Our world seems to be getting darker by the minute. At the time this article is being written, there have been 496 shootings and 19,375 overall violent crimes this year in the city of Chicago alone. These are simply staggering numbers. According to the Chicago Police crime statistics website, the violent crime rate in the city is up 45 percent from last year and 95 percent from the year before.
Our civilization is literally crumbling around us. We live on the very edge of civilization and it is giving way beneath our feet. It would be easy to despair in times like these where violence, wickedness, sexual immorality, divorce rates, abortions are all increasing at exponential rates. I say, it would be easy to despair were they not already foretold in the Scriptures and explained to us by the Lord Himself.
Jesus tells us what the end times will be like in his Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24:10-14 and what our response as believers should be to it:
“And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
Don’t we see these very things happening? Those crime statistics in Chicago are proof of the love of many growing cold. The world hates Truth more than ever before, even biological truth, and its response is to suppress it. It would be tempting for believers to despair over these things, but Jesus doesn’t tell us to despair. He tells us instead to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom as a testimony to all nations! The response of Christians to ever-increasing evil is to be ever-increasing light in this dark world, knowing that the time is short and warning people to flee from the wrath which is to come by repenting and turning to our only hope, the Lord Jesus Christ. We must endure to the end. We must endure the hatred of those who despise Jesus and the Gospel and reply to that hatred with truth and love.
Someday soon, Jesus is going to return and bring all His holy angels with Him and he will conquer the nations and rule with an iron scepter from the Throne. He will in that Day comfort all who mourn by executing Judgment on evil and on evildoers. And it will be the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord! That Day has not yet come, but it is fast approaching.
And so, since we are still almost 2000 years after Christ’s Resurrection living in this time of God’s favor, we must not let it slip by! How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? Jesus says in John 3:18, “He who believes in Him is not judged…” Ah! Though we all were at one time running headlong into the pit at breakneck speed, God saved us in Christ, and so we need not be afraid because he who believes in Him is not judged! Though I deserved judgment, God gave me mercy and grace beyond measure.
Yet, look at what the text in John 3 says to those who do not believe, “he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” See that? Jesus declares that the world – that is, the unbelieving world, is ALREADY under the judgment of God. Anyone who does not believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God is already under judgment!
We perhaps tend to think of the Judgment of God as purely eschatological (something that will occur at the end of the world), but we shouldn’t think of it that way. Instead, the declaration of Judgment has already been issued by God, but the execution of that Judgment is yet to come.
So, what should be our message?
“The time has come…the Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the Gospel!” (Mark 1:15).
We need to boldly proclaim the truth to sinners about their desperate condition and call them to repentance, trusting that God will do the rest by His Grace. The Grace of God is what breaks up the fallow ground of the sinner’s heart and causes him or her to cry:
“Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Naked come to thee for dress, helpless look to thee for grace. Foul I to the fountain fly, wash me Savior or I die!”
Only the true Christian can say that. Only the one who comes into the light in acknowledgement of their own sin and says, “yes Lord, I am a wretched man. Yes, I see my own filthiness, depravity and wretchedness, my absolute desperate need for Jesus and His Power in my life. I see my need for His atoning work on the Cross and for His Resurrection from the dead – because outside of that, I am already dead in my trespasses and sins. And if Christ does not revive and save me, a desperate man who does not even realize the depth of his own depravity, I would be utterly lost.”
Jesus only gives his blessing to those who acknowledge their sinfulness. To those who do not, Jesus says, “How shall you escape the fire of hell?” This should be terrifying, especially for those who know this message and reject it.
Let us be bold witnesses of Christ today. Let us go out into the fields – they are ripe for harvest.
