 is experiencing a spiritual crisis like we've never experienced before. We must ask each other this sobering question. What hope does our nation have if it's moral compass the church refuses to be the holy nation that God has called us to be? God has called us out of the world to be set apart from the world to be a holy nation. Peter called the church a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession that we may proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. We read that in 1 Peter chapter two, verse nine. So we read that righteousness exalts the nation but sin is a reproach to its people in Proverbs 1434. So despite our Christian heritage, America is rapidly degenerating into a post-Christian and a godless society. Our government sanctions the murder of unborn children and legalizes homosexual marriages. America has become the largest exporter of pornography in the world. The Boy Scouts of America, which once required scouts to give an oath to be morally straight, now accepts openly gay young men. As an eagle scout, this grieves me to no end, to see even the Boy Scouts of America spiral downward and no longer be the morally straight scouts that they want used to be. Burger King has come out of the closet in full support of the homosexual lifestyle and now sells hamburgers to prove how proud it is of the sin. It is called the proud whopper and it's enclosed in a rainbow colored wrapper with the inscription, we are all the same on the inside. I read about this report and I wanted to verify it so I called up our local Burger King and I said, is it true that you're selling the proud whopper in support of homosexuality? And they said, yes, it is true. And I said, well, are only sodomites allowed to buy them or could I come in as a heterosexual and buy one as well? She hung up on me. I mean, there is shame in this and yet it's almost like they're immune to it. Pope Francis, the leader of 70 million Catholics in America was named person of the year by the advocate, America's oldest gay rights magazine. These and other sins of our nation are indeed a reproach to its people and David Wells describes why our churches are no longer the moral compass of our nation. When we look at the church of America, David Wells describes it this way, God rest too inconsequentially upon the church. His truth is too distant. His grace is too ordinary. His gospel is too easy. His judgments are too benign and his Christ is too common. Let's go to the throne of grace, shall we? Our father, we do recognize that your church, the church of Jesus Christ, the church that Jesus shed his precious blood for has been compromising with the world. The father, we recognize there are still some churches that are standing strong on the truth of your word. We pray more than ever that those who are standing strong would influence the churches that are compromising. Oh father, I pray that this message would reach many people and those who are in compromising churches might come out and find churches where they can worship you in spirit and in truth and stand as the moral compass for our nation. We can't do this alone, father. We pray that you would empower us with your spirit. We ask this for the glory of your son, the head of our church, our Lord Jesus Christ. In his name we pray, amen. Well, tragically the church has lost its divine purpose to equip the saints to go out into the world. We are called to go out into the world to be the salt and the light, to evangelize the lost. Instead the church has invited the world into our sanctuary to be entertained and to have their egos fed. Pastors now spend more time entertaining the goats rather than feeding the sheep. My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord's church should be our sanctuary. This is where we should be able to come from out of the world to gather in a holy huddle, to be equipped and encouraged to go out and evangelize the lost. But yet the church now has reversed it. Instead, we're inviting the world in. And so many pastors now spend more time focused on the goats rather than feeding the sheep. So many churches today have these huge mortgages and so they never want to offend anyone for fear they will not come back. But we need churches that are committed to standing on the truth of God's word. The church has embraced the immoral culture and been seduced by its wealth. It's now condoning sinful compromises. It can be said that the reason the church has so little influence on the world is because the world has had such great influence on the church. We can see that it's how the professing church has attempted to redefine God's standard of holiness. Before we look at the crisis in the American church in America, we must recognize by God's grace and by God's providence that there still are churches like Cornerstone that are standing on the truth of God's word, being sanctified by the truth, being called out of the world for the purpose that God has given the church. And if you belong to this church or if you belong to a church that is God's church, consider yourself blessed because churches like this are on the endangered species list. I can tell you that in our ministry over the last 25 years, the most frequent question we get from people calling in from all over America, where can I find a solid Bible-believing doctrinally sound church? They're just so rare anymore today. So you are indeed blessed. Well, let's look at some of the causes for the crisis in the church. God's blueprint for building this church is being replaced. There are many pastors today that are saying in a sense, God, we tried it your way, but we're just not getting the numbers. Therefore, we're gonna put aside the blueprint that you gave us from your holy word and we're gonna try our own marketing techniques. And you know what? People are coming because of the marketing techniques. But I can tell you this, it's no longer the Lord's church. It's that pastor's church. And he will be held accountable one day for the actions and bringing in the world instead of calling people to repentance and faith. There is an emerging post-modern culture that is uprooting the church from her doctrinal and moral heritage. Church leaders appear to be unaware, unconserned, and unresponsive to Satan's attempts to destroy God's church. We look at God's blueprint for building this church. It's clearly stated in Acts chapter two, verse 42. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Four things the church was committed to do in yet so few churches today are following that blueprint. And because of these early churches that were following the Lord's blueprint, we read the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. That's what the church is called to be, a refuge and a sanctuary for those who are being saved. God's church was never ordained to be a social club that would be driven by man's schemes and man's methods. In fact, God's church is like any other organization man has ever devised because man didn't devise it, God did. It is a supernatural organism on this earth. The only way the Lord's church will grow is when the Lord adds to its number. Whenever the Lord's church is doing effective ministry, we know that Satan is trying to destroy it. Satan hates everything of God. He hates God, he hates his word, he hates his people and he hates his church. And so it's no wonder then that we see constant attacks by the devil on the church of Jesus Christ. And there are many warnings given in scripture of all the attacks that will come upon the church. As we look at these attacks on the church of Jesus Christ, I just stand in wonder in an amazement why pastors are not aware of this and they're not doing things to defend against the fiery darts of the devil. Look at what the Bible says about the attacks that will come on the church. There will be worldly fables and speculations and empty philosophy and false knowledge and doctrines of demons and the exaltation of men, lying spirits, vain deceits, heresies and the traditions of men. The churches that do not see God's protection against these attacks have faced very tragic consequences. Church leaders need to be reminded that they have been given a divine mandate to protect the church of Jesus Christ, which he obtained and purchased with his own blood. But from what we have seen as we travel throughout the country and throughout the world, it appears that the sheep are more concerned about the protection of the church than church leaders. It's the individual sheep that are more concerned about these attacks. Unfortunately, many church leaders are just oblivious to them. There's a growing number of pastors and theologians that are beginning to affirm same-sex relationships and in the same sense, maintaining an orthodox theology. I mean, we can go to Christian bookstores and I put those in quotes, Christian bookstores, but you can look at academic journals, blog posts, speeches and conferences. They are affirming a place in evangelical churches for sexually active gay people in committed monogamous relationships. They all argue that the Bible read properly does not condemn such relationships at all. I wonder what Bible they are reading. We've already heard from the different sessions over the last two days how clear the Bible is on same-sex relationships. How are we to respond to this movement? There is an author now, James Bronson, who just put out a book called Reframing the Church's Debate on Same-Sex Relationships. He is a professor at Western Theological Seminary and he argues from Romans chapter one that gay sex was a symptom of lustful excess and endless search for exotic forms of stimulation. So his interpretation along with many today is that gay sex can be an expression of love without or within a monogamous long-term relationship. So in Bronson's book, Reframing the Church's Debate on Same-Sex Relationships, he goes on to say, and I quote, gay Christians can support Paul's condemnation of lustful or degrading sex outside of marriage while embracing monogamous, committed same-sex relationships that did not exist in the biblical world. How do you get there? And this is a professor at Western Theological Seminary. Justin Lee, another prominent evangelical, wrote a book two years ago entitled Torn, Rescuing the Gospel from the Gays versus Christian Debate. He makes a forceful case for full acceptance of gay people within the church. He says the church's current approach to gay people is destroying the church's reputation and that something must change both for the sake of gay people and the gospel message. Lee heads an organization called the Gay Christian Network which includes people who fully support monogamous same-sex relationships. So books like these have encouraged people to look outside and away from the supreme authority of God's holy word and instead look to extra biblical sources from science, from medicine, and from culture. I hope all of you realize there is no higher authority than God and there is no higher authority on this earth than His holy word. It is our supreme authority in all matters of faith and we must all constantly be good Bereans testing every man's teaching through the lens of scripture and rejecting anything that does not conform to it. If only we had more good Bereans in our churches today that would challenge their church leaders whenever they started embracing things that the Bible forbids. When we look at the compromised church, we see that they are becoming more inclusive by ignoring the absolute truths of the Bible. I was a math major, the Lord gifted me in that area such that I see things very black and white. I have a rational, logical mind and the gospel is that way, it is black and white. You cannot add or distort the gospel. People are either lost or saved. They are either condemned or justified. They're either headed to hell or headed to heaven. There is no in between but yet so many churches today are ignoring these absolute truths of the Bible. Tolerance of sin and doctrinal error is now the norm in many churches. Denominations that affirm the LBGT movement include Anglican, Baptist, Episcopalian, United Church of Christ, Charismatics, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Disciples of Christ and Presbyterian. That's an exhaustive list. Can you see how this movement has just encroached our churches and denominations because people are embracing the movement rather than resisting it and contending earnestly for the faith. This list, by the way, comes from gaychurch.org. Perhaps even a greater compromise is occurring at evangelical colleges, including Wheaton College. We have seen an explosion of campus groups for LGBT students. Groups like these were unimaginable five years ago. Last July, Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, officially acknowledged an LGBT student group on campus, the first evangelical seminary to do so. There just seems to be no stopping this. People are just being deceived worse and worse. Then we also have mega churches. It seems like more and more mega churches are embracing the homosexual movement. I'm sure you've heard of Andy Stanley. I'm not proud to say we graduated from the same seminary. He's pastor of North Point in Atlanta. He approved of homosexual partners serving on the host team until he found out one of them was still married and therefore committing adultery. Their homosexual behavior was not addressed as sin. They were judged for their adultery, not their homosexuality, and they could return to the host team after the one partner got a divorce from his wife. I'm not making this up. Adulteries wrong, but homosexuality is okay to serve on the church host team when Stanley normalized their relationship, he blatantly ignored the biblical declaration of the sinfulness of homosexual behavior. And this, my brothers and sisters in Christ is a familiar trend in mega churches to compromise the word of God in order to reach the culture. They say the message of the gospel has to change in order to reach more people. Tragically, the gospel will have no effect on sinners if their sins are rationalized as acceptable behavior. What hope do those two homosexual men have when the pastor embraces their lifestyle rather than lovingly confronting them and saying this is a sin according to God's word and you need to be repent in order to be saved? There is no hope for them. The desire to reach people, the gospel contempt churches to compromise the message by redefining its terms. And I just heard of another mega church, Eastlake Community Church outside Seattle is one of the first evangelical mega churches to support full inclusion and affirmation of LGBT people. Pastor Ryan Meeks, who's 36 years old said, I refuse to go to a church where my friends who are gay are excluded from a marriage covenant or the beauty of Christian community. He goes on to say, it is a matter of integrity for me. The message of Jesus was a message of wide inclusivity. That's not the Jesus of the Bible. That's not the Jesus of the Bible. The Jesus said, no one comes to the Father except through me. That is a very exclusive statement. The Lord Jesus said, narrow is the way that leads to life and very few find it. That is an exclusive statement. But this pastor, the pastor of this huge mega church is misleading people and deceiving them really about life's most critical issue. What must I do to be saved? You must turn from your sin, turn to Christ as your only hope to break the bondage of the power of sin. And then we have the church in Scotland. It traces its Presbyterian roots back to the Reformation of 1560. Its membership is 400,000, which represents 7.5% of Scotland. The majority vote to ordain practicing homosexual ministers took place recently. Ordaining gay ministers is a clear and deliberate move away from the authority of scripture as the word of God and our supreme rule of faith. This controversial issue has already caused 18 ministers and hundreds of members to leave the denomination and praise God for that. There are some who have a discerning spirit and will say no to this ungodliness and they will get up and leave. And then we have the Catholic Church. Just like the Catholic Church, I believe many of these churches that are now embracing homosexuality are either on the edge of apostasy or they're into full blown apostasy. But I think all of us would acknowledge the Catholic Church is an apostate church. It officially and dogmatically departed from the faith at the Council of Trent when it condemned you and I over a hundred times for believing in the sufficiency of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, this new Pope has really been good for our ministry. Every time he speaks, it seems like a radio station calls and says, can you come on our program and explain what the Pope is trying to say? But Pope Francis said, who am I to judge gay people? Homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer and the church should provide for these people and guarantee them a place of fellowship. Homosexual people have gifts and qualities to offer the church. The changing face of the priesthood, which is a book, states the priesthood has increasingly become a gay profession with nearly 60% homosexuals. Another book entitled Goodbye, Good Men states, and I quote, according to former seminarians and recently ordained priest, this gay subculture is so prominent at certain seminaries that these institutions have earned nicknames such as Notre Flame for Notre Dame Seminary. Theological Closet for the Theological College and the Catholic University of America and also St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore has earned the nickname Pink Palace. Former seminarians say these seminaries could only be the apocalyptic whore of Babylon which will arise in the last days to deceive Roman Catholics. You know, when the priestly pedophile scandal broke loose in the Roman Catholic religion several years ago, I thought this was in the providence of God to awaken Roman Catholics to get up and run from this institution. You've heard about all the cases. Many of the churches have either gone bankrupt or on the edge of bankruptcy because they're having to pay millions of dollars to all the victims. Can you imagine if you are a Roman Catholic parent today, would you allow your son or your daughter to become servers knowing that over half of the priesthood are homosexuals? But yet it's just like they're just oblivious to it. I know some of you have witnessed Roman Catholics and you've heard this before. I was born a Catholic and I'm on a diet Catholic. It is just this religious pride that blinds them from what's going on in their own religion. Well, I mentioned that Pope Francis was named Man of the Year by the leading homosexual magazine, The Advocate. The single most influential person of 2013 was Pope Francis for the