Latest / HBCWestminster / 1.17.21 Luke 11:29-36 Pastor Danny Gardner

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1.17.21 Luke 11:29-36 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Well, if you have your Bibles, you can open to Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11, our text this morning will be verses 29 to 36. Verses 29 to 36, and allow me to read God's word. I'll read our text this morning, and then we'll pray and begin in verse 29. When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, this generation is an evil generation that seeks for a sign.
• 0:26
  But no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. The Queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them. For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it. For they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
• 0:55
  No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful, lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light. Allow me to pray. Lord,
• 1:23
  You are the God of victory, and therefore we are a people of courage. You are the banner over us, Lord, and so we know that we will always be protected. Lord, you are the great healer, and so that we know we will always be cared for. Lord, you are the great teacher, and so we know that your word will never return void. Be glorified, we ask, in the preaching of your scriptures. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
• 1:53
  Amen. Thank you, church. I was asked recently why I preach a verse at a time. Actually, it was asked this way. A man from our church who had not been in a while because of the pandemic came just a couple of weeks ago and he said, we're still in the gospel of Luke. And he hadn't been here in nine or 10 months. He was surprised to find out we're still there. We're still in the gospel of Luke. I said, yeah. And he said, for how much longer? I said, I don't know.
• 2:22
  In reality, church, I do know. I'm not just winging this. I do know my goal is to finish the gospel of Luke, the crucifixion, resurrection, ascension of Christ right around Easter next year, 2022, another 15 or so months, 14, 15 months in the gospel of Luke together. And that is not to say that we won't take breaks. We normally do take breaks. And especially over the summer, my plan is to do.
• 2:44
  preaching series over the summer I'm thinking actually of doing kind of selected chapters in Genesis and especially the beginning of Genesis maybe Genesis 1 to 3 Genesis 1 to 11 somewhere in there calling it origins and doing seven eight nine weeks over the summer talking about where we all came from how did we get from there to here where did sin came from where did Satan come from I mean where did all of these things come from that we experience now and so I'm thinking about that a series called origins in the summer just so you know there we go
• 3:13
  and then finishing the gospel story right around Easter next year.
• 3:19
  But it did cause me to question, why is it so important to preach systematically? His remarks, although they were very well-meaning, they were funny and well-meaning, were a good question. Why are we still in the Gospel of Luke? Why do we go so slowly through these? Why a systematic approach to the preaching of God's Word? I preach what is called expositionally, which means my job is to expose us to Scripture, and also exegetically, which means that I am trying to draw principles from the text.
• 3:49
  rather than put principles on the text, okay? And so that's what we're doing. We are trying to conform our lives to the text and not conform the text to our lives. And so why the importance of expositional, exegetical, but especially sequential preaching? Why is it important to go a book at a time, a verse at a time? Is it dangerous even to preach solely topically?
• 4:16
  The reason it's so important to preach systematically and even a verse at a time is because I church am committed To preaching the whole counsel of God the whole thing and to be honest with you There are some things that scripture brings up which I would never choose to preach if every week I sat down and said well What do I want to preach on this week or what do I feel like our people need to hear? Here's a good example of that
• 4:39
  A number of years ago, five years, six years ago, some of you may recall, our church was preaching through, a verse at a time, 1 Corinthians. And I had been assigned to preach 1 Corinthians 7.
• 4:52
  Now, we were new to town. We were new to our neighborhood. We were just introducing ourselves to our neighbors, just getting to know them. They found out that I am the pastor of a church here in town, and so some of them were interested in maybe visiting. We were inviting one particular family, a family who has now become friends of ours, to church. Why don't you come and check it out? Why don't you come and check it out? For months, we've been asking them, why don't you come and check it out? Well, after months of having asked them, they decided they were going to show up, and they showed up on the Sunday that I was preaching 1 Corinthians 7.
