Audio Archives - AlbertMohler.com

Good morning. I greet you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is good to be here together. Ask you to turn in the scriptures to 2 Timothy chapter three, or as the British would say, two Timothy chapter three. It is a warm, warm, incredibly encouraging sight to see all that we have seen in the course of the past few days here on this campus and see students and so many others, the board of trustees meeting earlier this week and the Southern Seminary Foundation gathered here now and such dear friends to the seminary. And then we had the preview conference of Boyce just at the end of last week, and now we welcome those who are here for the preview conference for the seminary. It means a very great deal that all of you are here. And it is something of a reminder of the fact that we as human beings live in cycles and institutions live by cycles.

One of the most familiar of these cycles to all of us is the school year. And I think it’s really interesting to note that throughout just so much of human history, something like this has happened. This is just what happens. The fall, this is what happens. The spring, this is what happens. And of course, in the Christian tradition, once in the formation of Western civilization, Christianity took on such a central role, then the entire year revolved around the festival of the incarnation in December and the festival of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ in the spring and then various times of Thanksgiving and all the rest. And I will just tell you that as you get older, they pile up.

They do. I mean, you look at a Christmas picture, when was that? Mary will know. She always knows, but I have to ask her, “What is this? Where was this?” And when the year goes on and the years pile on, memories are sometimes harder to fix. Where exactly was this and what was I doing there? And all that just sometimes becomes fuzzy. However, I will tell you there’s some things that aren’t fuzzy in my memory at all. And I think the older I get, I realize that some of these memories are just so important and they’re so vital to understanding who I am that I have the memories very clearly. One of those was the memory of setting foot on this campus for the very first time. I felt the call of God. I felt it in an overwhelming way. I didn’t know all that it meant. But I did know that something was very right in God’s purpose for my life and me being here.

I had no idea that I would be back as president and that I would spend my life here. We would spend our lives here with Mary and we would invest our lives together and we are pressing on, but we don’t press on at the expense of what we have learned in the past. By God’s grace, we press on with the edification, the armor, the encouragement of so many years in the past. But there is a great shift that happens. It’s a great shift that happens, I can say in a man’s life. It’s a great shift that happens and I’ll just tell you, it’s awkward at times, but it has to happen. It has to happen in terms of Western civilization. It has to happen in terms of the future of the family. It has to happen in terms of the entire culture. It has to happen in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord has arranged things by his sovereign pleasure in such a way that a young man becomes an older man, becomes an even older man, becomes an old man. The good news for the Christian church is that by God’s grace, behind an old man is a young man. That’s the glory of what we have in the two letters from Paul to Timothy. That’s the glory of what we have also with Paul’s letter to Titus. We turn now to the second of Timothy’s letters in chapter two, that is to say,   2 Timothy chapter three. And here we see the apostle Paul pour his heart out to Timothy and we’re in the middle of an argument and we know it and we’re going to rehearse that in a moment, but we’re going to fall here in the middle of his argument. In verse one of chapter three, Paul writes,

“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Having the appearance of godliness but denying its power, avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at the knowledge of the truth. Just as Jonas and Jambres oppose Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith, but they will not give very far for their folly will be plain to all as it was of those two men. You however have followed my teaching, my conduct, my amen life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra, which persecutions I endured, yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted while evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training and righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

I’m so thankful for God’s word. I’m so thankful for this particular passage. I’m so thankful for the fact that I can remember this passage being preached to me. I can remember when I’ve had the opportunity to preach this passage.

However, in so many of those cases, the text selection has been different. As a matter of fact, I think a lot of people know some of 2 Timothy 3 basically because of the way the chapter ends.

This is an especially spectacular statement concerning scripture, “All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training and righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” And then that’s so often rightly just the introduction to the next phrase which comes in 2 Timothy chapter four, “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching.”

We can understand why it’s often preached that way because the natural flow is from this glorious statement of the inspiration and authority of scripture, the word of God to the command, the imperative, “preach the word in season and out of season.” This morning what I want to do is to look at this passage in terms of what precedes it and then recognize that this majestic statement on scripture kind of sneaks up on us. We have to look at the context here of 2 Timothy. We would do well to look at   1 Timothy also, but we don’t have the time for that. So just look at where we are in this argument as Paul writes this second letter we have in the canon of scripture to Timothy. And just remember how he begins in chapter one and we’ll just skip down to where he tells Timothy that he is to “guard until the day that has been entrusted to him all that has been taught to him.” Look in verse 13, “Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.” This is just incredibly helpful. Christianity is not a mood, it’s not merely a lifestyle. It is all based upon the truth that is revealed in God’s word and that doctrine, which is how it comes to us, there are people who don’t like propositional statements. If you don’t like propositional statements, you don’t like the gospel. Propositional statements are these absolutely important statements in which the truth of the gospel, the truth of God’s revelation are made clear in words. There’s a subject and a predicate and a period at the end. There is, according to what Paul writes to Timothy here in this first chapter of 2 Timothy, there is a pattern, the pattern of sound words. The very first publication, the very first publication of one religious publishing house was simply called sound words simply because Christianity comes down to sound words, a sound pattern of words, a good deposit. This is a treasure that’s been entrusted to us and we are to guard it.

And then after some other statements, we come to chapter two of 2 Timothy where Paul writes to Timothy, “You then my child, my son, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses in trust of faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering is a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hardworking farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” Now I have preached that passage many times and by God’s grace will again, it’s an astounding passage for a number of reasons.

Number one, in this particular passage, speaking to young ministers, the apostle Paul says, here are three metaphors for you. There are three metaphors for the Christian ministry. A young man preparing for ministry should have these three metaphors, these three pictures in mind. And the first one is of a soldier. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. We’re to share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Now in the Roman Empire, you didn’t have to look far to find a soldier. And you didn’t have to look at the crowd and wonder who was and was not a soldier. They were dressed like soldiers. They were dressed in armor. They were carrying spears. They were armed with a sword. They were always ready for whatever. They were the force that maintained order in the empire and conquered in the name of the empire.

But it was also obvious to people who watched soldiers that they suffered a very great deal. It’s not easy walking around with all that armor. It’s not easy putting your life on the line continuously. And in a normal circumstance, when you’re maintaining order like this, your life is almost entirely boring except for the few moments in which it’s not boring at all.

It is interesting. The apostle Paul picks the picture of a soldier, which is also, remember the soldier wearing the Roman armor is the symbol of imperial Rome. It’s a reach. The Apostle Paul doesn’t have to reach far for the picture, but it’s a reach considering the fact that he chooses a secular soldier and says, look at this as a model. And the second is an athlete. And of course the Olympic background, that’s very much in the phrase here that the athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. Even in this season, and you guys know what a phenomenal sports fan I am. You know how I just can’t wait for the next sporting event. But I have been fascinated this year by how many calls I have noted or heard about where someone’s broken the rules and there’s a penalty. And sometimes that penalty can be decisive, if the athlete is crowned, he has to run the race according to the rules.

Okay, so we can picture culturally the accessibility to the apostle Paul and to Timothy of the soldier and the athlete. It’s the third of these metaphors that Paul uses that is most remarkable, a farmer. “It is the hardworking farmer who ought to have the first year of the crops.” Now you’ll notice it’s the shortest one because there is no reference to the apostle Paul having anything to do with farming in the entirety of his life. As a matter of fact, he was the product of an urban culture and he was very much at home in an urban culture. And as a matter of fact, you look at the letters, they are largely to Christian churches and urban cultures. The Roman empire honored farming, but considered it beneath the dignity of other callings.

Now, the scripture doesn’t see it that way. And you’ll notice here, the apostle Paul says; Be a good soldier, be an athlete who competes according to the rules, emulate a hardworking farmer. Very interesting and that’s just in chapter two. And then you have another statement of the gospel in beautiful form here, beginning of our eight, “Remember Christ Jesus risen from the dead, the offspring of David is preached in my gospel for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal, but the word of God is not bound. Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.” In the next section of that very same chapter in the flow of this letter, Paul writes to Timothy in verse 15, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” And so the scripture shows up so quickly, “rightly handling the word of truth,” “rightly dividing” is the way I memorized it from the King James, rightly interpreting.

So not only does the athlete have to compete according to the rules, but the exegete has to act according to the rules. And by the way, the failure in athletics is spectacularly embarrassing, but the failure in exegesis and interpreting the word of God comes with far greater, graver consequences. Rightly handling the word of truth. And then he speaks directly… In the later part of this passage, he speaks to Timothy, “So flee youthful passions” in verse 22, “pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace along with those who call upon the Lord from a pure heart.” And then listen to this, “have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies. You know they breed quarrels and the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will.”

All right, so that’s the background that brings us to the threshold of what Paul is going to present in chapter three. And it begins with, rightly, English translation is good, “but understand this.” In other words, there is a change, but here’s something else, when we read those first verses of 2 Timothy chapter three, it’s kind of a downer. The bad news before the good news, the hard stuff before the material that follows, he is warned. Timothy is told, and I mean this is really scary stuff, that in the last days there will be times of difficulty. In general terms, we can see that. But how about specifics? “For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful and holy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of Godliness, but denying its power.” And then the next three words, “Avoid such people.” Well, you bet!

I mean, here’s something very characteristic of the Apostle Paul in his letters, but in his letters to Timothy and especially in this letter, have you noticed how he piles things up? I mean, he piles the bad things up and he piles the good things up. He piles up all these horrible, evil traits that are demonstrated by horrible, evil people. In the last age… In the last days, they will invade the church. And furthermore, they’re going to take people, they’re going to be persuasive. They’re going to take defenseless women and others. It’s a very specific passage that evidently was a problem that Timothy was going to face. But let’s face it. I mean, I think two or three of these bad things would get my attention, but this many, and have you noticed how he lists other things? And we’ve seen this already. He piles things up when he mentions himself and what he’s experienced, he piles those up. When he’s talking about good things that Timothy is to do, how he is to act, how he is to minister, how his character is to be formed, he piles up things. And then when they’re bad things, wow, does he pile them up? It is interesting. I mean, you notice this because this tells you that it’s an intergenerational issue. Okay? So it’s not only that they’re proud, arrogant, abusive, they’re also disobedient to their parents.

And then it just goes on. “Swollen with conceit, without self-control, brutal, not loving good.” Can you just imagine writing to someone as a prospective pastor and saying, “We’re having some issues in our church. We have a few troublesome people.” Well, in what way are they troublesome? Well, now that you ask, “Lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient parents, ungrateful and holy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit. Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Having the appearance of God knows by denying his power,” pretty much that.

Oh, my heavens! My goodness! And remember, he’s trying to encourage a young man in ministry. Good grief. And then you also notice, if you go back to 1 Timothy, in a very similar passage, you have in this case in chapter four of 1 Timothy, you also have the same kind of warning. Look at this now, the spirit expressly says that “in later times, some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons through the insincerity of liars whose consciousness are seared, who forbid marriage and require absence from foods God created to be received a thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received at Thanksgiving for it is made holy by the word of God in prayer.”