spiritual lives of LGBT people. Truly amazing. Catholicism New Ways Ministry is dedicated to ministering to the LBGT. Their website now lists over 200 gay friendly Catholic parishes and over 100 gay friendly Catholic colleges in America. A former Roman Catholic priest by the name of Richard Sype has studied celibacy and sexuality in the priesthood for four decades now. He estimates that up to 45% of American priests are homosexual in orientation. He told the Boston Globe and I quote, if they were to eliminate all those who were homosexual oriented, the number would be so staggering that it would be like an atomic bomb. It would do the same damage to the church's operation. It would mean the resignation of at least one third of the bishops of the world. One has to ask the question, what causes the Catholic clergy to commit this specific sin of sexually abusing male children? And Pastor Mark gave the answer in the last hour. You find the answer in Romans chapter one, when people suppress the truth of God and unrighteousness, God gave them up to dishonorable passions for their women exchange natural relations for those that are contrary to nature and the men likewise gave up natural relationships with women and were consumed with passion one for another, men committing shameless acts with men and on and on. Well then we have the pragmatic church which is also a church that is making waves within the umbrella of professing Christianity. Pragmatism follows the culture which has succumb to the intimidation of the pro-gay lobby. The church has rationalized the sin of homosexuality to attract more people. And by the way, this is the reason that Pope Francis has been very inclusive with the homosexual community because he wants to grow the church. The Roman Catholic's goal is to bring all people under the power and influence of the pope. And that's part of eschatology, the building of the one world religion that will one day worship the antichrist. And so the Pope Francis is inviting homosexuals to stay. He's being gay friendly so they won't get up and leave. His goal is to bring all people under the umbrella of his papacy. Well, this is happening in Canada also. If Canadians speak negatively about anyone's sexual orientation, it is now called hate speech. So it is now illegal to speak negatively about homosexuality or to call it a sin in Canada. This should not surprise us since the Bible says evil men are growing or going to grow worse and worse. And we see this with this picture here. The first same-sex couple married in a Mennonite church. These Canadians hope their wedding will inspire hope for lapsed LGBT Christians. What are churches to do in light of this? What are you and I to do in light of this? We must stand firm and not cave into the pressure to change our message. This is not a time for the church to compromise. Of all times in history, this is the time to be bold and straightforward about the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christians who engage in unbiblical sexual practices, whether heterosexual or gay Christians, should be discipled and disciplined. But very few churches today are doing either discipleship or disciplining those who are in habitual sin. They should not allow gay people to be leaders or members in good standing if they persist in their sin. And so the same should be said really about anyone who's in habitual sin of any kind. They should not be included in church leadership. The best theology won't help a church if it does not confront the spirit of this age and discipline, unrepentant centers. It doesn't matter if you are theologically sound, if you're embracing the sin that is running rampant in our cultural today, it doesn't matter. We must call centers to repentance. But we need to do this in the spirit of love. We need to make sure that when we approach people, we are doing it speaking the truth in love. Pastor Mark said we either need to love them or affirm them, we cannot do both. And as he spoke those words, I remembered what was said in 1 Corinthians 13, verse six. It is not love if you are rejoicing in unrighteousness. Love is what rejoices in the truth. So if we see a homosexual person, we can either love them by telling them the truth but not affirming their unrighteous behavior. Because that is not true love if you affirm those who are living in sin. We must lovingly confront them. Oftentimes, I guess, I don't know, six times maybe in the last dozen years we go up to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and I teach at the Stealing the Mind Bible Conference there and I just found this out in the news recently. Coeur d'Alene, Idaho city officials have laid down the law to Christian pastors within their community telling them bluntly via an ordinance that if they refuse to marry homosexuals they will face jail time and fines. The federal judge recently ruled that the state's ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional while the city of Coeur d'Alene has an ordinance that prevents discrimination based on sexual preference. With breathtaking speed, the new laws governing sodomite marriages are sweeping the world. What was unthinkable just one decade ago has become reality today. What was the quote of Francis Schaefer that my wife gave me last week? Whatever the world is saying today, seven years from now the church will be embracing it. That's how quickly this all takes place. Well then we have the emerging church. The founder I'm sure many of you have heard of, Brian McLaren, he dares to say that there are no absolutes. Certainty on matters of biblical doctrine is impossible. It's a waste of time to discuss doctrine. Regarding tolerance, we must be willing to accept people of diverse faiths including those of non-Christian religions and regarding relativism, dialogue has replaced dogmatic proclamations. Well the emerging church I think has pretty much run its course but there are still a remnant of people that embrace the tolerance of all different faiths, the tolerance of sin. There are many people now that say your truth is just as valid as mine, that truth is not absolute, it's really subjective. What are the causes for the compromises in the church today? Have you stopped and thought about that? What are the causes for the way the church