Scott introduces a session focused on biblical truth and confidence amid the chaos and uncertainty of the world. The discussion explores the idea that what is happening in society—marked by moral confusion and social upheaval—is not random but aligns with biblical descriptions of divine judgment found in Romans 1. Drawing from both scripture and referenced teaching, the episode outlines the progressive signs of judgment, including a sexual revolution, abandonment to unnatural desires, and a reprobate mind, all rooted in a society’s rejection of God.

Listeners are reminded that while the world may seem increasingly distorted and perverse, believers are called to remain as lights in the midst of darkness. The conversation highlights the biblical difference between those who are children of God and those described as children of the devil, and stresses that righteousness, faithfulness, and hope in God's providence must distinguish believers’ lives. Practical encouragement is offered for trusting God’s plan, staying engaged with society rather than withdrawing from it, and remembering that God preserves His own even through difficult times.

Download the Insight Sheet Here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u4-WFojU8Yad0t3P9HRlPn49RBi2CwYN/view?usp=sharing

Key Topics Discussed:

• Biblical signs of divine judgment in history and today
• The meaning and nature of God’s wrath
• Romans 1 and societal progression into moral confusion
• The identity of believers as children of God versus the world
• The call to live as lights in a perverse generation
• How to remain steadfast and obedient in times of judgment
• Assurance of God’s care and faithfulness for believers
• Practical guidance for Christian engagement in culture
• Encouragement to trust providence rather than fear societal collapse

Hi, if you're looking for greater hope, assurance, and confidence through the shifting sands of life, then join me on today's episode as we dig deep into the Bible to discover rock-solid truth for life and living from the God of the Bible. I'm your host, Scott Keffer. Hi, and welcome to today's episode. As always, for a deeper experience, you can go to the show notes and download the blank insight sheet Fill in the blanks along with the group. Depending on how you're listening to this, there will be a link to the episode website at beholdingbibeltruth.com, and a sheet with the answers is included as well. Enjoy today's episode.

So, somebody says to you, I have good news and bad news. How many say, give me the bad news first? Who are the bad news first people?

Nobody?

No, raise your hand. Let's see how many are bad news. Give me the bad news. How many good news first? Good news first. How many don't even want to hear the bad news?

Don't tell me the bad news.

Yeah. Well, so just good, because then I won't be listening to the good things I should say. You know, it's funny because the— I think the success of Hallmark is that you always know what the The story is the same story, but you know, in so many different ways. But everybody knows, so there's no surprises, right? There's no surprises. Well, Jesus said, "I told you before that it's come to pass, so that when it comes to pass, you may believe." And they were kind of like us. La la la la la la la la! I don't want to know. I don't want to know, right? I don't want to know, right? So the Lord is constantly telling us in advance. this is what's going to happen, this is what's happening, and it informs us and defines what's at work in our world.

Because how many think the world's gone crazy?

Come on.

Yeah, because the world has gone crazy. Now sometimes I'll say to Beth, is it any crazier now than it was in Babylon? I don't know, but it's— it— the scripture does say it will get worse, right? It will get worse over time. And so whether we like to know or not The Lord has told us this is what's going to happen, and we know the end of the story is, is what we all want, which is, I want good news. I want a story that ends well. And everyone's story as a believer ends well. It may not end well in our time frame, but it all ends well. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of his benefits. He pardons all your iniquities He heals all your diseases.

He redeems your life from the pit. He crowns you with loving kindness and compassion. He satisfies your years with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle. And the story ends well. It ends well. It is eternal fellowship. At his right hand are pleasures forever, joy unspeakable. What does that mean?

I don't know.

But it's better than here, and it's better than the best here. It's eternally, like, completely better than the best we've ever had. It's those moments when you think, I could sit here. You ever had those moments where it just— you could be— time just seemed to fade away? We just— you could be in a place because everything just seemed right. Well, that will be in eternity, in, in exponential fashion with the Eternal One. In the meantime, we're here and things are challenging. So here's the question: is God's wrath good news or bad news?

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

The answer is yes, yes, yes. Um, because God's wrath This is very important because we tend to think of wrath like we think of wrath as emotional, angry response, right? I'm gonna revenge, right? Or I'm gonna get even, right? That's, that's what we tend because that's human wrath. God's wrath is very different. It is judicial. It is judicial, and therefore it is righteous, just, and true. God's wrath is righteous, just, and true. So scripture says God is a— what kind of judge? He's righteous, but he's a judge. What's that mean? He will bring about justice.

How many times do you cry justice, justice, justice, right? And he says he is a God who has indignation every day. Why is that? Because he's allowing sin and sinners to go un— you know, not judged yet. Yet.

Yeah.

So every sin will be judged either on the cross of Christ or face to face in judgment with every believer. And I love it, at the end of the days, they will sing hallelujah. Well, why are they singing hallelujah? Well, salvation and glory and power Belong to our God. There'll be a day when it will all be consummated because his judgments are true and righteous. His judgments are true and righteous. So today we're gonna watch the first half of John MacArthur's closing statement Uh, in this Truth Conference. Next week we'll, we'll look at the final piece and kind of wrap, wrap it all up. Uh, but I can tell you this about MacArthur.

He's face to face with our God. He's face to face with God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And everything he has battled through and for, right, has been consummated as he sits face to face. So let's, uh, let's check this out and then we'll share some thoughts at The end.

So that you can understand— well, all good things must end, huh? So we come to the final time tonight and I feel like I want to see if I can't maybe pull everything together for us as we talk about a Christian worldview. I don't really need to rehearse what's going on in the world, you know that. It's inescapable. You don't need information. about the disappointments in our culture, the disappointments in our world. You don't need to know that everything is upside down, as in Isaiah chapter 5, bitter has been swapped with sweet and good has been swapped with bad and we're living in an inverted and upside-down world. But I want to give you a perspective biblically so that you can understand what's going on. And the first thing I want to say is you have to understand this, that what is happening in our country and largely in our world Is a divine judgment.

I just want you to mark that in your mind. It is a divine judgment. Joe Biden is not in charge of this, God is.

Amen.

And our Congress and our Senate and the people who run this nation, whoever's behind the Wizard of Oz pulling the strings, does not have the final sovereign say over this nation or over any nation in the world. So we are experiencing the judgment of God on our nation. It's not as if we're waiting for it. It's not as if it's nearby. We're in the middle of this judgment. And I want to show you that by having you open your Bible to Romans chapter 1. And this is just an introduction for you, but how do you know when a nation is under judgment? How do you know? Can you be sure?

Yes.

And the answer to that is you can know and you can be certain, and I'll show you how. Romans chapter 1, verse 18. It says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Any nation, any association of human beings that constitute a culture, if they turn away from the truth in unrighteousness will receive the wrath of God. Now the wrath of God comes in many forms. There is eternal wrath, that's hell. There is eschatological wrath, that would be all of the expressions of wrath in the book of Revelation, all the judgments that fall on the earth that you know of in the time of the Tribulation. That's eschatological wrath.

Our Lord talked about that in His sermon on the Second Coming in Matthew 24 and 25. So there's eternal wrath, eschatological wrath. There's a kind of cataclysmic wrath, massive earthquakes, massive floods, the most massive being the Genesis flood where God literally drowned the entire human race with the exception of one family. There is sowing and reaping wrath. Whatever you sow, you reap. There are consequences to sinful behavior that are built into that sinful behavior. So there are many aspects of the wrath of God, and it works inexorably, it works inevitably, and it works justly. But there's another kind of wrath, and that's what's being talked about in Romans 1.

This is the wrath of abandonment. This is the wrath of abandonment. This is historical. In Acts 14, the Bible says, God allowed all the nations to go their own way. The history of the world is the history of nations going their own way and consequently experiencing the wrath of divine abandonment. And that is what is in view in Romans 1:18, the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them.

Amen.

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. This is the perfect place on the planet to connect with that, right? God by His creation has put Himself on display to the degree that His eternal power and divine nature are manifest, and anyone Who rejects Him is without excuse. And men do, and nations do, and cultures do, and that's the cycle of human history. Even though they knew God, verse 21, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, because they became empty in their speculations. Their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God For an image in the form of corruptible men, and of birds, and four-footed animals, and crawling things. They'll substitute anything for the true God, including animals, idols of all kinds. So what you have here is the wrath of God unleashed all the time through human history upon every people that suppressed the truth in unrighteousness, the truth concerning God which may be known By the creation.

