Father, we praise you. We pray that you give us a vision of Christ this morning in the written and proclaimed word of God, and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. We spoke last week of Jesus healing the centurion's servant and of Jesus marveling at his faith, the faith of the centurion. Very often when Jesus marvels, he marvels at somebody's lack of faith. I don't know if you've noticed that. But he marveled at the faith of that centurion and said, I wonder if I would find such faith even in Israel. In other words, even where it's expected to be found. How much faith can God find where it's expected to be found, where it's among those who proclaim it? We have to wonder. So I'm going to talk about, if you look at your notes, you'll see chapter 9, verses 35 through 38. But I'd like to take us there in the text. So I'm going to begin in chapter eight at verse 14, where Matthew writes these words and goes through these series of events after Jesus preached the great sermon on the Mount. And he says, when Jesus had come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother lying sick with a fever. So he touched her hand and the fever left her and she arose and served them. And when evening had come, they brought to him many who were demon-possessed, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, he himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses. And when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave a command to depart to the other side. And a certain scribe came and said to him, teacher, I'll follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. And another of his disciples, another of the disciples said to him, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. But Jesus said to him, follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead. He got into a boat, his disciples followed him, and suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves, but he was asleep. And his disciples came to him and arose, and awoke him rather, saying, Lord, save us, we're perishing. But he said to them, why are you fearful, O you of little faith? And he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled, saying, who can this be that even the winds and the sea obey him? And when he had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, There met him two demon-possessed men coming out of the tombs exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way. And suddenly they cried out, saying, What have we to do with you, Jesus, you son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time? Now a good way off from there was a herd of many swine feeding. So the demons begged him saying, if you cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine. And he said to them, go. So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine. And suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea and perished in the water. And those who kept them fled. And they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed man. And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they begged him to depart. So he got into a boat, crossed over, and came to his own city. And behold, they brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, son, be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven you. And at once some of the scribes within themselves said, this man blasphemes. But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven you, or arise and walk? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins. And he said to the paralytic, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house. And he arose and departed to his house. And when the multitude saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men. And Jesus passed on from there. He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And he said to him, follow me. So he arose and followed him. And now what happened is Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? And when Jesus heard that, he said to them, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice, for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Then the disciples of John came to him saying, why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast? And Jesus said to them, can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, and the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved. While he spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped him, saying, My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live. So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did his disciples. And suddenly a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of his garment. For she said to herself, If only I may touch his garment, I shall be made well. But Jesus turned around, and when he saw her, he said, Be of good cheer, daughter, your faith has made you well. And the woman was made well from that hour. And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, he saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing. And he said to them, make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping. And they ridiculed him. But when the crowd was put outside, he went in and took her by the hand. And the girl arose. And the report of this went out to all the land. When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed him, crying out and saying, son of David, have mercy on us. And when he had come into the house, the blind men came to him and Jesus said to them, do you believe that I am able to do this? They said to him, yes, Lord. And he touched their eyes saying, according to your faith, let it be done to you. And their eyes were opened and Jesus sternly warned them saying, see that no one knows it. But when they had departed, they spread the news about him in all the country. And as they went out, behold, they brought to him a man mute and demon possessed. And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke and the multitudes marveled. It was never seen like this in Israel. But the Pharisee said he casts out demons by the ruler of demons. He casts out demons by the ruler of demons. And Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them. because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd. And he said to his disciples, the harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Father, I ask that you add understanding to this, your holy word, in Jesus name, amen. So we can see Jesus went on quite a campaign of showing who he was. And it's interesting, the demons knew who he was. They even knew the agenda. They even knew it wasn't time yet for them to be defeated. They knew all these things. Demons make great theologians. I don't know if you've ever noticed that. They always recognize the Lord. They recognize his purpose, his power, his origins, where he's from. They know all about him. People, not so much. And so when the Gergesenes, elsewhere called the Gadarenes, saw what he did to the swine, to the 2,000 swine, with the many, many legion of demons, from another account, the demon said, our name is Legion, for we are many. They went into the swine, the swine run off the hill. Jews aren't fond of swine, first of all. Let's point that out. This was no big sin in Israel, okay? Jesus didn't apologize to anybody for destroying their living. They weren't great lovers of swine. Different with me, I like swine. But he did all these great things. He raised a girl from the dead. He did all these wonderful things. And then we come to the sort of a little bit of a conclusion of the whole section. Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel, teaching and preaching the kingdom of God. And then he demonstrated who he was by healing their diseases and all other such things as we've just seen. So one verse that I'm very concerned of as I went through this today, is verse 36, where Matthew records, but when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion. He saw the multitudes. Now remember, these multitudes are needy people. They're needy, they're sick. This happens several times in the ministry of Christ, where they come out, and they come out with what? Their sicknesses. And they come out with their hopes, their dreams, maybe even their faith, that what we heard about him, or what they saw him do to someone else, they would also do to him. Maybe he would, as he healed someone else, he would also heal me. And certainly if he raised Jairus' daughter, right, the ruler of the Campernian synagogue's daughter from the dead, well certainly he could heal my blindness, or cast the demon out of me, or tell me to rise up and walk, and I would rise and walk. And so there was all of this Faith in Christ wasn't universal, but many had it. Many saw it, and he saw them, and he was moved with compassion. But why was he moved with compassion? Well, Matthew tells us, because they were weary. People weary themselves looking for a miracle in their lives. They weary themselves looking for truth. They run themselves down looking for the true Messiah. Now remember, we're in Galilee, and Galilee is a place of unbelief. It was called Israel in olden times. There was Israel in the north, Judea in the south, Galilee's in the north. I told you at the beginning of the series, there was a lot of Gentiles at that time in Galilee. They had become nominal believers. They didn't really expect for a Messiah to come anymore. Even their leaders, the scribes, decried what he did and told him he couldn't forgive sin. So they were weary. They were probably weary from walking in the deserts to find the Messiah. And they were scattered. Friends, the churches are scattered today. You know, it actually occurs to me maybe there were too many churches. Maybe there's too many splinter groups. Maybe there's too many divisions in the church today. Maybe we're supposed to come together. and not be so disparate in all of our little useless wranglings, as Paul called them. And there's a lot of those. So they're weary. They're weary of all these things. And they're scattered. They're like sheep having no shepherd. Friends, sheep need a shepherd. Sheep are no good without a shepherd. They would just go out and get eaten by something. They're no good without a shepherd. Sheep need a shepherd. The word in Greek is poimen, and it means, it's translated pastor or shepherd, same word. It's only translated once in the New King James New Testament as pastor, by the way. Not a lot of pastors yet. Shepherds. Pastors are shepherds. Sheep need a shepherd. The church is the fold. that the shepherd is herding them into, the fold. You follow? We see the Lord here bemoaning the absence of both. There's no shepherd. There's no fold. The sheep don't know where they're going. They're weary. They're scattered. He wants us together. It's always this bringing together of the church. They have no shepherd, which is no teacher, no guide. It seems to me that times have not changed so much. I want to tell you this. Our church received an email from sermonaudio.com. Now, Sermon Audio is a really good Christian tool. We have used it for over 20 years. Bob, years ago you used to tape me for this. This must go back 20, 25 years we've been using it. They've been around. They're a good organization. You just get the audio of the sermon. YouTube, we've done since COVID, you get the visual as well as the audio. But Sermon Audio, we've been a partner with them for 20 years or more. Karen and I went to a sermonaudio.com conference in Manhattan a couple years ago, you may remember, it was very good. Stephen Lee, nice gentleman is the, and you've probably met him if you've ever gone to like Bolton conferences or wherever the reformed theology is being espoused. And he's a good man, good brother in Christ. They sponsor hundreds, I think probably thousands of churches. I'm not sure how many. So they're our audio provider for our weekly messages. And Billy puts them on before he leaves the building. on Sunday mornings. They serve, as I said, hundreds of churches. They don't edit our sermons for content. If they don't agree with me, they don't take it out, right? In other words, there's a respect for freedom of speech and thought. They simply require certain beliefs at the outset for you to enter in. So they've been very good and very good to us. They're a no-frills provider of the Word of God. It's just the Word of God. It's good for the churches to have this platform, it seems to me. And you know, I don't champion a lot of high tech platforms and things, but this one I do. Not only to get the word out, but to have an audio record of all that we've taught. If someone ever says, you taught this, I can go back and say, well, I think I taught the opposite and I can find where I did and I can demonstrate that. And for thousands of pulpits throughout the decades of our existence, they have provided this service. And here's what they wrote to us just the other day. And I quote, we lose 20 churches a month. They lose 20 churches a month. That's startling. Something's going on. He goes on to write, some months more, some less. Some close their account due to cost. It's about $60 a month, Duane apprises me of this morning. Others, so some are due to cost, others are due to closure where the fellowship has disbanded. So that's epidemic now. Fellowships disbanding to somewhere around 20 a month. Whatever the reason, he writes, it's painful to us, particularly in the case of closures. It feels like a death in the family, a light that has gone out in a dark world. Doesn't feel right, he writes. We don't see our broadcasters as customers, but partners on a sacred mission. Sad would be the day when we cease to exist. Weary and scattered Christians. I thought that was worthy of our attention. He's scared. He's very concerned, and rightly so. I wondered over the years why the church has had such a negligible effect on society. Have you noticed that? It doesn't matter who's in office. The society is the society. How much effect has all of our programs, all of our preaching, all of our evangelism done for the morality of a great nation? Well, I looked into some statistics. According to Gallup, one of the great polling agencies, right? 