I want us before we leave 1 Timothy for a moment to notice how the Apostle Paul shifts. And every one of these warnings, he shifts from a very powerful, I mean, frightening, horrifying warning to Timothy about what may come in ministry, what will come in the last days. And he paints this picture with such vivid colors, but then he immediately, in all of these cases, sends him to work. “If you put these things for the brothers, you’ll be a good servant of Christ Jesus being trained in the words of the faith,” that pattern of sound words we saw “and of the good doctrine that you have followed.” And then it just goes on. But we have to go back to 2 Timothy chapter three.

We look at this and we recognize in the flow of this kind of letter, there is not only a literary flow that we can almost hear as a rhetorical, as an oratorical flow. We can almost hear him say these things. And I imagine that Timothy as this young pastor, this young protege of the apostle Paul, I can almost be assured he could hear Paul’s voice in reading these words. We come to chapter three, after Timothy has been told that he needs to be a worker, who has no need to be ashamed, who rightly divides the word of truth as we see all of this, we do understand the dangers that Paul lays out, the big trouble that the apostle Paul refers to, and quite frankly, there’s a danger for us, I think, in going over this too quickly. But for the sake of time, we just need to look each other in the eye and say, these are really horrifying things. These warnings are spectacularly bad. It’s good for us to know that opposition to the gospel coming from Satan will show up in people who will come into congregations in order to oppose the gospel, in order to create disorder, in order to cause problems and create factions and lead people away from the truth and lead them into error. I want to tell you just very quickly before we leave this, I think that if I got up at a pastor’s conference and in my own authority said something like this, I think people would dismiss me as an old crank.

But I didn’t come up with this. I read this to you from the inerrant infallible word of God. I read to you from Paul’s encouragement to Timothy. But let me rest you in your conscience because that’s not where this ends. Let me give you heart and hope because with verse 10 of chapter three, everything changes. If I would be asked for a title for this message, it would be drawn from the first words of verse 14, “but as for you.” It changes everything. All that’s true, Timothy. Everything I’ve just told you is as bad as it looks. Actually, it’s worse than it looks. You and your youthful innocence don’t recognize how bad this is.

It’s as bad as it looks. It’s worse than it looks. “But as for you,” the same thing is found at the beginning here of this part of the passage where in verse 10, he says, “You however.” So this is in contrast, in contrast to those who are bringing such pain in the church, who are bringing such division in the church, bringing such evil in the church. “You however,” in contrast, you have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life. He goes on there. I talked about how Paul piles these things up and sometimes in his letters, and it’s true in many of his letters to the churches, he gives these verses we even have memorized and they’re so familiar to us where it’s just word after word after word after word after word. Paul talks about the pattern of sound words, but the Holy Spirit through Paul was giving us a pattern of sound words.

You however, have followed my teaching and here he mentions nine different things. And so you’re talking about piling things up. We saw all the bad things piled up in the early verses of chapter three, so much so that it’s just horrifying. But look at the good things the apostle Paul piles up here beginning in verse 10. First, my teaching. Second, my conduct. Third, my aim in life. Fourth, my faith. Fifth, my patience. Sixth, my love. Seventh, my steadfastness. Eighth, my persecution. And nine, my sufferings. It is interesting that yes, persecution and sufferings come at the end of this.

But Paul says to Timothy, even as these evil men are infecting the church, even as they’re bringing so much poison into the church, even as they’re preaching in defiance of the pattern of sound words, even as they are leading so many astray, you are there as the minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the one who shows up with the pattern of sound words. You’re the one who shows up to guard the deposit that has been entrusted to you. You’re the one who shows up, as we will see later in this letter, to preach the word in season and out of season. You’re the one to show up. And how do you know to do this? The apostle Paul is very candid. Well, for one thing, you’ve been with me.

And even as these evil people show all their evil traits, it is interesting how he piles this up. He says to Timothy first, “my teaching.” Now, I could camp out here for a semester. I just want to tell you that I think the most wonderful theological education possible would be being Timothy to Paul. If you have an opportunity to be Timothy to Paul, take it. But you need to know the purpose of this school as a theological seminary is to follow the example found in this passage. It is to put men of God in the classroom to teach the men of God who are coming in to preach and teach the word of God. And you know what? I thought about this just even in praying about this passage. I thought, maybe a part of me needs to say to the faculty, you need to be just as candid as the Apostle Paul about how wretched things can be out there in the world.

But I’m so thankful for the colleagues I have as the faculty of this institution because they are set out in such a way that their mission is to teach, to teach the whole council of God, to teach those who will teach and preach the word of God. Paul says to Timothy, well, for one thing, you have “my teaching.” Second, he says, “my conduct.” It is interesting how the apostle Paul, and remember he was an apostle. The apostle Paul wrote to people saying, emulate my conduct. I am living according to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the minister of the gospel needs to be an example in conduct, not only Paul an example to Timothy, but Timothy, as he says explicitly, an example to others.

Every once in a while, I hear someone and the formula they use, I recognize. When I hear him preach, he sounds like X. When I hear him preach, he reminds me of yet another pastor. I have to tell you, that’s as natural as it comes. It’s as natural as it comes. We sound like what we hear. We sound like what we’ve heard. We sound like what we have heard in order for us to know what we are supposed to sound like. Now, eventually over time, every preacher finds his voice, but it is interesting. The apostle Paul here, he holds himself up as an example. Sometimes it comes out even in the way we hear people, you have seen my conduct. Third, “my aim in life.” This is a little more complex. It’s fascinating. And this third thing, the apostle Paul says, “I have before me the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the grace and for the glory of Christ I minister. I am running a race for the goal that is set before me.” It’s just beautiful language. You know my aim in life? My aim in life is not earthly riches. My aim in life is not earthly glory. My aim in life is not to manipulate people. My aim in life is not to spend myself in some ridiculous religious movement. No, my aim in life is to please God and to be a preacher of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and to build up the church of the Lord Jesus Christ and to edify the saints. And so at the end of this letter, let’s just remind ourselves he’s going to write to Timothy about having finished his race and running his course. He’s done this. You know my aim in life.

Number four, “my faith.” Paul’s faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. His beautiful language, he knows in who he’s believed. He’s absolutely confident that he’s able to do all that he’s promised. The Apostle Paul becomes the great definer of the gospel in so many ways. When we tell people what the gospel is in so many ways, we’re using words the Holy Spirit gave to the Apostle Paul. We understand his faith. It’s laid out for all of us to see and it’s laid out in the history of his life and then even the circumstances of his death. He’s faithful all the way to the end of the race, even unto death.

Number five, “my patience.” This is one I struggle with. I’ll admit I struggle with this in a big way. I will tell you, I think I have a bigger temptation towards impatience on unimportant things. And sometimes for some reason I have more patience about very important things. I think that’s a part of the character problem of patience. We do know the big things take time. It’s hard to keep that in mind sometimes. I think especially when young, I think I was on some of the big things. I was impatient to see things. But I will tell you, the Lord gives you in ministry over a period of years, the satisfaction and the joy of seeing things happen, not on your timetable, but on God’s. Patience, “my patience,” his patience of working with people. I mean, for crying out loud, given all the things the Apostle Paul has piled up about his concerns about the churches, I quit would be the third letter, but that’s not true. He’s patient.

Sixth “his love.” And of course, this is the love that the Apostle Paul writes about in a different context at Third Avenue Baptist Church. I’m preaching verse by verse, teaching verse by verse through 2 Corinthians. And you look at the Apostle Paul and he has to say such hard things, but it’s very clear he’s saying these hard things because he loves the church. This is a love, first of all, love of God, love of Christ, love of the gospel. But he means here, I think his love for fellow Christians, his love for the church. He’s poured his life out for the church.

Seventh, “his steadfastness.” This is a good word and it’s an old English word which shows up here and it’s in the King James tradition, the Tyndale tradition. It’s in most modern translations, something like this. We don’t use this word in everyday language, but there’s almost no other way to translate it. And it just means standing there and refusing to be moved. Steadfastness is staying at the task. It’s staying at the job. It’s staying at the station. It’s staying at the post. Steadfastness means I’m not going to be moved. And this is really important for us to know, steadfastness is one of the things the Apostle Paul says to Timothy, “You are to emulate in me as you follow my example, follow my steadfastness.” Again, it shows up. I think of the Corinthian correspondence and you think of 2 Corinthians and you look at that and you think, why didn’t you just get up on these people? Why are you putting yourself through this, Paul? And it’s because of his steadfastness in ministry. It is because of the faithfulness to which he has committed himself and it is because of his love. All these things in this list, he loves that church.

Eighth, however, “my persecutions” and ninth, “my sufferings.” And of course, the Apostle Paul was in prison. He’s likely headed soon to his death. When he writes about my persecutions and my sufferings, it’s no small thing. No small thing at all. The Apostle Paul understands this is a contrast. He’s telling Timothy the truth. He’s laid out encyclopedically and in an incredible ratcheted list, all the evil that’s going to show up in these days, all the evil that will show up and even have to be confronted by a minister of the gospel.

But then he says, “You however,” and then in verse 14, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed.” And this is what’s so sweet. So the passage about scripture sneaks upon us. Notice how he introduces it. “But as for you,” this is such a significant shift. Everything now changes. That is true. All that is true. Not only is it true, it’s the unvarnished truth. I’m even using strong words to describe how bad the challenge can be. I’m also reminding you in a piling up of words, you follow my example and just in case you missed anything, I’m going to put it in a list. But then as he closes this particular part of the argument, it’s so sweet beginning in verse 14, “But as for you,” here’s the contrast. “Continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it.” Okay, so this is something. So the apostle Paul has held himself up. You have observed me, you have watched me, I have taught you. But I want us to note something, and this is also true for ministers of the gospel. And I just want to say, as you consider your calling and those who are called to preach the ministry of the gospel, you have been taught. And the apostle Paul makes clear it didn’t begin with Paul. Notice what he says. It’s so sweet knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ, Jesus. His mother and grandmother, faithfully teaching him the scriptures from the time he was knee high to a grasshopper. The apostle Paul says, remember that. When you don’t remember anything else, remember what you’ve been taught and from whom you have learned these things. In heaven, we’re going to meet a lot of Eunices and Loises, a lot of mothers and grandmothers who are the direct connection, the direct human conduit for how the Bible got into a child’s heart, how the stories of scripture began to shape a child’s heart and soul and how the apostle Paul wants to say to Timothy, even a call to gospel ministry was planted when you had no idea it was being planted. The apostle Paul says, you have watched me. But here he goes back far beyond himself. He goes back to before he ever met Timothy to when Timothy was learning from his mother and his grandmother.

“You know,” you know, he says, who made you acquainted with the sacred writings, the scriptures, “which are alone able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” And then the statement about scripture, this is what sneaks up on us. “All scriptures breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” If I had to point people to one verse concerning scripture, this is the verse to which I would point them. When you’re asked, why do you believe in the divine inspiration, the Holy Spirit inspiration of the scriptures, it is because that is exactly what is described here right down to it being breathed out by God.

