Ours is a Peculiarly Wicked Generation

Introduction: The Unity of the Universal Church and the Sermon's Theme

0:00 I never come into a situation like this where we have prayed for a church and for the servants of God who labor in that church. But what if I'm privileged to come and meet them face to face, I am struck afresh with the great biblical truth of the word of God concerning the existence and the reality of the universal church. Many of our people would not be able to locate Vernonia, Oregon on a map, but they know that every few weeks in the cycle of praying for our sister churches of light, faith, and order,

0:39 that Pastor Dickey and the work of God here in Vernonia is prayed for publicly in our assembly. When letters are sent, those letters are read and the concerns are spread before the people of God. And even as coming...

0:55 Coming into your midst has given me a fresh sense of that reality that the people of God are one in all parts of the world. So also, as we meet tonight, you are being prayed for in these meetings literally around the world. There are some 250 or 300 individuals who over the years have asked that I keep them informed concerning outside ministries, and two weeks ago I sent out an annual itinerary of where to meet them. And there are people in Australia, Pakistan, one brother in Cyprus, people in the United Kingdom,

1:37 and many parts of the states, some down in the Caribbean, Trinidad, the Dominican Republic. They are praying for you and for me in these days together. And that also gives me a wonderful sense of the unity of the church universal throughout the world. And so it is a great...

1:56 It is a great privilege for me to meet you, to see your faces, and I look forward especially to that time on Saturday, God willing, if the Lord gives us good weather, when at the picnic we can get further acquainted in face-to-face conversation and fellowship.

2:15 Now, the subject matter that I agreed to address in discussing these meetings with your elders has been announced in the brochure under this title, The Christian's Role in a Wicked Generation. And if there were one text of scripture that would act as the overarching biblical statement of the things we will be addressing, it is found in Philippians, the second chapter. I will not be expounding this passage tonight. I shall be expounding a portion of it in a subsequent message.

2:54 But if there were one passage that I would... ...desire you to remember and forever to associate until you go to glory with these days together,

3:04 it would be this passage in Philippians chapter 2, verses 12 through 16. So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and fear, and trembling, for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and questionings, that ye may become blameless and harmless,

3:45 children of God without blemish, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, that I may have whereof the glory in the day of Christ, that I did not run in vain, neither labor in vain. And you can see that the very subject of our meditations together, the Christian's role in a wicked generation, has overtones of Paul's words that you may, as children of God,

4:27 shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Now let us pray that God's blessing will rest upon this, our opening message in this series, and then throughout our entire time together, that we shall know his very special presence. Let us pray. Our Father, we do thank you for your goodness that has spared each one of us to this hour.

4:58 Amen. We thank you for the special joy of being able to look into the faces of those for whom we have prayed in recent years. We do thank you that the work of your grace is a work which, when effectually wrought in the hearts of men and women, brings us into a oneness that transcends even personal acquaintance. And we thank you for this great reality and pray that as tonight, we are here before one another and before you, the living God, that you will come and minister to our hearts with power,

5:37 that many will look back upon these days as a watershed of deep heart dealings with you. Speak to us then by the power of your spirit through the word we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Now in the light of the subject of our series of messages, the Christian's role in a wicked generation, it's crucial to our treatment of the subject that, first of all, we be convinced from the scriptures that ours is indeed a wicked generation.

Proposition 1: All Generations Since the Fall Are Wicked

6:17 Unless I can convince you from the scriptures that the terms wicked generation rightly apply to our generation, then our subject matter falls to the ground. And secondly, not only must we be convinced that this generation is a wicked generation, but we must also be convinced as to what we mean by a Christian and have in our minds a biblical understanding of the description and identification of a true Christian. And so tonight we will focus on the identification or description of this generation as a wicked generation. God willing,

7:01 tomorrow night on the identity of a true Christian and then, God willing, on Saturday night we'll look at the precise description of the Christian's role in such a generation. And then on the Lord's Day in the three sessions, we'll examine three crucial areas in which Christians must, by the grace of God, fulfill their role in this wicked generation. If the church, is to earn the right to be heard in its witness to the ungodly.

7:37 Now then tonight we're going to concentrate on the identification of this generation as a wicked generation. And as I attempt to open up the scriptures on this subject, I shall do so by means of stating and then proving from the word of God three simple propositions or assertions. Proposition number one. In a general sense, each generation since the fall of man can be described as a wicked generation.

8:15 In a general sense, each generation since the fall of man can be described as a wicked generation. Our Bibles begin as almost all, if not every one of you knows, with the doctrine of creation. And all that God desires us to know about how this world began is condensed into two brief chapters, Genesis chapters one and two. And no sooner do we finish the account of creation,

8:53 but that we have a hundred different questions that we wish God had addressed in Genesis one and two. All kinds of questions, questions arise with respect to God's creative activity. But it's as though God is saying to us, all you need to know about how this world came into being, starting with Genesis one, one in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and ending with Genesis chapter two, God performing the marriage ceremony of Adam and Eve. And there we find them.

9:32 In total nakedness before God and one another without shame and marital bliss. God then moves immediately into chapter three with these words. Now the serpent was more subtle. From the glorious account of that pristine creation in which the only perfect man who ever lived, save our Lord Jesus and the only perfect woman who ever lived, are placed in a perfect environment.

10:06 No indwelling sin, no temptation to come to them from the world without. And no sooner is that account completed, but that God says now the serpent, it's as though God is saying to us, once you have grasped the fact that this world in which you find yourself is my world, it exists because I created it. You exist because I created you. God says, the second great lesson I want you to learn is that this is a sinful and a fallen world.

10:44 And I'm going to tell you how sin entered into my perfect world. And then we have the account in Genesis three of the horrible intrusion of sin upon the human race. And the result is that we are not even, halfway through or just about halfway through the chapter. And we find the man and the woman made in the image of God, made for fellowship with God, made to have open face, unashamed communion with God.

11:18 They have plunged into sin and they have actually aligned themselves in their heart allegiance with the devil, the arch enemy of God. But God does not leave man in this, alignment with the devil. But in chapter three and verse 15, notice what God says after God has spoken to the serpent. And after God has told the serpent that he shall be cursed for his activity, then God says in verse 15, I will put enmity between thee, that is the serpent and the woman, between thy seed,

12:02 and her seed. You see, God is saying, my first two creatures, Adam and Eve have aligned themselves with you, Satan. But I will not allow that alignment to go on undisturbed. I will put enmity where now there is amity and unity and friendship and loyalty.

12:29 They had sold themselves to the devil. But God in grace comes and says, I will put enmity. I'm going to separate out from this loyalty to you, Satan, working through the serpent. I will separate a people for myself and eventually your head will be bruised.

12:53 Though in the process, you will be able to bruise the heel of the seed of the woman. As Satan desired, to be God and was cast out of heaven, hinted at very strongly in Isaiah 14 and perhaps in Ezekiel 28. So Adam and Eve desired to be as God, and they were cut off from fellowship with God. And according to Romans 5 and verse 12, you and I were there.

13:29 For Romans 5 and verse 12 says, Therefore as through one man sin entered into the world and death passed upon all, for that all sinned. When did all sin? All of us sinned in our first father. You children know there are times when you may take a ride on daddy's back and you may have a piggyback ride.

13:53 Well, if daddy falls, you fall with him. God piggybacked the whole human race on Adam. And God said, If you stand, the whole human race stands with you. If you fall, the whole human race falls with you and in you.

14:11 And so we in Adam sinned. We fell and our alignment was with the devil himself. So that by nature we are not the children of God spiritually, though we are his creatures. We are the sons and the daughters of the devil.

14:29 So that the apostle Paul, in summarizing the condition of all men, in all places, in all cultures, for all time, can describe that condition in the language of Romans chapter 3 verses 10 and following, pulling verses from various parts of the Old Testament. As it is written, There is none righteous, no not one. There is none that understandeth, and knoweth not. There is none that findeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

15:04 They have all turned aside. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No not so much as one.

15:19 Well you see if this description is true, then my first proposition is valid. In a general sense, each generation since the fall of man, can be described as a wicked generation. And this is why the apostle Paul has no problem whatsoever saying that in the time period from the coming of Christ in the flesh to redeem his people until his second coming, it will be marked by abounding wickedness among men. Second Timothy chapter 3.

16:00 Know this that in the last days, in the days from the first until the second coming of Christ, grievous times shall come. Men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, railers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, puffed-up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Verse 13 of the same chapter.

16:39 Evil men and impostors shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. Now this is God's unflattering description of his expectation of human nature. And contrary to the so-called evolutionary approach to human life and existence, instead of man becoming better and better, God's word says he shall become increasingly degenerate. So there is no generation of mankind that can collectively say with the Pharisee in Luke 18.11,

17:20 I thank thee God I am not like other men. Any generation of any people in any culture at any time and any place, is a wicked generation. Judged by the law of God there is none righteous, no not one. And though in certain periods through the operation of saving grace and the operation of what we call God's common grace, there may be more or less degrees of wickedness, but in a general sense each generation since the fall of man can be described as a wicked generation.

18:01 And that will be true until the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Responsible exposition of the word of God does not lead us to believe with the liberals that man by pulling himself up with his own bootstraps will get better and better. Or with the evolutionist man by some inherent forces who knows where they came from will get better and better. Or even with gracious, God-fearing, Bible-loving people who see some latter-day glory in which there will be basically a converted world in which the world will be filled with Christian

18:46 nations. I say all such things do not stand up to this clear teaching of the word of God. Every generation in a very real sense can be designated as a wicked generation and this will be true until the end of the world. I thank thee God I am not like other men.

19:02 Judged by the law of God there is none righteous, no not one. I say all such things do not stand up to this clear teaching of the word of God. Every generation in a very real sense can be designated as a wicked generation and this will be true until the very coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he said nevertheless when the Son of Man cometh shall he find thee faith on the earth.

Proposition 2: Some Generations Are Peculiarly Wicked

19:13 But then I have a second proposition in seeking to demonstrate that this generation is a peculiarly wicked generation and it is this. Not only have we seen from Scripture that in a general sense each generation since the fall can be described as a wicked generation. But proposition number two, in an intensified sense some generations are more wicked than other generations. In an intensified sense some generations are more wicked than other generations and I want

19:54 you to look with me at just three specimen generations that fit this description. First of all the generation before the universal flood that came. The one that came upon the earth as described in Genesis chapter seven and following. If your turn with me Genesis six notice the description that the generation of man immediately preceding the flood.