is in this 21st century? Well I put together a list and I thought in the limited amount of time we have that I would focus on what I believe are the three most important causes, things we need to be aware of. The first would be a lack of reverence for God and His word. The next would be the rejection of God's call to repentance. And the third I believe would be the distortion of God's gospel. As we look at these causes we all need to make sure that we are part of the solution and not part of the problem. Peter said it this way, it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God and it begins with us. What will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? First Peter chapter four verse 17. So let's look at these causes through the lens of scripture and see what we can do as our part to strengthen the body of Christ. As I survey all the preachers that are standing in pulpits on Sunday mornings I think you could classify them into one of three groups. There are those who preach the whole counsel of God exhorting and sound doctrine and refuting those who contradict. We see that in second Timothy chapter four verse two. Then there are those who avoid sound doctrine and cater to man's desires with ear-tingling words. We see that in second Timothy chapter four verses three to four. And then those who secretly introduce destructive heresies and malign the way of truth as we read in second Peter chapter two verses one and two. The first group preaches the word, the second group avoids the word of God and the third group distorts the word of God. Never has there been such a need for faithful shepherds to feed, to protect and to lead the sheep of God entrusted to them. There are very few pastors in the first category. So when we look at the causes for the crisis in the church a lack of reverence for God in his word would be the first. Any spiritual crisis will always begin with a turning away from God in his word. As God's word is neglected people become more vulnerable to Satan's schemes and attacks and God is still looking for those who will tremble at his word and defend its authority, its infallibility, its inspiration, its efficiency, and its inerrancy. We should all tremble at God's word because God magnifies his word even above his name as we see in Psalm 138 verse two. His word is what will judge all people on the last day. Yet the latest Gallup poll revealed America's low opinion of the Bible. 87% of Americans identify themselves as Christians but only 40% attend church regularly. Only 58% believe the Bible is the actual word of God but they don't necessarily believe it means what it says. They say, and this is really hard for me to comprehend but they say it's only authoritative as long as the reader has the final say on what it actually means. Hey, I was a Catholic for over 30 years of my life. I could rationalize many things because I never opened the Bible. Thus the majority of professing Christians in America have rejected the objective truth of the Bible and replaced it with a truth of their own. As a result, God's word is simply explained away to make allowance for homosexuality, to make allowance for adultery and other sins of self-indulgence. So when God and his word are neglected, biblical ignorance provides fertile soil for doctrinal error. In the churches in America today where the pastor stands up and tickles the ears and fills people's ego, the truth is not going forth. People are not receiving the truth in the pew. Therefore when error comes along, they cannot discern what is true and what is false. It is fertile ground for false teachers to thrive and many of them are doing that today. When God and his word are neglected, Satan sows his tears with little resistance and truth becomes subjective, causing confusion and division. When God's word is not fully embraced, the church will no longer be sanctified by the truth of his word. When God's word is not esteemed, hearts become hardened and love for God grows cold. Sin and immorality is tolerated and grace is turned into a license to sin. A form of godliness exists, but it's void of the gospel's power because the gospel too has been compromised. Biblical warnings to expose false teachers are ignored, doctrinal error is embraced and discernment is discouraged. That's one of the marks of a church on the edge of apostasy. We have heard people call us in email. They say we have confronted our pastor lovingly with the air of his teaching because we have discernment and the pastor is asking us to leave. You see, people that are teaching falsely do not want people with discernment in their church. They stand in the way of their lies going forth and so oftentimes discernment is discouraged when the truth of God's word is rejected or ignored. Unrepentant sin has created a moral and spiritual crisis in many of our churches in America. Consider the United Church of Christ, a mainline Protestant denomination that claims over one million members in over 5,000 congregation. It proudly announced that it will serve as a major sponsor of the homosexual Olympics. The Presbyterian Church USA recently voted to allow its ministers to perform gay weddings. The church in America has banned children from attending services so their pastor, a registered sex offender can continue in the pulpit. A near majority of evangelicals under age 35 now support same sex marriage. Homosexual student organizations have formed at Christian colleges across the country, including Wheaton College and Baylor of Baptist University in Waco, Texas. Worldly entertainment has invaded the church and this has helped many people turn away from the word of God. They come now to be entertained rather than receive a message from God's word. A.W. Tozer said it well, for centuries the church stood solidly against every form of worldly entertainment. But of late, we have the astonishing spectacle of millions of dollars being poured into the unholy job of providing earthly entertainment for the so-called sons of heaven. Religious entertainment is rapidly crowding out the serious things of God and hardly a man dares raise his voice against it. When you study the seven churches in the book of Revelation many would say that they represent different epics of time throughout church history. I believe that we