• 5:20
  And the interesting thing about that chapter, and if you've read that chapter, maybe you're kind of smirking to yourself because 1 Corinthians 7, and especially the beginning of that chapter, begins with the conjugal rights of husbands and wives.
• 5:32
  the conjugal rights, and how we're not supposed to deny one another physically. That's the passage that I was preaching on that morning, and I could see them. They came in, they sat right there in the front. Open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 7. I just thought, oh, Lord, of all the Sundays they could have visited, it's this one? You know, and I read the passage, and their eyes got all big, like, what in the world? This is what you're preaching on? We came for the first time, this is what we're preaching on? And I thought, Lord, why? Why would they come? Why am I assigned today this passage?
• 6:01
  You know, certainly, Lord, there would have been a better passage for them to hear. But you know what's interesting about that church? Of all the sermons I've preached at Highland, I don't know that I've ever heard, I don't know that I've ever had as much feedback, both positive and negative, and as many opportunities for counseling as I did as a result of preaching that sermon. Three or four, probably couples, came to me afterward and they said, oh, we're struggling with that.
• 6:33
  Actually, we need to get together and talk. Tremendous fruit came from that. Tremendous healing and reconciliation came from that as a result of that sermon. And guess what? If I preached topically, if that's all I ever did, preach topically, I would never have chosen to preach that passage. Never. When would I ever choose the conjugal rights of husbands and wives? That never comes up if you preach topically. And so we are committed.
• 7:00
  to preaching the whole counsel of god and i think the best way to do that is to just preach a verse or a passage at a time and just systematically work our way through and so yes we are still in the gospel of luke we will probably be in the gospel of luke with some pauses for some topical sermons because those are important but for some pauses for the next 14 15 months i hope that you're excited to join us in that study well let's get to our passage luke chapter 11 and you may recall
• 7:30
  Marlow's description of the Congo River in Joseph Conrad's novella called The Heart of Darkness. When he called the Congo River a great snake, uncoiled with its head in the sea, its body at rest, curving over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depths of the land. He described the Congo River as this massive snake, its head beginning in the sea and its tail ending, disappearing into the land across the continent.
• 7:59
  of africa and certainly his description paid justice to the river's size but it did not well describe its turbulence the congo river is one of the largest most violent rivers in the world it offers drainage to an area the size of europe now let me help to put that in perspective imagine the downspouts of your house which offer drainage
• 8:24
  To your roof when it rains the water comes down your roof into your gutters and out of those Downspouts or when it snows and the snow begins to mount up to melt to thaw you have this Torrent right coming out of the bottom of your downspouts. It is draining off of your roof now Imagine a rooftop the size of Europe
• 8:46
  all with its downspout being the Congo River. That's the Congo River. It is the downspout to a rooftop the size of Europe in Central Africa. The Congo River's current, in fact, is so strong that it has, over the course of centuries, created deep ruts in its own riverbed. And so you can imagine that current creating these...
• 9:11
  Ruts as it runs over its riverbed that begins to wave on the bottom the riverbed itself and it creates holes ruts in its own Riverbed and some of these ruts are so deep there They're actually hundreds of feet deep and over the course of time fish from the Congo River have gotten trapped down in these ruts down in these holes
• 9:34
  It turns out that some of the fish that have gotten trapped down there have actually survived for many generations in the bottoms of those holes and until recently biologists and zoologists have not had the equipment or technology to observe those fish populations because of the current of the Congo River it's so violent but recently Some brand new species have been discovered deep down in those holes the fish
• 10:03
  For fear of being killed and swept away by that current have instead of attempting to leave Just chosen to live and procreate in what is now they've determined their new home They don't ever leave the hole because of the violence of the current running over the top and so they just stay in the safety of those holes many of these fish have simply just
• 10:25
  shrugged their shoulders and determined that this is just how things are. This is their new reality. There's nothing they can do about it, so they might as well accept it. And some, for fear of being killed, have stayed isolated down in those holes for so long that they have actually created entirely new species found only...
