“Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:24).
How do we explain…
1. The massacre in a Florida High School.
2. A barrage of sex scandals from Hollywood to Congress to our Seminaries.
3. Continued attacks on Christianity.
4. The willing slaughter of our nation’s unborn children.
5. Growing distrust. Violence. Confusion. Turmoil.
Nothing that is happening in our world today — not one act of perversion or evil — is an anomaly or an accident. What we see today are symptoms of an accelerating moral and spiritual unraveling of our country and world — the natural result of a nation that has turned away from the absolute truths found in the Bible.
The only way for change in the direction of America is the change that happens through hearts of human beings, and that catalyst is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That change must first happen to God’s people. W.A. Criswell said it this way, “The nation cannot turn to God if I do not turn to God. The nation cannot repent, if I do not repent. God doesn’t win nations or companies or crowds or throngs. He wins souls one by one. And the only way we can lift our nation Godward is if I am moved Godward.”
The true church can never rest and a faithful pastor’s work is never done. We need to constantly preach to the world and to ourselves the true gospel, and strive for greater clarity and precision — not less. By so doing, we cultivate our own spiritual growth, we protect the health of the church, and we strengthen our witness. Salt and light is what we are to be and that is what will retard the leaven of sin.