are in the Laos city in church age where entertainment has moved Jesus outside the church and he's standing on the door knocking to see if he can come in and have fellowship. We have removed him and his word and now many churches are nothing more than social clubs with a cross. Well there are no absolutes about sin according to Joel Osteen who's now the proud pastor of the largest church in America. When asked about gay marriage the pastor said I never feel like homosexual is God's best. I don't feel like that's my thrust. You know, some of the issues that divide us. I'm here to let people know that God is for them and he's on our side. I never feel like homosexuality is God's best. You know, Joel just can't mention that three letter word that begins with an S and ends with an N and so it's just not God's best but he won't dare call it a sin. But yet 40,000 people every Sunday flock to hear this man tickle their ears. Over a million people now tune in to listen to him on TV. This is the state of the church. The ones that are faithful to the preaching of God's word are small sanctuaries like this where people come so they can get a message from the living God. They wanna be fed by the spiritual nourishment that comes from hearing the word of God preached passionately and with full conviction. Well, then there's a church in suburb of Dallas. I know this church very well. Recently, the pastor wanting to be very hip mocked many things about God's holiness. He did a three part series on funky things Christians do and this is how he titled the series. The first was on the Holy Spirit. He called it the Groovy Ghost. The second message he did was on baptism. He called it the Funky Dunk. The third message was the Lord's Supper. He called it Daddy O's Dinner. I graduated from the same seminary with this young man at the same year. We have gone 180 degrees in different directions. Just a few months ago, he did another series and this one just grieves my heart to even have to share with you the title of the series, Dirty Jesus. Dirty Jesus. I called the church, I emailed the church. I wanted to ask why are you doing this? Why are you mocking the holy name of Jesus? And I gave them 72 hours, no one responded. And again, I know the pastor personally, we graduated together. When they didn't respond, I pasted it on Facebook. I said, where is the outrage? Why aren't people in this church getting up and leaving when we mock the very person who purchased the church with his own blood? This is where the church is going. Well, there is a crisis with the authority of scripture. A Gallup poll found that 50% believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, but insist it doesn't mean what it says. It's only authoritative as long as the reader is the final arbiter of its meaning. And the majority have rejected the objective authority of God's word and have replaced it with the authority of self. You see what happens when the word of God is not exalted as the supreme authority? The true church submits to the head of the church, the incarnate word, as the supreme authority in all matters of faith and practice. Every spirit, every teaching, every tradition, and every practice must be tested by God's word. The church must discipline those who are living in habitual sin. Praise God for churches that still submit to the supreme authority of God's word. Well, what are we to do as members of God's church? We must encourage others to contend earnestly against the tolerance of immoral lifestyles. We must contend against those who suppress the truth and unrighteousness. We must contend against the encroachment of worldliness and sin. We must contend against the government's attempt to redefine marriage and promote the homosexual agenda. We must contend against the supreme court usurping the constitution over marriage. You may have read recently this is coming up for vote by the unregenerate men of the supreme court. We need to stand up and let our voices be heard and encourage others to do the same. Marriage cannot be redefined. So what can we do? We all need to pray for our church. Pray that we would all have a greater awe and a reverence for God in his word. Pray that the church would return to be the salt and light of the world that God has called it to be. Pray to remain rooted and established in the faith and pray to grow in the love for the truth and a hatred for sin. We need to pray to become more like our exalted head, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I hope that you are praying for your church leadership. Pray these prayers that they would remain faithful to the word of God and not be drawn away like many pastors have done. Oftentimes people ask how they can pray for me and I say please pray that I finish the race strong. So many of my peers have fallen away. The world is tugging at us each and every day. We've got three things against us and one thing for us. The world, the flesh and Satan are all pulling us in one direction but the word of God and the exalted head is pulling us the other way. We must remain faithful to Christ in his word. So the second cause for the crisis in the church is a rejection of God's call to repentance. Many pastors teach a most grievous error that repentance is not part of salvation. They fail to see it must be irrevocably linked with saving faith. And I must admit, even graduating from seminary, I never knew that repentance was a necessary part of the response to the gospel. I had to discover this later on. There are many pastors today that simply say, faith is all you need in order to be saved. Many avoid preaching repentance because it is perceived as negative and a hindrance to church growth. Well no call to repentance produces a lot of false converts. These are the ones who desire Jesus as savior to save them from hell but not as Lord to rule over them. These are those who hear the word of God but don't do what it says thus deceiving themselves. These are the ones that desire blessings from Christ but not a relationship with him. Well what is repentance? It is a critical element of conversion. It is the work of God and a new heart that causes a change of mind which results in turning from sin and self to God. Repentance is granted by God. He is the one that replaces the heart of stone