• 10:44
  in the lower Congo River, nowhere else on earth but in these holes. They have become inbred and ingrown. And some of you have probably already begun formulating your defense. I know, Pastor Daniel, we're not supposed to stay online forever. But church, please don't misunderstand. That's not the kind of isolation I'm talking about. That's not what I'm talking about. I know that there will be a day where we eventually can all regather and worship together in person. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the head in the sand.
• 11:13
  pretend like it's not happening, isolation of genuine Christians living in what is now no doubt a post-Christian America. You know what I never hear people say anymore? I used to hear it all the time. When I was a kid, I certainly heard this phrase all the time. I never hear people say anymore that we are a Christian nation.
• 11:38
  I never hear that phrase anymore. I'm sure that there are still people that use it. I'm sure you can find it somewhere, but I just never hear it prolifically used the way it used to be, that America is a Christian nation. I never hear it. Is it possible, church, for an entire generation to turn their backs on God? Is that possible? Is it possible for their leaders to deny their creator? I think the answer is yes.
• 12:09
  And I think we could actually say that's what's happening in our country. We have always known that the evil that resides in the hearts of man, it's not to say that people are more evil now. There's no more evil. We're all completely depraved, completely debauched. But the discernible shared values of our society have always held that wickedness seemingly at bay until now. Listen to what John MacArthur, pastor, says.
• 12:43
  He says, what we're seeing in America is depravity bursting through some of the protective fences that we've tried to build around it. You hear what he's saying? We have created this fence of morality, and what we're seeing is depravity finally breaking through those.
• 12:59
  fences. And he says, we've tried to deal with morality on a cultural basis or on a law basis. We've tried to maintain a Judeo-Christian moral standard in America. And we've been able to do that through the centuries. But as it says in the 14th chapter of Acts, God has allowed all the nations to go their way. And so he says in the 14th chapter of Acts, God finally says, if you are determined, if your nation is hell bent,
• 13:25
  then eventually God will allow you to go your way. If that's what you want, if you want to throw off God, your creator, if you want to do that, if you want to deny him, if you want nothing to do with him, eventually God will say, okay, have it your way. We tried it my way. You don't want my way. Okay, have it your way. And eventually, John MacArthur says, you can't contain the depravity. And church, during our own lifetimes,
• 13:51
  I think we have seen the current of our culture become swift and even violent. It seems as though it was only yesterday that the greatest problems in our society were latchkey kids. Do you guys remember those commercials? Latchkey kids, kids that had no parents at home when they were coming home from school. Childhood obesity. Another one, when we were kids, right? When I was a kid, just say no to drugs. And by that, Mrs. Reagan primarily meant marijuana, which is now legalized.
• 14:21
  And those are real problems. I don't mean to diminish those problems. Those problems are dwarfed, I think, in comparison with what our current issues are now. And church, this is the difficult thing. Christians, we, you and I, the church, have been called to swim against that current.
• 14:44
  But I think many, out of fear of being killed or swept away, like those fish in the Congo, stay in their holes in order to stay safe. And like those fish in the Congo, have become ingrown. They've forgotten what we're actually doing here. In Luke chapter 11, Jesus is only months from crucifixion. We've said that before. We find that the nation of Israel had rejected him as their Messiah, led by their religious and political leaders. They had turned aside from his divine claims.
• 15:12
  Many had even resolved, and we're going to see in the coming weeks, many had even resolved to kill Jesus at the first opportunity. And this morning, we study Jesus openly castigating that generation's unbelief. This generation, he says, is an evil generation. As you'll recall, chapter 11 began with Christ teaching his disciples, and by extension us, how to pray. Immediately following, he cast out a demon, and some marveled, while others either vilified him or sought further proof.