20:24 Genesis chapter six and verse five. And the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of man was good in the land. and that every imagination of man was good in the land. of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that

20:46 he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I've created from the face of the ground, both man and beast and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for it repented me that I have made them. Then notice verses 8 and following. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Here was one man who found favor in the eyes

21:21 of the Lord, and yet his disposition toward the rest of mankind is that he's going to utterly blot them out. And verse 21 of chapter 3 says, says that's exactly what he did. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both birds and cattle and beasts and creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. And every man, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, of all that was on the dry land died, and every living thing was destroyed that was upon the face of the ground, both man and cattle and creatures. And he said, I will destroy man whom I've created from the face of the ground,

22:01 and all that was on the dry land died, and every living thing was destroyed that was upon the face of the ground. And he said, I will destroy man whom I've created from the face of the ground, creeping things and birds of the heaven, and they were destroyed from the earth, and Noah only was left, and they that were with him in the ark. You see, this was a uniquely wicked generation. So wicked that God said, I've had enough. I will take no more. I'll blot out this generation,

22:26 and I'll start all over again with Noah and his family. And so while it is true, and Scripture makes this abundantly clear, that any and every generation since the fall of man is a wicked generation, there are some generations that are uniquely wicked. Proof number one, the generation at the time of the flood. Then when we move into the history of the nation of Israel, we find the generation of Manasseh, king of Judah, was a generation that was uniquely and horribly wicked.

23:08 2 Kings chapter 21, 2 Kings chapter 21, we read of Manasseh in verse 2, He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. After the abominations of the nations whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. And then it specifies what he did in raising up altars to the false gods of the heathen nations that God had driven out of the land of Palestine. The reinstitution of consorting with evil spirits and with people who dealt in familiar spirits.

23:51 And we read at the end, At the end of verse 6, He wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. And then he set up the gods of sex and all of the horrible, or the goddess, the Asherah, and all of the horrible immoralities that attended that heathen worship. Until we read in verse 9, But they hearkened not, and Manasseh seduced them to do that which is evil. More, More than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.

24:30 Remember it is said that God did not yet drive out those nations because the iniquity of the Amorite was not yet full. God tolerated these horrible abominations in these heathen nations until he says enough is enough. And then he brings in the invading armies of Israel to drive them out as a judgment upon them. And yet of Manasseh it is said that he seduced the nation to sin in ways that exceeded the sin of the heathen nations who God himself had driven out.

25:08 And so we can say that the generation of Manasseh was indeed a uniquely evil, wicked generation until God says in 21.13, I will stretch over Jerusalem. The line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab. And I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.

25:37 God says I'm going to completely destroy and judge that nation that has so grievously sinned against me. And there is a third example of a uniquely wicked generation. Not only the generation. At the time of the flood.

25:56 The generation of Manasseh king of Judah. But the generation which crucified the Lord of glory. In Matthew chapter 12. Our Lord is responding to the demand of the religious leaders.

26:11 That Jesus show them a sign. Now obviously they did not mean just a miracle. For they had seen the Lord Jesus. Healing the sick.

26:21 Raising the dead. Performing miracles of every kind. But when they said we want a sign. They wanted some sign in the heavens.

26:30 They wanted Jesus to wave his hand and have the moon and the stars play leapfrogs with one another. Rearranged.

26:42 And Jesus said. Look at verse 38. Certain of the scribes and Pharisees. Matthew 12.38.

26:49 Saying teacher we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them. And even. Evil and adulterous generation.

26:59 Seeks after a sign. And there shall no sign be given to it. But the sign of Jonah. The prophet.

27:08 He says this is a uniquely evil. And adulterous. Generation. Likewise when Peter addresses.

27:18 That very nation on the day of Pentecost. We read in Acts chapter 2 and verse 40. A text we'll look at. At the conclusion of our message tonight.

27:29 Peter is preaching on the day of Pentecost. His sermon is interrupted when people come under deep conviction of sin. He gives them a distillation of a response that quiets them so he can complete his sermon. And we read then in verse 40.

27:45 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them saying. Save yourselves. A better rendering is. Be saved from.

27:59 This crooked generation. One of my married daughters. When she was about 14. 13 developed scoliosis.

28:13 Some of you know what scoliosis is. Curvature of the spine. Comes from the Greek word. Scolios.

28:22 Which means.

28:25 That's the word Peter used. Save yourself from this crooked. This bent. This unusually twisted generation.

28:36 This generation to whom he'd spoken earlier in the sermon and says. You by wicked hands. Took. Jesus of Nazareth.

28:47 And crucified him. This one whom God. Has raised up. And made.

28:53 His. Christ. This is why Paul writing of that same generation. In first Thessalonians.

29:00 Chapter two uses. This very strong language. First Thessalonians chapter two and verse 14. For you brethren became imitators of the churches of God which are in.

29:14 Christ Jesus. In Judea which are in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things of your own countrymen. Even as they did of the Jews who both killed the Lord Jesus.

29:27 And the prophets. And drove out us. And please not God. And are contrary to all men.

29:35 Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved. To fill up their sin always. But the wrath is come upon them. To the uttermost.

29:49 He says wrath is come upon them. To the uttermost. Yes every generation is a sinful generation. But in a unique way.

29:58 This was a peculiarly evil generation. That not only crucified the Lord of glory. But continued to oppose his apostles. And his servants.

30:12 And the message of salvation in his name. So I trust I've convinced your judgment from these three samples. And that's all they are. That while each generation is a wicked generation.

30:26 It is equally accurate. To state that there is an intensified sense. A doctrine of generations. That are peculiarly wicked generations.

Proposition 3: Our Generation is Peculiarly Wicked – Intellectual Perversity

30:42 And that leads us then to proposition number three. There is abundant warrant to designate this present generation in our country. As a peculiarly wicked generation. There is abundant.

30:59 Warrant to designate this present generation in our beloved country as a peculiarly wicked generation. And I want very briefly to give you four indications as to why that designation alas is warranted at this time. Of our own nation. Of this generation.

31:26 Number one. This is a wicked generation. In its intellectual perversity. This is a wicked generation in its intellectual perversity.

31:44 Sin entered with the temptation you'll remember. You shall be as God knowing. Remember the words of the serpent? You shall be as God knowing.

32:02 That's how sin entered. You know the devil. The devil is advanced beyond that now. And what he has done to this generation is said.

32:12 You shall know without God. He said to Eve. You shall be as God knowing. He says to this generation.

32:26 You can know without God. God is irrelevant to true knowledge. We can know all that we need to know about ourselves. Our behavior.

32:40 Our world. Family life. Male and female roles. Vital life.

32:47 We can know all we need to know about economics and politics and geophysics and international relationships. And we don't need to factor in God at any point whatsoever.

33:03 And so on all the great issues with which men wrestle in our own day. We've heard it till it comes out our ears. Discussions about the real. Root causes of the disruptions in Los Angeles in recent weeks.

33:18 We hear the great ones discussing what really led to the breakup of the USSR. The huge stalking red bear that for decades by subversion and militaristic aggression gobbled up nation after nation. And the bear has been decimated. And people say why?

33:41 How? What lies behind it? But in all of their discussions. Men assume we can know without factoring in God.

33:50 We can know what lies at the root of the disruptions in L.A. God is not a factor in any of those concerns. Well I want you to turn to Romans chapter 1 and see what God has to say when men seek to know without God.

34:06 When in all of their knowledge they factor out God deliberately and willfully and resolutely. Romans chapter 1. Paul is demonstrating the universal need for the gospel.

34:26 He sets the backdrop of God's wrath hanging like a dark cloud over all men. Verse 18 of Romans 1. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Now notice the first description of men.

34:46 Who hinder or literally hold down. The truth in unrighteousness. The one thing ungodly men don't want is the truth. The truth they don't want.

34:59 For the truth reveals them to be what they are. And it humbles them. And then he goes on to say. Particularly what truth it is that all men know.

35:09 Verse 19. That which is known of God is manifest in them. For God manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen.

35:20 God has smothered his world with his fingerprints. You cannot look at a leaf and not see it smothered with the fingerprints of God. You can't look within. You can't look without at God's universe and not see it smothered with his fingerprints.

35:39 But men say I'll see the leaf and I'll ignore the fingerprints of God. I'll see myself and I'll look within at this mysterious creature called man. But I've seen it. But I've seen it.

35:51 But I've seen it. But I've seen it. But I will not see the fingerprints of God all over him. Verse 28 summarizes it.

35:57 And even as they refuse to have God in their what? In their knowledge. They refuse. They literally they judged and did not approve that it was worthy to have God factored into their field of knowledge.

36:16 That's why I said the devil's temptation to this generation is you shall know. Not you shall be as God knowing, but you shall know without God. And as they refuse to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up. But the important thing for this particular heading is to see that a generation that by and large has said whatever we're going to know about any field of knowledge, God is not a necessary or a viable factor in the field of our knowledge.

36:51 I say. That is a peculiarly wicked generation because Psalm 14 one says the fool has said in his heart there is no God.

37:07 So a man may have six earned Ph.D. degrees, but if in all the endeavors of his acquisition of knowledge, he has not factored in God is nothing but an educated. God says this is why in verse.

37:33 Twenty two of this same chapter, it says, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. You see, they pity us foolish ones who are so naive to believe that God is the essential factor of every part of knowledge. That's naive, simplistic. You're the fools.

37:55 We are the true intellectuals. We come with a neutral, unbiased approach. Oh, no. God said, you know, you come with a positive, wicked bias that says.

38:06 Whatever I see, I won't see God's fingerprints. Whatever I tend to know, I don't factor in God. And they hold down what they know. And God says, professing themselves to be wise, they become fools.

38:24 The four pillars upon which any knowledge of any facet of God's world is to be acquired. Those four pillars are the biblical doctrine of creation, the biblical doctrine of the fall, the biblical doctrine of redemption, and the biblical doctrine of common grace. And they're all in the first nine chapters of Genesis. Isn't it interesting that it's those early chapters of Genesis that the so-called experts continually fight?

38:52 The anthropologists, the geologists, paleontologists, astronomers. Oh, how they hate the sinful account of creation. How they mock sinful accounts of the fall. Why?

39:06 Because on those four pillars are built. And structured all through knowledge, the doctrine of creation, fall, redemption, and common grace. And I say this is a uniquely, peculiarly wicked generation in its intellectual perversity. Because this nation in its early foundings, long before the war of independence, was molded and shaped by a perspective that predicated God into the equation of all reality.

39:39 So much so that the remnants are still found in our pledge to the flag. One nation under God. One of the few remaining remnants. But it's only a shadow of what once existed as a visceral conviction.

39:58 That we could know nothing unless we said to the psalmist, In thy light we shall see light.

Our Generation is Peculiarly Wicked – Moral Degeneracy

40:06 There's a second indication that our generation is a peculiarly wicked generation. Why? Not only in its intellectual perversity, but this is a wicked generation in its moral degeneracy. In its moral degeneracy.

40:27 The so-called sexual revolution of the 60s has produced a generation in which adultery and fornication are accepted lifestyles. Celebrated with laughter in so-called innocent family sitcom programs on television.

40:47 Steaming illicit sex scenes, the daily fare, and the soaps. And who dares speak of what Hollywood spews out and finds its way into the theaters of our cities and of our towns.

41:02 Homosexuality and lesbianism no longer call perversion abomination. It's called moral perversity. Woe unto those that call evil good and good evil, God says. Honesty and truth.

41:21 Honesty and truth have fallen in the streets before political expedience and personal ambition until we have a nation of cynics who wonder if anyone seeking any office at any level knows how to tell the truth. Am I making this up or are you living in the same world I'm living in?

41:43 This is the real world. It's a world in which we see not only intellectual perversity, but moral degeneracy. And according to Romans 1.24, those two things are handmaidens.

41:59 And I want you to notice that. We've seen the intellectual perversity that rules out God from the field of knowledge. What always follows?

42:10 Look what the scripture says. It tells us in verse 24, when men rule out God in their intellectual pursuits, wherefore God gave them up. In the lust of their lusts. Their hearts unto uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves.

42:31 Why? For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie. They exchanged truth for a lie. Worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator.

42:45 And God is already manifesting his wrath in that he gives men up to perversity. Verse 26, for this cause. This cause. That they exchanged.

42:57 Changed truth for a lie. Intellectual perversity. For this cause, God gave them up to what? Moral degeneracy.

43:06 Vile passions. Their women changed the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise, men leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust one toward another. Men with men working on seemliness and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was due.

43:26 And as they refused to have God in their knowledge, he says it again, God gave them up to a reprobate mind to do the things that are not fitting. This looks like a description of 20th century America filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity. That's malice, whisperers, backbiters, hateful to God or haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, impenders of evil things. Disobedient to parents without understanding covenant breakers.

44:01 One out of every two marriages ending up in the divorce court. Covenant breakers.

44:07 Unmerciful.

44:10 What's happened? Following upon the intellectual perversity is moral degeneracy. Moral degeneracy. So that in this kind of a situation, we have to say with all, it is a shame even to speak of the things that are done of them in secret.

Our Generation is Peculiarly Wicked – Social Anarchy

44:29 But then there is a third indication that this generation is a peculiarly wicked generation. Not only the intellectual perversity leading to moral degeneracy, but thirdly, it is a wicked generation in its social anarchy. Social anarchy. When God created man, even before sin entered, according to the comments we have in the New Testament, in the very order of creation of the male and the female, God was established.

45:00 He was establishing a hierarchical structure. Not demeaning the woman, but assigning a glory to her in her place of subordination to the man. First Corinthians chapter 11. And it's no more demeaning for a woman to take that place than it was for Christ, the incarnate, eternal word, to be subordinate to his father.

45:25 It was his glory to do the will of him that sent him. It was not his denigration. And his disgrace. It was his glory.

45:35 And then after the fall, God institutes human government with the power of corporal punishment, even to restrain evil. Romans 13. Governments are instituted of God to punish the evildoer and to reward the good. And God has put the sword of vengeance into the hand of the civil governor.

45:57 And whenever there are measures of common grace and a great impact, the gospel in special saving grace in place of social anarchy, where men buck against all of the structures that are meant to hold them in. They love those structures and feel comfortable within those structures. But we live in a day in which we see social anarchy. In the home, parents losing control over their children.

46:25 In the schools where I come from, they're like armed camps. Millions of taxpayers' dollars. Being paid out to have metal detectors through which every student must pass on his way to the classroom.

46:44 In society, disrespect, cynicism toward those in authority. We've come to the days of Judges 21-25. The last verse of the Judges sounds this note, this doleful, doleful note that is sounded several times throughout the book. But in a sense, it's a summary.

47:06 In those days, there was no king in Israel, and every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Social anarchy. The only judge of right and wrong in human relationships was a man's own eyes. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

47:27 And according to Romans 1-29, passage we just read, social anarchy is the fruit of God giving men up. Because? Because of their intellectual perversity. And their moral degeneracy.

47:42 He further gives them over to social anarchy. Disobedient to parents. Implacable. That's someone you can't make peace with him no matter what you do.

47:51 That's the inveterate racist. White, black, Hispanic, Oriental. It makes no difference.

47:59 They're in the heart. And they refuse social anarchy. Then I say there is a fourth undeniable indication. That this is a peculiarly wicked generation.

Our Generation is Peculiarly Wicked – Religious Apostasy

48:15 Add to its intellectual perversity, moral degeneracy, social anarchy. Perhaps the worst. It is a wicked generation in its religious apostasy. In its religious apostasy.

48:29 That is, in turning away from the truth as revealed in the scriptures. And the power of that truth is applied by the Holy Spirit. And yet man, being the religious creature, The more he is, it's amazing. The more he abounds in wickedness.

48:48 Often the more he abounds in the forms of religion. Turn to 2 Timothy chapter 3. For a clear indication of this. In the words of the Apostle Paul.

