoke things into existence.

[20:21] God said, let there be. And there was. Right through Genesis in the early chapters. And evolution really is a science falsely so called.

[20:34] We see Paul speak of that in 1 Timothy 6 verse 20. He says, Paul to Timothy, O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoid profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called.

[20:49] People call evolution science. It's not science. No. It's a false religion. Religion, a false idea altogether. Because when you think it's impossible to have an ordered universe without God.

[21:04] There could not be an ordered universe without a designer constructing it and maintaining it. And it is clear that things all around us, they're not random or haphazard, but they are guided and directed.

[21:18] And so the evidence for creation is very clear. We're just scratching the surface here. I know there's much more we could say. So I'll give you much more evidences on that front. But it is all around us.

[21:30] If we just open our eyes. When we step outside tonight and see the stars, we know that the heavens declare the glory of God. Atheism is a foolish philosophy.

[21:41] Another one is feminism. Feminism. This again follows on from the humanism. Feminism is the belief that men and women should have equal authority, roles and responsibilities in all things.

[21:54] That is to say there should be no sexual distinctions. So no distinctions between gender, between man and woman. But in contrast, the Bible shows us plainly that men and women were created, equally created in the image of God.

[22:10] They are not equal. They are equal. They created in the image of God, equally cared for, of equal value before God, yet in different roles.

[22:23] There are very plainly different roles between a man and a woman. In authority, in roles, women and men are not equal. And the Bible distinguishes between the gender roles of men and women.

[22:37] Now they are trying to say there is something in between men and women. Some blurred, confusing, I don't know what. That is the madness of this world that these philosophies are leading to.

[22:50] But the Bible tells us clearly that God is the head of Christ. Christ is the head of man. Man is the head of the woman. In the family context of 1 Corinthians 11, verse 3.

[23:02] These basic truths are under attack today. More and more these days. Feminism is just another godless philosophy that really, at the heart of it, is an attack on the Christian home and family.

[23:14] Because the Bible shows us how God wants us to order our homes and our families. The basic building blocks of husband, wife, of children.

[23:27] Of course we know at times that order gets disrupted and it is hard to repair what can happen. But that is God's ideal that we should strive for. And as Bible believers that is what we aspire to.

[23:40] To uphold the sanctity of marriage. It is something precious. The sanctity of marriage. Something sanctified means it is regarded as precious and holy in God's sight.

[23:51] There is a sanctity of marriage. There is a responsibility for fathers. An importance of mothers. An authority that is established in the home. God has set an order, a pattern for us to follow in the home.

[24:05] But feminism wants to destroy that. It is a philosophy that comes from Satan. And from humanism we see these other philosophies, these godless philosophies that spring forth from humanism.

[24:18] Here is another one. Naturalism. Naturalism is again, it is alike to some of these other ones we have talked about. That nature is all there is. Nature is all there is.

[24:29] There is nothing supernatural. There is no supernatural. Materialism. Matter is all there is. The mind is just a part of matter.

[24:40] It is all materialistic. The truth is though, that man has an eternal soul. A God given spirit. That returns to God at death to await God's judgement for its eternal destiny.

[24:53] Either heaven or hell. Materialism denies that. That is another godless philosophy. It comes from Satan. It goes on to another philosophy, rationalism.

[25:04] Rationalism is the view that reason is the chief source and test of knowledge. It is all about what you can rationalise. What you can make sense of with your limited human knowledge.

[25:16] Liberalism and modernism are other philosophies that are common today. Where they reject biblical faith and teaching. They deny the authority of the Bible.

[25:29] Liberalism and modernism. It is happening all over. In many quarters. In many kinds of churches today. There is also pluralism. Which is really paganism.

[25:40] It is a recognition of diversity such that there are many gods and goddesses. You know, take your pick. Whichever god and goddess you want to follow today.

[25:51] That is the kind of idea of pluralism. Where it is just this total pluralistic diversity. Where everything is blurred. We see such things going on today.

[26:09] Humanism leads to anarchism. Anarchism where there is no standards. Some adopt this philosophy. Anarchy. Anarchy. What does that mean? It means liberation through the abolition of all traditional standards and institutions.

[26:25] Effectively, anarchy means lawlessness. Anything goes. We see that back in the Old Testament days, don't we? Where there was no king.

[26:36] And everybody just did what was right in their own eyes. Just whatever you feel like. Just do it. It is lawlessness. And humanism ultimately leads to anarchy. Where people turn away from God.

[26:50] They turn away from the eternal standards. And they don't respect people's rights and property. And they turn to the law of the jungle. The law of the jungle.

[27:01] You see that. I saw some video recently. How when the respect for the police and law abiding ways just went out the window.

[27:16] It just took a matter of two or three days. And it was mob rule. It was one of the cities in the US. I forget which one. But when they were out there. Mobs of people. You know, wearing hoods.

[27:28] Smashing shop windows. Just looting. Pillaging. That's what happens when ultimately humanism bears its ultimate fruit.

[27:39] Anarchy. At the end of the day. Lawlessness. The law of the jungle. These are godless philosophies. And these are what ultimately we've been trained towards.

[27:50] A lawlessness. A turning away from God. Of what's decent and right. Socialism is another way that the government might intervene in such situations as anarchy. To bring in government control of a society.

[28:08] The philosophy of socialism is the belief that it's society who owns. Society who produces. Society who distributes goods to individuals to share as socially regulated as decided by the government.

[28:26] That's socialism. And you see in societies such as communist countries where this is in effect, it's just total mayhem. And it just doesn't really work.

[28:38] And ultimately all of these various philosophies lead to globalism. The belief that all nations should be subservient to one world international federal government.

[28:51] A one world government. All of these philosophies they all lead in this direction. To government control. To globalism. Or to anarchy. These are just some of many philosophies that are at work in our world today.

[29:05] Why are they at work? Because man is astray from the foundation of God's truth. Man is leaning on this faulty foundation of man's changing ideas.

[29:18] Whatever they feel like doing. There's no God to answer to. There's no guide to follow. Do what you will. Do what feels good.

[29:29] That's what we're being told. That's what our young people are being educated to believe. Another philosophy that's commonplace these days is. We've got plenty of time.

[29:41] The devil wants you to think that you've got plenty of time. Plenty of time to get right with God. That's another of his philosophies. And at the core of all these things is humanism.

[29:53] What a mess. What a mess it all is. When you analyse some of these things and think what they're ultimately leading to. And really what's driving it. Who's behind it. It's all thanks to the father of lies.

[30:06] Humanism. It's been defined as a godless religion which makes man the only standard by which things are judged. Man is the standard. Man is on the throne with humanism.

[30:18] And it believes that man is just an evolutionary product of nature. Life's meaningless. Pointless. It denies the existence of God. It denies the authority of scripture.

[30:31] It denies the realities of life after death. Of judgement. Of sin. Of heaven. Of hell. The word says if the foundations be destroyed.

[30:42] What can the righteous do? Friends today. Humanism is attacking the foundations. This relentless attack. Humanism. What is the fruit of humanism?

[30:54] Humanism. It kills unborn babies. That's what it does. That's just a blob. It's inconvenient. This is my body. I don't care about the body inside the my body.

[31:07] Just kill it. It's not convenient. Humanism. It kills youth through drugs. Just waste your life. Just get wasted. Literally.

[31:18] You know. It's like they say at the bar, I'm told. Name your poison. What poison do you want? That's what it is.

[31:29] Alcohol. It's poison. Don't be fooled. Don't take it. It degrades morals. Humanism.

[31:40] It dirties the minds with profanity. We haven't got a God to answer to. We can curse and swear all we please. Who's going to tell me off? Humanism. It turns children against their parents.

[31:53] That's why we're seeing the world torn apart. Families torn apart. It robs families of their wealth. It damages and destroys Christian families. Humanism. We're seeing it in Christian families.

[32:05] Because we're being bombarded by these philosophies, brothers and sisters. Day after day. Humanism. It's constantly eroding Christian freedoms without us even realising it.

[32:16] The rug's getting pulled from under us without us realising it. It's shaping public opinion. It's shaping public opinion. Such that when the polls happen, it's more and more godless leaders get in power. Shaping public opinion against Christian values.

[32:31] And humanists say, man is the measure of all things. Man is at the centre. They don't believe in human accountability to God. They believe that humans can do whatever they want.

[32:43] In contrast, Christians believe we are accountable to God. Every one of us is accountable to Him. We're going to answer to Him. Everyone is accountable for their conduct.

[32:56] And the Lord God is the judge of all things. We will answer to Him. If left alone, humanism will eat away through the world, destroying Christian values, homes and churches.

[33:12] It's coming into churches. Humanistic values. Humanistic principles. You know, I see it all the time where I work.

[33:23] Humanistic secular principles. It's happening. We've been conditioned, aren't we? Humanistic principles. Humanistic principles. It's making inroads into many institutions in business, in governments, in commerce, in industry, in education, and even in the church.

[33:43] The church has become less biblical as some of these things have come creeping in. Paul writes to the church at Colossae. He says, beware lest any man spoil you.