• 15:41
  Last Sunday, Christ issued a warning about trusting in false gospels for salvation, and especially, we said, the social gospel, which says you can cleanse yourself by jumping on social, moral, or political bandwagons. This morning, Jesus characterizes the generation in which he lived as evil for disbelieving his claims and works. But when he called out...
• 16:05
  those righteous. But then after that, after he calls that generation evil, he then calls out the righteous living among them for hiding their light. And church, what a beautiful juxtaposition we see here.
• 16:18
  in this passage we see the darkness an evil a wicked generation in verses 29 to 32 and then we see jesus saying don't hide your light in verses 33 to 36 it is astounding to me how many commentaries actually separate these two don't actually include them as being side by side it's funny to me that the esv even does that with a break in between verses 32 and 33 but you'll notice here that there is no
• 16:48
  break jesus spoke preached from one into the next i believe these two were meant to be put together and so let's look at each of these the darkness of a generation the light of the church you will notice first what was true then and what is true now what was true then and what is true now let's look at what was true then beginning in verse 29 it says when the crowds were increasing now
• 17:15
  And Jesus preached like no one had ever preached. He said things no one else had ever said before. The people marveled at him. Some believed, most did not. But whether they believed...
• 17:28
  or did not believe the crowds grew because of the power and the uniqueness of christ's ministry and so you can imagine these crowds increasing more and more and more there there is a fervor around jesus and his ministry okay so massive crowds and still growing and verse 29 says when the crowds were increasing he began to say
• 17:50
  He began to say, notice it does not say past tense, he said, one time event. He said, this is an evil generation. Rather it says, he began to say, which means it was ongoing. This was not a one time statement. This became a theme in his teaching. It was used more than once. It was a repeated statement. And the statement is this, this generation is an evil generation. Now Jesus here was referring.
• 18:19
  to the dominant group of people in his time, not a minority here. He was not saying that there's not anybody who is righteous. Of course, there were righteous people, but he's saying the prolific attitude, the popular attitude is one of denial, is one of rebellion, evil. The predominant heart, thought and will of the people in that region was a rejection of Christ.
• 18:48
  They had openly denied him. They had publicly flaunted their wickedness. And like the people of Asaph's time, who he says wore pride as their necklace in Psalm 73, they wear pride as their necklace. What they want people to know about themselves is how arrogant they are. Like we wear a necklace with a cross on it. It's the most important thing about me, right? Closest to my heart. I wear it around my neck, closest to my heart.
• 19:16
  They wore pride. They wore arrogance as their necklace. And so also these people had bought into the claim that Jesus was either inadequate or that he used the power of the devil himself, like we talked about a couple of Sundays ago. Now, why would Jesus speak this? Why would he characterize them as evil? We find in the next sentence, this generation is an evil generation because it seeks for a sign.
• 19:46
  It seeks for a sign. And this is why it was so difficult for Jesus to minister to them, right? They would never believe. They would never get to the point where they would commit. They had heard the truth. They had already received, in fact, miraculous.
• 20:01
  proof through signs and wonders. In fact, if you go and read the Gospel of John, one sign, miraculous sign after miraculous sign after miraculous sign, over and over and over and over, Jesus had done these things, casting out demons, healing people who were sick, restoring people who were sick, restoring people who had missing limbs and body parts. I mean, fixing people, giving sight to the blind, feeding thousands and tens of thousands. They had seen miraculous proof through signs.
• 20:29
  and wonders and yet they refused to believe and so he continues it seeks for a sign but he says no sign will be given to it except the sign of jonah for as jonah became a sign to the people of nineveh so will the son of man be to this generation
• 20:48
  We'll come back to that the queen of the south will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon behold something greater than Solomon is here So he says there was a woman living in a queen living in Africa the queen of the south also known as sometimes called the queen of Sheba now it's unfortunate that the only namesake that she has for being the queen of the south is now a
• 21:13
  cat food brand named after her, but nevertheless, this woman traveled a thousand miles because she was spiritually curious. She wanted to know about the wisdom of Solomon. Who was this God that the wisest man on earth revered and served? And he says, now one greater than Solomon is here standing right in front of you. You don't even have to travel a thousand miles, and yet you reject me?