33% of Americans claim Protestant as their religion. You know, I have noticed today that most people that talk religion don't know Protestant from Catholic or what the difference would be. They say things like, Oh, well, God is God. It doesn't matter who you worship or how you do it or any of these things. And, uh, and I'm going to get into that as an anecdote to demonstrate some of this falling away. So 33% of Americans are Protestant. 11 claim Christianity unspecified. They don't say what they are, but we would say those are non-Christians, right? And 22% claim to be Catholic. The rest claim unaffiliated. The unaffiliated are either atheist, agnostic, or nothing in particular. Interesting array, isn't it? Of those who claim Christianity as their religion, 45% say that religion is very important in their lives. So out of 33%, less than half of that say 15 or so percent, say religion is very important in our lives. Hence my attaching to that story of Andrews at Capitol Hill Baptist where he spoke to the men and women in high places as though you're in high places but you're not in the highest place. In fact, the pulpits of the land are the highest place. So 45% of those who say religion, of those who are Protestants, say religion is very important. In 1992, about 55% said religion was very important, a little more. It peaked to 59 or so from 97 to 2002. It's been steadily declining, and in 2023, only 45% of those who claim Protestant as their religion say it's very important in their lives. In 2025, those who claim that they're satisfied with the influence of religion upon American culture is 10%. Somewhat satisfied, 38%. Somewhat dissatisfied, 21%. Of those polled with the question, do you think religion as a whole is increasing or losing its influence on American life, 75% say it's losing its influence. We're not important to the multitudes. And I think it's because they're weary and scattered and have no shepherd. I don't think things change all that much. And I've long wondered about these things. Could genuine Christianity, friends, blink out of existence over time? I'm glad you're shaking your head no. You know your Bible well. It can't go away. Even Elijah wondered if it could go away. In fact, he said it was gone, and he was the last. Remember? They've all bowed the knee to Baal. I alone am left, and they seek to kill me. And I thought I was a pessimist. And the Lord says to Elijah, I have reserved for myself 7,000 who have not bowed the knee to Baal. There is a remnant. There is a theology of the remnant. The church will not disappear, but it certainly looks like it's disappearing at times. So I've wondered about these things. Could it just be an empty framework? Christianity, could it just be an empty framework of ornate buildings and empty rituals? How many old church buildings in the towns around Boston are condos now? Quite a number that I've seen. But it can't really go out of existence, not completely anyway. Paul was not daunted by the seeming apathy toward religion in the land. He wrote saying, confident, he was confident of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in the church will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. If he's not correct, we can go home and read the paper today. Like most encouraging verses today, the church at large has taken communal blessings for personal ones. I think that's part of the problem. We're so individual oriented. It's what am I getting out of it? What am I seeking? What are my needs? Who listens to me? It's all of these personal things. God is building a community. of people. I think we would understand our unanswered prayers better if we realized what it contributed to the body for those prayers to go unanswered. We strive in faith sometimes because we don't get what we want as a body. And because of this individualism Even the promises are drained of their intended meanings. The promises are communal. Having said all that, however, even Jesus wondered about these things. Luke 18.8 says, nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on the earth? That's Jesus talking. Even Jesus said that. Doesn't look like there'll be anyone left to believe in me. That was 2,000 years ago. It didn't happen. And he's saying it rhetorically, obviously, right? Some of us will assuage our consciences by simply saying, oh, well, God is in charge. Don't worry about it. That's true. You can't argue with theology like that. So that's a great theological point. It's difficult to argue with, yet still there's an application for the churches. We still do stuff, even though God's in charge, we still do stuff. We still think through and strategize, right? So there's still an application for the churches. And what is the application that he's pointing to in this passage? It's to send laborers into the fields to harvest and to be those very laborers. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest. The Lord of the harvest. Harvest means to gather, right? Gather up the ripe produce. Now we spend a lot of time arguing about methods. We can argue that stuff all day long. Well, I think maybe we need to soften the message. I mean, we may need to start with just some cliches about love. People love to hear about love. They love to hear about blessings and grace. So we'll start with that. I mean, I'm just saying, maybe that is a thing. I wonder about that at times, because that's what we've done. God loves you. He has a wonderful plan for your life. I don't know that that's true. That's why I don't say stuff like that. People say, well, God loves everyone. I'd be hard-pressed to find a passage that says it. Now, the first thing you'll think of is God so loved the world, right? God so loves the world. God loves the world, Pastor Dan. Don't be discouraged. Don't forget that. He loves everyone. He loves the world. And I think, did he always love the world? Or is this something new in New Testament times? Did he love the world in Noah's time? See, He loves the world, so He saves the world in His own way. And back then, He saved it with eight people. You see what I mean? Yes, God loves the world because He created it, and it was perfect, and He saw that it was good, and He wants to build it and rebuild it and preserve it. But how He does it is not always so palatable with the human race, is it? So yeah, God's in charge and we do trust in that, but we still have to. Look at the scriptures and see what our part in this whole thing is. In the end, the harvest is only good. It's only the mature wheat ready for harvest if the message is planted deeply into the good ground of faith. We have the parable of the soils, Matthew 13, to tell us about this process, right? A lot of the seed we plant doesn't take root. Some of it takes root only for a time, and it breaks our hearts. when the deceitfulness of riches and the cares of the world choke the wheat, right? Friends, truth is the seed. Scatter the seed, right? Faith is the ground into which it must be planted. What did Jesus say to the woman at