And because it has been breathed out by God, its attributes are also clear. “It’s profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness.” He takes the apostle Paul, excuse me, the apostle Paul takes Timothy and he shows them that the evil he’s going to confront, the great challenges he’s going to confront. He’s very honest about the evils of the age and the evils that are yet to come. And then he writes to Timothy saying, You have observed me. But then he presses back and says, you have observed others as well. You have learned from me, but you have learned from others as well. And where did we learn? We learned from the holy scriptures. And it is this honoring of those who came before even the apostle Paul to make Timothy acquainted. That’s even the term, acquainted with the sacred writings with the scriptures.

And then this climactic statement about scripture. How much is scripture? “All scripture.” All scripture is breathed out by God. It’s profitable for teaching. What else are you going to teach? Good luck with that. I don’t even mean that. Bad luck with that, but don’t do it. It doesn’t work. There is only one word that can be preached that’s profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction. Those two certainly must make some reference back to how in the world Timothy’s going to confront those who in the last day are going to show up in such theological and spiritual rebellion. He’s going to have to do a lot of reproving. He’s going to have to do a lot of even correcting, but also for the saints training and righteousness. Then the apostle Paul speaks to Timothy so directly “that the man of God may be complete equipped for every good work.”

In this passage, we see the apostolic warning in verses one through nine. I think we see an apostolic example in verses 10 through 12. We see an apostolic testimony in verses 10 through 13. And then we see the apostolic authority in verses 14 through 17. At the end of the day, the apostle Paul, having been so bold as an apostle to say to Timothy, you have observed me. And I’m even going to suggest with a piled up list of things which you have learned from me. But when you stand in the pulpit, you don’t preach me. You preach the word in season and out of season and you stay at it. You stay at it with tenacity. You stay at it with courage. You stay at it with conviction. You stay at it indefatigably. You stay at it until the end. And when the apostle Paul at this point in this letter with his life coming to an end, when he says you do this to the end, brothers, he means you do this to the end.

We do this to the end!

I love this verse on scripture, but as I thought about being here with you and this opportunity in chapel, it struck me, as I was looking at this passage for I don’t know how many times, this testimony about scripture sneaks up on us at the end of an argument where the apostle Paul is writing to Timothy and Timothy may not have seen this coming. All right? Maybe if we’re honest, we didn’t see this coming, but here it is. We’re given the word of God to preach and to teach. We have no other word. The apostle Paul writes to Timothy about the calling that has been invested in him and he makes very clear, Timothy, you’re to be serious about this. As serious as a soldier, as serious as an athlete, as serious as a farmer, you are to be diligent in this. You’re to be patient in this. You’re to follow my example. You are to know how evil the opposition may be. You need to know Satan is going to do as much trouble in the church as he can do. You need to know all these things are going to happen. So to a certain extent, you however, remember me in my example for you, but ultimately remember what you have been taught from the holy scriptures and remember that you have been given the word of God. And as he will make clear in the passage that follows, your task is to preach the word of God in season and out of season until you, like me, one day die. That’s all.

Let’s pray.

Father, we are so thankful for all you’ve given us in your word. Father, thank you for this testimony to your word, in your word. Thank you for the apostle’s exhortation to Timothy. Father, thank you for speaking to our hearts. And Father, to those who are here, following the call of God to preach, may you open their eyes and their hearts to know exactly what you would have them to do for a lifetime of faithfulness and ministry. We pray all of this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

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Good morning. I greet you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is wonderful to be here in this service with you. Special privilege to have these guests here for the Boyce College Preview Conference and just wonderful to come out of the rain and come into the chapel and be able to sing songs like we have sung and to hear the word of God. I want to invite you to hear the word of God now from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians known as 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Paul writes,

And I, when I came to you brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom, for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling in my speech and my message were not implausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Yet among the mature, we do impart wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But it is written,

‘what no eye has seen nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.’

These things God revealed to us through the spirit, for the spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person which is in him.So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit that is from God that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

The natural person does not accept the things of the spirit of God for they are folly to him and he’s not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him. But we have the mind of Christ.

Thanks be to God for his word.

As you know, in the books of the Bible, we have different forms of literature. We have historic books. We have the Torah, the Pentateuch in the first five books of the Bible. We have wisdom literature such as the Psalms and Proverbs. We have the prophetic corpus. It’s always interesting. I was looking again at a King James Bible last night and it said the major prophets and the minor prophets. Sounds like you have the senior prophets and the junior prophets. It’s not true. It’s just bigger books and shorter books, that’s all. Then in the New Testament, we have the four gospels and we have the book of Acts and then we have mostly the apostolic testimony. And when the Apostle Paul wrote the letters and we know there were four letters in total he wrote to Corinth because there is this letter, there’s a letter between this letter and 2 Corinthians.There’s a letter before this. And so you put it all together, there are at least four letters. The Holy Spirit evidently wanted us to have two of those.

And by the way, in the second of the books we have in the New Testament, second Corinthians, Paul references a letter that is not1 Corinthians that is a hard letter. I’m preaching through2 Corinthians right now at church and I can just tell you, if that’s not the hard letter, I cannot imagine what the hard letter was like. The Holy Spirit wanted us to have these two letters, 1 and 2 Corinthians. And the reason I mentioned the epistle, the letter form is that we don’t write letters chapter 1 verse 4, but that’s a structure put on later as we know and actually very helpfully. It’s very helpful. I can say1 Corinthians 2 and you could turn to it. And so that’s very helpful. We can talk about verse 13, 14, 23. We can find them. But one of the dangers in all of this is that we will think the apostle was thinking led by the Holy Spirit in blocks that are numbered.

Which is to say, we were just reading 1 Corinthians chapter 2, and you know that that means there’s a 1 Corinthians chapter 1. And it is the flow of one argument and it’s an astounding argument. I just want us to think about it in terms of the flow. To most Christians, 1 Corinthians chapter 1 is actually more familiar than 1 Corinthians chapter 2.

Now I want to tell you why we need to do this and it is because the last verse that I read out loud, the last verse of 1 Corinthians chapter 2, that is verse 16, Paul writes, “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him” That’s rhetorical question. Looks back to Isaiah chapter 40 and also sounds like echoes of Romans chapter 11. Paul is echoing a question that is asked in the Old Testament, who has known the mind of the Lord so as to be his counselor. But the last words of the chapter as we have it are the words, but we have the mind of Christ.

Seriously. We have the mind of Christ, and Paul is saying that. And that is the theme of my message. That’s the compelling interest that drives me back further into the text. Seriously, we have the mind of Christ? If we have the mind of Christ, it has to be one of the most astounding things we could ever know. The mind of Christ, we’re going to have to find out what that means, but it is really interesting to note Paul’s rhetorical strategy. His rhetorical strategy is to make very clear that the gospel is not a message that conforms to human wisdom. It’s not intellectually packaged. It’s not philosophically sophisticated. It is foolishness to the Greeks. It’s a scandal to the Jews, the message of the cross. Paul will say these things recurringly. But it’s in this passage, he actually says to believers, we have the mind of Christ.

Let’s think back to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, where in verse 18, the apostle Paul writes, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to those of us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Paul asked the rhetorical questions in chapter 1 beginning of verse 20 “Where is the wise one? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom. It pleased God through the folly, the foolishness of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews to man signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” It’s an astounding passage.

We are not an intellectual society of those smart enough to figure these things out. This is not a gnostic gathering, the gnostic heresy being an ancient heresy, very much in the background, has to be in the background of this, in which salvation came through the possession of a secret gnosis, the Greek word for knowledge. If you just know the secret, then you’re an illumined one and you are among the very rare who see this. There are societies on earth today that follow the very same gnostic logic. There’s an intellectual key to the universe. They know it. We don’t know it. They’re keeping it to themselves. We’ll just die ignorant.

We know that Corinth as a city is a place that has some relevance here. Corinth was a center of the Greek civilization. It was largely destroyed by the Romans in an invasion which killed most of the Greeks there, but the Greek culture continued and it became a major Roman city after it was a major Greek city. It was a place of intellectual intersection. People from many different places in the world came there. And even as you think most famously of a place like Mars Hill and Athens where the Apostle Paul witnessed Christ. The Corinth is one of those intersections in the world, certainly in the Mediterranean world, the ancient world in which all these things were present. All these interesting things were going on. And as is described elsewhere in scripture, people were just waiting to hear the most interesting new thing that might come.

When they heard about Christ and they heard about Christianity, it is clear that at least some of them thought, well, this is a new mystery cult. This is a new mystery cult in the name of this Christ. And thus if you become a member of this cult and you’re given the secret knowledge and the secret knowledge makes you a worthy one, and as one of the worthy ones, you then can decide who might else be a worthy one to be invited into the secret knowledge.

The Apostle Paul, of course, will have nothing to do with that. He’s declaring Christ publicly and he also is extremely clear about how the gospel works and the gospel doesn’t work by tickling and enticing our intellect nor certainly giving us grounds for pride in our own intellect. Instead, the message of the cross, it’s foolishness to those who are perishing. It’s foolishness to the Greeks. Those looking for sophisticated worldly wisdom, we point them to a bloody cross and an empty tomb. We don’t have a mystical key to the universe. We share with them and then teach them the secret handshake and welcome them in. By the way, you know you’re not in it if you don’t know the handshake.

That’s just the way these things work. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul is just dead set to make very clear that the gospel is not the product of human wisdom. It’s not something that is even attractive in some ways to those who pride themselves on their intellectualism. I mean, for one thing, let’s just remember the fact that the main structure of the gospel is the reminder that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The truth is we’re rebels against God. It’s not a lack of information. The revelation of God is all around us. Not only is it all around us, as the scripture says, it’s inside of us. The problem is we are sinners. It is true. And as we are sinners, we’re dead in our trespasses and sin.

Salvation does not come to those dead people who wake themselves up. Salvation comes to those who are made alive, quickened in Christ. We’re not those who figured this out, we’re those whose eyes the Holy Spirit have opened that we might see, whose hearts have been open that we might receive. Paul’s trying to explain the glory of the gospel over against all the confusions. There are those who want to turn Christianity into a magic formula. And by the way, that didn’t die in Corinth in the First century. Used to be able to say you could turn on your television and see, but nobody does that anymore.

But you can certainly on your own private device find those who are trying to make the gospel of Jesus Christ into a modern mystery cult. Prosperity theology or something other than what the gospel is. Paul, by the way, suggested the Corinthian Christians just as proof, not as the foundational authority, but as positive proof of the fact that this is not an intellectual society. He says, look at yourselves. Verse 26 of chapter 1, “For consider your calling brothers, not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.” But God chose, this is a divine put down. We need this.“But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not to bring to nothing, things that are so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him”, here’s the power of the gospel. “And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption so that as it is written, ‘let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.’” Okay, that is one of the most invigorating passages in scripture. It is one of the most liberating, sweet, kind passages of scripture. It tells us that it is not because of us that we are saved. It is because of the grace and mercy of God.