• 21:35
  Then he says in verse 32, the men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it. For they repented at the preaching of Jonah. Behold, something greater than Jonah is here. Jonah, you'll recall, was the reluctant and begrudging prophet of God. He didn't even want to go. In fact, Jonah was the one in the Old Testament who was famously swallowed.
• 22:01
  by a fish in his effort to escape the calling of god on his life this was not a faithful prophet this was a guy who had he wanted nothing to do with the lord nothing to do with the lord's work nothing to do with the lord's message he sought to flee the call of god and so god tossed him in the sea and swallowed him with a giant fish and after spending three days in the belly of that fish you know the story
• 22:28
  Jonah was vomited by the fish onto the land to which the Lord had originally called him. And this prophet, begrudgingly dragging his feet, spoke the truth of God's grace to the Ninevites, and they repented and were forgiven. At the end of it all, if you read Jonah chapter 4, he's actually disappointed.
• 22:49
  disappointed that they repented. That's how bad a prophet Jonah was. He was disappointed. He was hoping to see fireworks, fire come down from heaven and consume them. But God says, no, no, they repented and they're forgiven. To what sign then was Jesus referring? No sign will be given but the sign of Jonah. Jesus was speaking of his own crucifixion and burial.
• 23:14
  He knew the time was coming when he would be handed over to the Gentiles and be crucified. In fact, he had actually spoken and prophesied about that in detail multiple times. He knew he would be buried in the belly of the earth. And he knew that like Jonah, he would be vomited back out. He's speaking here of his own death, burial, and resurrection. And he just says, the queen of the south walked a thousand miles. The Ninevites...
• 23:44
  had a reluctant, begrudging prophet who wanted them to die in their unbelief. And you have the son of God himself offering himself willingly standing in front of you. No more signs will be given except for the sign of Jonah. And that is, I also will be buried in the belly of the earth. And after three days, I will rise again. Well, that was what was true then. How does that reflect now?
• 24:15
  Now, church, could this statement, this generational statement be used of us? Have we, at least in our region, maybe not globally, because the gospel is still spreading in countries and continents that we know nothing about, but at least regionally, maybe even nationally, have we openly rejected Christ? And do we publicly flaunt our wickedness, ours?
• 24:46
  Church, ours is a, I believe, filthy and perverse generation. We do parade our wickedness. Honestly, I'm glad. I'm glad we've finally stopped. At least most people have finally stopped calling ourselves a Christian nation because the truth of it is, church, we aren't. We aren't. There are very few, I think, who know the Lord genuinely, who seek to do his will. Certainly those in power.
• 25:15
  I don't know that there are very many. I keep hearing about speeches given where I'm like, oh man, that sounded good. That Congresswoman, right? That Senator. Okay, we've got some believers there, but in general, it seems like we continually shake our fists at God. We don't serve him. We shake our fists at him. And when we hold...
• 25:39
  that personal convenience is to be prioritized over the life of an unborn child, which is being flaunted, celebrated in our nation, when we hold that certain races are to be favored over others, or that there is no such thing as gender, or that gender can be changed based on our feelings? Are we not, in that moment, the clay rebuking the potter and asking, why did you make me this way?
• 26:09
  I think we all feel this tension between Christ and the world. That certainly seems to be the tension I feel right now. Christ and the world, Christ and our nation are at odds. But what do we do about it? And this is why the next three verses, four verses are so important. You can't leave off 33 to 36. They go so well. What do we do about it? We see in verses 33 to 36, Christ's expectation on the righteous.
• 26:39
  who live amongst an evil generation. What are we supposed to do? What is the church supposed to do if this is an evil generation, if that's what's happening? If we live among a people who have turned their backs on God, in a nation who has turned their backs on God, what do we do? We who know Christ, what do we do? Look what he says in verse 33. No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it in a cellar or under a...
• 27:10
  basket but on a stand so that those who enter may see the light. Church, light and darkness are a major theme of Old and New Testament and especially in the Gospels. There are few, in fact, physical principles which so well illustrate spiritual realities.
• 27:35
  as light and dark as the light switch on and off there are very few physical tangible things we have which illustrate spiritual things as well as light and dark when the lights are on we feel the freedom to move about we even feel the confidence to run when the lights are on because we can see the dangers and the obstacles in our way and then the things to avoid we can avoid those dangers we can see those things which intend to do us harm
• 28:03
  We can even defend ourselves against them if the lights are on. The lights being on shows the dirt, the grime that has accumulated in the corners of our lives. And we can begin with the lights on to work at cleaning and disinfecting those areas in our lives. Illumination even becomes synonymous with understanding and knowledge. Walk as children of light.
• 28:28
  We know some things, right, about creation and about eternity, and so we can walk around in that illumination, in that understanding. It becomes light, becomes synonymous even with being found. Things were once dark before Christ, but now I have been found. I was lost before, but when the lights are off, there's confusion, there's disillusion, there's fear.
• 28:58
  When the lights are off, no one wants to move because no one can see trouble coming. And in the darkness is pain and suffering. And so Christ's expectation here is simple. You want to know what to do? You want to know what you should do? Do you want to know what the church should do? Jesus says, don't hide your light. You are the light of the world. And it is completely counterintuitive to light a lamp and then hide it.
• 29:28
  You don't light a lamp and then stick it under the bed. You put it on a stand, right? So that all those who enter may see the light. Jesus said a city on a hill cannot be hidden. Why does it seem like so many Christians are hiding? I know that they're out there. I know that they're out there. We're not the only ones. Why does it seem like so many Christians are hiding? And why does it seem like so many Christians are silent? And the only conclusion that I can draw is this.
• 29:59
  That we're becoming the fish who have found some security down in our holes. And we're afraid, we're scared to swim against that strong current passing over us for fear of being hurt or killed. Notice that Jesus talks about the danger in acting that way. The danger in just keeping our heads down. Verse 34 says, your eye is the lamp of your body.
• 30:28
  When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light. But when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore, be careful, lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no dark part, it will be wholly bright as when a lamp with its rays gives you light. It's like Jesus is saying, let's just say for argument's sake that you, the church, who are the light of the world, let's say that you become dark.
• 31:00
  How dark will the world be then? What hope will the world have if the only light on earth is the presence of Christ, the spirit of Christ dwelling in the hearts, minds, lives of every believer on earth? If we genuinely are the light of the world, the way that Jesus says, then what will happen if that light becomes darkness? What would happen, he says, if the light of the church just went out? Imagine what would happen then.
• 31:30
  What would happen if the church just stopped pushing, stopped preaching, stopped shining, stopped swimming against the current? And his answer is very simple. There'd be no hope. There'd be no hope. Okay. So now what do we do with this sermon? I gave some applications last week about...
• 31:51
  clearly defining, articulating the gospel around your dinner table this week, choosing some family verses to memorize over the course of the year, making sure that your kids, your grandkids, those in your household have a clear understanding of the saving gospel versus the social gospel. That was last week. What do we do with this one? First, I've got some recommendations. First, trust the timing and location of your birth.
• 32:15
  You say, what? That's the weirdest application I've ever heard. What are you talking about? Trust the timing and trust the location of your birth. Church, I believe that you and I were born when and where we are on purpose. In fact, Acts 17 even says so, that God clearly chooses, he determines our time of birth and our dwelling place, the lines of our...