[33:55] Beware, he says. It's been said that half a truth is often a great lie. Half a truth is often a great lie. And these things of which we speak, they're spiritually discerned.

[34:08] These are spiritual things. And brothers and sisters today, Christian believers here tonight, we've lost our sense of mission, of the urgency of the hour.

[34:20] And this campaign, these philosophies are being pumped in our minds through media all the time. We need to capture, recapture a sense, a new sense of the eternal.

[34:34] It says his word endures forever. It says his mercy endures forever. These are eternal truths. And the word of God, especially the New Testament, is our authority to refute and to overthrow these contrary values and philosophies and concepts of secular humanism.

[34:57] Paul says, as you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. We need to be the church. Be the church. To walk in truth. To regain the foundations that are being eroded.

[35:10] And build squarely on those foundations. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? We must do what we can. I know there's different actions we can take.

[35:23] Some get involved in political aspects. Some get involved in campaigns of causes. To stand against these trends. These things that are coming against righteousness in our nation.

[35:43] The reality is brothers and sisters that everything is getting torn apart. Tyranny and wickedness are at the doors. We know that the global agenda of the enemy of our soul is world domination.

[35:57] And many are falling prey to temptation. Many are suffering with fear and heartbreak. And scarred and wounded because humanism is damaging their homes.

[36:08] And their faith is faltering. We need a resolute faith in these days brothers and sisters. To stand against these evils. And for this we need foundations that are built strong.

[36:22] And back to our text in Colossians. It says of these things. Rooted and built up in him. And established in the faith as you have been taught.

[36:34] Abounding therein with thanksgiving. Let's be planted, grounded firmly in biblical teaching. So that we can overcome these lies of Satan.

[36:47] These seductive lies. Let's ground ourselves in the word. Take every opportunity to ground ourselves in biblical truth. To be that people who are willing to lay down our lies for one another.

[37:01] Now more than ever we need to be a people who will share our faith. Julie and I just watched recently a recent Christian movie. It's actually a good one for a change.

[37:13] It's called Polycarp. And it was about a Christian martyr. Martyr. From the early century. The early centuries.

[37:24] And Polycarp. It described how he and those around him would not sprinkle some incense to Caesar.

[37:36] And say as they told people to say. Caesar is Lord. They refused to do that. Just something simple. They could have mumbled their breath.

[37:48] Or kind of made a show of doing it. No they said we're not going to do that. Because Caesar is not my Lord. Jesus is my Lord. Jesus is my Lord. And it came to the crunch for those people.

[38:00] Polycarp was burnt at the stake. For his faith. And Christians were thrown into the lions. When the rubber hits the road.

[38:11] Will you stand? When the rubber hits the road. Friends. If the foundations be destroyed. What can the righteous do? Now more than ever. We need to be that people who will stand strong.

[38:22] Squarely and firmly. Steadfastly relying on Christ. We don't deserve his grace. But he grants it still. Trouble will come. Let's remain firm.

[38:33] Firmly planted. Established in the faith. Be founded. Be grounded. Firmly planted on the rock.

[38:44] And brothers and sisters. God helping you. Make it your prayer. To be more in the word. To be more in study. To be more in prayer. To grow your faith.

[38:55] Let it be stronger. Because we need strong faith in these days. When everything is being undermined. When godless philosophies are against us. We need to raise our awareness level to a high degree.

[39:08] It says. Beware. Beware. Lest any man spoil you. Through philosophy and vain deceit. After the tradition of men. Paul says.

[39:19] Be on the lookout. Beware of this. Understand the times which we are living. Are a time of cultural war. There's a war going on. He says.

[39:30] He says. Beware. Any man spoil you. After the rudiments of the world. The worldly ways. And not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

[39:43] Just think of that. Just as we wrap up now. Of this cultural war that we're locked in. It's an ideological war. It's a war of human reasoning.

[39:57] Within our culture. Godless philosophies. Are making inroads. In many ways. Corrupting our land. And Christian values are under attack. It's a relentless attack.

[40:09] Isn't it? You see. The front pages of the newspapers. You see. The main stories in the media of late. And it's like.

[40:20] This gender fluidity. What is going on? You know. You can't have a male bathroom. And a female bathroom. You've got to have some kind of.

[40:31] What? It's madness. These are godless philosophies. That are happening. It's on the front pages of our newspapers at the moment. Christian values. Just.

[40:42] Common sense. Values. Are under attack today. And. Why is this so? It's humanism. At the basis of it. And. Christianity is no longer the major system.

[40:54] Undergirding the professions of law. Medicine. The arts. Journalism. Education. Industry. The entertainment. World. And major professions. At one time.