And chapter 2 of Romans says, and by the law of God written in the heart. So they're also without excuse. They reject what is revealed. They know there must be a God. They don't honor Him. They don't give thanks. They become empty in their understanding, and their foolish heart is darkened. They profess to be wise, but they are actually fools, and they exchange the incorruptible God for some other deity of their own making.

Then verse 24 is the key, therefore. What happens when a nation abandons God? Therefore God gave them over. This spells out what this wrath is. God gave them over. Now remember, this is historic. This is not looking at the future; this is looking at history. God gave them— past tense— over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity So that their bodies would be dishonored among them. When this wrath goes into place, the first thing you will see is a sexual revolution.

When God abandons a culture, you will see them sink to a low level of lust and impurity and the dishonoring of their bodies. The first thing that happens when a nation is under judgment is a sexual revolution. Verse 25 says, reminding us why it happened, they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. So look back to 1970, 1980, and remember when the sexual revolution began. That was step one in the abandonment of this society by God Himself. Step 2 comes in verse 26. For this reason— again, looking back at verse 25, because of their rejection of God— for this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural.

Verse 27, in the same way also the men abandoned their natural function of the woman, burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts. and receiving in their own person the due penalty of their error. When God abandons a society, the first thing that happens is a sexual revolution, inevitably followed by a homosexual revolution, and you have it described in verses 26 and 27. And interestingly enough, it starts with the female side of that in lesbianism, because when God abandons a nation, the instinct, the strongest human instinct there is, the instinct of Women mothering their children is perverted. This is that severe a blow, this level of judgment on human culture and human society. And then you have the male homosexuals in verse 27, committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. There's an immediate penalty, and you would remember it as the AIDS epidemic. It's built in.

It's a venereal disease that is built in, because that kind of behavior will have built in its own punishment, as well as being evidence of the abandonment of God. And why does this happen? Because they didn't see fit to acknowledge God any longer. Verse 28, they keep going back, these verses, to the reason. They rejected God. They rejected God. They rejected God.

Right.

First, there's a sexual revolution, followed by a homosexual revolution, verses 26 and 27. Then look at the middle of verse 28. Here's step 3: God gave them over to a depraved mind. A depraved mind is a mind that doesn't function. Sometimes it's translated reprobate mind. But the Greek word means non-functioning. That's when you're a man and you think you're a woman. That's a kind of insanity, and it's an insanity that is such an insanity it begs the issue of reason to even think people would do this.

The reason people are doing it is because they are under divine judgment. God has let them have a reprobate mind. So when you see all of this transgender activity, and when you see them want to make laws to protect Transgender identity, and you know it is absolute and total and utter insanity, you know we've reached the reprobate mind. People can't think reasonably, which means there's no way back to sanity. There's no way back. And because it is a divine judgment on them, God doesn't interrupt the course of their thinking down this path of insanity. sexual revolution, homosexual revolution, to the kind of insanity that we see with transgenderism. I used to wonder what in the world the reprobate mind could be, but we're living in the middle of it.

It is insane. It is irrational. It is ridiculous, and yet it is so strongly in our culture that the society and its leaders are making laws to protect the people who are absolutely insane. That's the reprobate mind. So this is judgment. This is judgment. And out of that depraved mind, what are you going to get? Well, you're going to get, verse 29, all kinds of unrighteousness, all kinds of wickedness, all kinds of greed, evil, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice— that's the Greek word kakia, which means generic, general evil— gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. So what is that? That's what you see every day on the news.

That's just the way people are. That's the way they live. And verse 32 says, they know the ordinance of God. Look at our nation. There's not a dearth of reality or truth. This nation was really founded with the knowledge of the Word of God, the Bible. It's had it its entire 200-plus years. They know the ordinance of God.