the well, the Samaritan woman? He said, The fields are white for harvest. In other words, the flower has appeared. It's ready. It's ready to be harvested. The fields are white for harvest, but the laborers are few. I wonder if it's ripe for harvest, and if it's a weary, scattered group, and there's just not enough truth-tellers. I mean, we can argue methods all day long, but that's what this passage is saying. There's not enough laborers, right? So we do take part. We know God has to do it, but Paul recognized we take part. He said, Apollos watered. He said, I planted, Apollos watered. So Paul did the evangelism, Apollos did the discipleship, right? But in the end, God had to give the increase and only a percentage of those would come. It's difficult and it's discouraging preaching the word because we don't see that we have such an influence. Our whole country, according to poll, Gallup has been very reliable in these kinds of polls over the years. We don't have the effect we would like to have. And just saying good things doesn't seem to be doing it. So Paul plants, Apollos watered, God gave the increase, It's true in the field, it's true in the church, for what is the church but God's field? Paul said, you are God's field. That takes the metaphor out of it. You see what I mean? You are God's building, he said. So I wonder if it's we, the churches who have failed society. Maybe we haven't followed this simple plan. Stick to the truth. I wonder if there was not an application for the church to tackle such seemingly unapproachable problems. I think there were great attempts to plant, great programs for watering, but I sometimes question the quality of the seed. I think people are eager in the churches to see people come to Christ. I think we don't trust the seed. And what do I mean by that? I wonder if our society, even the Christian societies among us, who see religion as uninfluential and inconsequential in our lives, I mean even Christians don't think it's the most important thing. Only 45% of 33% will say they think it's the most important thing. In their lives, never mind in someone else's, if it's not that important in our lives, how are we witnessing to the world that they need what we have? Should we ask ourselves, could we have done more? Could we have remained more faithful? Could we have not become more personally influential, more personally involved, better witnesses of the fact that love of Christ is the most important thing in our lives? And so our verse declares that the state of our times is not so much different from the state of society in the time of Christ. The multitudes are weary and scattered like sheep without a shepherd. And so we read this. When Jesus saw the multitude, he was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd. Because they had all the wrong ideas and the wrong doctrine, had pity on them. Mark says it a little different, though. And Mark gives us a direct application in a time like this. So Mark's iteration of this was when Jesus, when he came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. And then he goes on to say, so Jesus began to teach them many things. To teach them many things. The Lord's solution to the weary, scattered condition of the church was simply to teach. I believe that the churches did teach. At least we all tried to teach. But they considered that the good seed, the unadulterated seed, was too strong. So they cross-bred truth with cultural preferences for truth. They cross-bred the seed with cultural preferences They said, you know, they'll never swallow this truth whole. We have to mix it with something. That's how the church fell into the gospel of cliches. Just the gospel of cliches. All you gotta do is drive around and look at church marquees, and you get a gospel of cliches. Except those few churches that actually put the word of God on there and tell you the reference. Could it be that there's so much apathy in the churches because the churches have not stuck to the simple method that the Lord prescribes? It's always been about preaching, about proclaiming the sound doctrines of Christ. What do you think Jesus taught them when he went out? He taught them the truth. And how'd that work for him? It's a cost. He tells the disciples to go, just like he told the swine in the passage today, go. He didn't say where to go, he just said go. Jesus told those demons where to go. But he says this, but as you go preach, as you go preach, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand." You know, sometimes I think the weird guy in the subway is the only guy that's got it right. He just says it. The Lord is coming. Retribution is coming. And we all say, man, why not throw him a couple of quarters? You know? Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light, he said. And what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetop. The gospel's not a secret that we should be ashamed of, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation for those who believe. But pastor, I say it all the time and people get mad. They killed all the apostles. They killed the Lord. Do we really need more martyrs? You know the 20th century was the century of the martyrs? More martyrs died in the 20th century than all the other centuries. It's amazing for Christianity to end up with those kind of numbers, you know? If you were a corporation you'd be calling in all kinds of strategists to change this because you can't stay in existence with that kind of apathy and no planning and scattered and weary But keep in mind, as we confront these kind of passages, that truth in preaching is paramount. It's the most important thing. We've become so fond of sayings, of popular expressions, of cliches, that may or may not really be bound up in biblical truths. I display them all the time. You know I'm allergic to them. Truth is the main thing. The word of God is the vehicle upon which the truths are carried. Paul told the Ephesians to speak the truth in love. Do it nicely, but don't just say nice things. The truth isn't always, it's very confrontive, the truth. It's very confrontive. You can be considered very arrogant for saying, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and there's no other way to come to Christ. But that's the truth. And he says, let each one of you speak truth to his neighbor. Ephesians chapter 4. It's a lack of understanding of the things of God that has kept society of men scattered and divided with regard to truth. Paul says again to the Ephesian church, no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated, from the life of God because their understandings darkened. Do you follow? What you know is what either brings light or darkness into your life. And then he says it's because of their ignorance. Ignorance is just a lack of knowledge. The ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart who being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness, but then he says this to us, but you have not so learned Christ. If indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus. You