The message below is the eighth in the series of sermons by John MacArthur titled Exposing the campaign for immorality [any bracketed statement below is mine]:
This post contains the 60-minute sermon divided into sections A and B; it also contains an excerpt, part C, of the final 9 minutes wherein he arrived at his conclusion.
After listening through, I realized that this portion would suffice for getting the point of his sermon. Of course, everything he said prior to those remarks provides fuller understanding. But the final minutes have a strong message.
Also provided is a PDF of the sermon for those who use PCs; and an excerpt of that PDF for smartphone users with a link to the full transcript at GTY. The PDF is 12 pages long, so it is no little read, but if you just want a sample of the sermon, you have it below.
Exposing the Campaign for Immorality
[The following words are a description of the entire series; the words in bold print below, are the description of the message of today.
This series seems to be mostly older sermons of Dr. MacArthur’s that are relevant to the thesis / title.
This sermon sounds like it was assessing the inaugural address of the Biden or the Obama Presidency; likely that of Biden. But I saw part of the video when I was at GTY and MacArthur seemed to be a decade or so younger, so it might have been from Obama’s inauguration?]
The 2024 Democratic National Convention is a revelation of the sinful depths to which our society has sunk. It’s a celebration of all that God hates.
A keynote speaker, Oprah Winfrey, declared that without aborting babies there is no American dream. Achieving limitless abortion is at the top of their agenda. The Democratic party has become a death cult.
In further evidence of the prevailing evil, a clinic was set up at the convention to provide attendees with abortions and vasectomies—a hateful assault on family. The DNC platform emphasizes the celebration of homosexuality and transgender perversion—a further assault on the Creator and His creation. The DNC set up gender-neutral prayer rooms throughout the convention center equipped with Islamic prayer rugs, thus promoting satanic religion.
So here is the new American dream: blatant immorality, homosexuality, child sacrifices, and satanic religion, all reflecting the death of truth, conscience, and virtue but mostly a rejection of the Bible—the Word of God. Blasphemy against God is the dominant theme. God is not mocked. He will respond with judgment. His first wave of judgment is operating even now as described in Romans 1:18–32. That passage in Romans describes what takes place when God abandons a nation. They are given up to immorality, homosexuality, and a reprobate mind (which is moral insanity). There will also be in the future a final judgment as described in 2 Thessalonians 1:5–10. Everything leads to physical, spiritual, and eternal death. Shockingly, joining the death cult are “Judas evangelicals” who have sold their souls to the devil, supporting his cause for popularity, fame, and money.
While the DNC is the catalyst, the need for addressing these pressing issues is much bigger than any political agenda, as society at large has moved beyond acceptance of sinful behavior and now celebrates it. The promotion of this behavior is inescapable and spreads far wider than the borders of the United States.
In light of this, I want to provide a series of messages offering clarity to many critical issues. These messages are timely and timeless. They will inform us on important biblical truths so we can share with those who are lost, as well as those who profess Christ but are not being faithful to God’s Word.
Bookmark this page, as new messages will be added weekly.
Description of the message for today:
Given the opportunity, what would you say to the President?
God’s people have lived under many wicked rulers throughout history: Pharaoh, Ahab, Manasseh, Nebuchadnezzar, and Herod the Great are just a few of the corrupt kings who have ravaged and terrorized those who love the Lord.
But even during the reign of the infamous tyrant Nero, Paul called for believers to pray for their rulers (1 Tim. 2:1–2). Why? Because “God . . . desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (vv. 3–4). God has willed to save people from every station of life—from peasant to prince.
That is one reason the Lord commissioned His people to confront evil leaders. Whether it was Moses to Pharaoh, Elijah to Ahab, Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar, John the Baptist to Herod, or Paul to Agrippa, the message was the same: Repent. And in some cases, by the miracle of God’s grace, they did exactly that.
Today, we have the same God-given message for our government officials. It is not, ultimately, about improving policies or gaining influence. It is not about voicing personal frustration. It is the call to salvation: Repent, and believe in Christ.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO JOHN MACARTHUR’S SERMON “CALLING RULERS TO REPENTANCE.”