And by the way, there is a knowledge, that’s the gospel, but it’s not a knowledge we come to ourselves. We are brought to it, called to it. All right, so if I’m putting chapter in verse divisions in1 Corinthians, I’m not going to say where they did it is the worst place. It might be the best place. Chapter1 ends, let the one who boast, boast in the Lord, great. That sounds like an emphatic statement. And it does change somewhat and we need a division. So here, chapter 2, verse1, Paul writes, “And when I came to you brothers, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom, very much a continuation of what came before, for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” So Paul is continuing the same thing. It’s not worldly wisdom.

This isn’t a sophisticated philosophy. This is the message of the cross. It is the gospel of Christ. So we don’t have anything to do with those who are playing intellectual games and are filled with intellectual pride. This is not the product of an intellectual quest. There is cognitive truth content to the gospel, but you only believe it if your eyes have been opened and your heart has been called in such a way that you hear the gospel and believe in believing you are saved.

And the apostle Paul comes back, you notice how he makes arguments. He’s like a courtroom attorney. He argues this way, then he argues that way. Then he argues in the front. He argues from the back. He leaves you no escape. And just when you think he’s finished with the thought, he’s not finished. He speaks very personally in chapter 2. And when I was with you, he says, “I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling. My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” So there’s this dichotomy. It’s a very clear distinction. Our faith is going to rest either in the power of God or in the wisdom of men. Now that’s actually one of those verses in scripture that is incredibly helpful to me every single day.

Every single day, every single day as I have to think about the things I have to think about. I wonder, how can people think as they think? Seriously, how can they think as they think? How can they say it’s just biomass in a woman’s womb? How can they say that? How can you say that? How can you say that a boy can be a girl? I mean, how can you say that? But that’s just kind of two of the most obvious things that are said as evidence of a massive, massive, massive civilizational project to say things that are absolute nonsense. We don’t know better because we are smarter. We know better because we are Christ. We don’t think better because we’re smarter in the ways of the world, but rather the gospel has reached us. The apostle Paul speaking of himself makes very clear that at least some in Corinth were looking for the wrong things. They were looking for Paul, the super apostle who had come in with power and oratory and he would come in and he would fill the room and people would say when he spoke what a marvelous, marvelous much as it was, every word he speaks is dripping with authority.He is the master of rhetoric. He is the doctor of logic.

Instead, there were some in Corinth who heard the apostle Paul preach the gospel and they said, That’s all there is? And he’s not impressive. The apostle Paul says, “Not only was I not impressive, I was trembling. I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling and my speech and my message were not implausible words of wisdom.” We were just asking the question, how can people think as they think? How can they think as they think? Sociologists and others speak of plausibility structures. It’s actually very helpful when you’re thinking about how worldviews work. We each have a worldview and that worldview includes some plausibility structures. Those plausibility structures are thoughts that make other thoughts possible. So just to take an obvious example, very much in the headlines these days, you either consider it plausible or not that gender is separate from say biological sex, right? But if you do accept the plausibility that gender can be separated from biological sex, then you can say plausibly of a boy that’s a girl or a girl there’s a boy or a woman there’s a man or a man there’s a woman or he’s a woman today.You can’t even keep the pronouns straight, they can change overnight.

But behind that principle, there’s another belief that makes that subsequent belief plausible. And before that, there’s another belief that makes everything that follows plausible. That’s a way of argument. It’s an ancient way of arguing. It’s a plausibility structure. You start with one thing, we’re agreed on that, now this, now this, now this, now this, now this. And there’s a sense in which when we share the gospel, we want to do so in an orderly way. We want to do so in a way that makes very clear the rational truth claims of the gospel. We want to be persuasive in the right spiritual sense, but we’re not showing up like the polished orator of Athens, the polished rhetorician of Rome. We’re showing up as a witness to Jesus Christ. That’s the Apostle Paul. He was with you. He was with them. He says, “I was with you in weakness and fear and much trembling. My speech and my message are not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power so that,” and so now we have the instrumental in demonstration of the spirit and of power “so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” Now once again, this is very helpful, very helpful. Our faith is either going to rest in the wisdom of men or in the power of God. And you’ll notice these clauses are not the same. It doesn’t say so that your faith might not rest in the power of men, but in the power of God. It also doesn’t say that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the wisdom of God, the Holy Spirit inspired so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

So our salvation is directly traceable to what by human wisdom is absolutely insane, that our problem is sin and that the redemptive remedy is the cross. I’m thankful we can put that to beautiful music. It’s glorious to sing it, but we need never to forget what it sounds like to those who are hoping for something else. This is all we’ve got, the message of the cross. But I turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 2, and I think that the break actually comes not so much in chapter 2 verse1, but in chapter 2 verse 6. I think the first 5 verses of 1 Corinthians chapter 2 are really a continuation in one rhetorical stream or train of what the apostle Paul was doing in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. And let’s recall, let’s just remind ourselves. In1 Corinthians chapter 1, he’s saying, “You weren’t saved because you’re wise. You weren’t saved because of your intellect. You weren’t saved because you figured this out. Christianity’s not a wisdom cult. It’s not a mystery cult. Christianity is a public gospel, a redemptive message, the singular redemptive message for humanity. All of this is to be so that our faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

But verse 6 begins, “Yet.” Okay, there’s more. Yet among the mature, we do impart wisdom. It’s not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age who are doomed to pass away, but we impart a whoa, secret and hidden wisdom of God. Whoa, whoa. So after saying Christianity is not a mystery cult, after he’s saying this is not about worldly wisdom, but about the power of God, he then says on the other hand… Okay, now when someone like the Apostle Paul says,” On the other hand, we better pay very close attention for two reasons. Number one, because what’s going to come as surprising, and number two, if we’re not careful, we’re going to get this wrong. So on the other hand, we really have to lean into everything we’ve heard the Apostle Paul say, everything the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and in the first verses of 1 Corinthians chapter 2.

But then he says after this is about the power of God, not the wisdom of men, he then says, “Yet, on the other hand, among the mature, we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or the rulers of this age.” It’s going to pass away. It’s doomed to pass away. But he even uses the term secret and hidden. We impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.

Oh, wow. We better be really careful here. So the first thing we come to know is that Christianity is not about wisdom. The second thing we come to know is that Christianity is about wisdom. All right, we just jumped to verse here. Okay, so if Christianity’s not about wisdom, but mature Christianity is about wisdom, we better track the word wisdom real carefully. All right? So the apostle Paul has spent all this time in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and the first verses of 1 Corinthians chapter 2 saying it’s not about worldly wisdom. And in the last verse of this flow of the argument in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 5, he says, “It’s not about the wisdom of men, but about the power of God. But who is the all wise one?” God alone.

And we do impart a wisdom to the mature, to those who are in Christ. It’s a secret and hidden widow of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. And the Apostle Paul says, “The rulers of this age don’t get it. They reject it. If they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” All right, so he says there’s a secret and hidden knowledge. He cites the Old Testament, “what no eye has seen or heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.” And then in verse 10, these things God has revealed to us through the spirit, for the spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. He speaks to the spirit’s role in the Trinity “for who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of the person who is in him. So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the spirit of God.

Now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the spirit who is from God that we might understand the things freely given us by God and we impart this.” That’s very key. In verse 10, we impart this. In verse 6, he said, “We do impart wisdom.” So here’s where the circle comes. “We impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the spirit interpreting spiritual truths for those who are spiritual.” Okay, that’s really helpful. There’s a lot of words in a rush. We better think very carefully. It’s not about wisdom. Oh yes, it’s about wisdom. It’s not about earthly wisdom. It’s not about human wisdom, but the gospel does impart a wisdom to the mature, to those who are in Christ, to those who are growing in grace. They’re also growing in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

They are growing in the knowledge of the faith once for all delivered to the saints. They are growing in obedience to Christ. They’re growing in the spirit and they’re growing by revelation. Notice how careful the Apostle Paul is to say, “This isn’t a secret knowledge that we’re sending you out to investigate in terms of further secrets. It’s all about the revelation of God taught by the spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The Holy Spirit is who alone,” and this is the digression here in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit alone is able to reveal these things to us, but the Holy Spirit does reveal these things to us. And there is among the mature, among born again believers, there is a mature, a wisdom that is imparted and that wisdom comes through scripture and by the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

The church has this responsibility, and I love the fact that he uses the same verb. So in verse 13, we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the spirit. That’s what I’m seeking to do right now. I have no authority. I’m bringing you this. There’s no secret knowledge I have that’s worth knowing. I’m preaching Christ to you from the scriptures. It’s the authority of God in his word. It’s not my authority. This also isn’t secret. We’re streaming this to the world. The world may ignore it, but it is the same message we proclaim. We proclaim the same message in here as out there. Someone ask us what is the gospel of Christ? We answer the same way in here and everywhere else. But we do grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. We do grow. We are to aim towards maturity. The Apostle Paul makes that so clear. We aim towards maturity and to the wise in the world, there is no credit, but to the mature in Christ, it’s evidence of grace.

The Apostle Paul in this last part of chapter 2 says, “The natural person does not accept the things of the spirit of God for their folly to him. He’s not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” So someone who’s spiritually dead cannot discern the things that can only be discerned spiritually. But in verse 15, he says, “The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.” That’s also important. That’s also important. I’ve had to lean into this verse in my life. I’ve been in situations of intellectual exchange. I’ve been in situations of debate. I’ve been in situations of conflict. And I can just tell you that I’ve been in situations where there are some who are unbelievers, who are professors and authors and intellects of renown, and they will basically hear the presentation of the gospel and then they will look at the one who brings it and they will judge him. You’re stupid enough to believe this. They may be kind enough to think, you’re brave enough to show up and say it, but the natural person doesn’t understand the things of God. To the natural person, to the natural person, the gospel is totally alien. He’s not able to understand these things because they’re spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. We don’t submit the Christian gospel for the latest list of mystery cults and intellectual systems. We preach Christ.

In verse 16,” For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him,” again, that reference to Isaiah 40,” But we have the mind of Christ.” In the background to our thinking and our thinking about thinking and our thinking about who we are thinking about thinking, in the background to all of that, we know there is a flow of human history and that flow of human history includes cities like Athens and Rome and Jerusalem. There is a wisdom that we inherit from Jerusalem and Athens and Greece. There is a civilization we call Western civilization and it’s largely shaped and I think essentially shaped and can only be shaped by the kind of ordered thinking that came in precisely through the Christian church, through centuries of Christian influence. All that is now being denied and all that’s being subverted. We as Christians trying to find our way in the midst of all of this, we rightly turn. It’s not wrong. We rightly turn to try to seek to understand intellectually the challenges of our age, the apologetic challenges, the evangelistic challenges, the how are we going to live faithfully challenges for the Christian church. We have a confrontation of worldviews. We have a clash of ideas. Christians are involved in all of this. And we have to be the people who show up saying, “I am here as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. I’m here in the authority of God’s word. I stand on the authority of God’s word. That’s the only authority I have. That’s all the authority we need.” But we do understand that we are currently in a situation that is probably hauntingly like that of the first generation of Christians in Corinth. A swirl of worldviews, a swirl of confusions, a swirl of ideologies and all the rest.