• 32:41
  dwelling place. I hear people say, I have heard people say, that this is a very exciting time to be alive. In fact, I heard one pastor say it on a podcast just a few weeks ago. What an exciting time to be alive. But in my heart, I think, why can't I have just lived during a very dull time? You know, excitement, it's overrated. If this is exciting, I just want dull. Why can't I have just lived when it was easy?
• 33:12
  Why do I have to go through all of this? Excitement surely is overrated. Why in the world would people call this divided and angry and turbulent time exciting? I just have trouble getting my head around that. You know, I can recall pastors when I was a kid growing up lamenting the difficulty in evangelism. I can recall pastors saying this, how hard it was to share their faith with people who already thought that they were Christians.
• 33:42
  Everybody in America thinks that they're a Christian. And how hard it is to give them the understanding of, no, you're in sin and you're not just a Christian because of what you do, you're a Christian because of who you know. And, you know, because people, so many people in America were paying lip service to Christianity, they actually said it was difficult to share their faith. But church, no more. No more.
• 34:04
  We are finding less and less and less of that. Go talk to your neighbors. Less and less people claim the name of Christ, and that could be a good thing. It could be a good thing. Listen to what Steve Lawson says. Cultural Christianity is dying. It's dying. Either you are a Christian or you're not. Nobody's faking it anymore, is what he says. We know the heart of darkness is not the Congo. The heart of darkness resides within every man.
• 34:36
  The moral restraints in our country are being systematically removed and church that is painful Certainly, it's painful to watch it's hurtful because we know what that means. We know that there's some disintegrating coming But it will also become more and more obvious who are and who are not the people of God What an exciting time to be alive That's first trust when and where you were born second
• 35:04
  Don't be afraid, church, to swim against the current. Consider that our generation will one day also be judged. That generation was judged. Our generation will also be judged. What will be said of us? What will be said of the 2020-2021 church in 10 years, 20 years, and if the Lord tarries 50 years from now, as people look back at 2020, what will they say about the church?
• 35:35
  that we buried our heads in the sand, that we remained silent during the systematic extermination and indoctrination of our children, that we rolled over when the world was at its darkest spiritual point in decades, that we'd become so comfortable and content that we fell asleep in the light. Church, don't be afraid to swim against the current. You're the light. You're the city on a hill. Finally, third.
• 36:06
  How do we apply this sermon? What do we do with it? Refrain from lamenting over your children and grandchildren. What do I mean by that? You know, it would be easy to get down, and I've even caught myself in my own heart thinking this way, what kind of world...
• 36:24
  Will my sons inherit and their kids inherit? What am I now passing down? I almost feel apologetic over it, like I'm so sorry for the world, for the America that you are going to inherit. But church, we need to refrain from lamenting over our kids and our grandkids as we consider what our generation has lost, our generation, or is maybe possibly about to lose. But honestly, church, what have we actually lost?
• 36:54
  As I think about it, you know what we've actually lost? The only thing we've actually lost is comfort. Comfort, that's what we've lost. It's not comfortable to be us anymore. And I think it's becoming less and less and less comfortable. And if we end up going to jail someday, what have we actually lost? For eternity, nothing. All we've lost is comfort. And loss of comfort, according to Jesus, is a good thing.
• 37:20
  Matthew chapter five and verse 10, blessed, happy, he says, are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. I came across this statement not long ago from Richard Wurmbrand, voice of the martyrs. He said this, 95% of Christians, 95% of Christians pass the persecution test. 95% of Christians pass the persecution test. And then he said, but.
• 37:51
  95% of Christians fail the prosperity test. Did you catch that, church? Just think about what he's saying in that. If persecution comes on the church in the United States, he says, vast majority of them will pass. But if prosperity, on the other hand, comes on the American church, 95% of Christians will fail. Church, we need not fear what our children and grandchildren will endure. The lack of comfort.
• 38:24
  the possible open persecution, because honestly, church, if they are in Christ, they will pass the test. And Lord, I pray a blessing over the preaching and hearing of your word. God, we thank you for its truth. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.