The 61-minute Mp3 version of sermon (for audio version use the above link to GTY):
Part A (sermon had to be divided to load):
Part B:
Part C: 9-minute excerpt, the very end of MacArthur’s sermon:
PDF to 60-minute sermon: Our-King-Will-Not-Be-Mocked-Oct-22-2024
Below are the initial 3 pages of the 12-page sermon, copied and pasted from the PDF (if you are only using a smartphone, then PDFs are difficult to read. If you want to read the rest of the sermon there is a link below for that. The text below had to be divided, as copying PDFs disrupts their structure somewhat. But when I previewed my paragraph divisions, this site had altered those, so there are many small divisions, sorry. ):
Grace to You : esp Unleashing God’s Truth, One Verse at a Time
Our King Will Not Be Mocked
Scripture: Selected Scriptures
Code: 81-101
This morning I’m going to challenge you a little bit. I’m going to go into the Word of God and I’m
going to ask that you go with me and stay with me in this; and I can promise you the reward will be
just exactly what you would expect when you give attention to the Word of God. But let’s begin in
Luke 17, verses 20 to 25. I’m going back to this passage; done that several times now.
Luke 17:20,“Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, “Look, here it is!” or, “There it is!” For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.’
“And He said to the disciples, ‘The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the
Son of Man, and you will not see it. They will say to you, “Look there! Look here!” Do not go away, do
not run after them. For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the
other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day. But first He must suffer many things and
be rejected by this generation.’”
We have just experienced an inauguration. The inauguration is an event designed to mark the ascent
of ruling authority. It is, by design, to be as public as possible, to demonstrate to as many as possible
the significance and power of the ruling authority.
An inauguration is kind of a stepchild of a coronation, which is the declaration before all of the power and authority of a monarch, a king.
Now we’ve never had a king in America. We, in fact, pride ourselves on the American Revolution, in
which we threw off the rule of a king, a British king by the name of George III. We celebrate the fact
that we have freed ourselves from kings. That has become much the way of the world. There are few
monarchies who have actual kings. There are some symbolic kings, powerless, symbolic kings and
queens. There are some autocratic, military, monarchial dictators where one man rules with power
even over life and death. But an absolute monarchy is very rare; there are only a few. That is a place where one man rules with sovereign, supreme power over everyone else, unrestricted by any law, any legislature, any tradition, or any custom.
Today there is Brunei in Asia. There is Eswatini, also known as Swaziland in Africa. There is Oman in the Middle East. There is Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which is a coalition of small monarchies.
Oh, there’s one more. There actually is one true monarchy, one absolute monarchy; it is the smallest
nation in the world, 121 acres, 825 people. It is Vatican City. Vatican City is called an ecclesiastical
theocracy, a kingdom with an absolute sovereign. That absolute sovereign is the pope.
There have been 266 of them through the history of that theocratic, ecclesiastical kingdom. He rules not only over that kingdom, but over all who by extension belong to that kingdom because they’re part of the Roman Catholic Church. Currently the throne is occupied by a former bar bouncer and janitor who likes the tango by the name of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who took the name Francis.
The world has no other monarchies really. There are some tribes here and there that have one man
rule. But we basically in our time resent monarchies. We celebrate the end of monarchies, the end of
dictatorships, the end of kings. We hail democracy. In our country we have spent countless dollars,
countless lives, countless years trying to turn other countries into democracies like us.
Now it may shock you. The Bible doesn’t advocate democracy.
The Bible doesn’t mention democracy. The Bible doesn’t comment on democracy. The Bible doesn’t define democracy. There is no place in all of the Bible where you even find democracy. There is no country revealed in Scripture where it existed; it is never affirmed by God.
Now I told you last week that I do not believe as a Christian that I can support strongly freedom of
religion, because that would be to violate the first commandment, right? “Have no other gods.” You
say, “Well, doesn’t the church need freedom of religion to move forward?” No. In no way does any
political law aid or hinder the church of Jesus Christ. We are a separate kingdom. Jesus said, “My
kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world My servants would fight.”
We would fight if the kingdom were of the world to make sure we got our space in the world. But this
is not a kingdom that is part of this world, this is a kingdom of another world.
The church does not need help from Washington or any other government. When Jesus said, “I will build My church, and the gates of hades, the gates of hell will not prevail against it,” He assured all the forces of evil that would be relentlessly against the church the gates of hell would never be able to thwart His purpose.