49:00 2 Timothy chapter 3. We've already looked at the earlier verses. In the last days grievous times shall come. Men shall be lovers of self.

49:16 Lovers of money. Boastful. Haughty. Railers.

49:20 Disobedient to parents. Unthankful. Unholy. All of these indications of moral degeneracy.

49:27 And yet look at verse 5. Holding a form of godliness. That is, holding all of the external structures of godliness. Holding on to religious rituals and ceremonies and activities and places.

49:45 Holding the form of godliness. But. Having denied the power thereof. Their religion changes nothing.

49:56 It's just an added extra. Somehow to sad man's insatiable desire to worship something. Somehow they hold to the forms of godliness. But they deny its power.

50:12 We find the same thing in chapter 4. After Paul is charged Timothy to preach the word. He says in verse 3. The time will come when they will not endure the sound or literally helpful teaching.

50:27 But having itching ears will heap to themselves teachers after their own lust. And will turn away their ears from the truth. And turn aside unto fables.

50:43 You see, though they cannot endure sound doctrine. They don't turn their back on preaching and church. No. They are experts at heaping up teachers.

50:55 Whose one great area of proficiency is. They know how to relieve the tickle in itching ears. That's what Paul says. It's almost a form of biting sarcasm.

51:11 Heap to themselves teachers. Who cannot invade the conscience by means of the ear. Who cannot illuminate the mind in saving truth. Who cannot warm the affections and see wills transformed and redirected.

51:28 Oh no. They only reach the outer vestibule and people's inveterate itch for something religious. They know how to relieve it. You know kids when you get a itchy place in the middle of your back and you can't quite reach it.

51:40 You say, oh mommy, daddy, I've got an itch, please scratch. Oh no, no, a little bit over there, up there. Oh, you got it, good, feel so good. Well, that's the picture here.

51:48 These people have itching ears. And they have teachers. Who know how to scratch them until they sit there, oh, I feel so good. That's the picture.

51:58 Doesn't make me better. It makes me feel good. Doesn't make me deal with my sins and make me right. Just makes me feel good.

52:06 Now Paul said this would be the mark. In the midst of abounding wickedness is religious apostasy. And if ever we lived in a generation that had a glut of religion that holds the form of godliness but denies its art. It is this generation.

52:27 Therefore there are denominations that formally approve the ordination of women to the office of elder. Though God says by his inspired apostle, I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man. And they have the nerve to say that's Paul the prejudiced rabbi speaking, not Paul the inspired apostle. And yet they still claim to be evangelicals, many of them.

52:55 And they think nothing. Nothing of ordaining, outspoken, self-confessed, practicing lesbians and homosexuals to the office of the ministry and leadership in Christ's church. Not to speak about even retaining their membership. And then we have a sickening, slick evangelicalism that knows how to get people decision and respectable and in the church.

53:20 And then gives them sort of a watered-down, low-key tonight show. With super personalities who can make them laugh and feel good and have just enough smattering of Jesus to salve their consciences. No serious worship. No earnest prayer.

53:39 A thousand people in the morning. Two hundred at night. And if they have a prayer meeting, twenty or thirty. And if anyone should suggest to the thousand that maybe what they have is something less than real and saving religion, he's called a legalist.

54:01 People who fill themselves in the damnable lie that they can have all the benefits of the cross of Christ without ever coming to grips with the implications of the crown of Christ. They can snatch at the benefits of Christ as Savior and not bow to the implications of Christ as Lord. They can have heaven to come but no heaven in their heart now. They can be perfected in holiness when they go to heaven while they're not pursuing holiness here on earth.

54:28 This is holding a form of godliness. But denying the power thereof. Now, dear people, this has been a sad picture. I felt a little sick even putting it together at my desk today.

Application to the Unconverted: Be Saved from This Crooked Generation

54:42 This is not a worn-out series I've even preached to my own people. It's tailor-made for this conference. It's in the process of being made. I ask you to carry your conscience that the picture is accurate.

54:58 When I say that this is indeed, according to the scripture, a peculiarly witted, generation, I hope I've carried your conscience. What then do we say in the light of this? We bring the message to a practical conclusion and application tonight. Well, I want to say to you who may not be Christians, to you who are unconverted, if you're a part of this generation, the fact that you're here under the sound of the word of God with a group of people serious about the worship of God and the preaching of his word, how thankful you should be you're not sitting somewhere, somewhere tonight with people concerned to entertain you and make you feel good,

55:41 whether or not you're right with God. You go out of here miserable as an unsaved person. We'll rejoice not because you're miserable, but we'll rejoice that you've begun to come in touch with reality. Because if you're unsaved, my friend, you ought to be miserable.

55:56 The wrath of God hangs over your head and you're just a heartbeat away from dropping into hell. And my message to you, as I indicated earlier, is in that text in Acts 2 and verse 40. With many other words, Peter testified and exhorted them saying, be saved from this crooked generation. For you who know a little Greek, it's an heiress passive imperative.

56:21 It's not a middle save yourself, but be saved from this crooked generation. My friend, you can be rescued from this crooked, this evil generation. You can be delivered by the power of God. And the salvation that is in the Lord Jesus Christ.

56:41 In the same way, you see a man in a torrential river. It's about to sweep him away. And you throw out to him a life preserver and say, man, lay hold of it. That's what Peter was saying to this generation.