They also know that in the ordinance of God those who practice such things are worthy of death; but they not only do the same, but they give hearty approval to those who practice them. You have a president who is a Roman Catholic and who is advocating the insanity at the 3rd level of divine judgment as if this is normal. What you see in our country is the unfolding of the judgment of God in Romans chapter 1. So mark it down, there is no group of senators or congressmen Or anybody else who is going to reverse this. This is not reversible. This is divine judgment. Now in the middle of that you might be saying to yourself, I hope the Lord remembers His people in the midst of this. I hope He doesn't get so carried away with judgment that He misses us.

misses us. And that reminds me of the end of the very last book in the Old Testament, the book of Malachi. This is a word of comfort. God is promising judgment from the prophet Malachi, and in verse 16 of Malachi 3 we read this: Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another. Here we are in the middle of this talking to each other and saying, what's going to happen? What's going to happen in the future? And that was exactly what the people of Malachi's time were saying. What's going to happen? And the Lord gave attention and heard it. I love this. A book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who esteem His name.

They will be Mine, says the Lord of hosts, on the day that I prepare My own possession; and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him. So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him. God has a book, and in that book are the people who belong to Him, and none of them are going to get washed up in the judgment. This is important because we have to understand, people, that we are living in a Romans 1 world of judgment. This is how it is. But we are His. We are His own possession. For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff, and the day that is coming will set them ablaze.

Now you're looking at eschatological judgment. So that it will leave neither root or branch. But for you who fear My name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing, says the Lord of hosts. What day is that? The day that Christ returns to establish His kingdom. It will be a day of fire and judgment, but the Lord knows those who are His, and we are safe because our names are written in His book. So with that as an introduction to our thoughts, how are we to live in this world knowing we are secure and knowing at the same time That we're living in a culture under judgment? To answer that question, I want you to look at Philippians, chapter 2— Philippians, chapter 2— and just a few verses to consider. I don't know how many we'll be able to cover tonight.

I can't see a clock, and that's a benediction on my soul. So I just want you to come down to verse 15, and let's Let's begin there. Philippians, chapter 2, says, so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory, because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. This is a very, very important portion of God's Word. We are described as blameless and innocent children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. Among whom we appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life. Now I just want to pose 3 questions here: Where are we? Who are we? And how are we to live? Where are we? Look at verse 15. Where are we? We are in the midst of a crooked and perverse And this was true actually in the case of the Philippians when this letter arrived in Philippi.

Philippi was a city in Greece in northeast Macedonia along the Egnatian Highway, which was a Roman trade road. So it was a town that basically had to absorb people going both directions. It was somewhat cosmopolitan. It was on the Strymon River, which also allowed for some concourse to move on the water. So it was a strategic place. There were gold mines, by the way, in the Philippi region, and those gold mines attracted Philip of Macedon. Philip II of Macedon was the father of Alexander the Great, and he was drawn to this place because It was strategic in terms of trade and because of the gold mines. So he annexed the region.

In other words, he drew it to himself as part of his Greek Empire. And he fortified a small town at the time. The small town was known as Crenides, just a small town. Crenides means the little fountain. It had natural springs. And after he took over that town and fortified it, he renamed it Philippi. So it's named after Philip of Macedon, the Greek pagan. The Romans then conquered— when the Romans conquered the Greek Empire, the Romans conquered Philippi in the 2nd century B.C.

And it became still known as Philippi. Roman conquering turned it into a Roman province. In 42 B.C.— and this is kind of an interesting historical footnote— 42 B.C., one of the greatest battles in Roman history was fought there. It was a battle with some very familiar figures. It was called the Battle of Philippi, and the forces of Antony, Mark Antony, and Caesar, 110,000 men, defeated the forces of Brutus and Cassius who had 90,000 men, 40,000 casualties, and it was a bloodbath. The battle actually marked the end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of the Roman Empire. At that point, Philippi was largely settled by soldiers who were the roughest and toughest and most sinful and gross of people in a culture very often. Many soldiers settled there.

The citizens were given full Roman status. It became a pagan, idolatrous, crooked, and perverse place. The Lord led Paul to Philippi to establish the first church in Europe On his second missionary journey. And the story about that is in the 16th chapter of Acts, and it starts out with Paul being thrown in jail, right? You know the story of the Philippian jailer. The believers there were desperately poor. They're actually described in 2 Corinthians, chapter 8. That's a familiar text, but I'll just give you a little bit of insight into the condition of the people In Philippi by reading a few verses out of that 8th chapter. Now brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia— that's where Philippi was— that in a great ordeal of affliction, their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.

