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The Legacy Standard Bible
The Legacy Standard Bible has been produced with the conviction that the words of Scripture as originally penned in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek are the eternal Word of God. The Holy Scriptures speak with authority to each generation, giving wisdom that leads to salvation, that people may serve Christ to the glory of God. Because it is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16), every word of it is inspired, every word is true, and every word must be conveyed to every nation, tribe, people, and tongue (Rev. 7:9), so that every word can be taught and obeyed (Josh. 23:14; Mt. 28:20; Jn. 17:17).
THE FOURFOLD AIM OF THE LOCKMAN FOUNDATION
1. These publications shall be true to the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
2. They shall be grammatically correct.
3. They shall be understandable.
4. They shall give the Lord Jesus Christ His proper place, the place which the Word gives Him; therefore, no work will ever be personalized.
PREFACE TO THE LEGACY STANDARD BIBLE
In the history of the English Bible translations, the King James Version is the most well-known. This time-honored version of 1611, itself a revision of the Bishops’ Bible of 1568, became the basis for the English Revised Version, which appeared in 1881 (New Testament) and 1885 (Old Testament). Its American counterpart, a product of both British and American scholarship, was published in 1901. Recognizing the values of the American Standard Version, The Lockman Foundation felt an urgency to preserve the ASV while incorporating recent discoveries of Hebrew and Greek textual sources and rendering it into more current English. This resulted in the New American Standard Bible, a translation based upon the time-honored principles of translation of the ASV and KJV, along with other linguistic tools and biblical scholarship.
The Legacy Standard Bible reflects another iteration of such preservation and refinement. Worked on by a core translation team in conjunction with pastors and educators from different countries, it is designed to honor, maintain, and advance the tradition represented by the NASB.
PRINCIPLES OF TRANSLATION
Key Principles: The Legacy Standard Bible has worked to uphold the style and translational choices of the NASB as much as possible. Even more, it has endeavored to follow through on the NASB’s stated intent to be true to the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. While the interpreter, teacher, and pastor have the goal of understanding what the text means, the translator is to provide them with what the text says. Consistently, the goal of this translation is to be a window into the original text. Within that goal, this revision has focused upon accuracy and consistency. It has checked that words and grammar have been carried over properly. It also established rules for the consistent translation of terms within their various nuances. This allows the reader to more easily reconstruct what the original texts said. It also helps the reader more easily trace the flow of argument within a text, identify when the same word is used in another passage, and make connections between texts.
There are limits to the application of this philosophy. In this edition, a word might not be translated consistently in order to maintain a highly familiar rendering of a text or to preserve a wordplay in the text that advances the inspired author’s message. Moreover, because Scripture is a literary masterpiece, some linguistic features could not be transferred to this translation, not even by a note. Nevertheless, ensuring that the original languages are precisely rendered paves the way for careful readers to discover these insights for themselves.
In this way, the LSB upholds the philosophy that a translation does not replace pastors or teachers but rather depends upon faithful believers and the church to study and live out what has been written (Acts 8:30-31). Translation is a tool for the church and must be done in that context so that each word of Scripture may be taught and lived.
Modern English Usage: The attempt has been made to render the grammar and terminology in contemporary English. When word-for-word literalness was determined unacceptable to the modern reader; a change was made in the direction of a more current English idiom. In the instances where this has been done, the more literal rendering has been indicated in the notes. There are a few exceptions to this procedure. Of note, while an effort has been made to incorporate conjunctions as much as possible, the conjunction “and” is occasionally not translated at the beginning of sentences because of differences in style between ancient and modern writing. Punctuation is a relatively modern invention, and ancient writers often linked most of their sentences with “and” or other connectives.
Alternate Readings: In addition to the more literal renderings, notations have been made to include readings of variant manuscripts, explanatory equivalents of the text, and alternate translations that may bring out a play on words difficult to maintain in the text. These notations have been used specifically to assist the reader in comprehending the terms used by the original author.
THE COMMITMENTS OF THE LEGACY STANDARD BIBLE
The Legacy Standard Bible aspires to be a legacy preserved – to uphold the work and tradition that is found in translations from the KJV, ASV, to NASB.
The Legacy Standard Bible aspires to be a legacy performed – to advance the commitments of past translations by bringing forth features of the original text relative to accuracy and consistency.
The Legacy Standard Bible aspires to be a legacy passed on – to equip generations to study Scripture and continue the philosophy of being a window.
~ The Lockman Foundation
For additional information we recommend you contact The Lockman Foundation -- https://www.lockman.org/legacy-standard-bible-lsb/
SIGNS - The Culture - Persecution - Audio Link
PERSECUTION
Text: Selected Scriptures from the LSB
Prayer: Heavenly Father, in today’s message from the Holy Scriptures, we find ourselves being reminded of the persecution of Christians in the last days. While persecution is painful, it can cultivate profound spiritual growth and transformation in our lives. So, we humbly ask the Holy Spirit to use the trials we must suffer for Christ’s sake to refine us, deepen our faith, and increase our reliance on Him. As we suffer ridicule, or perhaps worse, we ask You to produce within us humility, character, and perseverance, drawing us closer to Christ. May these trials become stepping stones to greater intimacy with You and more effective ministry to others. Lord, strengthen our hearts filling them with hope. May we always rely completely on Your sustaining presence. May every challenge become a testimony of Your faithfulness. Let our perseverance and trust in You inspire others, strengthening their faith and producing endurance, maturity, and hope through every fiery trial. I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Introduction: Kelvin Cochran quickly rose through the ranks to become Shreveport’s first African American fire chief. Eight years later, Cochran was invited to head Atlanta’s fire department, making it one of only 60 US fire departments to receive a Class 1 rating.
Although Cochran is a committed Christian, he carefully observed workplace rules about faith, discussing religion only with those who approached him first. He led Bible studies in his church and formed a study group for men, which led him to write a privately published book on authentic manhood. He gave the book only to people with whom he had shared his faith and, as a courtesy, to Atlanta’s mayor and a handful of civic leaders.
Almost a year after the book’s publication, Councilmember Alex Wan read the few pages outlining the biblical approach to sexuality – that sex outside of male-female marriage is contrary to God’s will. That’s when the trouble began. Meetings among Atlanta’s top officials followed, and as the National Review reported, “On January 6, 2015, the City of Atlanta fired Cochran – without providing him the proper process prescribed by city codes and he claims, without providing him an opportunity to respond to either his suspension or his termination. At no point did any employee of the fire department complain of mistreatment or discrimination.”
Wan, however, made the reason for Cochran’s dismissal clear: “When you’re a city employee, and [your] thoughts, beliefs, and opinions are different from the city’s, you have to check them at the door.”
This incident is merely one of many similar ones revealing that American culture is growing increasingly hostile toward Christianity. We are in the first stages of repression of Christian speech and actions, and even stronger measures will follow.
As we learned a few weeks ago, America was founded on Christian principles. The Declaration of Independence recognizes that God is the source of human rights and freedom: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”
This foundational premise began to erode in the mid-twentieth century with the post-World War II economic boom and the protest culture of the 1960s. Today, the concept of freedom has degenerated into the elimination of virtually all moral restraints. Christianity is being edged out because its adherence to biblical morality is at odds with the philosophy of unrestricted freedom that now dominates America’s cultural landscape.
As Dr. Paul Nyquist noted, “We’re witnessing an epic change in our culture – a spiritual climate shift threating to reshape life as we know it. Hostility and intolerance are replacing toleration. Rejection and even hatred are pushing aside acceptance.”
It’s no secret that Christianity is declining in America. The government, the educational system, the entertainment industry, and the media no longer share biblical values, which means Christianity is now a religious subculture, increasingly ridiculed and marginalized.
“Get ready,” Dr. Nyquist urges. “As cultural change sweeps our country, we’ll soon be challenged to live out what the Bible says about confronting and responding to persecution.”
I. SUBSTANCE OF CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION (Mt. 5:10; 1 Pet. 4:14-16)
We should not assume, however, that everything bad that happens to us is persecution. Persecution is only trouble that occurs “for righteousness’ sake” (Mt. 5:10). Sometimes our own stress, sin, or bad choices bring difficulties into our lives.
[READ 1 Pet. 4:14-16]
14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15 Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; 16 but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be put to shame, but is to glorify God in this name.
To be persecuted for righteousness’ sake means that we are opposed or suffer solely for following Christ.
II. STAGES OF CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION
To show the extent of the persecution problem, let’s look at five stages of religious suppression occurring in our nation.
Ø STAGE 1: STEREOTYPING
Today, Christians are often stereotyped as ignorant, uneducated, inhibited, homophobic, and intolerant. Movies and television usually feature a Christian as the antagonist, a holier-than-thou bigot who judges others harshly. Or he is portrayed as a hypocrite who doesn’t live what he professes to believe, like the prison warden in The Shawshank Redemption who recites the Bible but abuses the inmates.
While it is true that some professed Christians represent the faith poorly, these stereotypes do not reflect the reality of authentic Christianity; they grow out of the rising cultural prejudice against the Christian faith. Our duty is to live out our convictions in a way that shows these slanderous depictions to be gross distortions of the truth.
Ø STAGE 2: MARGINALIZING
Many secularists want Christianity to be displaced from the center of American life. If the church must be allowed to exist, they want it confined to the realm of personal privacy. That is why public prayer must be forbidden, Christian influence in public policy eliminated, and Christian holidays secularized. Christians must be excluded from positions of power and influence, which includes politics, academia, entertainment, and the media.
As former MSNBC personality Chris Matthews tweeted, “If you’re a politician and believe in God first, that’s all good. Just don’t run for government office, run for a church office.”
Ø STAGE 3: THREATENING
Banning religious expression within academic, institutional, corporate, or public arenas is not enough for many secularists. They are determined to make Christians pay the price even when privately performing actions that conflict with the progressive agenda.
For example, an intern at California State University Long Beach was terminated for discussing her faith with coworkers, even though she did it only in her off hours. A manager in a national insurance firm was fired for expressing his opposition to gay marriage in a post he wrote online from his home computer. Brendan Eich, chief executive of Mozilla, was forced to resign when it was discovered he had personally contributed $1,000 to support California’s Proposition 8, which defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
Ø STAGE 4: INTIMIDATING
In 2013, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued Mercy Health Partners, a Catholic hospital, because it did not offer abortion services to a client experiencing a difficult pregnancy. As noted in the National Review, “The issue is not whether those who wish to avail themselves of certain services will be able to, but that those who object to them must be forced to participate.”
In 2014, several Houston pastors encouraged Christians to sign a petition calling for a referendum on an ordinance that allowed men and women to use one another’s restrooms. The Houston city government, under mayor Annise Parker, ordered five of the pastors to turn over all sermons, text messages, and emails addressing homosexuality or gender issues. Refusal to comply would mean contempt of court and jail time. Mayor Parker later rescinded the subpoenas in the wake of a nationwide negative reaction.
Ø STAGE 5: LITIGATING
A growing number of Christians are being taken to court for refusing to compromise their Christian convictions. At the frontline of the battle are small businesses that provide wedding services. All of these cases are truly outrageous. I am aware of one case in Oregon, one in Colorado, and two in California, and I’m sure there are many more in the works. In the case of the Colorado bakery, the owner, a Christian, declined in 2018 to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple. This case actually made it all the way to the Supreme Court. When he wins an appeal, someone else or some civil rights group brings suit against him. This is still going on and probably will until some court goes against him and he is sued for everything he owns and/or ends up in jail! Many Christians have paid heavily for standing by their convictions. Some lost their life’s savings, others were forced out of business or into bankruptcy, and several even received death threats from activists. Unless there is a major turnaround, we can expect lawsuits and court judgments against Christians who practice their faith to escalate.
I used to think America was a long way off from the kind of persecution that involves torture and death, such as Christians endured in the NT and now endure in other countries. But today, I believe it is much closer than any of us think. One never knows what may lurk around the next corner.
III. STORY OF CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION (Mt. 10:16-18, 21-22; Rom. 1:20)
Christianity has suffered severe opposition from its inception, beginning with Christ Himself. He was plotted against, arrested, convicted in a rigged trial, scourged, and crucified. He warned that following Him would mean similar persecution. Consider His words to His disciples in Matthew 10.
[READ Mt. 10:16-18, 21-22]
16 Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 But beware of men, for they will deliver you over to the courts and flog you in their synagogues; 18 and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles … 21 And brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. 22 And you will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.
Although I do not agree with him on all theological points, Eugene Peterson did get this one right. I quote, “God’s revelation of Himself is rejected far more often that it is accepted, is dismissed by far more people than embrace it, and has been either attacked or ignored by every major culture or civilization in which it has given its witness” end quote.
Why does the gift of salvation encounter such persistent opposition? It’s because along with salvation comes submission to God. But since humanity’s fall, people have resisted submission to any power outside of self. They demand freedom to define right and wrong for themselves.
Christian behavior angers non-Christians because it makes them feel judged. It resurrects the moral accountability that God planted in every human heart. But as Paul wrote, the existence of God and the tenets of natural law are too obvious to be suppressed. He writes in …
[READ Rom. 1:20]
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, both His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
When Christianity arouses the consciences of non-Christians, their response is seldom to accept the message but rather to silence the messenger. This is why persecution has been a persistent counterpoint to Christianity.
Ø PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN THE BIBLE
Persecution in the NT begins shortly after Christ’s birth and does not end until the final chapters of Revelation. Here are a few of the most notable examples:
King Herod, fearful of reports that a prophesied king had been born in Bethlehem, tried to protect his dynasty by killing all the male babies born there within the prophetic time frame (Mt. 2:1-16).
John the Baptist, the first public proclaimer of Christ, was beheaded by Herod’s son, Herod Antipas (Mk. 6:25-29).
The Jewish people, angered over Jesus’ message, tried to kill Him before their successful crucifixion plot (Lk. 4:28-30; 13:31; Jn. 5:16, 18; 7:1, 19, 25, 44; 8:37, 40; 11:53).
Peter and other apostles were arrested, beaten, and imprisoned for preaching Christ (Acts 4:1-3; 5:17-18, 22-40; 12:1-4).
Stephen was stoned to death for preaching Christ (Acts 7:54-60).
The first Christian converts living in Jerusalem fled persecution by the Jewish leaders (Acts 8:1).
All the apostles died violent deaths at the hands of their persecutors except John, who was exiled to the island of Patmos (Rev. 1:9).
Paul was imprisoned, stoned almost to death, five times beaten with 39 stripes, three times beaten with rods, run out of town, and often hungry, cold, and without adequate clothing (2 Cor. 11:22-29).
Soon after Pentecost, many Christians were forced to leave their homes and faced imprisonment or death. Did this make them bitter, unhappy, or regretful? Hardly! Instead of bemoaning their fate, Luke tells us that they formed a flourishing, supportive community.
[READ Acts 4:32-33]
32 And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and not one was saying that any of his possessions was his own, but, for them, everything was common. 33 And with great power the apostles were bearing witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.
When Peter and John reported how they had been arrested, jailed, and warned never to preach about Jesus again, they prayed …
[READ Acts 4:29-30]
29 “And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your slaves may speak Your word with all confidence, 30 while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders happen through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.”
Persecution increased their dedication and made them bolder in proclaiming the truth. It is an inspiring example for us today.
Ø PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN HISTORY
In the first century, Romans under Nero burned Christians on stakes and fed them to lions for arena entertainment. Later, the Roman emperor Domitian declared himself to be “lord and god” and executed Christians who refused to worship him.
Other empires, nations, and religions also have taken up the sword against Christians:
Seventeenth-century Japan made Christianity illegal, expelled missionaries, and executed converts.
Eighteenth-century China made Christianity illegal and persecuted Christians severely.
The French Revolution of 1789 outlawed Christianity. Clergy were banished or killed. Churches were desecrated, and all semblances of Christianity were removed.
The Ottoman Empire has a long history of persecuting Christians. Estimates of Christian deaths during the history of the empire run as high as 50 million.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, churches and Christian teaching were made illegal. The state confiscated all church property. Millions of dissenters were executed.
Ø PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN TODAY’S WORLD
Let me share just a few of the persecutions leveled against believers in Christ, which have made headlines just during the month of March 2026. I am sure you will find them startling:
“The government in the North Indian state of Bihar announced a plan to review the anti-conversion laws to determine whether to implement one in Bihar as well.” Next --
“In China, Xi’s administration detained leaders of the Zion Church, the largest house church in the country. The purge included its lead pastor, Ezra Jin. Charges were confirmed in November, ensuring that Jin will remain in prison for a long period of time.” Next --
“Acehnese Indonesian pastor, Dedi Saputra, has been detained by police investigators. The arrest was made after Saputra allegedly shared content on social media the authorities claim was hate speech insulting to Islam.” Next --
“A Christian family was brutally attacked in Central India after they refused to deny Christ.” Next --
“Pastor Jagadish Mishra prepared to lead a worship service at his home in Odisha, India with 30 Christians present. A mob of 50 angry Hindus stormed the pastor’s home and started brutally beating him, knocking him to the ground and repeatedly punching and kicking him.” Next --
“Mission Eurasia, a parachurch ministry dedicated to equipping churches in and around Ukraine, reports Russian forces have damaged or destroyed at least 737 religious buildings since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. Of the 737 buildings affected, about 450 were Baptist churches.” Next --
“In Nigeria nine Fulani herdsmen went on trial for their role in organizing the June 2025 Benue massacre, which killed more than 270 Christians.”
And these are not isolated events. In our modern world:
Every day, an average of more than 12 Christians are killed for their faith. That’s one Christian every two hours … murdered because they follow Jesus. Other numbers are just as horrifying. According to Open Doors World Watch List for 2025:
7,679 churches or public Christian properties were attacked or forced to close.
4,744 believers were arrested, imprisoned, detained without trial or sentenced because of their faith.
3,775 followers of Jesus were abducted.
3,944 Christians were sexually assaulted, sexually harassed or forced to marry non-Christians.
55,000 believers were mentally or physically abused for their faith.
28,368 houses, shops or businesses belonging to Christians were attacked.
210,000 followers of Christ were forced to flee their homes.
Unfortunately, statistics like these fail to get the attention of most Christians in America. They seem in stark contrast to the life of a believer in the US. As modern-day Americans who have never lived in oppression, we’re prone to take our freedoms for granted. We don’t face isolation from our families and friends; we aren’t denied access to basic needs such as water, food, and healthcare, and we are not violently abused, imprisoned, and killed.
Yet, when Jesus was asked by His disciples about the end times and the sign of His coming, He prophesied that there would not only be wars, famine, and earthquakes, but that persecution would increase, especially as His return approached (Mt. 24). That is certainly happening on a global scale, and it appears as if the seeds of Christian persecution are being planted in America as well.
IV. THE SIDE EFFECTS OF THIS PERSECUTION
How should Christians in the US react to persecution? Our first response might naturally be anger. But the NT gives us a more constructive response. The early Christians suffered severe persecution, but we don’t find them responding in anger. On the contrary, they found positive benefits in suffering.
Paul told the Philippian church …
[READ Phil. 1:29]
29 For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.
Paul made suffering sound like a gift. Really? The natural impulse is to say we’d like to return it. But to reject suffering is to miss out on enormous blessings. Let’s explore just what this means.
Ø SUFFERING PROMOTES CHARACTER
A man came to his pastor and said, “Pastor, would you please pray that God will give me patience?”
Two weeks later, he returned and said, “Good grief, Pastor! Terrible things are happening to me. My life’s coming unglued.”
“Well,” replied the pastor, “you wanted patience. The Bible says, ‘Tribulation works patience,’ so I prayed for tribulation. God must be answering my prayer.”
Although persecution is inflicted by enemies of God, He can use it to mold us into greater Christlikeness. As Paul told us,
[READ Rom. 5:3-4]
3 And not only this, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; ….
Contrary to what we often hear, the call to follow Christ is not a call to an easy life. As John Ortberg put it, “God isn’t at work producing the circumstances I want. God is at work in bad circumstances to produce the me He wants.”
Ø SUFFERING PROVOKES COURAGE
Courage reflects Christ’s character in adverse circumstances. It is the crucial virtue that Christians must deploy when facing cultural demands that conflict with biblical teaching.
The apostles Peter and John faced such a demand when the Jewish leaders hauled them into court and demanded them to stop preaching Christ. Peter and John replied,
[READ Acts 4:19-20]
19 … “Whether it is right in the sight of God to hear you rather than God, you be the judge; 20 for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
After Paul’s conversion, his life became a sterling example of this kind of courage. As he wrote to the Philippians …
[READ Phil. 1:20-21, NIV]
20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Ø SUFFERING PROVES GODLINESS
A.W. Tozer wrote, “To be right with God has often meant to be in trouble with men.” As Paul put it,
[READ 2 Tim. 3:12]
12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
It’s a matter of simple logic: Why would the enemies of Christianity bother anyone who is not displaying the nature of Christ?
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote, “If you are suffering as a Christian, and because you are a Christian, it is one of the surest proofs you can ever have of the fact that you are a child of God.”
Ø SUFFERING PRODUCES JOY
When we realize the purpose and positive results of suffering persecution, it can become a source of joy, as it was for Paul and Silas when they encountered opposition.
[READ Acts 16:23-25]
23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
These disciples, beaten and imprisoned without a trial, were so joyful they burst into song! This tells us that the source of joy is our relationship with God, and that relationship is affirmed when we courageously endure persecution.
Ø SUFFERING PROVIDES REWARDS
The Scriptures abound with promises of rewards for those who endure suffering. Often, however, we allow these future rewards to be obscured by immediate gratifications. Moses could easily have allowed the immediate to obscure the distant. Raised as a prince in Egypt’s royal palace, he had access to riches, pleasure, status, and power. But the Bible tells us:
[READ Heb. 11:24-26]
24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26 regarding the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.
Moses was willing not only to turn his back on immediate pleasure, position, and power but also to suffer affliction in order to receive the promised eternal reward. What are some of the rewards promised to those who endure persecutions?
They will be avenged by God (Rev. 6:9-11; 16:5-7; 19:2).
They will be given perfect and abundant lives free of sorrow (Rev. 7:14-17).
They will find eternal rest (Rev. 14:13).
They will receive the crown of eternal life (Jas. 1:12).
They will have no more death to fear (1 Cor. 15:54; Rev. 20:14).
These are just a few of the rewards that await those who suffer persecution for Christ’s sake. Paul wrote …
[READ Rom. 8:18]
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
V. THE STRENGTH TO FACE PERSECUTION
Many Christians have not yet faced serious opposition for their beliefs. When we are untested, we wonder just how strong we will be when it is our freedom, our job, or our pocketbook on the line.
Paul knew the importance of preparing his converts for suffering. He said to the believers in Thessalonica:
[READ 1 Thes. 3:2-4]
2 … And we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith, 3 so that no one would be shaken by these afflictions, for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this. 4 For indeed when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction, just as it happened and as you know.
You may recall from our study of Jesus’ Olivet Discourse several months back, that I told you about Richard Wurmbrand who was a Romanian evangelical minister and a Jew who spent fourteen years in Communist imprisonment and torture in his homeland of Romania. His experience led him to help others prepare for suffering. He said, “We have to make the preparation now. Before we are imprisoned. In prison you lose everything …. Nothing of what makes life pleasant remains. Nobody resists who has not renounced the pleasures of life beforehand.”
Let’s look at three things we can do to prepare for that moment when persecution comes.
Ø DETERMINE TO STAND FOR THE TRUTH
To live worthy of the gospel is to stand for God’s truth without bending. As Paul urged the Corinthians,
[READ 1 Cor. 16:13-14]
13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, be brave, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love.
Wherever we are, we are called to be God’s agents at that time and place. Whatever the situation, our task is simple: Don’t think about the cost or the result; just think about what you decided in advance that you would do when you are tested.
We naturally seek the approval of our peer groups, but peer acceptance is one of the things we may be called to sacrifice. This means willingness to be labeled a prude for avoiding entertainment, speech, and activities that promote immorality, sacrilege, or ungodly values. It means willingness to be labeled stupid for believing in creation, homophobic for rejecting homosexuality, anti-feminist for rejecting abortion, and intolerant for professing the exclusivity of Christ. As Paul put it, we must be willing to be “fools for Christ’s sake” (1 Cor. 4:10).
It is our duty to speak out for biblical truth when it is attacked. But it is also our duty to confront with love, taking care that we do not justify the labels of hate and intolerance. Paul gave us our rules of engagement …
[READ 1 Cor. 4:12-13]
12 … When we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; 13 when we are slandered, we try to plead ….
When faced with persecution, we must defend our faith with reason and civility.
[READ 1 Pet. 3:15-16]
15 But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and fear, 16 having a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame.
Ø DRAW SUPPORT FROM ONE ANOTHER
When we are under attack, having a supportive group of people who share our beliefs makes resisting easier. This is why regular church attendance is critical to a healthy Christian lifestyle. By attendance, I mean more than just showing up on Sunday morning. Attend classes, serve others, become involved in outreach, and participate in fellowship. The church needs you, and you need the church.
The writer of Hebrews puts it this way:
[READ Heb. 10:24-25]
24 And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
We need other Christians with whom we can share encouragement, struggles, and victories.
Ø DERIVE YOUR SECURITY FROM THE LORD
The key to standing firm in the face of persecution is to remember that we belong to Christ, and He secures us in His hand. Thus, we need not fear danger to our reputations, our jobs, our finances, or even our physical lives.
[READ Mt. 16:25]
25 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
We also draw courage from knowing the glory that awaits us:
[READ Phil. 3:20]
20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ ….
John Chrysostom, (4th Century) the archbishop of Constantinople, ran afoul of Byzantine Empress Eudoxia for preaching against the court’s misuses of wealth, the neglect of the poor, and immoral indulgences. False charges of heresy were brought against Chrysostom, and he was brought before the empress for trial. When he refused to bend, the story is told that the empress threatened to banish him.
“You cannot banish me,” Chrysostom replied, “For this world is my Father’s house.”
“But I will kill you,” said Eudoxia.
“No, you cannot, for my life is hidden with Christ in God.”
“I will take away your treasures.”
“No, you cannot, for my treasure is in heaven and my heart is there.”
“But I will drive you away from your friends,” said Eudoxia.
“No, you cannot, for I have a Friend in heaven from whom you cannot separate me. There is nothing you can do to harm me.”
What do you do with a man like that? Eudoxia finally exiled Chrysostom to such hostile conditions that they eventually brought about his death.
We, like Chrysostom, must realize that our persecutors can’t take anything from us that we don’t already have securely fixed in Christ. That’s the key to standing up to persecution.
It is not likely, but certainly possible, that Christians in America will soon face martyrdom. But we can draw courage from martyrs throughout the centuries and Christians who are now enduring severe persecution in other countries. If they can stand strong in the face of torture and death, we should be willing to stand strong in the face of the Christian repression that is rising in our nation today.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, I ask You to fill us and our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ with endurance and patience as they face trials and opposition. Strengthen their hearts to persevere when their circumstances are overwhelming. Help them to trust Your timing, to rejoice in Your promises, and to remain steadfast in their faith in You. Let their patience produce spiritual growth, resilience, and hope. Grant them the ability to endure without resentment, to rely fully on Your guidance and grace; and to daily experience Your sustaining love as they remain faithful witnesses in every hardship. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
Invitation Slides: “Farther Along” (vs. 1,3,4)
Benediction: Beloved, since you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For when you were saved, you died to this world, and your life has been hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory. Amen. (Col. 3:1-4)
SIGNS -The Culture - Radical Islam - Audio Link
RADICAL ISLAM
Text: Selected Scriptures from the LSB
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we ask that today as we learn more about the insidiousness of radical Islam and the terror it spreads throughout our world, that You will help us to see that behind this false religion, our enemy Satan is working to deceive the Muslims to annihilate Christians and Jews alike. We are so thankful that You are our Protector and Defender. We are reminded of the words of the psalmist (10:17, NIV) “You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.” We use this promise to pray against all terrorists and acts of evil meant to strike fear into our hearts. We pray that we will not be shaken. Show us how to seek healing, hope and security for all who are victims of terror. We pray for a fresh empowering of your Holy Spirit to fall upon us even as I offer this prayer. May we continue to pray with faith, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” We invite the Holy Spirit’s strength, help, and miraculous wonder working power to have full reign in our hearts and minds, and in our hurting, terrified world. I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Risen Lord. Amen.
Introduction: Georges Sada was a general under Saddam Hussein. He was a military hero, Iraq’s top air force pilot, and the man Saddam called on to hear the truth about military matters. In his book Saddam’s Secrets, Sada speaks about the spreading impact of Islam around the world:
I’m often asked about militant Islam and the threat of global terrorism. More than once I’ve been asked about the meaning of the Arabic words “Fatah” and “Jihad.” What I normally tell them is that to followers of the militant brand of Islam, these doctrines express the belief that Allah has commanded them to conquer the nations of the world both by cultural invasion and by the sword. In some cases, this means moving thousands of Muslim families into a foreign land – by building mosques and changing the culture from the inside out, and by refusing to assimilate or adopt the beliefs or values of that nation – to conquer the land for Islam. This is an invidious (repugnant) doctrine, but it’s … being carried out in some places today by followers of this type of Islam.
Sada went on to warn Americans not to think that the Islamic revolution is a Middle Eastern or European problem. Their ultimate goal is conquest of the West and America:
[They] won’t be stopped by appeasement. They are not interested in political solutions. They don’t want welfare – their animosity is not caused by hunger or poverty or anything of the sort. They understand only one thing: total and complete conquest of the West and the destruction of anyone who does not bow to them and their dangerous and out-of-date ideology of hate and revenge.
Americans do not seem to take the threat of Islam seriously. In fact, the Pew Research Center tells us that US citizens are essentially oblivious to the potential danger of radical Muslims. A recent poll indicated that “only 16% of the public report knowing a lot about the religious beliefs and practices of Muslims, while more than 8 in 10 say they know a little (57%) or nothing at all (26 %).”
According to Sada, Americans are particularly vulnerable to the spread of militant Islam because our enemies take advantage of traits that we consider socially positive:
One of the nicest things about the American people is that you are generous and friendly people, and because of this you are sometimes naïve and overly trusting. You want to be friendly, so you open up to people and then you’re surprised when they stab you in the back. Many brave young soldiers have died in Iraq for this reason, but I think this is also a big part of the problem with the State Department and others in government who fail to understand the true nature of this enemy.
The rise of radical Islam and the prevalence of terrorism has impacted the West in ways that cannot be overstated, especially since 9/11. We experience it every time we wait in an airport security line, every time we hear reports of another attack, and every time we turn on the news and hear commentators describe how Islamic culture is growing in our own land.
Radical Islam is more than a threat to our way of life. It’s also a sign of the last days. In their book “Armageddon, Oil, and Terror,” Drs. John Walvoord and Mark Hitchcock state:
The rise of Islamic terror is setting the stage for the events in Ezekiel 38-39. These chapters prophesy an invasion of Israel in the end times by a vast coalition of nations, all of whom are Islamic today except Russia. Israel has said that a new “axis of terror” – Iran, Syria, and the Hamas-run Palestinian government – is sowing the seeds of the first world war of the 21st century. The rise of Islam, and especially radical Islamic terrorism, strikingly foreshadows Ezekiel’s great prophecy.
Not long ago, Fox News aired a special called “Radical Islam: Terror in Its Own Words,” which featured shocking clips from Islamic television showing clerics and political leaders advocating attacks on the United States and Israel. The documentary included programs shown on Islamic TV in which children sing of their desire to participate in violent jihad or to become suicide bombers. And it aired footage from a radical Islamic rally in California where the audience was told, “One day you will see the flag of Islam over the White House.”
In the face of such reports, one of the most unsettling puzzles about Islam is the contention by some Muslim leaders that they are a peace-loving people. Yet even as they make the claim, Islamic terrorists continue to brutally murder any person or group with whom they find fault. Former radical Shi’ite Muslim Reza F. Safa asked:
If Islam is a peaceful religion, then why did Muhammad engage in 47 battles? Why, in every campaign the Muslim armies have fought throughout history, have they slaughtered men, women, and children who did not bow their knees to the lordship of Islam? The reign of terror of men such as Saddam, Khomeini, Gaddafi, Idi Amin and many other Muslim dictators are modern examples. If Islam is peaceful, why are there so many verses in the Qu’ran about killing the infidels and those who resist Islam? If Islam is peaceful, why isn’t there even one Muslim country that will allow freedom of religion and speech? Not one! If Islam is peaceful, who is imparting this awful violence to hundreds of Islamic groups throughout the world who kill innocent people in the name of Allah?
THE HISTORY OF ISLAM
To get a handle on these contradictory sides of Islam, it will help us to delve briefly into the history of how the religion came to be and what beliefs it holds today.
The name Islam literally means “submission.” A Muslim is “one who submits to God.” There are about 2.5 billion Muslims in our world today. Approximately 3.5 million live in the United States, which is about 1.1% of the US adult population. While we usually associate Islam with the Middle East, the largest Muslim populations are actually in the Asia-Pacific region.
According to Islamic tradition, the founder of Islam, Muhammad, was born in Mecca (in present-day Saudi Arabia) in AD 570. Mecca was a thriving center of religious pilgrimage, filled with temples and statues dedicated to the many gods the Arabian people worshiped at the time.
Muhammad’s father died before the prophet was born, and his mother died when he was six years old. He was raised by his paternal grandfather, grew up to become a camel driver and then a merchant, and, at the age of 26, married a wealthy caravan owner named Khadija. Khadija was 40 years old and had been divorced four times. In spite of her age, she and Muhammad had six children together.
Muhammad worked in professions that brought him into contact with Christians and Jews who caused him to question the religion of his people. He was 40 years old and meditating in a cave outside Mecca when he received his first revelation. From that moment on, according to his testimony, God occasionally revealed to him messages that he declared to the people. These messages, which Muhammad received throughout his life, form the verses of the Qu’ran, which Muslims regard as the divine word of God.
In the 7th century Arabian world, the people worshiped more than 360 gods, one for each day of the lunar year. One of these was the moon god, the male counterpart to their female sun god. The moon god was called by various names, one of which was Allah, and it was the favorite god of Muhammad’s family.
As Muhammad began to promote his new religion, he elevated the moon god, Allah, and declared him to be the one true God. His devotion to Allah was fierce. In establishing and spreading his religion of Islam, Muhammad slaughtered thousands of people who resisted conversion.
Opposition in Mecca forced Muhammad and his followers to flee to Medina in AD 620, where he became the head of the first Muslim community. In AD 631, he returned to Mecca, where he died the following year. At his death, the Islamic community became bitterly divided over who would be Muhammad’s successor. Even today that division survives in the two Islamic sects, now known as Shi’ite and Sunni. Conflict between these sects is one of the major stress points throughout the Islamic world.
At the death of Muhammad, the group we know as the Sunni followed the leadership of Muhammad’s personally chosen successor, Abu Bakr. The Sunni now comprise about 90% of the Islamic world. They believe that Muhammad’s spiritual gifts died with him and that their only authority today is the Qu’ran.
The Shi’ites, on the other hand, followed Muhammad’s son-in-law Ali, believing Ali had inherited Muhammad’s spiritual gifts. Winfried Corduan explains, “The Shi’ites believe that their leaders, the imams, have authority on par with the Qu’ran. It is the Shi’ites that believe that the 12th Imam went into concealment hundreds of years ago and continues to live there until he returns as the Mahdi … the Muslim Messiah.”
Abu Bakr and his successors launched holy wars that spread Islam from northern Spain to India and threatened Christian Europe. Christians resisted the threat, and a series of wars followed that drove the Islamic invaders back into the Middle Eastern countries, where they still dominate. Their zeal to have their religion control the world has not diminished, however, and it remains a threat to all who do not maintain vigilance.
THE HABITS OF ISLAM
Sunni Muslims mandate five acts of worship, which are frequently referred to as the five pillars of Islam. Shi’ite Muslim worship comprises eight ritual practices, but these encompass the same five pillars of Islam as practiced by the Sunni. The five pillars are as follows:
To recite the Shahadah: The Shahadah is the Islamic creed, “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger.” Its recitation is the duty of every Muslim.
To pray (salat): Muslims pray while bowing toward Mecca five times each day: in the early morning, in the early and late afternoon, at sunset, and an hour after sunset.
To give alms (zakat): Muslims are required to give 2.5% of their income to those in need. They may give more as a means of gaining further divine reward, but 2.5% is an obligated minimum.
To fast (sawm): Muslims refrain from food during the daylight hours throughout the lunar month of Ramadan. This month is to be given over to meditation and reflection, and it ends with a celebration.
To make the pilgrimage (hajj): Those physically and financially able must visit Mecca at least once during their lifetime. The journey usually takes at least a week and includes many stops at other holy sites along the way.
THE HATRED OF ISLAM
No doubt the most frightening word associated with Islam is jihad. Sometimes called the “sixth pillar” of Islam, jihad means “struggle.” The “Greater Jihad” is the inner struggle of each Muslim to submit to Allah. The “Lesser Jihad” is the outward struggle to defend the Islamic community. This is the jihad that strikes fear in the hearts of any who reject radical Islam. These Muslims take jihad to mean the violent defense of Islam and expansion of the Islamic religion even by means of deadly aggression.
The hatred that the Muslims have for the Jews is well documented. But the settlement of Israel into her homeland in 1948 took this hatred to a new level of murderous fury. Militants and radicals refer to Israel as “little Satan” and the United States as “big Satan,” and they are determined to wipe both countries off of the map.
While the majority of the world’s Muslims attempt to live in peace with their neighbors, the number of radicals who preach violence and terror is growing around the world. Today, there is not a single predominantly Muslim nation on earth where Christians are not persecuted. As General Sada warned, we cannot afford to relax our vigilance in the name of tolerance and multiculturalism.
THE HOPES OF ISLAM
Radical Islam has a vision of its future that does not bode well for those who stand in the way. To gain a better understanding of this vision, we’ll look briefly at some of goals the Islamic world hopes to achieve.
ISLAM HOPES TO RULE THE WORLD
It is one thing to read about Muslim determination to take over the world; it is quite another to watch it happening before our eyes, as it is in Europe. The most startling social migration of our age is the Islamification of Europe. Tony Blankley of the Washington Times sounded an alarm about this Islamic infiltration:
The threat of the radical Islamists taking over Europe is every bit as great to the United States as was the threat of the Nazis taking over Europe in the 1940s. … To point out the obvious, the resurgence of a militant Islam drove America to fight two wars in Muslim countries in two years, disrupted America’s alliance with Europe, caused the largest reorganization of American government in half a century (with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security), changed election results in Europe, and threatened the stability of most of the governments of the Middle East.
We can easily see and resist the effects of jihad in militant terrorism, but we have trouble seeing and resisting the subtler strategy that the Muslims call fatah. Fatah is infiltration, moving into a country in numbers large enough to insert the influence of Islam. In places where a military invasion will not succeed, the slow, systematic, and unrelenting methods of fatah are conquering entire nations. General Sada gives two examples which are instructive, the first concerning France.
What we’re seeing in many places is a “demographic revolution.” Some experts have projected that by the year 2040, 80% of the population of France will be Muslim. At that point the Muslim majority will control commerce, industry, education, and religion in that country. They will also, of course, control the government, as well, and occupy all the key positions in the French Parliament. And a Muslim will be president.
Islamification is also happening in England, where Muslims are advancing their goal of dominance by taking advantage of the British policy of pluralistic tolerance. An example occurred in September 2006 when the British home secretary, John Reid, gave a speech to Muslim parents in east London, encouraging them to protect their children from becoming suicide bombers. The London Telegraph reported, “A fundamentalist Muslim leader shouted the speaker down. He ranted, ‘How dare you come to a Muslim area? … I am absolutely furious – John Reid should not come to a Muslim area.’” Muslims are not only massively immigrating to Western countries but are also claiming entitlements to keep their settlements off-limits to native citizens.
In early 2008, England’s archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, gave the world a stunning example of General Sada’s claim of Western naïvety concerning Islamic intentions. Williams told a BBC correspondent that the growing Islamic population in Britain made it expedient to be accommodative. He said “the UK has to ‘face up to the fact’” that it “seems unavoidable” that Islam’s legal system, sharia law, will be incorporated into British law. His term for this blending of laws was “constructive accommodation.” Sharia law, derived from the Qu’ran and teachings of Muhammad, is the legal system by which Muslims are to live. In the West, the law is fairly benign and deals mainly with family and business. But in Muslim countries, it can include such things as honor killings in cases of suspected immorality.
You may hear other terms used to describe the Islamic goal of world domination. For example, “biological jihad” or “demographic jihad” describes the nonviolent strategy of Muslims moving into Europe and the West and having more babies than their hosts. Within several generations they hope to repopulate traditionally Christian cultures with their own people, and they are certainly on track to reach that goal. According to a Vatican report, the Roman Catholic Church understands this: “For the first time in history, we are no longer at the top: Muslims have overtaken us.”
ISLAM HOPES TO RETURN ITS MESSIAH
In 2005, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was called before the United Nations Security Council to explain his determination to develop nuclear weapons. He ended his speech with this prayer: “I pray to you to hasten the emergence of your last repository, the promised one, that perfect and pure human being, the one that will fill this world with justice and peace.” The “promised one” in Ahmadinejad’s prayer was a reference to the Twelfth Imam, a figure in Shi’ite teaching that parallels the figure of Al-Mahdi in Sunni teaching. In essence, both of these titles refer to the Islamic messiah who is yet to come.
Shi’a Islam believes that the Twelfth Imam can appear only during a time of worldwide chaos. Even though the hope for an Islamic messiah is surely futile, the chaos that radical Islamic leaders are creating to bring about that hope is all too real. Many of the biblical prophecies concerning the end times will be brought about by the beliefs and actions of radical Islam. And we are beginning to feel the pressure of those impending events in the rapid spread of Islamic radicalism in our own time.
RESPONDING TO THE ISLAMIC THREAT
How are we responding to the rise of Islamic radicalism? Not too well, I’m afraid. On the whole, those who shape our culture and policies are inadvertently accommodating the radical agenda of Islamic conquest. We must stop being deceived about this threat. We must stand our ground and affirm truths that many people seem all too willing to give up in the name of tolerance and accommodation.
I want to share two truths where there is a lot of confusion today. It is critical that we affirm these truths to maintain a clear understanding of the vast chasm that exists between Christianity and Islam.
“ALLAH” IS NOT ANOTHER NAME FOR THE GOD OF THE BIBLE
In mid-August 2007, Dutch Catholic Bishop Muskens said that he “wants everyone to call God ‘Allah.’” He explained during an interview on Dutch TV, “Allah is a very beautiful word for God. Shouldn’t we all say that from now on? We will name God Allah.” A Roman Catholic news analyst disagreed with the bishop, stating, “Words and names mean things. Referring to God as Allah means something.”
Indeed, it does! As Stan Goodenough reminded his Jerusalem Newswire readers, in the name of Allah, people hijack planes and use them to wreak unspeakable devastation, blow themselves up in crowded public venues to annihilate innocent people, and in the name of Allah, “millions of people pray for the destruction of Israel and the United States.” Goodenough observed that when God introduced Himself to Moses, He gave His name as Yahweh. He went on to say, “He also has many other names describing aspects of His nature and character. ‘Allah’ is not one of them.’”
Bishop Muskens surely knows the Biblical names for God, so what was he thinking when he urged Christians to call God “Allah”? A statement on his diocese’s website explained, “If Muslims and Christians address God with the same name, this contributes to harmonious living between both religions.” When Islamic leaders saw this, their mosques must have rung with the slaps of high fives. Their policy of fatah is working beautifully. And they must have been overjoyed when the spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations embraced Muskens’ proposal, saying, “It reinforces the fact that Muslims, Christians, and Jews all worship the same God.”
We hear this appalling claim often these days, but nothing could be further from the truth. Allah and God are emphatically not the same! The God of the Bible is knowable. According to the Qu’ran, Allah is so exalted that he cannot be known. The God of the Bible is a personal Being with intellect, emotion, and will. Muslim theology tells us Allah is not to be understood as a person. The God of the Bible is one God in three Persons. The Qu’ran denies the Trinity and views it as a heresy. The God of the Bible is a God of love. Allah does not have emotional feelings toward humanity. The God of the Bible is a God of grace. According to the Qu’ran, there is no Savior. And remember from earlier, Muhammad named Allah as the god of his new religion Islam. And the reason was that Allah was his family’s favorite Arab deity. As a member of the more than 360 Arab pantheon, Allah was originally the moon god – a manmade deity. Clearly, the God of the Bible and Allah are not at all the same and should never be equated with each other.
THE QU’RAN IS NOT A DIVINE BOOK ON PAR WITH THE BIBLE
Many people also say that we should consider the Qu’ran to be on the same level as the Bible. A comparison of the two books shows the absurdity of such a claim. The Bible is a masterpiece of cohesion, depth, and consistency. God inspired more than forty men over a period of 1,400 years to write the God-breathed words that carry His unified message from Genesis to Revelation.
[READ 2 Tim. 3:16]
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.
The Qu’ran, on the other hand, is a self-contradicting book supposedly given by the angel Gabriel to Muhammad. Since Muhammad could neither read nor write, his sayings were translated and collected from the memories of those who had heard him.
Objective readers who have read both the Bible and the Qu’ran are immediately able to tell the difference between the quality and comprehensibility of the two books. Historian Edward Gibbon is an example of such a reader. Gibbon could hardly be accused of being a Christian, yet he described the Qu’ran as “an incoherent rhapsody of fable, and precept, and declamation, which sometimes crawls in the dust, and sometimes is lost in the clouds.”
MUSLIMS ARE WITHIN THE REACH OF GOD’S GRACE
Most of us find it hard to pray for avowed enemies who threaten our destruction, but let’s look at what Jesus said about this.
[READ Mt. 5:44]
44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
There is good evidence that such prayers are effective. I know some of you watch Dr. David Jeremiah’s weekly sermons on Turning Point. This program is available in many Arab countries. They routinely get correspondence from individuals who have come to Christ through the ministry of God’s Word via satellite TV. Recently they received a letter from an Arab country in which the writer rejoiced that he had accepted Christ. A postscript in the letter pleaded with them not to send any materials to his home address. This is a sobering reminder of the courage it takes for a Muslim in an Islamic country to confess Christ as Savior.
God is at work in the Islamic world. Many Muslims are even being confronted with the gospel in their dreams. One Saudi Arabian had a terrifying nightmare in which he was being taken into hell. He claims this vivid and horrifying dream destroyed his sleep night after night. Then one night, Jesus appeared in his dream and said, “Son, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And if you would give your life to Me, I will save you from the hell that you have seen.”
This young man knew something of Jesus from the distorted teachings of the Qu’ran, but he didn’t know the Jesus of the NT. So, he began searching for a Christian who could help him. Christianity is banned in Saudi Arabia, and a Christian caught witnessing to a Muslim could be beheaded, so the young man’s search took time. But the Lord eventually led him to an Egyptian Christian who gave him a Bible. He began reading, and when he got to the NT, he was moved to give his life to Christ.
Soon afterward, an enemy of the young man discovered his conversion and reported him. The authorities arrested and imprisoned him. In jail, he was tortured and sentenced to death by beheading. But on the morning of his scheduled execution, no one showed up to escort him from his cell. Two days later, the authorities threw open his cell door and screamed at him, “You demon! Get out of this place!”
The man learned later that his execution had not occurred because on the very day he was to be beheaded, the son of his accuser had mysteriously died. This new Christian is now quietly working to bring other Muslims to faith in Christ.
IN CONCLUSION
There is no doubt that we live in an age of terror. The threat of terrorism affects us every time we go to an airport, or cast a vote. It affects the policies of nations and the daily lives of individuals. What is the Church’s response to terrorism? It certainly affects us. In some places, the Church has been the target of terror attacks. In order for the Church to fully engage this threat, we must see the spiritual aspect of what is happening.
Turn with me to Isaiah 59. As I read this passage of Scripture, I want you to consider whether the prophet’s words are able to be applied to the terrorists of our day.
[READ Isa. 59:6-8]
6 … Their works are works of wickedness, and a deed of violence is in their hands. 7 Their feet run to evil, and they are quick to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of wickedness; devastation and destruction are in their highways. 8 They do not know the way of peace, and there is no justice in their tracks; they have made their paths crooked, whoever treads on them does not know peace.
Terrorism is not merely a matter of physical struggle. It is a spiritual battle as well. This type of blind violence is indicative of Satan’s handiwork. Jesus said of Satan in John 8 and 10 that he is a liar, a thief and a murderer. His intent is to steal, kill and destroy. In Revelation chapter 12, the devil is described as he who leads the whole world astray. He is filled with fury because he knows his time is short.
Brian Mills once said, “Satan undermines truth, is full of self-importance, has revealed that children are a legitimate target, is vehemently anti-Jewish and anti-Christian, and seeks to interrupt our communication with God, and with one another. In short, Satan is a terrorist! We see a spirit of violence, intrinsic within radical Islam, being turned outwards.”
Because the struggle against terrorism is only one aspect of the cosmic war between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of the prince of this world, Christians must step up to the forefront of the battle. As in all of our warfare, prayer becomes a major weapon in our arsenal.
Going back to Isaiah, the prophet cries out to the nation of Judah,
[READ Isa. 62:6]
6 On
your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen;
All day and
all night they will never keep silent.
You who remind Yahweh,
take no rest for yourselves ….
Beloved, America needs watchmen. God is calling us to the walls to watch and pray. Our prayers will make the difference in the fight against terrorism and turning back the infiltration of radical Islam into our country. In the darkness of our current situation, God is calling His people to be light. Through our watchful prayer, we release the power of Christ into the battle.
Listen to these encouraging words found in 2 Chronicles …
[READ 2 Chr. 20:15]
15 … Thus says Yahweh to you, ‘Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s.
Ultimately, the best way to counter the threat of radical Islam is to make Christians out of Muslims. This won’t turn away prophecies of the events that will surely come about, but it does give us a role in the drama of the end-times. Our prayers, our testimonies, and our love for our Islamic neighbors may not turn the inevitable tide for the world, but they can turn the tide for individuals and allow them to escape from the wrath to come. And that is definitely worth doing.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, in a world shaken by terrorism, fear can grip our hearts. But You have not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and sound mind. Give us the courage to live boldly and walk in faith. Strengthen us when news headlines cause panic. Help us to hold tight to Your promises. When we feel anxious in crowds or alert in public spaces, remind us that You are right there with us. I pray that You will give peace to parents sending their children to school, to workers commuting daily, and to travelers far from home. Replace their fears with trust in You. And may we be lights in dark places, sharing love and truth instead of panic and hate. And Lord we also pray for the salvation of many Muslims, especially as they fast and pray through Ramadan. We ask for the Holy Spirit to convict them of sin and lead them into true repentance. We also pray that they would experience God’s total forgiveness and in turn be able to forgive others. And we pray that they would know the assurance of salvation through Jesus Christ, which is something Islam can never offer them. Thank You Lord for being our shield and defender. In You we are safe. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
Invitation # 299: “Rescue the Perishing” (4 vs.)
Benediction: Beloved, for everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope. Amen. (Rom. 15:4)
SIGNS - The Culture - Immorality Audio Link
IMMORALITY
Text: Selected Scriptures from the LSB
Prayer: Gracious God, we acknowledge how easily our minds wander and our attention drifts. In this sacred moment before the message begins, we ask for a supernatural focus. Quiet the noise of the world, silence our inner anxieties, and fix our eyes on Jesus -- the author and finisher of our faith. Help us resist all temptations and distractions and receive Your Word with full attention. We want to not only hear with our ears but also with our hearts. We long to hear from Your Word. May its seed be planted in fertile soil, where it may grow and bear fruit. May our minds be alert, our hearts receptive, and our spirits ready for the divine encounter You have prepared for us today. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
.
Introduction: On May 8, 2011, Tony Bennett walked across the stage of the Jacob Javits Center to sing a couple of ballads and open the program for a famous New York charity. The full crowd before him was a glittering galaxy of New York’s brightest celebrities. Bennett’s timeless voice thrilled the house, and everyone marveled at the then 85-year-old crooner’s enduring ability to charm an audience.
But later in the evening, it was Bennett himself who was charmed as he listened to a singer exactly 60 years his junior. He was swept off his feet by the stirring voice of Lady Gaga. Meeting her backstage, Bennett regaled her with stories of his favorite songwriter, Cole Porter, and impulsively asked her to sing on his 2011 album, Duets II. A few years later, the two collaborated on another album, Cheek to Cheek, and the opening song was Porter’s “Anything Goes.”
It was a fitting choice, I suppose. “Anything Goes” is a bouncy, toe-tapping number – you can’t help but smile as you hum the melody – but its words, although written in 1934, celebrated the moral free fall of the American twentieth century. The song boasts of how times have changed and claims the Puritans are in for a shock. The lyrics brag that profanity and nudity are in vogue. For all its toe-tapping trendiness, “Anything Goes” represents the moral relativism that has infected our culture, leaving the West on the brink of spiritual collapse.
Ironically, it’s a philosophy that ruined Cole Porter’s own life. The famous composer grew up on an Indiana farm. His mother went to church, but her young son was not impressed. “I never felt religion was serious to her,” he recalled. “It was of no importance. She went to show off her new hats.”
Porter learned to play the violin at age 6 and the piano at age 8. He wrote his first Broadway show tune in 1915 and went on to provide crooners, such as Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra, with dozens of hits – “I’ve Got You under My Skin,” “Night and Day,” “Just One of Those Things,” “Don’t Fence Me In,” and “I Get a Kick Out of You,” and of course, “Anything Goes.”
His fans did not realize that his love songs were written for his boyfriends, that his marriage was a sham, or that his music financed an endless series of “anything goes” parties.
Porter lived an “anything goes” lifestyle. But after being injured in an equestrian accident, he never regained his health or happiness. He became reclusive and spent his last years depressed, diseased, drinking, and drugging. In 1964, Porter was wheeled into a California hospital for the last time. The nurse studied the patient, perhaps wondering how anyone so famous could look so cheerless. Clicking off the items on the questionnaire, the nurse came to the issue of the patient’s religion.
“Put down none,” replied Porter.
The nurse queried, “Protestant?”
“Put down none.”
Shortly after, he sent someone to destroy his pornographic photographs. And with that done, he died.
“He was terribly alone at the end,” said a friend. “He really didn’t have anything or anyone he was close to.”
His secretary lamented that her boss never found the strength that came from faith in God. “Without faith, one is like a stained-glass window in the dark,” she said. “How to reach his particular darkness,” she added, “is an enigma.”
A similar darkness has descended on our world, and American culture now resembles that stained-glass window through which no light is shining. We are living in a world where anything goes, but nothing satisfies.
The Bible anticipated that decadent times like our present age would come. In speaking of His second coming, the Lord Jesus said,
[READ Mt. 24:37]
37 For just as the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be.
What were those “days of Noah” like?
[READ Gen. 6:5]
5 Then Yahweh saw that the evil of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
This is a description of the society swept away by the Flood.
Perhaps America has not yet sunk to the lows of Noah’s day, but our moral compass seems to no longer have a true north. The needle spins aimlessly, looking for a direction on which to settle.
[READ 2 Tim. 3:1-5]
1 But know this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, without gentleness, without love for good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness, but having denied its power.
The description of Noah’s generation and Paul’s prediction of the generation that will introduce the last days summarize the total depravity of man. I know that total depravity is a controversial term and certainly one that is often misunderstood.
Total depravity doesn’t mean, as most people think, that human beings are as depraved as they possibly could be. This would, by necessity, mean that there is no good in humans at all. But we know this isn’t the case. Not all human beings are drunkards, felons, adulterers, or murderers. Many are noble, generous, self-sacrificing, highly moral, and loving. Total depravity defines the extent, not the degree, of our sinfulness. In other words, while our depravity does not make us as bad as we could be, it does affect us in every area of our being, corrupting every part of our humanness at varying degrees.
Charles Swindoll writes: If depravity were blue, we’d be blue all over. Cut us anywhere and we’ll bleed blue. Cut into our minds and you’ll find blue thoughts. Cut into our vision and there are blue images full of greed and lust. Cut into our hearts and there are blue emotions of hatred, revenge, and blame. Cut into our wills and you’ll find deep blue decisions and responses.
This depravity, or godlessness, is the root cause of America’s moral decline. We grasp for what feels good instead of what is good. In Noah’s day, every thought and intent of the heart was continuously evil. Now we have the technology to take the most lurid fantasies of the human mind and project them onto a screen a child can hold in his or her hand. All this has led to the coarsening of Western culture. We have become a profane people, with fewer and fewer restraints on behavior and language and with a diminishing respect for human life.
In his book Vanishing Grace, Philip Yancey summarized the moral free fall of our nation: “In my own lifetime the divorce rate has doubled, the rates of teen suicide and violent crime have both tripled, and births out of wedlock have sextupled. With less than 5% of the world’s population, the US has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners (about the same number as Russian and China combined). We have become accustomed to homeless people sleeping in parks and under bridges, something virtually unknown in my childhood. The leading causes of death are self-inflicted, the side-effects of tobacco, obesity, alcohol, sexually transmitted diseases, drugs, and violence.”
THE EXPLANATION FOR OUR MORAL DECLINE
It is time to ask the question: how did Western morality stray onto such a slippery slope? What happened to us? I can explain it in two ways: historically and biblically.
THE EXPLANATION FROM HISTORY
The historical explanation dates back to the 18th century Enlightenment. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Western world, for all its darkness and depravity, at least had an understanding of objective truth. The existence of God was taken for granted, which provided a basis for belief in absolute values of right and wrong. The Reformation of the 1500s set this truth on fire. But hard on the heels of the Reformation, the secular thinking of the Enlightenment (or the quote “Age of Reason”) radiated from France like a force field across Europe and to the New World.
Many of the Enlightenment thinkers could not totally shake off belief in the existence of God, but they dispatched Him to insignificance by promoting a religion of deism – the teaching that the Creator, if He exists, is disinterested and uninvolved with the world. They believed humans were the true moral force in the universe.
Dave Breese, in his book Seven Men Who Rule the World from the Grave, wrote: The early 1900s was the first era in which Darwin and his ideas had come to full flower. By that time, evolution was well on its way to capturing the world of academia and the thought processes of the average man. Virtually everyone believed that history was moving up from the gross and the animalistic into the sublime and even the angelic …. Social Darwinism was fast persuading society … that no problem was unsolvable, no difficulty unresolvable. Given enough time, all would be well. Humanity had within it a potential that would not be denied.
The rising tide of humanistic secularism was shoehorned into America’s educational system by John Dewey, a shy, bookish educator who hailed from Vermont. Dewey’s core principle was the rejection of absolute, unchangeable truth. Final truth, he believed, was illusionary. Breese explained, “This humanism, of which Dewey was a fountainhead ... became pervasive in our American schools, especially on the graduate level. From that point on, the ruling point of view in American education was that there was no ruling point of view.”
Against this backdrop, moral relativism entered pop culture with a vengeance between the 1920s and 1960s, setting the stage for the sexual revolution of the 1960s through the 1980s. Hollywood jumped on the bandwagon, and America’s moral values turned downward like the economic charts of the Great Depression.
In the meantime, secularism – the removal of theism or God-consciousness from public life – has become America’s de facto religion. Therefore, a secular world-view is the underlying impetus that presently propels Western culture.