know, I was asked to offer a blessing at an event recently, I've told you about it. It was a gathering of nominal believers. I believe, nominal is another word for unbeliever. It means in name only. We like some of the accoutrements of religion. We go to church once in a while. But we're not really lovers of the Word of God. We don't even know it. People say things like, yeah, I'm a believer. I don't speak chapter and verse, meaning I don't read the Bible ever. If you were to ask each one of these about faith, they would claim to have it, I think. I think they claim to have it. They would declare that there's a God, that he's a good God, and that they do pray, right? And that they do respect religion in general. And I found that that was true. So, in other words, there's ground, there's something here you can work with, right? Hence, asking a minister to pray. Why would they ask a minister to pray if they didn't care anything about eternal things. You ask a minister to pray. So they asked me. And I must say my prayers were well received. I'll also tell you that I didn't simply pray extemporaneously with all of the usual evangelical phrases. I prayed the word of God. a few verses that I had actually memorized. I asked that the greatest promise of God would come upon this new couple, that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. People love to hear that. And it's the Word of God. It's unadulterated. It can move people, and it did. They were glad to hear it, and when they heard it, they rejoiced. They actually applauded. Now, I told them, you don't have to applaud prayers. But they didn't listen to me. They were clapping too loud. So why would I say that there was little of genuine faith involved? It almost sounds like real faith, don't you think? Why do I believe that Jesus came back into such a meeting, such a joyous event, or if Jesus came into that meeting, Even an event where the word of God was recited and the promises of God extolled, that he still would not find faith. Why do I believe that if Jesus were there, he would still have not found the faith he was looking for? It's because there was a basic misunderstanding of the purpose and person of God. That wasn't there. Now I'm going to give you an example of what I mean. I saw an old friend and he was alone. I went over to talk to him. And people are still finding out. I've been doing this 30 years, but some people haven't seen me in 40 years or 50 years. So when they find I'm a minister, they're a little amazed. And right when someone finds you're a minister, right away they say, oh, my uncle's brother's a minister. Or I have two aunts. I had a guy recently. I have two aunts that are nuns. OK. I have two aunts that are plumbers. So I spoke with them. And I forget how the conversation started, but it got to this place. He said, the first thing he said to me was, God is God. Now there's a good piece of doctrine. I can work with that. God is God. You can't argue with that, but we all know what he means. It means no matter what I do, no matter what denomination I joined, no matter what beliefs I have, I approach God in my own way because God is God and I'm me. He said, I feel closer to God in the woods than I do in the church. In other words, I don't go to church. I have no use for Christians, because they're all in the church, and I don't like them. And I feel better if I just go out in the woods. Now, you know someone that says that very rarely goes out in the woods to talk to God. I'm a big advocate of going to the woods to talk to God, but not at 10 o'clock on Sunday morning. Do it at 1 o'clock on Sunday afternoon or any time. I feel closer to God in the woods than I do in the church. And then he said this marvelous piece of theology, I'm like Crocodile Dundee. Does anybody remember Crocodile Dundee from the 80s? I loved Crocodile Dundee, right? So I remember, as soon as he said this, I remembered the scene. Crocodile Dundee said, me and God are mates. Crocodile Dundee's Australian. Me and God are mates, he said. We get along. I told him I'm quite certain that Crocodile Dundee possesses many fine qualities, but he's probably not a reliable theologian. I'm not sure I want to read his commentaries on the whole Bible. So I began my dismantling of his false view of God. You see, that's that nominal thing. He doesn't mind hearing someone pray. He doesn't mind hearing the word of God, right? But he wants to put God in this little informal box of his own making. So I said, in your view, God's an informal chap. In fact, he's so informal that you may pray to him like this, my mate who art in heaven. It's ridiculous on its face, isn't it? And so I did what I always do in such cases. I inquired by what authority he came to that conclusion. How do you know God's out there in the woods? How do you know that that's an acceptable place to talk to him? It is. I secretly believe it is. And I openly believe it is. But it doesn't replace congregational worship. God didn't save one person. He saved the church. He laid his life down for her, we're told. I said, I've read from the word of God all my adult life and I find no place that indicates to me that God is that informal. I don't think God's that informal, do you? That he's accepting of such familiar salutations as mate and all that I've read about God from the written word, I had not found God to be so chummy with anybody. He does say he's no respecter of persons, and I take that to mean personal opinions, right? Is God just a mate or a bloke? Now, a particularly astute disputant would counter with, but didn't Jesus sit with ordinary people in an ordinary way? That's the first thing you're gonna get. People are smart, they know that. Jesus went out, we read it today, sat with tax collectors and sinners, prostitutes and the worst of society. He's just an ordinary bloke. That's a good retort. I would commend that. I'd say, I'm glad you know that. He sat with ordinary people, but you show me one place in scripture where he sat with ordinary people and spoke ordinary things. He spoke extraordinary things. We've already seen in our series in the Sermon on the Mount that the people were astonished at his teaching. No one's going to be astonished if you go, well, God is God. He doesn't care what you do. He taught them as one, what? Having authority. See, that's where the word gets tough, when you take on the authority part. He didn't preach as the scribes. They were the guys that got you in this place in the first place. Now Dundee was an Australian, but I wonder if an American could address him as dude or dog or bro, our bro who art in heaven. There's something really unsettling about that kind of informality, don't you think? There was so much to address in this person's estimation of God and religion, it was impossible to address it in one encounter, in a social event. But I was determined to make a start. I said, you use the phrase, I feel closer to God. I feel closer to God in the woods. I don't feel close to God in the pews. So who or what is your real authority on the