They were profoundly poor, even the believers. But at the same time, they were extremely generous. They were also persecuted. If you go back into chapter 1 of Philippians, you see in verse 27, only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you're standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel, in no way alarmed by your opponents, which is a sign of destruction for them, but salvation for you. So that introduces us to the fact that they had strong opposition. In fact, chapter 3, verse 2 says they even had Jewish opposition from the dogs, the evil workers, and the false circumcision. Down in verse 18 it says, Many walk, of whom I have often told you and now tell you weeping, They are the enemies of the cross of Christ, verse 18. Then verse 19, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.

You know how base a society is when it's proud of what is the most shameful of its conduct, to boast about your shame. This is Philippi. There was also a measure of disunity in the church. Chapter 4, Paul says, My beloved brethren, whom I long to see, my joy and crown. In this way, stand firm in the Lord, my beloved. I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord. Get those 2 women to quit fighting, he says.

Amen.

Back in chapter 2 and verse 1, he says, if there's any consolation or encouragement, if there's any fellowship of the Spirit, any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose, doing nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves. Don't look out for your own personal interest, but for the interest of others. So there's a lot going on. There's paganism, there's corruption, there's evil, and there's persecution, and there's division in the church. So Paul writes this letter from Rome in the 4th year of his Roman imprisonment, and he's waiting Nero's verdict on his life. In spite of all that I've said, Philippians is known as the epistle of— what?

Joy.

Of joy, the epistle of joy. And Paul calls for them to be joyful as they live in this crooked and perverse generation. Now, by the way, that could be a description in general of the the whole world. In Matthew 17:17, Jesus said about Israel, you unbelieving and perverted generation. Even Israel was labeled in the same way, you perverted generation. I guess we could just sum it up by saying that's how the world is. It is crooked And it is perverted. Crooked is skolios, from which we get scoliosis, the curvature of the spine.

It means to be bent or twisted, to be deviating from the standard. This is nothing new, this deviation from the divine standard. You remember, I know, Proverbs, chapter 2, and verse 23. Wisdom and discretion will guard you, and understanding will watch over you, to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perverse things, from those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, who delight in doing evil and rejoice in the perversity of evil, whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways. This idea of being crooked and perverse describes That natural human depravity which distorts and twists every sinner. In fact, in Proverbs 21:8 it says, the way of the guilty man is crooked. Isaiah 59:8 says, they've made their paths crooked. Perverse is diastrepho.

It means to distort. So anywhere you go, in any city or any group of people, you have people who are crooked, distorted, bent out of shape. And Paul was really drawing that description of Philippi from the history of Israel. And Jesus also reiterated it in, as I said, Matthew 7. And it also is repeated in the 9th chapter of Luke. So we have to understand that in general, man is perverse and distorted. The term generation is the idea of a nation, those who are alike. The similarity of people in a nation is not the color of their skin, it's not their mutual ethnic history.

People in any nation is that they are crooked and perverse. They are wicked. And you can go to Romans, chapter 3: There's none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understands. There's none that seeks after God, and so forth. They all have the poison of asps under their lips. This is the world we live in.

Amen.

So the first question is, where are we? And the answer is, we are exactly where the Lord wants us. We're exactly where He wants us. We're in a crooked and perverse nation. And beyond that, we're in a nation that is, according to Romans 1, under judgment; and it is manifestly obvious.

That's right.

Because we've progressed from a sexual revolution to a homosexual revolution to the insanity of a brain and mind that doesn't even think straight, so that we protect people who don't even know what reality is. Did something go wrong? No, everything is exactly the way it's supposed to be. This is how the world is supposed to be. This is how judgment works.

Amen.

And we're seeing it as clearly as we ever could have seen it, and we are exactly where God wants us to be. I know you feel like bailing out. I've had people say, well, I'm going to move to Canada. I just talked to a lady when I was getting a bite to eat earlier, and she said, all the Canadians are coming here. And I said, the Canadians are coming here? Yes, it's worse there.