Albert Mohler helpfully summarizes how we got where we are today: In the premodern age of antiquity and the medieval period, it was impossible not to believe. There was no intellectual alternative to belief in God. In the modern age, it became possible not to believe as philosophers began to posit alternatives. Nowadays secularists are asserting it is impossible to believe. The alternatives to God have become dominant. Christians have become “intellectual outlaws” in the secular world, says Mohler. “Secularism in America has been attended by a moral revolution without precedent and without an end-game … The story of the rise of secularism is a stunning intellectual and moral revolution.”
What does all of this mean? Basically, there is no telling where a society will end up when “anything goes.” Or rather, we do know where such a culture ends up. Sooner or later, it circles around to the days of Noah.
THE EXPLANATION FROM THE BIBLE (Rom. 1:18-20; Ps. 19:1)
If you really want to understand what is happening to Western morality today, let’s trace the theological chain from the rejection of the Creator to total moral collapse as Paul described it in Romans 1.
[READ Rom. 1:18-20]
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, both His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
Whether looking through a telescope or a microscope, I’m amazed at the symmetry, the scope, and the systematic order of Creation. As the psalmist writes ...
[READ Ps. 19:1]
1 The
heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And the expanse is
declaring the work of His hands.
The bottom-line reason for humanity’s rejection of this obvious evidence is that the existence of a Creator implies His authority over all His creation. If we are subject to a Maker, we are not autonomous, for morality is intrinsically rooted in His holy character. We cannot live however we would like, nor should we. God’s personal purity supplies a moral baseline for the universe and provides the guidelines by which we live healthy and holy lives.
To escape these implications, our society has chosen to believe the unbelievable – that everything came from nothing in an unexplainable explosion of dense matter with an inexplicable origin; that primordial sludge was jolted from death to life; that molecules developed from randomness into complexity; and that human beings are the resulting accidents – mere pieces of carbon destined to die as quickly as we arose, living in a universe without purpose and facing a future without ultimate hope. That is the foundation of secularism, and it leads to a downward spiral of belief and behavior.
Here are the downward steps as the apostle Paul described them:
INGRATITUDE
[READ Rom. 1:21]
21 For even though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened.
IDOLATRY
[READ Rom. 1:22-23]
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the likeness of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
God created the human heart with a vacuum that can only be filled by the love of God. That hole demands to be filled with something, and when we reject the true God, we inevitably form other gods to fill it. That is called idolatry.
An idol is whatever comes first in your life. Anything that comes before Jesus Christ in your affections or priorities – that is your idol. In our materialistic age, millions of people are serving the god of money, possessions, and the accumulation of wealth. When our desire for financial success over-shadows our love for God, it becomes just as idolatrous as bowing before a man-made image.
Make no mistake – when we reject the Creator-God of Scripture, we must find a substitute. When we reject God, we turn away from His love and provision and become our own god.
Donald Baillie helps us visualize what happens when we turn away from God’s love. He pictured humanity standing in a circle facing God at the center: In that circle we ought all to be … linked together with lovingly joined hands, facing towards the Light in the center, which is God; seeing our fellow creatures all around the circle in the light of that central Love, which shines on them and beautifies their faces; and joining with them in … the rhythm of love universal. But instead of that, we have, each one, turned our backs upon God and the circle of our fellows, and faced the other way, so that we can see neither the Light at the center nor the faces on the circumference. And indeed, in that position it is difficult even to join hands with our fellows! … Each one of us wishes to be the center, and there is blind confusion, and not even any true knowledge of God or of our neighbors. That is what is wrong.
IMMORALITY
[READ Rom. 1:24-25]
24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
When we give up the true God of heaven, all other gods lead to an erosion of morality, to sensuality, to sexual sins, and to lust-driven lives. In fact, this passage says that God gives people up, or over to, this kind of depravity. How can a loving God give people up to the evils they choose? God doesn’t cause anyone’s demise; the natural law of consequences does. He cannot abide in the presence of sin, which is why He abandoned His own Son at Calvary as Christ bore the sins of the world.
How sad to follow this downward course when God offers us an upward path. But when we step off of His path, the steps keep descending toward the days of Noah.
INIQUITY
When a culture denies its Creator, worships its own gods, and succumbs to a lust-driven existence, it inevitably becomes overly sexualized.
[READ Rom. 1:26-27]
26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions; for their females exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the males abandoned the natural function of the female and burned in their desire toward one another, males with males committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
The headlines of recent years are simply our society’s commentary on this passage. And this downward spiral of indecency leads to a total moral collapse. Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse weighed in on these verses, marking the downward steps to their inevitable end: This is the description of mankind abandoned by God and the scene is a frightful one. The cause of the abandonment was the successive departure from God by the human soul in the successive steps of desertion that began with a failure to acknowledge God in worship and thanksgiving, and continued through the various stages of the deification of human reason to the ultimate folly of man in the most corrupt form of idolatrous practices. Having departed from God, man made a god in his own image.
As appalling as this passage is, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says it is merely a preview of something worse: Hell is just what is described here exaggerated and going on to all eternity. That is hell! Hell is a condition in which life is lived away from God and all the restraints of God’s holiness. All that is described in this passage, exaggerated still more, and going on endlessly! In other words, hell is people living in all eternity the kind of life they are living now, only much worse! That is hell!
I know that some of you are thinking, “Do we really have to deal with all of this? Why can’t we just focus on the grace of God and get away from all this sin stuff?” Before we ignore sin and bask in the grace of God, we need to hear these words from theologian Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.:
To speak of grace without sin is … to trivialize the cross of Jesus Christ, to skate past all the struggling by good people down through the ages to forgive, accept, and rehabilitate sinners, including themselves, and therefore to cheapen the grace of God that always comes to us with blood on it. What had we thought the ripping and the writhing on Golgotha were all about? To speak of grace without looking squarely at these realities, without painfully honest acknowledgement of our own sin and its effects, is to shrink grace to a mere embellishment of the music of creation, to shrink it down to a mere grace note. In short, for the Christian church (even in its recently popular seeker services) to ignore, euphemize, or otherwise mute the lethal reality of sin is to cut the nerve of the gospel. For the sober truth is that without full disclosure on sin, the gospel of grace becomes impertinent, unnecessary, and finally uninteresting.
THE ESCAPE FROM OUR MORAL DECLINE
[READ Rom. 1:28-32]
28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to an unfit mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 having been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, violent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the righteous requirement of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
In Plantinga’s book Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin, which I referenced a few moments ago, Plantinga writes:
“Self-deception about our sin is a narcotic, a tranquilizing and disorienting suppression of our spiritual central nervous system. What’s devastating about it is that when we lack an ear for wrong notes in our lives, we cannot play right ones or even recognize them in the performances of others.” He continues, “Eventually we make ourselves religiously so unmusical that we miss both the explosion and the recapitulation of the main themes God plays in human life. The music of creation and the still greater music of grace whistle right through our skulls, causing no catch of breath and leaving no residue. Moral beauty begins to bore us. The idea that the human race needs a Savior sounds quaint.”
I wonder, how many times has the “music of grace whistled right through our skulls” even during our celebration of the Lord’s Table? I believe we need to catch a fresh glimpse of our sinfulness and realize just how badly we needed a Savior. Jesus Christ came, and through His death He washed all that ugliness and filthiness away from our souls.
In speaking about grace, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones summarized it best: “There is no more wonderful word than ‘grace.’ It means unmerited favor or kindness shown to one who is utterly undeserving … It is not merely a free gift, but a free gift to those who deserve the exact opposite, and it is given to us while we are ‘without hope and without God in the world.’”
Romans 1, gives us a picture of what we would be apart from the grace of God and the death of Christ. No wonder Paul said that he was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ! It’s the good news for you and for me that we can escape the moral decline in our world and in our hearts by trusting in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
If you haven’t already done so, will you turn to Him today?
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we come before You now asking You to cleanse our minds from every impure and lustful thought. Instead, we ask You to replace them with Your truth, righteousness, and holiness. Help us to focus on what is pure, honorable, and pleasing in Your sight. Strengthen our mental and spiritual resolve to resist temptation, guard our thoughts, and align our desires with Your will. Let the Holy Spirit guide our imaginations, direct our reasoning, and keep us steadfast in purity, so that our thoughts, words, and actions glorify You, Lord. May we remember how the fountain of Your love has quenched our thirsty souls. We once were broken, but now we are renewed. We were dirty, now we are cleansed. We were lost and abandoned, now we are safely home. Your mercy to us when we hated You, has transformed us into new creations. Words cannot express our thanks to You. Thank You Father for delighting in saving lost and helpless sheep like us. By Your Spirit may we now live our lives as expressions of gratitude to our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; in whose name I pray, Amen.
Benediction: Beloved, make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit. Amen. (Eph. 4:3)