And then of all things, the Apostle Paul comes along and makes very clear God chooses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chooses the weak things of the world to shame the strong. Just in the time we needed the encouragement that we have a role to play in terms of defending the Christian faith and presenting the faith, the things of Christ. And just when we think, okay, we got a big challenge here. He punctures our pride and says, no, that’s not how you got here. It’s not how you got here. The Christian gospel, the gospel of Christ is not about worldly power or worldly wisdom. As a matter of fact, God said, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discerning of the discerning I will thwart.”

And then he says again in chapter 1, he says, look at yourselves. Seriously, “look at yourselves. Not many of you are wise by worldly standards. Not many were powerful, many of noble birth. God shows what’s foolish in the world to shame the wise. God shows what’s weak in the world to shame the strong.” Thanks. We need it. We know we need it. Thanks be to God for that revelation. We need to know the power of the gospel is foolishness to the world. We’re not believers because worldly wisdom brought us here. But yet among the mature, we do impart wisdom. There was not a wisdom of this age or the rulers of this age who are doomed to pass away. Well, if it’s not that, yet among the mature, we do impart wisdom, although it’s not a wisdom of this age or the rulers of this age, well then what is it?

Well, it’s the things revealed to us by the spirit. It’s not matters that are conveyed by human wisdom, but those that are taught by the spirit interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. What I want you to see, what I want us to see together is that that entire chapter and that entire argument of 1 Corinthians chapter 1 takes this diversion in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 6. Yet among the mature, we do impart wisdom, though it’s not the wisdom of this age. Well, then what is it? And the least elaborated thought in this entire text are the final words of chapter 2, “but we have the mind of Christ.”

I don’t know how to express that. It seems it needs to be shouted. I mean, what would it mean that we have the mind of Christ? I mean, just pause for a moment. We have the mind of Christ. All around us are pretensions of wisdom and all around us are displays of worldly wisdom and all around us is a conspiracy to suppress the truth in unrighteousness. We’ve been redeemed by grace, bought by the blood of the lamb. And it’s not because of human wisdom and the gospel doesn’t even ring true to human wisdom, but it’s true and powerful and saving for those who believe who are called unto Christ by the power of the spirit.

So we’re not a society of the wise and yet we are. We are called to a wisdom. It’s not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age. And then how are we going to describe it? What then is it? The mind of Christ? I just want to submit to you, I think this is one of the most astounding statements in all of the scripture. I think it’s breathtaking. You have to go back to it again and again. Did Paul really say we have the mind of Christ? All right. Well now we better be careful, right? We better be very, very careful. It’s not exactly the same as saying we have Christ’s mind.

We’re talking about Jesus Christ, fully God, fully man, second person of the Trinity. We’re talking about God and human flesh. We’re talking about perfect, absolute, unconditional knowledge. That’s not what Paul is saying we have. So then what have we? If we don’t have the mind of Christ in saying we have Christ’s mind, then what do we have as the mind of Christ? It is the intellect, the wisdom, the rationality of a mind devoted to Christ, transformed by Christ and united to Christ in union with Christ. Now, we speak of the imperative and we rightly speak of the imperative of developing a Christian mind.

A generation ago, Harry Blamires, a British author, wrote a book entitled The Christian Mind. And the reason why that title is mentioned so often is because he kind of coalesced in a title, a concern that so many people had. The book’s not phenomenal, but the title’s powerful. We are to develop a Christian mind. We are to have the mind of Christ, but we are growing into the mind of Christ as we are taught. It is a wisdom imparted to those who are mature. We grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit who inspires the words of scripture works in our hearts to illumine us. The same spirit who drew us unto Christ for our salvation draws us also into maturity in Christ. But it is described here in terms of Christian maturity as something that is given to us by God’s grace and that is the mind of Christ.

And thus we are to seek to live by the mind of Christ. We are to seek to think by the mind of Christ, to live to be out of the mind of Christ. That is a mind that is rightly taught by Christ, rightly submitted to Christ, rightly devoted to Christ, rightly sacrificed to Christ, rightly learning from Christ. And it is the mind of Christ in the very important sense that it can come only to those who are in Christ, united to him by faith, redeemed by the blood of the lamb.

I am not someone who enjoys a roller coaster. I find them bodily offensive. I was talked into riding on the beast at King’s Island nearly a half century ago. That’s how old it is. I think a part of me still rides on that roller coaster. I have no good memory of it whatsoever other than I survived. This is however, a textual roller coaster. You better buckle up. 1 Corinthians1 and 1 Corinthians 2, just in what we’ve seen, it’s a roller coaster. By God’s grace and for his glory, we are shown that God chooses the foolish things of the earth to shame the wise, the weak things of the world to shame the powerful so that no pride would be in us. There is no worldly wisdom that draws us to the cross or keeps us at the cross, but yet, yet there is a wisdom that is imparted to the mature. And then just when we’re trying to figure out what in the world that would be like, we come to the last phrase and it just stands there, but we have the mind of Christ. I just want to tell you something. I have to tell you something. I don’t know how in the world we would do what we do. I don’t know how in the world this institution would even exist. I have no idea how we would operate in the world. I have no idea what we would teach or how we would teach or anything else, but for the confidence that is here declared in God’s word as the Holy Spirit has inspired the Apostle Paul to say to Christians, remember all that, but remember this, we have the mind of Christ.

Otherwise, there would be no hope for us. We would be intellectual roadkill. We would be absolutely defenseless. We wouldn’t know what to say or think or do, but for one thing, but what a one thing it is, brothers and sisters, we have the mind of Christ.

Let’s pray. Father, we’re so thankful for all you’ve revealed in your word. Thank you so much for this passage. Thank you for taking us up and down, surprising us, astounding us. But Father, we thank you for saving us and for redeeming us and for uniting us to Christ. And may we grow in grace and may we grow in knowledge in such a way that the mind of Christ becomes ever more real in us and everything we do is to that end to your glory, we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

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2 Peter 3:1-18

Fall Convocation 2026

Let me say, first of all, that it would be worth gathering here for this occasion, if only to hear this congregation sing hymns, and get to declare the faith once for all delivered to the saints together in song. And I want to say to the student body, you’re looking mighty good. And I want you to know how much I appreciate the fact that you are joining in the formality of this moment, the meaning and the weight of this moment. It’s something to begin an academic year. That’s true for any academic institution, but those that are not Christian or theistic in orientation, I mean, quite frankly, it’s nothing more than just getting another one started. That’s it. For us, it’s something very different. It is a matter of succession of faithfulness. For us, it’s a formality that goes back in terms of this opening convocation, goes back all the way to the medieval university.

There in the heart of the Middle Ages, when the emergence of the idea of the university came, and it came as a servant to the church, it came explicitly, not only in a theistic context, it came explicitly in a Christian context. The very name university is a testimony to the universal, to the fact that there is one sovereign creator God of the universe, all truth is in him, revealed by him, held by him. And thus the task of education, the task of teaching and learning is an essentially theological task. It’s a biblical task. It’s a spiritual task. It’s a churchly task.

Even those scholars in the medieval universities, they had to do something to say, this is important. We got to start this. They started with worship. They would meet in something, usually a cathedral. They would gather together. The scholars would come in. How would they dress? Well, they would dress in their scholarly dress. And then the students would come in also dressed for the occasion. It was a service of worship. The formality of it was hardly foreign to the medieval world. It does seem a little foreign to our world. I mean, there were young children out there and they watched all these grown people wearing costumes walking into a church. That’s what it looks like. Why are we doing this? It is because this is a conscious continuation of a heritage of Christian teaching and learning. This is a self-conscious, lived out reenactment and reminder of what is at stake.

One of the central truths held by the medieval university in the Christian age was that the stewardship of knowledge and the stewardship of teaching came down to the fact that these things are so precious that to get them wrong is wrongly to testify not only about creation, but the creator. To get these things wrong is to lead to moral error, as well as to some kind of mathematical error. The scholars gathered together in these convocations, committed themselves to Christ, to the church, to the gospel. Now that’s not what you’re going to see in most prestigious universities these days. Even in the remainders of these medieval universities, most of the university culture has been directed in a very secular way for a very long time. There are some of the colleges and units that continue some, at least, historical reenactment of it all.

It’s very interesting that when James Petigru Boyce, who was the founding faculty member of this institution, and by the way, had been pastor of the First Baptist Church of Columbia, South Carolina from which we have a new trustee. You talk about continuity. There it is. And when he came and was making the argument for the existence of this institution in an address called “Three Changes in Theological Education,” one of the most important things he said was, “Number one, this is going to be a confessional school. It is going to be one accountable to the church.” And because this was on the other side, by 1859, it was already clear to those who were establishing this school that theological liberalism was on the rise. And as a matter of fact, Basil Manly Jr., the son of the founding chairman of the board here, Basil Manly Sr., had gone to an institution in the north and encountered theological liberalism. And thus his father, one of the most significant figures in the south, not to mention the Southern Baptist Convention, said to him, “Leave there and go to Princeton.” Princeton was at that point, Presbyterian Orthodoxy. The point was this, better to study with Presbyterians who are Orthodox than with Baptists who are not.

But that’s not a long-term answer. The long-term answer means we need a Baptist Princeton, and that’s exactly why this institution was established. It’s exactly why this moment is so important. It’s also why on this day in September of 2026, we see the confluence of several things. And that confluence includes the fact we have new members of the board of trustees here. We have our officers of the board who have been here. We have new students, and returning students, and we have faculty. We’re all gathered in one place. When you look at this, you recognize the stewardship of what is represented in this room is simply massive. If this faculty misteaches, it will show up in the churches. If this faculty misleads, it will show up in souls.

If this student body is merely casual and learning, it will fade away. All these things are before us. If the board of trustees fails in its task, the institution wanders off into the larger world of genetic higher education, which is increasingly in my view, worthless. It’s a reminder as we are together in this convocation that we all have jobs to do. One of my jobs is to direct us to Scripture, and I want to do that looking at the final chapter of 2 Peter. I turn to 2 Peter 3. Here now the Word of God.

Peter writes, “This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.’ For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”

It’s an astounding passage. I have to tell you, I’m at least awesomely astounded by the fact that this is from Peter. A part of me just has to stand back in awe and wonder in how a Galilean fisherman ends up writing like this. It is the sovereignty of God. Simon, back in Galilee, I don’t think talked this way. I don’t think this is fishermen on Galilee talk. This is apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ talk. This is the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, as Peter writes on apostolic authority. This is his second letter. And as he makes very clear, he has urgencies. Several people asked me on what text I would preach this morning, and there’s been almost uniformly a strange look on the face when I said 2 Peter 3.