subject of God? Is it Crocodile Dundee, or is it your feelings? Or do they just have a happy alliance in this one place? Now, I know that present-day American cultures all bound up in personal feelings about things, about everything, but I had to probe for the sake of breaking through the darkness. Where is it written that our feelings are a reliable guide to divine realities? And that's where evangelicals fail. Every time we feel something, we like to say it's God telling us. And when 10 other good Christians who love us and want the best for us, make sure those are the ones you're listening to, tell you that's not God speaking to you, you want nothing to do with them anymore. I see it all the time. Are feelings even good teachers? Are they effective barometers for measuring the mood of Almighty God? I'm out in the woods here, my feelings are telling me God is happy with me. I've learned from the written word not to trust my natural instincts. Now, from the book of Hebrews, he says, when you mature in Christ, your senses are trained to discern good and evil. Your feelings are supposed to mature with your understanding, you see. It's not wrong to have feelings. Emotions are good. Emotional worship is good. But they're not our leaders. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In other words, the answers aren't within you. Don't just trust your heart. Now, there's a cliche. Christians say it all the time. Trust your heart. You know who says that kind of thing? Celebrities, musicians, actors, those kind of celebrities. Oh, God led me into this, and that's why I'm here accepting this reward. Thank the Academy. Thank all of you wonderful people. Look at me. In all your ways, acknowledge Him. He will direct your paths. My authority tells me that our personal feelings about anything are not only not reliable about the nature of God, they tell us very little of value about the nature of us. I think most of us are ignorant of God's view of us. And when I say that, I don't think I mean us, but I think I mean us as American society. That suggested real ignorance of God, this conversation with this man. Jeremiah said, your heart is deceitful above all things. It's desperately wicked. Who can know it? In other words, you can't know yourself through your heart. It's constantly deceiving you. It seems our feelings are satanic deceivers. They must be confronted, their conclusions must be challenged, hence the authority that the multitudes perceived in him. He challenged their beliefs. The Lord calls us sheep, and sheep want to be part of a flock. So if the flock is not desirable, perhaps the sheep is not a sheep. Maybe it's a goat, doesn't want to hang with the sheep. Surely we will plant, surely we will water, but God gives growth where he wants. Yet still, to simply say God is in charge does not meet the challenge of the church today, to speak to a weary, scattered, apathetic society. I have another anecdote of the scattered, weary state of things. Friends, it occurs to me that Christianity has been really hard on Christians. I don't know if you get this at all. I know a family in the Lord. I've known them many, many years. In the Lord, true Christians. They have adult children. They all claim Christ. They're married to other Christians, right? And they're all married with children at this time. But none of them worship in a church. They used to. They did for a long time. But certain things soured them with regard to weekly fellowship. Churches are filled with drama, and I don't mean plays. I mean personal gossipy drama. We have a love for drama. And there's a sort of beauty contest going on in the churches. Churches have become talent shows. I want to tell you an anecdote. When I first, very early in my Christian walk, I went out to the homeless. That was my field of work, right, where I went out and preached the gospel. And I went out to the streets of Brockton, and we brought a young man in, and I was remodeling a house at the time. We actually owned the house, it was for resale, and I put him up there in the house. He could live there while we were doing it. It was a good place for him. He's a grown man, he's a very young man. And at our church, he came to church with me. That was part of the thing. He received Christ. He came to church. We baptized him. And he saw what we did. And there was a lot of what we call special music in those days, which I have no problem with special music. People got up, and they sang, and they were good. They'd have the little music box with all the music on it, and they'd sing the words to the music. You know how that used to work. And so I came to the house one day after he'd been to worship, and I heard all this singing. And I went upstairs, and he was singing loud with his headphones on, and he had the boombox booming, and he's singing and singing some song. It wasn't a worship song or anything. And I said, what are you doing? He wasn't a bad singer. And I said, what are you doing? He says, I'm getting ready for service next week. I'm going to sing. He really thought, that's what you do. That's what we put across to him. This is like a great audience for guys like you. You can come in here and take over. If you're the best singer, you can come sing. And he really thought that's what he's going to do. And I had to sit him down and say, I think we probably, you're misinformed or you got the wrong idea from what we do. It was kind of, in his mind, it was a talent show. I don't know if he received anything about the message or anything that day. But that's a true story. Some of you remember that. So these people came to churches. This family came to churches all their lives. The churches had become a form of a talent show. They were supposed to be expressions of the spiritual gifts. Instead they became expressions of personal talent, personal significance, personal ambitions. But I learned one lesson from Pastor Ken, and it's this. If faith is linked to fashion, it will fade when the fashion fades. I think we've become a church of fashions. Because all that music stuff is last decade's fashion in the church. Now, people are leaving the churches the evangelical churches, to go to some of the old orthodox churches because they're smoky and quiet and there's grandeur in the building and there's gold utensils and there's multi-colored beautiful garments and vestments. And people are seeking what we call aesthetics. People are giving up musical taste for aesthetics. I'm reading about this in World Magazine continually. People are studying it. There's a movement back to the so-called Orthodox churches. Really, we're the Orthodox church. We have all the Orthodox beliefs, right? They are heterodox, but they're called Orthodox. Because they're older than us. People are moving back. That's the new thing. The new thing is meditative. It's quiet in there. These people take God seriously. It's just another fashion. I'll never forget, Pastor Ken and I had another friend. He was a minister of a local church down in New Bedford, and he was a good guy. I liked him. A