I love it.

Well, where are you going to hide? What's next, Mexico? You are exactly where God wants you to be. This is where we belong. So 1 Corinthians, chapter 5, I'm not asking you to— Avoid the immoral people in the world. We're not supposed to run from them. Listen to verses 9 and 10 of 1 Corinthians 5. I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; but I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers or idolaters. For then you would have to go out of the world. No, actually I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he's an immoral person, or covetous, or idolater, or reviler, or drunkard, or swindler— not even to eat with such one.

No, it's what we talked about in the Q&A in the last session. But no, you're not to leave the world. This is exactly where Where the Lord puts you. So remind ourselves, we're exactly where we should be. Everything is exactly the way the Bible describes it, in a nation under judgment. So that's where we are. The second question is, who are we? And that answer is very explicit here as well. We are described in verse 15 as children of God.

Children of God. Above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. And we also are described as lights in the world. So we are given 2 designations. First, we're children of God. This is a very, very clear separation from the crooked and perverse nation. And to see the The real foundation of Paul's thinking there, you go back to the 8th chapter of John's gospel where our Lord makes that familiar distinction, verse 42 of John 8. Jesus said to them, if God were your Father— these are the Jewish leaders who are saying God is their Father— He says, if God were your Father, you would love Me, for For I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.

Why do you not understand what I'm saying? Is it because— it is because you cannot hear My word. Why? You are of your father— who?

The devil.

The devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. What do you expect people to do if they're the children of the devil? To behave in a devilish way. Everything is as you would expect it to be. He was a murderer. You say, why are they murdering babies? Because they're the children of the devil who was a murderer from the beginning. Why don't they ever tell the truth? Because they're children of the devil, and the devil doesn't stand in the truth because there's no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature. He's a liar and the father of lies.

Amen.

So you expected them to tell you the truth? You expected them to be the people of the truth? You expected them to be protectors of life? No, no. This culture under judgment really doesn't care if babies are killed, doesn't care if old people die. It doesn't care if people are untreated for a virus and die languishing without treatment, because they simply reflect the nature of their father. You're not going to change that. You're just not going to change that. In fact, when you do speak the truth, He says, because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. Did you understand that? Because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. Here's the issue: they have no capacity To believe the truth.

They have no ability to believe the truth. They are blind by their own fallenness. They are double-blind by Satan who has blinded the minds of those who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel should shine unto them. There are multiple layers of blindness. They cannot see. They cannot understand. That's Ephesians 4. They have no understanding.

They are cut off from the life of God. They're defined by ignorance. They're defined by hard-heartedness. They're defined by unbelief. And they're defined by chasing after every imaginable and unimaginable impurity with greed. Verse 47, He says, He who is of God hears the words of God. For this reason you do not hear them, because you're not of God. Do you understand why it's difficult to speak the truth to this generation? They don't have the capacity to understand it until they are regenerated, until they are brought from the darkness to light, until they are delivered from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son, Colossians 1.

They have no capacity for the truth, to even understand the truth.

Amen.

At all. So this is the condition of the world that we're in— under judgment, crooked and perverse, and utterly unable to hear and believe the truth because their nature is the nature of their father, and it is murderous, and it is deceptive.

Amen.

We, on the other hand, are the children of God. But as many as received Him, He gave the right to be called the children of God, John 1:12, right? Romans 8, Galatians 4. Romans 8 says we've been adopted as sons; Galatians 4, no longer a slave. But a son. And because we are the children of God, we know the truth, we hear the truth, we believe the truth, we love the truth, we live the truth, we fight for the truth, we proclaim the truth. 1 John 3:10 says, by this the children of God and the children of the devil Are obvious: anyone who doesn't practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who doesn't love his brother. Not only is there a difference in the ability to receive the truth— when you're a child of God, you can receive it— but also necessarily and consequentially, you live it, you live it. Probably the most common question That I get is, how do I know I'm a Christian? And sometimes people are trying to reach back and remember whatever they felt at some moment when they prayed a prayer, walked an aisle, felt an emotional attachment to Jesus.