I think I know why. I think I know why. I think it is because in an occasion like this, you are really focused on beginning a new year with assurance of the joy of Christ, and the comfort of faith, and the encouragement of the saints, and all that. And this is here, but wow, I chose a text in which the entire cosmos is dissolved. And it is because how many times we read Scripture? Sometimes you read Scripture, and something just lands on you, and you’ve seen it, you’ve seen it. You may have preached on this passage as I have. You may have taught all this, but then you just see something. Sometimes interestingly, it’s more visible in a different translation. So if you learn the text in one translation, and all of a sudden, you’re looking at another translation, and you see there’s a nuance here, I think I missed, there’s a rhythm, there’s a structure I think I missed.

I’ve got to look more closely at this.

That’s why my mind and heart were drawn to this particular passage, and I’m going to focus on one part of it with greater intensity. This astounding passage is about the coming day of the Lord. And in that context, Peter is just so intent on presenting the truth to Christ people, in order that they will be sober minded, joyful and faithful in anticipation of the day of the Lord, that great and awesome day, awesome as in awe. And you’ll notice it starts with a very sober warning, as Peter begins to write. And the apostles do this. It’s amazing how the apostles will move from correction and admonition to encouragement. The apostles, by the Holy Spirit in terms of the apostolic writings, can go from something that is joyful as the very foundation of our salvation and the next thing, of necessity, they’re warning against error or trouble, even troublemakers in the church.

Peter’s often very just clear. He uses words by the way. One of the things you see in this passage is that Peter, he gets on a word, and he uses it over and over again. He warns of scoffers who will come. And I love the sentence in this text, in which we are told what scoffers do. What do scoffers do? They scoff. Good. Thank you. Yeah. That’s what they do. That’s how they become a scoffer. It’s not like you go up to someone and say, “You’re a scoffer. Start scoffing.” No, you hear them. You detect them and you detect this scoffing spirit, and then you know, well, what we have on our hands is a scoffer. This is also a reminder to us that this early in the history of the Christian church, there were those who were bringing disrepute upon the gospel. They were seeking to undermine the gospel.

It’s just very helpful for us to understand that from the beginning, the gospel has had not only friends, but enemies.

Peter calls them out. He even indicts them specifically because they are sowing doubt about the certainty of Christ’s coming. So it’s a particular kind of scoffing. It’s a scoffing addressed at the promise coming day of the Lord. Now let’s just remind ourselves what’s included in that promise. What’s included in that promise? The day of judgment coming, yes. What’s included in that promise? The throne of grace. Yes. What’s included in that promise? The end of an age, yes. What’s included in that promise? The beginning of a new age, yes. What’s included in that promise? A new heaven and a new earth. What’s included in that promise, in the gospel? Heaven.

It’s clear not only in this passage, but in others in the New Testament, that there were some who believed that the return of the Lord was absolutely imminent. It would happen right then. And there were those who then when it didn’t happen as quickly began to say, “Look, God’s lost the timetable. Maybe he’s changed his plan.” And this scoffing was obviously creating a real problem in the church. Peter responds, “These men who are scoffing, they’re driven by their own sinful desires.” That’s very helpful for us to know. I can tell you that one of the patterns you will see in life is that the people who will scoff at, say, a clear doctrinal claim are often the same people who will in their lives scoff at moral rules.

I will give credit where credit is due. I was with a group of theologians and others. One was a Roman Catholic, a conservative Roman Catholic, and he simply said, “Theological liberalism is rationalized sexual misbehavior.” All right? Not going to find that in the dictionary, but there’s a sense in which if God hasn’t said this, then you can do this. It’s this rationalized sexual misbehavior. But Peter says, “God is not slow. His timing is not off. He hasn’t lost the script. He hasn’t lost the clock.” And as we will be told again, he’s not bound by time. His timing, however, his interventions, his sovereign acts are perfect and perfectly timed. He has not lost the script. His timing is not off. He is not slow. Judgment is surely coming, as you see in verse seven. God is not slow, but even as God is not slow, this time reminds us that this is God’s grace in order that there may be sinners who will repent.

This is a time and this time is not just God being slow. That’s not what it is at all. It is God’s patience in order that the gospel may be preached, and sinners may hear the gospel, and seize upon Christ, and be saved. Don’t misread the times.

Peter’s also very clear that this time for preaching the gospel will not last forever, for the Lord will come like a thief. Metaphors are interesting, aren’t they? The Lord will come as a thief. 1 Thessalonians 5:2, Paul speaks of the Lord, but he speaks specifically of a thief in the night. The thief comes with unexpected timing. The thief comes, and it’s on the thieves timing, the thief’s timing. I want to look particularly at verses 10 through 13, and I just want to look at that dramatic language again. I’m going to read those verses 10 through 13. I’m going to see if you hear what has so struck me. “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”

All right, let me just confess something to you. And this is a confession, in which all the men in this room are commonly guilty, and this may explain something to the women in this room. All right? So let me just make this confession. We never grow up. I mean, there’s a sense in which we must, but there’s another sense in which we never do. In every man, no matter the age, there is a little boy waiting to blow up the world. Daniel Dennett, who was one of the most infamous of the new atheists as they were known in the 1990s, a scientist, research scientist, he wrote a book one time in which he spoke of his dream as a boy. His dream as a boy came down to a universal acid.

He said, “I just as a boy was listening to the teacher teach, and here’s what I thought. Maybe one day someone will develop an acid which is so acidic, it will burn through everything.” He detailed his malevolent adolescent vision. The acid would be formed and it would consume the test tube. It would then consume the tester. It would consume the laboratory. It would consume the school. It would consume the town, the city, the state. It would consume the planet. It would consume the entire cosmos, just a few drops of this universal acid and all would be dissolved.

Now, I’m thankful, by the way, that there is no such universal acid, and I’m counting on the fact that the day of the Lord will come before some malevolent scientist comes up with a universal acid, but I do understand that vision. You’re listening to a teacher, and the mind’s at work. Well, if an acid could do this, and a stronger acid could do that, and an even stronger acid could do this, then what about an acid that could just acid everything. I was just reading through 1–2 Peter. When I was so struck coming to 2 Peter 3 by one word used three times. It’s the word “dissolved.”

Now, without going into a lot of detail or doing a Greek word study or anything, it basically means dissolved. I mean, like a universal acid, like it was there, now it’s not. In the Old Testament, there are similar passages about things, including the created order just melting away. There are even in this passage references to destruction by fire. You see the heavenly bodies will be burned up. Here’s what struck me, brothers and sisters. You know what dissolved means? Dissolved, gone. It’s all going to burn. It’s all going to disappear. Now I know, let me just go ahead for the New Testament scholars and those in biblical theology, and all of you, that means everybody in the room, you’re already concerned about some of the exegetical questions in this text. I’m just going to say, I’m not dealing with the continuity discontinuity question, because I think the New Testament biblical theology is very clear.

There’s both continuity and discontinuity. This world is going to disappear, but out of it, by God’s glorious sovereignty, will be a new heaven and a new earth over which Christ will reign forever. But as for this stuff, I mean, you, me, all the stuff, the pews, the campus, the bricks, the stones, dissolved. I mean, seriously dissolved? The cosmic, massive destruction in this passage staggers the imagination. I mean, we read it calmly. I didn’t see any terrified faces, but this is a terrifying passage. Everything we know, everything we count on, not just breaking down, not just weaker than it was, not just winding down like a clock, but in this judgment on the day of the Lord, melting away and dissolving. Dissolved, dissolved, dissolved. Now, let me tell you why I was so drawn to this passage. It is because I think unless you are a Christian institution believing in this truth, unless you are operating out of the deep reservoirs of biblical historic Christianity, unless this kind of passage is on your mind, then by definition, you’re actually assuming and teaching the opposite.

I mean, if you go to a modern business school, they’re about business, and they don’t say, “By the way, all this is going to melt away.” Instead, it’s go build something great. Be the next. You got to watch who you say these days, because things get morally complicated, but be the next Bill Gates, or someone like that. Just go do something, build something real. What do you say? In other words, if this life is all there is, then the very idea there’s an end to this is just terrifying, so you just get busy, and you build bigger barns, you build bigger empires. But at the end of the day, at the end of the day, and this is one of the major themes in literature, and it shows up even these days, and what people are watching on television, or I realize that’s an anachronism, screening video, whatever.

Eventually, no matter how much you’ve got, you die. And then the big question is, who’s got it now? And of course, what we know is eventually no one’s going to got it. It’s all going to burn. All right, so if that’s true, if that’s true, let’s just think about it for a moment. Are we okay with that? I mean, honestly, let’s just face each other. Number one, we know this is God’s word. We know this is apostolic testimony. We know it’s true, but I’ve had to interrogate my own heart on this, honestly. It’s renewed interrogation. How much of this stuff do we think is going to last?

It’s one day all going to burn. And by the way, that’s not only all the things we treasure, it’s everything beyond. It’s the mountains and the hills and the oceans and the lakes. It’s the moon and the stars and the heavens above. I mean, I’ve had to interrogate my heart. Do I really, really live, as if I know all of this one day will be dissolved? I mean, I can tell you that will mess up your planning. Should we build this building? Well, maybe. Should we invest in this? Should we do this? We work very hard to maintain this campus, which right at a hundred years old, it’s a lot of work, but to God’s glory, it’s an incredible thing.

I feel this campus as a home. So even just speaking right here, I don’t walk these sidewalks. I don’t walk these halls thinking, “We need to plan for dissolving.” There is very clearly here in this passage, and this is actually the point, this is one of the major points Peter is making. There is in the entire Scripture, and particularly in the New Testament, this distinction between the already and the not yet. And so the already is where we are living in terms of the purposes and plan of God. The already is why we are here this morning. The already is because Jesus Christ has come. He has accomplished atonement for our sins. He was raised on the third day, and is the Lord of the church, and he’s given his church a commission. We are here because in the already, there is much for us to do, and there are things for us to build.

There are books for us to read, books for us to write, but there are papers to write, tests to take, teachers to teach, lectures to be given. All of this is to the glory of God, not in spite of the fact that everything’s going to dissolve, but because of the fact that everything’s going to dissolve.

All that to say, if I were speaking as a secular president to a secular school, I think all I would know to say, and I mean this honestly, this interrogates my heart. I think all I would know to say is, “Good luck.” Grab as much as you can, hold onto it for as long as you can, because that’s all there is. But instead, we are forced by this passage and by the structure of the gospel, by a gospel imperative, we are assigned an even greater meaning in this life than a secular meaning could ever understand. And it’s a heavier meaning, which is at the same time, the reminder that this is an age, and this too shall pass. But here’s the thing, this is not a secular institution. We are not here in the name of some state, or some donor, or something else.

We’re here in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We’re standing on the faith once we’re all delivered to the saints. And this is actually good news for us. I want to say this is phenomenally unspeakably good news for us. It’s good news that the word “dissolve” is used three times here. It is good news that we are told all this is going to melt and burn. It’s good news because we’re looking for a new heaven and a new earth, and that reframes everything because it gives meaning to this life, to this term, to this semester, to this academic year. It gives meaning to this life in terms of marrying, and raising children, and welcoming grandchildren. It gives us grace, and mercy, and confidence in sharing the gospel, and sending missionaries, and preaching the Word, and all of this, and being infectious in society, sending out the graduates of the college into so many different areas of calling it a life.