with a heart of flesh which produces a change of mind and ultimately a change of direction. Godly sorrow for sin that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation as we read in 2 Corinthians 7-10. The only saving response to the gospel of Jesus Christ is the very first command Jesus gave when he began his earthly ministry. You must repent and believe it in order to be saved. Mark chapter one verse 15. Unless you repent you will all likewise perish as the Lord Jesus said in Luke 13-3. He ended his earthly ministry with these words, repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in my name to all the nations. So here you see in the Lord's ministry the bookends were repentance. The very first word and the last word and then his call to repentance unless you too will perish. Repentance was important to the Lord. It was also important to the apostles. They went out and proclaimed that people should repent in Mark chapter six verse 12. Look at Peter's call to repentance. After preaching his listeners asked, what shall we do? Peter responded, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. Acts 238. When Peter finished another sermon he said, repent therefore and turn back that your sins may be blotted out. Acts 319. To the sorcerer who tried to obtain the gift of God with money Peter said, repent of this wickedness. Acts 8 verse 22. Peter reported, God has granted repentance that leads to life to the Gentiles also. Acts chapter 11 verse 18. Repentance is the precursor that leads to life. Peter wrote, God is patient towards you not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance. Second Peter chapter three verse nine. Was repentance important to the apostle Paul who wrote over half the New Testament? Paul said he testified both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Echoing the very words of Jesus, repent and believe the gospel. Paul declared to Jews and Gentiles to repent and turn to God performing deeds and keeping with their repentance. Acts chapter 26 verse 20. In Acts chapter 17 verse 30 to the men of Athens Paul said, God commands most people, some people, a few people, all people. That leaves no one out. All people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man Jesus whom he has appointed. And of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. Doesn't sound like there's an option here, does it? Those with hard and impentant hearts are storing up wrath on themselves as we read in Romans 2.5. Well, we can see how important repentance was to the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostles called individuals to repentance. Here we see the Lord Jesus calling churches to repentance. And more than ever, I think this message of Christ needs to be preached today to many churches that are embracing the culture of our day. To the church of Ephesus, the Lord said, I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore, from where you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. Revelation two, verses four and five. What about Christ's call for the church at Pergamon? I have a few things against you. You have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam. So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolations. Therefore, repent. If not, I will come to you and soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. Revelation two, 14 to 16. What about the Lord's call to the church at Thyatira? I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. Those who commit adultery with her, I will throw into great tribulation unless they repent. What would the Lord Jesus say to the church in America today? The church that is practicing sexual immorality. The church that is condoning and embracing the cultural lifestyle of sodomites today. He would call them to repentance. What about the Lord's call to repent to the church of Sardis? You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up and strengthen what remains and is about to die. Remember what you received and heard. Keep it and repent. Revelation three, verses one to three. Enter the church of Lea Sedia. I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot, not realizing that you are wretched, miserable, poor and blind and naked. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Revelation three, 14 to 19. So when churches obey the call for repentance, God is glorified, Christ is exalted, his church is sanctified, his gospel is effective and sinners are saved and sanctified. We need to call sinners to repentance and churches that are turning from the word of God need to repent as well. The third cause for the crisis in churches today is a distortion of God's gospel. The gospel without authoritative and binding truth is a compromise of the true gospel. I know all of you realize that. We need to proclaim Jesus as he is revealed in scripture. He is not like us, we need to become like him. And the only way to do that is through the preaching of the pure gospel of Jesus Christ. The self-centered gospel that promises things that Jesus doesn't promise is a lie. Come to Jesus for health and wealth and prosperity. Now come to Jesus for spiritual blessings, to be reconciled to God, to be forgiven of your sins, to be granted the gift of eternal life. Well, God's gospel is offensive and that's why there are so many people compromising it today. We must proclaim Christ as Lord, the stripping man of all self-reliance and self-righteousness. We must expose man's false beliefs and reprove his religious pride. God opposes the proud but only gives grace to the humble. Anyone that wants to be saved must surrender and submit to the supreme authority of God's word, humble themselves under the sovereign hand of Almighty God. That's the only way God will extend grace to them and that's why it's so offensive. It strips man of everything. We must show man that he is guilty and condemned before a holy and righteous God who will punish all who die without Christ in the eternal lake of fire. We must share the true gospel. And as I study the gospel of Jesus Christ and by now you know this is my favorite thing to talk about, but there are some very unique characteristics about the message of the gospel. It is God's only message with directions to paradise. We see that in 1 Corinthians 15 verse two. Paul