They think their salvation is based on something that happened in the past. No. How do you know you're a Christian? You know you're a Christian when righteousness is the pattern of your life. You used to be a slave of sin. sin, now you're a servant of righteousness, Romans 6. It's the transformation that is the evidence. Where there's no transformation, there's no salvation. Faith without works is—

Dead.

Dead. That's why you hear Jesus say, by their fruits you shall know them. Good trees produce good fruit; bad trees produce bad fruit. 1 John 3:1 says, See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason— listen— for this reason the world doesn't know us, because it doesn't know Him. So understand this. We are aliens in this world, a world under judgment, a world that cannot know God, has no desire to know God, has no faculty to accept the truth, can't understand who we are, sees us as an impediment to the freedom of their transgressions, and wants to get us out of the way so that nobody is questioning their— Freedom.

Sinfulness. Well, wow. Yeah, you thought you were coming for some milk today.

No.

Hey, no milk here ever. Always meat. So write down insight or question, observation. I think he reminds us we're not on the Titanic. We're not going down. No, we're— God is— yeah, yeah, but yeah, he's, he's— it's not like it's crashing. It's moving in providential judgment. That's different than it's out of control, right? Because you generally think, is the world out of control? Are they going insane? Yes, they are going insane, right? And then will it spin completely out of control? How many of you thought Is this crazy? Like, what is going on here? No, he's saying it's providential, right? And God moves in times, and he's in— we're in that time, right? We're in the time, the end times.

He says we're in the times of the end. What does that mean? 10 years, 5 years, 2,000 years?

I don't know.

But he's saying this is ordered. It is ordered. So it's insanity among the people, but it's ordered by God. It's providential by God. Providential, it's different. That thing, we're moving on a course, God's course. We know what to pray: thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I mean, he shows us what to pray.

That doesn't mean we can't pray for revival. God could come in revival, right? Who, who knows? So if God doesn't judge sinners, he's unrighteous. If God's wrath isn't carried out, he's unrighteous. And if he doesn't keep his people, he's unfaithful. And he's neither. He's neither. So you're saying he's doing both? He's bringing about— right, he's bringing about just consequences to sin to individuals and a nation and a world that rejects him. And in the midst of it, he's keeping his people, right? Miraculously and sovereignly and providentially.

He will keep us in the midst of it. The question is, can I trust him? Yeah, Romans says he patiently endures vessels of unrighteousness. Why does he do it? For the vessels of mercy. So in the times ahead, in your days ahead, whatever days you have left, there are vessels of mercy, and we're still lights. We still operate as lights. And when the time is right, the Lord Jesus Christ will come again. It will come again. It will come again.

So we know the story. Know the story. I hadn't either. That really struck me. Oh, it's a reminder. Yeah. When I said don't associate with immoral. Yeah.

Don't move away and go up into the hills. Don't go live in a, you know, uh, walled in, right? Well, Therese and Johnny, who are— and then we'll close in prayer— who are our grandkids, they were the ones who are on the video. They live in O'Hara Township and in a nice cul-de-sac, nice neighborhood. And Josh and Marianne put up a— helped them put up a jungle gym, you know, and they have a trampoline next door. And Josh has a jungle gym and swing set, and the 5-year-old boy wears dresses and now has changed his name to a girl. And they, they freely share, they walk each other. So it's not a playground. Every day they've got— and they're saying, why is he wearing a dress? And why is he— they've had a discussion with the parents.

The parents said, well, that's what he wants and that's what he wants to do. Uh, of course, at 5 years old. Oh, so yeah, yeah. Yeah, so this is us in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, but a reminder, we're lights in the midst of it. Amen. And may our Father who art in heaven, may he bless you, may he keep you, may he cause his face to shine upon you, may he lift up his countenance and grant you shalom deep in your soul. His shalom, the peace that passes all comprehension, as you stand as lights in the midst of the world, and you understand and trust and know that he is the Lord God, and our God reigns. Amen.

Thanks for listening. I hope you have greater hope, assurance, and confidence in your life, and a deeper trust in the God of the Bible and his Son Jesus Christ. Until next time, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And may the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you His peace, His shalom, in your soul and in your life. Until next time, may God bless you and keep you.

Amen.