lot of people didn't like him, but I liked him. He said some strange things once in a while, but he was a good guy, and he had this little congregation, and he came in all excited one day. He said, we got a new sign in front of the church. And people are coming like crazy because we got this sign. It costs us $3,000. That was big money in the 90s. $3,000 for the sign. And he goes, they're coming. And then when Pastor Ken was alone with me, he goes, if they're there for a sign, they won't be there long. It's just another gimmick, another fashion. You've got to stick with teaching the Word of God unadulterated. And if you have suggestions for us, I will take them gladly. so long as we don't jettison that, because really I find that's really the only thing that I can do. I'm not good at everything. Churches are filled with drama, they're filled with personal significance types of things, and it wore this family out. And they had a lot to say about the people that eventually drove them out of their church, it was a very big church, So fashions all go out of style, friends. Remember that. For this family, the fashion was music. Music got them in, friends, and music ushered them out. Drama, that is, gossip, hurtful dissensions between the members, taking sides, one against the other. So music and personal taste and generational trends of appreciation. Friends, older people like older music, and younger people like younger music. If you make it about taste, you're going to have a fight. The churches became like patrons in a bar fighting over control of the jukebox. But what happens when the young get old? See, the young people are the ones in charge. They're up there singing, but what do they do when they're my age? Ken used to make fun of that too. He goes, they're 60 years old and they're going like this. And he thought that was unseemly. But what happens when the young get old in the church, i.e. the audience, right? Clamors for more up-to-date songs people are displaced. They feel dishonored slighted and offended Maybe you remember the big Hillsong churches. That was a big movement that started in Australia. It was huge. Some of the family members here was associated with Hillsong. They worked for that group. Anyone know what I'm talking about, Hillsong? Now they fell into disgrace. Some of their pastors did terrible things and it took it down and it demoralized some of the members of this particular family. It seems that sinful disgrace came upon the leaders. They attracted many out of the good, perhaps the smaller congregations. You know, because it's more fun being at the Hillsong Church. And then their leader fell to sin, scandal became public, and that's part of what happened to this family. There's so much animosity toward Christianity in this family that they've decided not to attend worship, to go it alone, as it were. They're tired. The church wore them out. The parents, old friends of mine, have decided what they would do is find a large church where they could easily slip in the back and slip out. Don't want to make contacts. Don't want to have friends. They believe closeness, fellowship is the root of all evil. My conclusion is that they've been damaged by becoming slaves to fashion. And fashion is a cruel master. My observations have led me from trends in music to trends in style. Christians today have grown weary of the music wars. You know what's interesting about what I'm calling the music wars? You know what I'm talking about when I say this, right? The churches with the... the best pyrotechnics and smoke and stuff. And I really mean that, I'm not even joking about that. And the best, most slap-happy songs. I remember being in a church in Long Island where the minister came up and he's this diminutive little guy and he had this little, he had this little plexiglass pulpit, but you don't call it a pulpit because that's authoritative, you call it a podium. I heard Joel Osteen once, wait, we call it a podium. We don't like pulpit, because it's authoritative. So he got up to the pulpit, they were up there dancing and singing, the girls were up there at the tambourines, and he said, excuse me, I'm going to interrupt the worship for just a short word of God. And he apologized for preaching, and he preached all of eight minutes. He sat down and they went back to worship. And that was the worship. We've lost the sense of all that, that was just fashion. It's not gonna make you, it might make you happy now to go from the boring little church to that, but it won't a year from now or 10 years from now. Because fashion isn't what it's about. It's what wearies us, it's what scatters us. And so as I said, they become slaves to aesthetics today. And I'm seeing that in the movement. There's a movement back to Catholicism. They're weary of loud, repetitive, doctrinally vacuous praise songs and have chosen instead soft, smoky, ornate, vacuous sermons. I grew up Catholic, friends. There isn't a lot to learn on Sunday morning. They lost their taste for the new and have decided that old is better, older buildings, more ancient traditions, whether they're Christ traditions or not. It seems the demands of Protestant monotheism was too restrictive and have brought in the polytheism of Mariolatry and Hagiolatry. That's worship of Mary and worship of saints. Truth is less important than a smoky meditative place to reflect on truth. It's just another fashion it will wear out. But it doesn't matter because there'll be another one to take its place. for those who are not really seeking truth. And as for those who bemoan the waning influence of Christianity upon the culture, have to consider their policy of silence on cultural, i.e., political issues of the moment. We tried not to be influential. We made cultural, political things off limits. We gave up our voice. Did we really think no one would fill in? Nothing displays the virtues of a democratic society better than the public policies they champion. No, we don't preach politics. I reject that. I've mentioned political things and policies before. Never preach politics. We don't preach it. We don't extol it as an answer to everything. Christ is the only answer to everything. But Christ speaks on all these things. Teach them all things that I commanded you. We preach Christ, but our cultural mandate demands a Christian voice in the public square on moral issues and Christian presence in the halls of state. It should never have become anathema to speak on socio-political issues of the moment. I've had people say, well, I don't come to church to hear that. Well, you should. Where are you going to hear it? No wonder you're all messed up in your thinking. God commissioned the church to take dominion in the earth and to subdue it. Perhaps the church has relinquished our role as moral custodians of the earth. Maybe we've relinquished it to other forces. If we don't speak on it, who gets the big voice? Who gets the microphone? Is it any wonder those forces took advantage of our silence? And by the way, the things that we agree on, the social issues