I think we need to be reminded that the world, not just in its social perspectives, but even in its political perspectives, is never intended to be a friend of the church or an ally in any way. Listen to
the words of our Lord in John 15:18, “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it
hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own.”
There’s the issue.
If you decide that you love the world, you can wiggle your way into it and draw out some level of affection. “But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. If you are who I chose you to be, you will be hated by the world.”
That does not thwart the purpose of God for His church in the world. We don’t need laws, we don’t need politicians for Christ to build His church.”
“And remember the word that I said to you,” Jesus said, “‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If
they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
You’re tied to Me.” By the way, “He who hates Me,” He said, “hates My Father.”
In John 16:33 in the next chapter, He said, “In this world you will have tribulation.”
Told you last week we lose, right? Now, for now, “In this world you will have thlipsis, pressure, tribulation; but,” He said, “I have overcome the world.”
The end of the story: Christ wins, and we win in Christ.
But losing now and winning then has nothing to do with any political help.
So here’s another surprise to add to that one. The Bible doesn’t recommend, prefer, or even discuss
democracy. The ancient world had kings. No other form of government appears either in the Old
Testament or the New Testament. Kings were a common grace. We talk about God giving common
grace; and government is common grace to bring order to society, we understand that. But do you
also understand that the most common common grace of governmental character is a monarchy; in
fact, so common were kings that we find in the Old Testament no nation under any other kind of
government. So normal was it to have a king that the epic tragedy of Israel in the Old Testament was
that they wanted a king like all other pagan nations.
Was Israel a democracy? Never. What was it? It was a theocratic monarchy and God was King.
Yahweh was their King. The covenant God was their King. The Lord Yahweh was Israel’s King
forever.
You would think that would be enough, right? Isaiah 44:6. And Isaiah has a lot to say about this.
Isaiah 44:6, “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel.” Did you hear that? “Thus says the Lord, the
King of Israel and His Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am first and I am the last, and besides Me
there is no God.”
Verse 8 of that same chapter He says, “Is there any God besides Me? I know of
none.” So the King of Israel is the one God.
In Isaiah 33:22 we read, “For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; He will save us.”
That was the confession of the people. Listen to the response from heaven. Isaiah 43:15, “I am the
Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.”
And in Malachi 1:14 God says, “I am a great King.”
So great a king was He that He was feared among the nations. There’s only one God in the universe, and He in His mercy and grace gave Himself to a people, the Jews, to be their King. What an astonishing privilege, right?
And everyone in the ancient world knew God was Israel’s King. They knew about this God who had delivered them from Egypt. They knew about this God whose power had drowned the Egyptian army. They knew about this God who had sustained them for forty years in the wilderness. They knew about this God who had brought them into the land and allowed them to conquer powerful resident enemies. And they knew that the people worshiped this God, because when they came into the land they came in with the tabernacle, right, a tent?
Everywhere they went with a tent. They set up camp. All the tribes were around a little box called the
ark of the covenant. And the ark of the covenant had cherubim. Because God dwells in the presence
of the cherubim, that was the symbol of His throne.
God is invisible, but God demonstrated His presence in a symbolic way in the ark. And they carried the ark everywhere they went, put it in the middle, and all the tribes focused in on the ark.
If you don’t think sin makes you stupid, get ready for this story.
Under attack from some Midianites, Israel decided they wanted a king. They wanted a king? You mean they wanted another king other than God, Yahweh, the God of the universe, the true King, Judge, Redeemer?
Yes, they wanted a king. Well, who was overseeing life in Israel before they had a king? God. It was a theocratic kingdom, and God had agents; those agents were judges and prophets.
One of those judges—turn in your Bible to Judges chapter 8—was a very familiar man by the name of Gideon. We don’t have time for the entire story, but it’s an incredible story of how God used Gideon, and it leads us into chapter 8, verse 22.
Gideon had just had a great victory. The men of Israel said to Gideon, “‘Rule over us, both you and
your son, also your son’s son, for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian’”—Let’s start a
family monarchy. You be our king. “Gideon said to them, ‘I will not rule over you, nor shall my son
rule over you’”—Why? What’s the next line?—“‘The Lord shall rule over you.’” You don’t trade Him in
for me; that’s insane.
LINK TO THE PDF AT GTY, to continue reading the balance of John MacArthur’s sermon: