The election hype and injustices of the past several months had me very distracted. It also revealed to me that I had misplaced my trust, putting it in man instead of Christ.
Yet, I have not been able to reorient myself, largely because I have developed habits that took me away from prayer and God’s word. Then there was my struggles with besetting sins that were more pronounced because I was experiencing distress….
I was blessed in hearing the following sermon this morning. I have been fed by Dr. MacArthur’s sermons for a long time, and listening to him settles me. I praise God for his ministry.
Hopefully you will find some help in the following sermon, which is linked after the highlight points.
The initial part of the sermon is about praising God for specific blessings; the latter part, about the church in the US, specific issues mentioned.
Sermon highlight points [all underscoring, emboldening and square brackets are mine]:
- 2020 was a year of God-given clarity
- Dr. MacArthur expressed gratitude to his church family, his family
- Scriptures from 1 Thessalonians read
- Regarding normal church stewardship concerns, we usually try to provide direction…but in 2020, no aspects of stewardship were in our control, but God’s control
- 2020 resembled, the church at war, with trials such as the following: every Sunday since August, LA county has tried to close Grace Church; then they tried to revoke the lease of our parking lot; the courts ruled in GC church’s favor
- Mainstream media tried to smear our reputation, calling us a center of disease spreading when 4 of 240 employees had Covid 19
- The Lord protected them and made His church flourish: many refugees of closed churches visited, some joined; we were able to have conferences, one still upcoming, hotels owners have even stated they will provide lodging, since the courts ruled the church as a necessary community org.
- We’ve received calls and support from the world and all the states; we have also ministered to many via videos, books and Bibles, prison ministry increased because other churches quit ministering…
- Abortion clinic ministry increased; homeless ministry increased; Grace Church membership increased – by God’s providence (explained)
- (2Cor 13:8 [NASB77]) For we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth.
- Pastor MacArthur and his congregation sought to uphold truth in 2020
- The US, the kingdom of darkness did not care about truth, but like in Isaiah 6, wherein God told Isaiah to preach truth till there was no one left to hear it
- The superficial, shallow, worldly church, which has had so much success in America has become more visible
- Those huge successful, selfish, narcissistic, corrupt churches; whose preachers are some of the most well-known and popular in the US; wherein charlatans have elevated a diluted gospel… have become more obvious – as such crises as has occurred in 2020 cause false Christians to flee from persecution
- An evangelical publicist told Dr. MacArthur that there would still be religious freedom under the new administration
- MacArthur stated that he does not uphold religious freedom because that is what sends people to hell: it supports idolatry, lies, hell, the kingdom of darkness
- He and genuine Christians only support THE TRUTH
- We will not win down here on earth; we will lose: they killed Jesus and the apostles, and we will all be persecuted; we will, however, win in terms of entering into eternity victoriously
- The impact of the new administration supporting religious freedom is that persecution will ramp up; the more support that those who subscribe to religious lies receive, the more persecution those who support truth will receive
- We condemn every lie and call all to the truth of the one living God
- There is salvation only in Christ
- Christians are in the world to expose all the lies, as lies
- (John 15:18 [NASB77])“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. (John 15:19 [NASB77]) “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you….
- If you want the world to love you, then you must compromise the truth
- Evil men grow worse and worse, each generation of Christians will experience suffering – it will try their faith, its validity
- MacArthur loves it that we will be seeing the True Church and The Lie, that is all; there will be no fake church, as the price will be too great to call yourself a Christian if you really aren’t
- Those evangelical elite who have embraced social justice, for example, will obviously be part of the lie: under God’s justice all are equal, that is, if you sin, you are held accountable; under SJ, those who sin are called to blame their sinning on others
- We are experiencing the death of equal justice presently
- WE’RE STEPPING INTO AN ERA OF THE FOLLOWING: injustice, wherein there is no need to cover sin, to call oneself a hypocrite, as everything is done in the open; hatred of the truth will escalate; compromising evangelical leaders have removed themselves from the battlefield
- J.M. loves the clarity that God is affording us
- We have a hard future, we don’t win here, we just die
- The Christian life is about two crucifixions: of Christ and the believer: you signed up for death
- Firstly, “I am crucified in Christ.” You came to Christ and repented, therein was a death
- The Christian life is not about having a pleasurable future of fulfillment in the world
- The crucifixion began when you came to Christ as broken, under the weight of your sin, you didn’t blame anybody else, history, family, society – we admitted that our hearts were deceitful, as in Jeremiah 17:9
- Jesus called us to repent and come to the cross = first crucifixion
- The second crucifixion is that of consecration, as Luke 9 calls us to take up our cross, deny ourselves and follow Him: death of self is the sanctifying
- Paul said, “I die daily”
- Galatians: those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh and its passions and desires
- Christ in His crucifixion; and Via the power of the Holy Spirit, our flesh is crucified; we die two deaths to live forever
- Luke 17: 20ff, the King is alive, the kingdom of God is here and He’s ruling in His church
- Prayer which summarizes the aforementioned
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8kk3-mMgHk
The following link is to a post in this blog which explains the basics of social justice via several 5 minute videos; it also compares justice to social justice to show the differences:
https://sheeplywolves.com/basic-social-justice-concepts-fyi/
For details about this sermon and for related resources at GYT.org, click here:
https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-l…
To receive John MacArthur’s monthly letter, as well as offers for resources by mail, click here: https://www.gty.org/home/newtogty