with the Catholic Church, the Pope isn't scared to preach on. I heard him this week talking about social issues. They're not afraid to be pro-choice. I mean, forgive me, pro-life. I've always held to the standard of Francis Schaeffer who said of the church that we are to live out the lordship of Christ in the totality of life. That means all the spheres of life, Christ has something to say about them all. He particularly singled out the importance of a church presence in political arenas. You know, I've had people who use my religion against me politically. They say to me, how can a Christian vote for this guy when he's so immoral? In other words, they're imposing that on me. Why can't I have an answer to that? And I rehearse my answers. I already know what my answer is going to be. By the way, I don't vote for a man. I vote for a policy. I know the man is evil. We all are. That's our true doctrine. He also said that there ought to be Christian influence in art. Francis Schaeffer said this, in art. Do you remember the... Decades ago, there was a big art exhibit by a guy named Mapplethorpe. Anyone remember Mapplethorpe? And it was in a museum in Boston, in New York, I'm sorry. And it went around places. And one of the most controversial pieces of art was a big beaker of human urine. And there was a crucifix in there facing out. with the Lord, you know, the visage of the Lord. A crucifix is a cross with Jesus on it, okay? And he was obviously making a statement about the Catholic Church, or Christianity in general, right? And of course the Christians are up in arms and nothing happened and he's still a famous artist and the thing went around. Christians have a place in culture, in art. We always did. Compare Mapplethorpe's Crucifix in Urine to Michelangelo's Sistine Ceiling. I'll take the ceiling. Art, music, domestic life, public life. Friends, we don't have any influence because we've silenced ourselves in these areas. You know, look it, for decades, and I hope this is changing, but when you watch a movie that supposedly has a Christian message, it's a real badly done movie. Badly financed, badly casted, badly written, you know? It shouldn't be that way. You know, the great Byzantine era, the Byzantines were the great Greek expression of Christianity in what today is Turkey. The Byzantines were defeated in 1453 by the Muslims, by the way, the Ottomans, and they were considered the great Christian culture. Their art was Christian, their music was Christian, their buildings were Christianized architecture. There is such a thing. But Christians ought to be influential in art and music, domestic life, that means home life. We prayed about it this morning. You know, someone said to me, the girl that was doing my, I had an ultrasound this week. She's doing my ultrasound. I've known her for years. And she said to me, she has her first grandchild and we're having ours. And oh, the two girls were there. Oh, it's so wonderful. And she says, is your daughter-in-law staying home? And Karen said, yeah. And she said, oh, that's so good. It's so good. That's what Christianity used to teach. that mothers were in the home with the children. And now if you teach that, it's like, not accepted. But even that person, she's not a believer, she still saw that as good. Such things are the very definition of influence in a culture. Christianity having a voice in all the forms of society. The resurrected Christ told us, told that the disciples to go into all the world and teach them to observe all things that I commanded you. And I'll close with this, verse 38. Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Friends, the Lord is Lord over all things, even the field of souls that are ripe for harvest. He's the Lord over that. The churches have become complicated places. There are many programs and practices and parachurch organizations, and most are well-intentioned, well-conceived, and at the same time, abject failures, because they didn't affect society the way we all wanted them to. I hope we know that the gospel helps everyone. Did you know that? The gospel helps everyone. It lifts all boats, friends. It's most glorious when it saves souls. And so it does that, but a secondary goal is to keep a presence of God in moral virtue in the society. God is fearful, friends, and to have a fearful voice reminding everybody that's good for everyone, even the ones that hate you. Where it does not save, be certain it does convict. No soul was ever effectively secured unless conviction came first. If we're careful with prophecy and instruction, we'll see that there are ebbs and flows of Christian life and influence in society. It's called history. We like to say the word church history. That's just a redundant term for history. They mean the same thing. In all times and through all cycles of human endeavor and through faith and fashion, the church will be the custodian of the Word of God. He's not entrusting anyone else with the Word of God except you and me. That's who's entrusted. That's not gonna change. We're the dispensers of truth to a blind and deluded world. There's only us. It's not nor should it be always about us as individuals though. If believers could for a mere moment put aside personal tastes and individual interests, self-satisfying preferences for things pertaining to life and worship, we might just become the communal force for good that we were designed to be and be ensured that the church will triumph. Where the word of God does not save, it may still transform. And that's why Paul wrote this to the Corinthians. Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ. Now this was a very troubled church. And yet he still said they were triumphant in Christ. and through us diffuses the fragrance of his knowledge in every place. How does he diffuse the fragrance of his knowledge? Through us. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ. I imagine God breathing us in and enjoying this fragrance. We're the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved, and among those who are perishing. We're the fragrance of Christ to those who are being saved, and those who are going to hell. We're still the fragrance of Christ. To the one we're the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. They all have to hear the gospel, whether they like it or not. And who is sufficient for these things? We are not. As so many peddling the Word of God, but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ. We're not just peddling the Word of God, friends. We're not just peddling it. We're witnessing it. We're owning it. And we're proclaiming it. Father, in Jesus' name. Let us pray the Lord of the harvest to send out harvesters, laborers into your field, Father. May we see the souls come to Christ that are so designated, oh Lord, for eternal life. And those who do not, Father, let them be convicted by the awesome presence of a holy God. who sacrificed His one and only Son on their behalf. Let them stare in the face of their refusal, O Lord. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.