It gives meaning to all of that, not because it will last forever, but because it won’t.

We’re the only people who can be told that all things are going to be dissolved, but it’s good news. We’re the only people who actually believe that, as important as all this is, and we see it as even more important than the secular mind can comprehend, it’s important only as a foretaste of what is to come. And God’s timing here is that God is patient in order that we may turn out graduates, who may go out into the churches, and go out into the world, and go out into the vocations, and will get married, and have children, and raise those children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and will saturate the nations with the gospel. The Lord is patient in order that that will happen until in his perfect timing for he is not slow, and he is not asleep. When that day shall come, when that trumpet shall sound, everything is going to pass away.

Not by the way, in one act of spilling a universal acid, but in one massive act of divine judgment, when all things will be seen visible and invisible. And a new heaven, and a new earth is coming. Verse 13,

“But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens.” In fact, a “new heavens and a new earth in which” what? “Righteousness dwells.” Aren’t you looking forward to that? A new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness lives.

Peter’s exhortation, “Therefore beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.” That’s a good word for us in this opening convocation. It’s a good word for Christ church in any moment. “And count the patience of our Lord as salvation.” He cites Paul. Some of the scoffers clearly are distorting Paul, and Peter names it very interesting. He treats Paul’s writings as Scripture. There’s so much in this, this apostolic weight. And by the way, the unity between Peter and Paul, again, there’s so much that’s glorious here.

“You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.” How much do we need to hear that? Okay. We need to hear that. We need to hear that word clearly. “Knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”

Brothers and sisters, faculty, students, trustees, all of those gathered and all those who will hear my voice, this is why this institution exists. This is why we’re gathered here on this day. This is why we are the people armed with this truth who are going to be undertaking this task before us with a renewed seriousness, simply because we know what is at stake. And what’s at stake? Brothers and sisters, judgment is coming, and all will be dissolved, and it’s going to be glorious, and all will be made well. Until that day, so long as we live, may the Lord find us faithful. And God’s people said, Amen.

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Interaction Session

GARBC National Conference – Church Forward

Cedarville, Ohio

July 1, 2026

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Now You Are God’s People

The Church in a Political Predicament

GARBC National Conference – Church Forward

1 Peter 2:9–17

Cedarville, Ohio

July 1, 2026

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As Though Something Strange Were Happening to You

The Church in a Post-Christian Age

GARBC National Conference – Church Forward

1 Peter 4:12–19

Cedarville, Ohio

June 30, 2026

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Things Into Which Angels Longed to Look

The Church in Our Current Cultural Moment

GARBC National Conference – Church Forward

1 Peter 1:3-12

Cedarville, Ohio

June 30, 2026

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I welcome you to the service of worship. I hearken you to the word of God. This morning—Psalm chapter eight, the eighth Psalm:

“O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!”

Let us pray.

Oh Lord our Lord, we come before you to confess that we are who you know we are. For you are the creator and you made us. We are the creature you made in your own image. Father you know us and the glory of creation, you know us and the reality of sin. And we are here today because you know us through the blood of your own son, the Lord Jesus Christ. So Father, we come as a blood bought people to hear your inherent, infallible, eternal word. We pray that this word will break forth anew to your glory for our good. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The book came out just a couple of years ago. The title of the book is “Why?”? Alright, so I’ll admit, if you’re going to write a book and ask the question “Why?” I’m going to buy it and read it. It really doesn’t matter who you are. I’m going to read the book because you’re asking the most fundamental question: “Why?” Alright, these days when I see a book with the title why I’m going to buy the book and I’m going to read the book, but my defense mechanisms are already up. Because now in the 21st century when someone writes a book and they ask the question “Why?” I do not expect that they’re going to answer the question why with a biblical answer. As a matter of fact, I’m going to suspect that the book is written because the author sees that answer as available no more. And now we’ve got to find some answer to the question “Why?” on the other side of a secular abyss.

Good luck with that. This particular book is entitled “Why?” the Subtitle, “The Purpose of the Universe” is by Philip Goff, who’s professor of philosophy at Durham University. Obviously an incredibly intelligent person, someone who has been asking this kind of question for a very long time. By the time I finished the book, I determined he really didn’t offer a satisfying answer to the question, but I have to say good show of it. In other words, if you can try to come up with an answer to the question “Why?” without reference to God, or at least without any, any acknowledgement of the validity of that answer, then what you’re going to have to end up with as some kind of synthetic answer, some kind of, some kind of answer to why that just takes the datum of the world as we know it. And that means especially experience and tries to bring some coherent answer to the, to the question why he does acknowledge there’s a Christian answer.

And so I appreciate that. And, and just in terms of the shape of Western civilization, there’s a sense in which he has to acknowledge there was a Christian answer. And as a matter of fact, that was the answer that held together the civilization and the giant metaphysical questions of life for centuries far more than a millennium. He doesn’t think the Christian answer is available to us now, partly because of what we know now.

Alright, so all my juices are flowing. What do we know now that Moses didn’t know? What do we know now that David didn’t know? What do we know now that Peter and Paul didn’t know? What, what do we know now that Augustine didn’t know? What do we know now that Athanasius didn’t know? What do we know now that Thomas didn’t know? What do we know now that Calvin didn’t know? What do we, what do we know right now that Luther didn’t know, Jonathan Edwards didn’t know, my grandmother didn’t know?

What do we know now? Well, one of the answers is particle physics. It awakened me in the middle of the night last night. The hope that all the particles would keep together. You think about it too much. You know, there there’s a giant force holding all the matter together in the world. And if it just stops, being becomes non-being stuff becomes former stuff—the universe unravels. So, particle physics, that was one. He also cites moral developments. But mostly it’s a scientific argument on the other side of modern physics. On the other side of modern science, we now no longer really find a compelling argument to believe in God. That’s, that’s his argument—professor of philosophy at Durham University in England. And again, this isn’t new. I mean, this isn’t new at all.

The problem is that on the other side of that breakdown, on the other side of that secular cliff, the answers, let’s just be honest, are really flimsy. I mean really, really flimsy. If there is no God and we are not the creature of a Creator, then we have to come up with some explanation of who we are. Some plausible worldview, some way of looking at the world, some metaphysic, some ontology, some systematic way of understanding. But that doesn’t even really solve the problem because the problem turns out overwhelmingly to be moral.

It always does. We’re made in God’s image. The question for the rhinoceros does not always turn out to be moral. You won’t know what you’re talking about. Don’t try to reason morality with a crocodile. You’ll not lose the argument, you’ll just lose your head. The human creature is the creature who understands we have to have a moral argument. So without God, what he calls the omni-God and that’s not a unique term to him. That’s shorthand for the dismissal of the God of the Bible and, and the, all the “omnis” that are in it: omniscience, omnipotence…. And it’s interesting the way he puts it. He, he more or less says, well, let me quote him directly. “The omni-God probably doesn’t exist, time to look for alternatives.”

Okay. I just have to stop a minute and say, it’s kind of like saying, I don’t think that police officer exists. I’m going to ignore him. I don’t think that soldier exists. I’m just going to ignore him. I don’t think that robber exists. I’m just going to ignore him. When you acknowledge that, you can see it and deny it, it’s an amazing thing. And obviously, I not mean with physical sight. See, God, the God of the Bible, the omni-God, actually he’s talking about here. It’s just you. You just have to note that even the people who deny him are haunted by the fact that he’s looking over their shoulder. It’s the human predicament. And I think the fact that God is looking over his shoulder is why the word “probably” works itself into this sentence. You know, it’s just like, okay, hedging my best just in case the omni-God does exist and is watching me at the moment.

“The omni-God probably doesn’t exist.” On the other side of the non-existence of God he has a value problem. And he sees two alternatives. One is value minimalism and the other is value fundamentalism. Alright. I think you can figure that out. Value minimalism is that, that we’re not even sure they’re real, but they are kind of necessary. So let, let’s stick with them. We don’t have any real plausible, metaphysical, ontological, satisfactory grounding of them. Let’s just say the good, the beautiful, the true, you know, right, wrong. So, but, but we need them. So in his, in his book, he says he started out as a value minimalist that didn’t work so well. So now he’s a value fundamentalist. And, and what he means by that is he, he believes that the values are real and they’re fundamental. We can’t do without them. So the very fact that we can’t do without them means they, they have to be, in some sense, real.

Now, I, I didn’t find his book particularly compelling. I guess you can figure that out by our reading together of Psalm eight. But I do appreciate the honesty of a man who says on the other side, a belief in the God of the Bible. This is what we’ve got. It’s just not much. As a matter of fact, the book is shorter than I expected it to be. If I’m looking for a book that’s going to answer the question “Why?” I’m expecting a multi-volume set, unfinished, thin little book. Compare that to Psalm eight. I read it from the King James because I learned it in the King James.

“O LORD our Lord,” So it’s, it’s, it’s a statement. It’s not just oh Lord, but it’s “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth.” It’s a declaration of God’s glory and it is the beginning and the end of this psalm. So that very phrase is the opening and the close of this rather concise psalm, it is identified immediately as a psalm of David. It’s a statement of corporate and personal belief. It’s not just about the existence of the God who created the world in all things and created us in His image and rules over the years. It’s not just an acknowledgement of that God in his existence. It is an acknowledgement of that God and His covenant with his people.

“O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!” You know, from time to time it’s just good for us to pause as believers and ponder the excellence of the name of the Lord. In thinking about this message, this hour, this text, I was struck by an excellence of God’s name that I really had not considered before. Jehovah. Yahweh, Adonai, God, our Father who art in heaven. When we just think of the Father, we think of his names, we think of the word “God.” Have you reflected before on how that one word operates as such an efficient summary?

Have you considered how impoverished our preaching would be? How awkward our conversation would be, how difficult our devotional lives and our public arguments would be if we did not have a name that we could name. It’s not just a little “g”, it’s capital “G.” In this case, it’s not just a little “l” Again, we’re talking about not just the one who is a Lord, we’re talking about the Lord of all—the author and the finisher. But it’s not just the name by which we invoke God. It’s not just that it’s necessary, it’s also that it’s sufficient.

When we are together as Christians and we read Psalm 8, we do not have to turn to one another askance and ask, who are we talking about here? This is the God of the Bible, the entirety of the Scriptures, the maker of heaven and earth. We, we know of whom we speak. When we say, “O LORD our Lord,” with David, we know of whom we speak that his name invokes all. “How excellent is thy name in all the earth!” And then the words, “who hast set thy glory above the heavens.” So, heaven and earth all together, comprehensively God’s glory fills the earth. God’s glory fills the heavens. And especially in the Old Testament reference to the heavens, here is “everything else.” It’s an expanse we can’t understand. It’s, it’s a massive cosmos, we can’t even comprehend. But your glory fills it all. You made it all. Your glory is all. Oh Lord, our Lord.