[41:05] They at least used to pay some. Token regard. To Christian values. And truth. Now it's just out of the window. And in its place. We've got anti-Christian values. That permeate society. And. Ultimately. They make Christian values.

[41:16] Virtually illegal. And I think virtually. Will become a reality. Brothers and sisters. Yeah. Christian freedoms. Christian freedoms are limited already. What's going to happen next. Now think back. We that are a bit older. What it was like 10, 20 years ago.

[41:27] And what. You got locked up for then. Yeah. Now. It's applauded. Celebrated. And the governments are funding it. Yes. On the streets of our city. Yes. In Adelaide.

[41:38] God help us. Yeah. It's a cultural war. It's a cultural war. Yeah. What are the next 10, 20 years. What will you see by the time. You're our age. Yes. Imagine. Yeah.

[41:49] What's going on. It's a subtle. Step by step. Erosion of Christian values and truth. Today. As Christian individuals. Basically. Basically.

[41:59] Basically. Basically. Basically. Basically. Basically. Basically. Basically. Basically. Basically. Basically.

[42:09] Basically. Basically. Basically. Christian individuals, as parents, how we need to pray for our children, how we need to be militant for our faith, to pray and to work for what matters, that our Christian homes will be strong and strengthened still, that we'll teach our children, we'll train them in what is pure and wholesome and we'll counter these humanistic philosophies that are overtaking our culture, our media, our systems of government, our laws, our education systems, in all arenas of life.

[42:47] Morality is being tossed out the window, brothers and sisters. Even worldly people have some sense of morality, but it seems like it's less and less so, as immorality and permissiveness takes over and there's this growing acceptance of alternative lifestyles, which is code for ungodliness.

[43:09] Alternative lifestyles. Family values have been destroyed. Friends, we're witnessing the paganisation of a nation. Australia's not a Christian nation.

[43:20] No way. It never was, really. There was some early token effort, but we know that Australia is increasingly a pagan nation, a godless nation.

[43:31] And so we see there's a great war going on. Here's what someone described it as. There is a great war underway. A spiritual war. And the overwhelming majority of Christians aren't aware of it.

[43:46] We are losing, and we are losing by default. The future of all generations to come, after us, depends on the outcome of this conflict, which we now ignore.

[43:57] I think there's truth there. Let's be militant, people. Let's be a church militant. Our world is in trouble. Homes are falling apart. We need to rise up.

[44:09] The Bible says, Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? The sanctity of human life is under attack. You know, if someone gets a bit old and forgetful, lock them away and forget them.

[44:25] And turn off the life system. You know, the institution of marriage is under attack. They've redefined it. Virtually, well in some nations they have, who knows how long before we do, redefined marriage to something that is gross and vile and wicked.

[44:46] Family authorities undermined. Even the cartoons portraying the man of the family as a twerp, a fool, someone to be mocked and scorned and laughed at.

[44:59] There's no respect for the father of the home or the mother of family, of responsibility. And what we need to see, I believe, brothers and sisters, just to close to you, is to be biblical people.

[45:16] Be a biblical people. And so, be such as David. When David saw Goliath, as he was there mocking Israel and laughing and scorning them, David said, who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?

[45:36] Who is this man? We must prayerfully stand in the gap. Pray. There's a picture of standing in the gap that speaks of prayer.

[45:47] Let's pray for our families. Let's teach our children what is rightful and true. Let us stand in the gap against ungodly philosophies. Our completeness is in Christ.

[46:01] It goes on, that in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.

[46:16] He's in charge. He is the head of all principality and power. And one day he's going to take his rightful throne on this earth and he will bring judgment and justice.

[46:31] And you, that believe, you're complete in him. There's a completeness there. Friends, the answer for this world with all this mess that it's in and with all the confusion that it's in, with all this searching and not finding of answers, the answer is Christ.

[46:52] He is the one that we need. Not humanism, relativism, all the rest of it. Our answer is Christ. And you are complete in him. You have the answer.

[47:02] You have the one in whom is all authority and power. You are in him that believe tonight. And let's get back to the foundations, the bedrock.

[47:17] Christ, our foundation. At the heart of it all is the supremacy of Christ. In Colossians, we see that theme, the supremacy of Christ. He's in charge.

[47:28] And we want to be responsive to his directions, don't we? To be at his command, to be at his call, to serve and to bless him, to please him with the lives that we have.

[47:43] Friends, I urge you tonight just to consider these truths, consider these vain philosophies, these worldly, deceitful philosophies. The devil is a father of lies.

[47:55] He wants to con people and he does and many are falling for it. Rather, let us stand fast for the truth and be complete in him in whom is all principality and power.

[48:10] let us pray. Let us pray.