says, if you believe anything else, you are believed in vain. The gospel is eternal. It is the same message for every generation. When was it first announced? The moment after Adam and Eve fell into sin. This gospel was delivered to Abraham. This gospel will go throughout the world and then the end will come. Everyone who will ever be in heaven will be there because they believe the one and only eternal gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Old Testament saints look forward to the cross. New Testament saints look back to the cross, but everybody will be in heaven because of the one and only eternal gospel. Here's the offense of the gospel. It's a very exclusive message. It dares to say that all other faiths and all other religions are false. It's because it speaks of the most intolerant man who ever lived, who said, no one comes to the Father except through me. The gospel is also only of grace. Nothing can be added to it. Otherwise it loses its power. The gospel speaks of the sufficiency of Christ and that's why salvation is offered as a gift of God's grace. Anyone who attempts to add to the sufficient work of Jesus Christ has nullified God's grace. And anyone who teaches another gospel with other requirements stands condemned by Galatians chapter one verses six to nine. And the gospel is according to scripture alone. Everything we need to know about our salvation is fully contained in the gospel. It doesn't point us to any other authority, to any other book, to any other institution, everything is fully contained in scripture. And how we need to share that with those who are lost in religion. We must proclaim the complete gospel. In our gospel track, the greatest news about the greatest gift from the greatest man, we have broken that down into six categories. We always start with God who is perfect. He is our holy creator and righteous judge. And then we go into man's problem. He is spiritually dead in their sin. Then we go into God's provision. He provided us a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we look at man's part. Our only saving response is to repent and believe the gospel. Then we look at God's promise, eternal life. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And lastly, we look at man's privilege to worship and glorify God throughout all eternity as his adopted children. You know, oftentimes people say the thing that keeps them from being more faithful and witnessing for the Lord Jesus Christ is I really don't know the gospel that well or I don't know what to say. If you pick up one of our greatest news tracks, the outline is right here for you. You can just lead people through these six categories and they will be hearing the complete gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. So what do you and I need to do with this message? I don't think any of you are surprised with the state of the church in America today. Yes, we are to count our blessings for being in a church that is set apart from all the churches that we talked about this morning. But there are still things that you and I can do as Christians bought by the precious blood of Jesus. We need to contend earnestly for godliness in our church. We need to use our spiritual gifts to build up and edify the church of Jesus Christ. We need to always seek God's approval over man. We make decisions week in and week out. Am I gonna do this to approve because I am seeking God's approval or because I'm seeking man's approval? The motivation for what we do is important. We also need to stand firm against compromise. Please don't be a shrinking violet. If someone stands up and spews a lie of the devil, stand up and defend the glory and honor of our Lord Jesus Christ. You have every right to do that. And if you feel like you need boldness, ask God for that. He will give it to you. Be willing to stand alone. I can only think of Martin Luther. The whole world stood against him. The Roman emperor, the pope of Rome, everyone was against him, but yet he stood alone and he stood firmly on the foundation of God's holy in their authoritative word. We need to do the same because more than ever we're gonna be swimming against the flow. The world is gonna be going one direction and we need to be going the other. Are you ready to do that? We need to sow the seed of God's imperishable word. You know, I talked about our responsibility as that of a mailman. Think about it too, we're Johnny Apple seeds. We've got the imperishable seed of God's word. The Bible describes that as seed that brings forth life when it finds fertile soil. You and I don't know where the fertile soil is, but if we continually sow it wherever we go by engaging people and leaving gospel tracks, those seeds will eventually find fertile soil. So if you're not into literature, gospel distribution, I highly encourage you to do that. Very few people do we encounter throughout the day that they do not get the gospel message. That is their only hope. When we talk about gospel resources, you know I have a great compassion for those who are where I was for many years of my life. Believing I belong to the one true church, but yet destined for hell. And so I spent six years compiling all the questions that Catholics asked, and I answered them with the authority of God's word. And this becomes an excellent discipleship tool for you not only to equip yourself, but to sit down with a Catholic and go through this glorious gospel that promises eternal life, a promise Catholics do not have in their religion. Let's go to the throne of grace, shall we? Our Father, we thank you for this rich day in your word today. I thank you, Father, for answered prayer, how you equipped each one of the speakers to give a clear message from your word and exhort and encourage each one of us to be faithful witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ. Without Father, we've heard a lot of information today. We pray that you would help us retain it and most importantly that we would not be like the Dead Sea in Israel that takes everything in and never lets it flow out, but that we would proclaim it from the rooftops, that we would share what we have learned today to encourage others to be faithful witnesses for the Lord Jesus. We ask this for his glory and in his powerful name, amen.