“How excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.” I can remember learning this psalm as a little boy. The sweet verse “. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength.” I’m going to wait just a minute. This doesn’t go where you might expect it to go. So listen carefully, “. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained…” what… “strength.” Seriously have you seen a babe? Have you seen a suckling child? Is that the word you think of strength and because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger?

Seriously, when God’s people face our most frightening enemies, when we’re establishing our hope and our trust and our confidence, when we’re looking for rescue…. an infant, a suckling? Let me remind you of 1 Samuel 17 and following beginning of verse one of chapter 17:

“Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them.

And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him. And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.”

Be careful what you ask for. When you’re facing the people of the one true and living God, be careful what you ask for. You ask for a man who will come and fight you and if he wins you will be the servants of that people if you win, they shall be your servants. You dare God “Send me a man.” God sends you a man… or not.

You know the story. David goes to bring his brother’s provisions. David, little David, minuscule David, little boy David verse 26. “And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” Now I just want to tell you right up front, as a father and as a grandfather—and I dearly love my children, and I’m unspeakably affectionate towards my grandchildren—but they can be irritating at times.

They show up and ask awkward questions. What’s the main awkward question they ask? “Why?” “Why?” They also clarify things. They’ll tell you how you look. There is no pretense. “Papa, you’re old.” They mean it. They say it with wonder. Makes me want to take my pulse. But you know, I’ve never had one of them show up and say, “Who is going to fight this Philistine? Is no one going to take on this uncircumcised Philistine? Is there not a, is there not a man in Israel who will fight this fight?” You know the story David, in verse 29, “is there not a cause?”

Well, you know that it was David who killed the Philistine Goliath. He went out into battle against Goliath. The boy killed the giant verse 50. “So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone and smote the Philistine and slew him. But there was no sword in the hand of David.” Verse 54. “And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in the tent.”  Verse 58, “And Saul said to him, whose son aren’t thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant, Jesse, the Bethlehemite.”

Alright, I have thrilled in that story, in that historical account my entire life from the time that I was David’s size. Turn to Psalm 8. Do you see it? Look at the ascription “To the Chief Musician upon Giddath: a Psalm of David.” Giddath is Gath. It’s hard to imagine this isn’t about Goliath. He cites Gath, “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.” Not what we expect out of a babe. Strength is not what we expect out of a nursing child. The strength is what showed up when David asked, “Is there not a cause?” Little David, the babe, slew the avenger, the enemy.

It’s a sweet, sweet psalm. It has this strange turn. That’s not what we expect to come after the mouth of babes and sucklings. “Thou ordained strength because of thine enemies. that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.” And then he looks to the heavens, notice this. He looks to the heavens. “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” You know, it starts out with David’s amazement at how the Lord would use an infant, a child, small to save his people.

And of course, let’s go ahead and skip ahead. We were amazed that the Lord used a baby born in Bethlehem to slay the avenger, to redeem his people from our sin. But then David shifts from looking at the baby to looking at all humanity. And the background here is not Gath. The background here is not a battle. The background here is the entire universe. He says it clearly, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him?”

Why would you care about creatures like me? Why do we matter to you? Why are you mindful of us? Why do you visit us? The language is just beautiful. “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” My goodness. But then it goes on. Look at verse five: “For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.” It’s not just that: “Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.”

Let me just state the obvious when, when and if, let’s just say when and if, so when and if you see a small boy slay a giant, when you, when you see that, let me just say you’re going to focus on that pretty intensely. That that that’s going to appear to have enormous significance. But then at some point you begin, inevitably you have to start shifting back to a larger frame. And the larger frame just gets larger and larger and larger. Eventually it’s a cosmic frame. It’s the frame of the entire universe. If you’re going to ask the question “Why?”, the question, “Why?” asked in the precinct of say your, your home sitting at your table, that’s going to be a very different question than “Why?” when you walk outside and see the entire expanse of the night sky and recognize we are so tiny. I mean even the biggest of us—so tiny. Even the mightiest of us, so powerless over against the expanse of the cosmos. I mean, just go outside and look, why would God care about us?

And I don’t just mean corporate us, I mean each of us—like you and me. It’s an astounding question. Why would God be mindful of us? The only reason we know that he’s mindful of us is because number one, he tells us he is. We don’t know who we are, but for the fact that he has told us who we are, and he has told us that we are the only creature made in his image. You can go out into the countryside and you can see cows eating in the dark under a night sky, an expansive stars. But so far as we know, there are no cow astronomers or cow philosophers. They’re looking at each other, chewing—a beautiful picture of passivity, a pastoral picture. We all recognize that it’s very common, even in Scripture. But you don’t hear a cow ask “What is cow that, that thou art mindful of him or the son of cow that you visiteth him?” No, no, you, you don’t get that there. There’s no great white shark out in the middle of the ocean thinking “What is shark that thou art mindful of him?”

But the issue does come to us, the question does come to us, even that “Why?” question. And then we realize the audacity of claiming that we know the answer to that question “Why?” And it is because the Creator—the omnipotent, sovereign God of the universe—formed this entire cosmos as the theater of his glory. And in this cosmos on this planet, he created one creature made in his image to know him. It should be as natural for two human beings standing in a pasture at night to ask, “What is man that thou art mindful of him?” as it would be unnatural for a cow to ask the same question.

Notice again the beautiful language here: “For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels.” Well, it’s very interesting, a little lower than the angels, that’s not as specific as we might like. But in terms of our vocation to display the glory of God, the angels according to this text, have a certain exalted status over us. The Scripture in the New Testament also makes clear that the angels are envious of God’s revelation to us and especially of the atoning work whereby the Son of God purchased our salvation. These are things into which we’re told angels long to look, but it does put us in our place a bit here.

We have an exalted place in creation. And I think the implication here is that we’re just slightly, slightly lower than the angels. And then notice this next text: thou “hast crowned him with glory and honour.” Well, those are words that are most commonly ascribed to God himself, “glory and honour.” When we hear the words “glory and honour,” if we, if we see them in a verse, we do not think they are about human beings. Those words are referring—“glory and honour”—to God.

But he’s actually crowned human beings with glory and honor. And not only that, in verse six, given us dominion. Dominion over what? Dominion over whom? Dominion over all of the things of the creation. All of creation is put under our feet. That’s what it says. Just in case we need some detail: “All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field.” And, and verse eight is precious: “The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.” Because we’re not really sure what passes through the seas. We’ve heard things, we found some evidence. Even now there is the admission in nine tenths of the ocean, we’re not sure what’s in there.

We think of ancient people in their ignorance. Brothers and sisters we’re slightly less ignorant than they are of what is in the depths of the ocean. I will admit, I have very little temptation to go and find out. And that was certainly true of the Jewish people. They had very little temptation to go and find out. And so let’s just put it in summary: If it passes through the sea—don’t you love this?—we have dominion over it. Obviously. Obviously. We don’t even know what exists and we have dominion over it….

But the point is: we do. We do. It’s because when that thing is encountered, we name it—it does not name us. It is the thing, we are the soul. Anthropology is the hardest question. I Just want to say, apologetically, the meaning of human existence is the hardest question. If the omni-God does not exist, that’s our big problem, because honestly explaining the Grand Canyon does not keep me up late at night. Explaining metamorphosis doesn’t keep me up late at night. But “Who am I and what does my life mean?” That would keep me up every night.

It is a pressing question. And, and the answers are just really spare. They’re few. There just aren’t many. If we are not the creature made in the image of God, then all we are is the latest, most intelligent thing yet found. That’s all we are. And, and you may feel very prideful about that designation until you watch yourself in the course of a single day. If we are the most intelligent beings on the planet, we are doomed. I mean, we are doomed. Furthermore, we’re being told we’re going to be exceeded. Alright? How are we going to be exceeded? Well, we’re told artificial intelligence is going to exceed us and it, and soon I is going to have an intelligence far beyond ours. Now let me just say that those who are the proponents of such a statement actually have a very limited intelligence about intelligence.

But if we just feel ourselves somehow superior to other creatures because of our computational power, I don’t doubt for a minute that there will be machines who can exceed us in computational power. That that doesn’t mean that they are smarter than we are. They may demonstrate in fact that we’re not as smart as we think we are. But at the end of the day, we are still the human being made in God’s image and they’re digital. Animal rights activists are doing their very best to confuse this question, suggesting that any designation of particular human dignity is an oppressive, patriarchal, prejudicial imposition to the danger of the planet and all the other species and all the rest. And, and you can think, well, that argument falls on its face so fast that it wouldn’t have any traction. But in court after court, it’s gaining slowly.It is slow, but it is gaining slowly. And the one of the latest aspects of this argument is where they will say, well, if indeed it’s consciousness and self-awareness and the ability to communicate, then there are animals that demonstrate consciousness and awareness and the ability to have some kinda rudimentary communication. And for all we know, dolphins have libraries in the bottom of the seat.

The point is that if there is no biblical grounding of who we are, if we don’t have a biblical answer to why human beings exist and who we are, then we’re going to have to come up with something. And quite honestly, nothing’s going to hold, nothing’s going to hold, nothing’s going to morally hold. Look at the horrors of the 20th century. Look at genocide. Look at, look at all the horrors of, of even the modern age. And, and we, we are not going to be able to survive. If the answer to why is self-referential in its answer, if that’s all we got. I love this psalm. “For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.” We didn’t crown ourselves. We were crowned. “Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!”

I want to share something with you and I want to tell you that this is something that for some time has grabbed my heart as the father of a daughter and the grandfather of a granddaughter. G.K. Chesterton, back in 1910 or so, he wrote a little essay that’s entitled, “I Begin With A Little Girl’s Hair.” Chesterton, in London, saw a little girl held by the hand by her mother walking in front of her of his house, a little girl with red hair, and he saw a hair fall…. This is how he began his essay:

“I begin with a little girl’s hair. That I know is a good thing at any rate. Whatever else is evil, the pride of a good mother in the beauty of her daughter is good. It is one of those adamantine tendernesses which are the touchstones of every age and race. If other things are against it, other things must go down. If landlords and laws and sciences are against it, landlords and laws and sciences must go down. With the red hair of one she-urchin in the gutter I will set fire to all modern civilization.”

I’m going to end with a little girl’s hair. If you take just one little girl’s hair, Chesterton is right, what do you have? You have a hair. The hair leads you to a girl. The girl leads you to her mother. It leads you to a family, it and lead you outward, outward, outward. It leads you to understand she did not make herself and that mother who holds her hand so tenderly did not make her. Rightly understood, the entire cosmos comes into view with a little girl’s hair. That’s all you actually need. “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.”

You can see it all, if you have eyes to see, in just one little girl’s hair. Let’s pray.

Father, we cannot, but ask the question, why in the world do you care about us? And you only can answer that question and you tell us you care about us because you made every one of us, every part of us, and we are precious to you. Father, we do not understand why, but we declare that truth in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we pray that we will live lives that will demonstrate your glory in the earth for all to see, for all to hear, and for all to know. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

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