Is There Hope?

Today our society openly condones and defends the worst kinds of evil. Civilization as we know it has reached the deepest level of corruption. People's consciences have been seared, obstructed, repressed, and overturned. Without a functioning conscience, people destined only to sink deeper and deeper into wickedness. Humanity is merely storing up wrath against the day of wrath (Rom. 2:5).

Is there hope?

For those willing to repent and follow Christ, there is. They can "be saved from this perverse generation" (Acts 2:40). Their consciences can be renewed and cleansed (Heb. 9:14). They can become new creatures (2 Cor. 5:17).

Can society itself be saved?

Certainly not without full-scale revival. Unless multitudes turn to Christ, the downward spiral is certain to continue. With so many dampened consciences and hardened hearts, it would take a revival of unprecedented proportions to reverse the downward direction of our culture. The problems are spiritual and cannot be solved through politics or education. Christians who believe political activism can reverse the trends in our society don't understand the nature of the problem. True believers must realize that the state of our society is the result of the righteous judgement of God. God has not commissioned His people to reconstruct society. We are not called to expend our energies for moral reform. We are salt- a preservative for a decaying generation (Matt. 5:13). And we are lights designed to shine in a way that enables people who see our good works to glorify our heavenly Father (Matt. 5:14-16). In other words, our primary task is to preach the truth of God's Word, live in obedience to that truth, and to keep ourselves unstained by the world (Jas. 1:27). Our influence on society must be the fruit of that kind of living, not the product of fleshly energy or political clout.

What we can do, and must do, is keep our own consciences pure. We must saturate our minds and hearts with the truth of Scripture, and refuse to yield to the spirit of our age. To do that we must understand our own sinfulness and know how to deal with our sins.

Stickin' to the Word

Romans3

So what’s Paul saying here when he talks about the obedience that we might say that leads to faith? When you and I share Christ with people and I know that you do and when we share Christ with children and I know that you do we use ways to explain it. One of the worst ways we tell children is you need to ask Jesus into your heart. Please don’t ever do that, it’s not in the Bible and if there are concrete child of ages 3 to about 6 Jesus just shrunk down, came in, opened the door and sat in their heart, you know. That’s how they think, don’t give them those examples. Don’t say ask Jesus, don’t say give your life to Jesus, the Bible never says ask Jesus into your heart. The Bible never says to give your life to Christ, never says that. It says to believe, it says to trust, it says to put your faith in.

Now the reason we say ask Jesus into your heart is we’re not satisfied with trust, believe and faith. We’ve got to add on a little bit, we can’t, well let me explain it to you son, that means to ask Jesus into your heart. Oh, okay, I’ll ask Jesus into my heart, I understand why we do it, but let’s trust the Scripture. Let’s rest on God’s Word that’s sufficient to do the work it came to accomplish, okay? You’re better off, believe me. A child can understand belief, they can probably better than you and me. They can understand faith better than you and me. Put your trust in, to believe in someone, God made a promise, I’m believing Him, not asking him to crawl inside my chest cavity. Be clear about it.