56:57 Be saved from this crooked generation. Lay hold of Christ. Lay hold of him to the death. But that's what faith is.

57:07 It's the death grip of the soul upon Jesus Christ, who died for sinners and lives to break the power of sin and to make good all of his promises of salvation to those who trust him. Own the fact that you are part of this generation, that your life to one degree or another is a living monument. It is a wicked generation. And God says, be saved from this crooked generation.

Application to Believers: Be Aware of Dangers and Alert to Privileges

57:37 Be saved the only way sinners can be saved, by repenting of your sin and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. But then to you, the people of God, I have two simple exhortations. In the light of seeking to establish tonight that this is a wicked generation, I have two words of exhortation. Number one, be aware of the peculiar dangers of living in a wicked generation.

58:07 There are peculiar dangers of living in a wicked generation. One of those dangers is the cooling of your own affections to Christ. Remember what Jesus said? Whether he was speaking of the generation just prior to the destruction of Jerusalem or the generation living just prior to his return.

58:30 In Matthew 24, 12, he said this, And because iniquity shall abound, the love, of the many, shall wax cold. Abounding iniquity, like a flood of water upon the embers of burning devotion to Christ. Beware of the sin of cooling affections to the Lord Jesus. The church at Ephesus had more of the input of the Apostle Paul than any other church it had in for three years.

59:08 It got that marvelous epistle that we call the book of Ephesians. Opening up the doctrines we love so dearly. Applying them so specifically and practically. And yet the risen Christ had to say to that church in Revelation chapter 2, I have somewhat against thee.

59:29 Why? Not that you've denied the truth. He said, no, you have tried those that say they are apostles and you have found them liars. They did not tolerate heresy.

59:40 They were evil men, practicing things inconsistent with the name of Christ. And they exercised discipline. But he says, I have this against thee. Thou hast left thy first love.

59:53 They had allowed the pressures of a godless society. The iniquity that abounded there at Ephesus at that seat of the heathen worship of Diana, God of the Ephesians. They had allowed it. In the burning, shining ardor of affection for Christ.

60:13 And I plead with you, dear people of God, be aware of the peculiar danger of living in this wicked generation. The cooling of your affection to Christ. Secondly, the pressure to be ashamed of Christ. Mark 8, 38, Jesus said, Whosoever shall be ashamed of me in this wicked and adulterous generation of him shall the son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory.

60:38 You see, when at every point there is this intensification of wickedness, in the schoolroom you're mocked out. If you dare to confess you believe this world came into being by the spoken word of Almighty God. This world did not start with some uncaused spark or billions or millions of years ago. This world came into being when the eternal God spoke.

61:10 Galaxies sprang from his lips in an instant. He spoke and it was so. You say that in your science class. You say that to your prof in college.

61:24 And you'll bear the reproach of Christ. But he said, whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him shall the son of man be ashamed. Be ashamed of the one who by his word says that virginity until marriage is noble and pleasing to God and dare to say, young woman, to any man that tries to make a playground of your body. This body belongs to Jesus Christ.

61:55 The sanctity of my sexuality is being kept for the man that God has marked out for me. Keep your hands off, bucko. And you young men who don't set a double standard and you say as virginity is God's standard for women it's God's standard for men as well. Anything else is fornication or adultery.

62:20 And in this wicked generation for you to dare to face men in their mid and early twenties and the question is asked have you had a woman? And you say, no, I'm a virgin. And to be mocked at. Are you queer?

62:35 Look him straight in the eye and say no, I have all of my God-given sexual drives and appetites but I'm pleading for grace to keep them walled in and chained until God gives me the legitimate outlet. The legitimate outlet in a godly wife. Don't be ashamed of Christ and of his word. The peculiar temptation in a wicked generation.

63:02 The pressure to be ashamed of Christ. You women. Someone says, well what's your job? Don't you ever say in my presence, just a housewife.

63:12 You'll get a little five minute sermon it won't cost you a nickel. Just a housewife? Just a housewife? Just a molder of a life?

63:23 Just a shaper of a destiny? Just the preparer of someone to take his or her station in life? A support to my husband? A crown of glory to my husband?

63:35 You'll get me on a soapbox whenever my wife fills out forms and it says occupation. Then it says down there, housewife. I say, how do you fill out occupation? I work in my home.

63:48 I work. People say, does your wife work? I say, yes, she didn't, she wouldn't eat. The Bible says, if any will not work, male or female, let him not eat.

63:59 Oh, well what I mean is, does she work outside the home? I say, well then fine. Word your question precisely. My wife works in the home.

64:09 And she does a good bit of work outside the home. But it's works of mercy and compassion and giving of herself to others and to her grandchildren and to her daughter-in-law and to the others who need her. Are you ashamed of his words? Are you being bullied at all?

64:30 Or do you, in the right sense, with dignity say, I unashamedly take the place assigned by my God? You young women, don't let anybody bully you into holding your head down. Ashamed that you're not pursuing a career? My two daughters, the only girls that ever got a full scholarship to a prestigious secretarial school in our area.

64:55 And both of them, when they went in the first day, in the class of some 300, 350 a year apart, they went in. And they asked the question, what are your future goals? In both classes, my girls were the only one that raised their hand and said, my goals are to be a wife and a mother. They looked at them like they were, but then they looked at their transcript and they saw they had the highest scholarship available and the only time in the 75 year history of that school they ever gave it to members of the same family.

65:27 And that honor me will I honor whosoever should be ashamed. That's a peculiar danger of an intensely wicked generation. The cooling of our affection, the pressure to be ashamed of Christ, then the erosion of our sensitivity. Remember Locke?

65:49 We don't have time to look at it in detail, but you meditate on 2 Peter chapter 2 and it says that his righteous soul back from day to day with the filthy conversation of the wicked and it's evident it took the edge off his sensitivity and the subsequent history of Locke is a shameful one in many ways. And this can happen to you and it can happen to me. To you, dear people of God, be aware of the peculiar dangers of living in a wicked generation. But then I want to close on this positive note.

66:23 Be alert to the peculiar privileges of living in a wicked generation. You say there are privileges? Yes. The privilege of demonstrating the truth in Romans 5.20b.

66:37 Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. The darker the backdrop, the more brilliant does the diamond of God's grace shine. And in a wicked generation like ours, what a privilege to live and to be a living monument in your life, in your home, in your place of business, that where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. When I was going back over those passages in Genesis, it struck me.

67:11 If we read that the generation before the flood was a relatively godly generation or a generation that had much common grace, these words would not mean anywhere near as much. Genesis 7 and verse 9. These are the generations of Noah. What were the generations of Noah?

67:34 The wicked generations. So wicked that God says, I'm sorry I ever made man. I'm going to flop them out. But here against that dark backdrop, listen to what it says.

67:45 Noah was a righteous man and blameless, perfect, upright in his generations. Noah walked with God. There isn't enough sin in the universe to keep any man or woman from walking with God who is determined, is determined to walk with God at any cost. What a privilege to live in a generation when God's grace can be magnified all the more against the backdrop of abounding sin.

68:20 The privilege of demonstrating where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. And the privilege of being salt and light when it's needed most. When Jesus said in Matthew 5, 13, You are the salt of the earth, the primary connotation of that is you are the means of preserving the earth from putrefaction. There in the eastern countries with no GE or Sears refrigerators, salt was used as a preservative.

68:49 And the salt is never more needed than when the heat is most intense and would multiply the bacteria. We live in a heated, moral, religious, ethical, intellectual climate. Heated with a feverish brain of man's own departure from God. And God says, you're salt.

69:11 You are my means of checking the putrefaction of your neighborhood. You be the one family where there's love and communication and godly order with loving leadership in the husband. With noble, trustful submission in the wife. Where children are ordered and structured and disciplined and trained and loved.

69:34 You be salt in the midst of that putrefaction. What a privilege to be salt! Where and when it's most needed. And then he said in verse 14, Ye are the light of the world.

69:47 Your headlights don't shine very brightly at dusk. But you get a dark night in which the moon is not shining and the stars are covered with clouds. And I tell you those headlights are brilliant lights. And so the darker the moral and religious night in which we live, the brighter does the light of the individual Christian shine.

70:09 What a privilege to be light in such a dark world. I counted a privilege when in a day when common grace is so eroded that just ordinary courtesy is looked upon now as almost something freakish. I love to watch the look on someone's face when just yesterday flying in you do a little act of kindness for someone. When the bin is open and the guy can't reach his bag, you take it out with a smile and hand it to him.

70:40 And you don't have your hand out for a tip. When you see a woman that has a wedding band on and she looks to be in her early 70s and she's flying alone and you say, Lord, I imagine that's a widow. She's going to visit her children. Maybe she's going to visit some relatives.

70:59 And sure enough, as I drew her out and she got over the initial fear of a man talking to her, she was a widow. Lost her husband just a year ago. And before long, she was opening up her heart telling me how hard it is to live with your lifetime companion, God. In a day when people are out to exploit, what a privilege to be liked.

71:23 To show interest in the needs and the concerns of others. Dear people, we shouldn't go around moaning and groaning about how bad it is. We should thank God that he's brought us to the kingdom for such a time as this. Yes, we will watch and pray in the light of the peculiar dangers of living in a wicked age.

Conclusion: Anticipating the Christian's Role

71:47 But then we will also with joy thank God for the privilege of being the backdrop in which God will magnify his grace and to be light and salt when and where it's most needed. Well, I hope I've convinced you from the scriptures this is the wicked generation and God's brought us to it. Now the question is, what is the Christian's role in a wicked generation? And God willing, tomorrow night we'll look at the question.

72:17 First of all, what is a real Christian? We're talking about the Christian's role. Not a mere nominal professing Christian, but a real Christian. What is his role?

72:26 And I trust you will come expecting and praying and that God will meet our waiting hearts. Let us pray together. Our Father, we thank you for your holy word. We thank you for your people in this place.

72:46 And for their serious attention to that word tonight. We pray that the Holy Spirit will take his own word and write it upon all of our hearts. We pray for those among us who are part of this wicked generation who have not been delivered from it by the power of the gospel, even though some may have heard the gospel times without number. In mercy, O Lord, deal with them even this night.

73:16 And for your dear people, we pray that you would grant us renewed watchfulness, lest we be carried away by the pressure of wickedness. And then give us a renewed sense of privilege that we may, by your grace, rise to the occasion of our privileges in Christ. And as never before, be the instruments of your grace to demonstrate to a needy world that there is indeed a true and full and real salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ. Seal your word to our hearts.

73:57 Take each one safely to his home. Grant us all a good night of rest and your blessing upon us in the day to come. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.