My focus has, in one way or another, pointed repeatedly to the intensification of our spiritual warfare. That intensification has been happening now for some time, but it essentially transitioned from a cold war to a hot war with the same-sex marriage ruling of the Supreme Court, that changed everything. Essentially, with that ruling, the judicial system of the United States declared war on the Bible. And on all those who hold that the Bible is the only rule of faith and morality. It's not my intention to dwell on that ruling, nor certainly to dwell on homosexuality, unless I'm forced to. But my aim rather is to do what I can, and I can't do much, but to do what I can to try to prepare you as a church and as individual believers for the inevitable consequences of that ruling and of the changes that that ruling has brought. And in order to demonstrate that I'm not being an alarmist, I would direct you to Albert Moeller's briefing for this past Thursday, August the 13th. You can find it at albertmoeller.com. If you haven't listened to that, I urge you to listen to it. And if you do, you will understand that the consequences of that Supreme Court ruling are taking place now. Doctor, I think his name is Paul Nyquist, who is president of Moody Bible Institute, has recently published a book titled Prepare. In that book, Dr. Nyquist says the culture war is over and we lost. And now we have to prepare to live in a culture that is decidedly against Christ and the Bible. This is something else that he says in that book. He says the day of the casual Christian is over. you will be forced to take a stand. Many who we thought would stand with us will surprise us by standing against us. Many adds, the church will be smaller, but it will be more vibrant. Now that terrifies me, actually, in a lot of ways. First of all, I'm concerned that some of you may be casual Christians. And I'm concerned that if push comes to shove, that you will stand against us and not with us. It is not an exaggeration to say that persecution in some form, and there are many forms, is coming rapidly, and virtually every one of you will have to choose sides. I hope you've already chosen. You'll have to stand. You'll be called upon to stand. And again, beloved, it's not my purpose to alarm you, but rather to prepare you. That's what watchmen do. When they see the enemy and the threat coming, they warn the city. They prepare for the war. Now, two weeks ago on Sunday evening, I directed your attention to the subject of living well as the servants of Christ in our present situation. Living well as the servants of Christ in our present situation. I don't think I'm wrong that the far greater number of you really want to be faithful to Christ come what may. And not only faithful to Him, I believe that most of you won't bear fruit to His name no matter what. And so, this morning, I want to try to complete that study. Back on August the 2nd, I was able to give you but one of three points of counsel, and I hope to go back now and give you the other two, and then, if time permits, I want to provide some help for our trembling emotions. some help for our emotions. First of all, counsel for faithfulness and fruitfulness to Christ in our present circumstances. The counsel that was given two weeks ago was this, you must know your Savior. If you're gonna be faithful, if you're gonna be fruitful in the evil day, you must know your Savior, all right? Seems unnecessary to say that, but what I'm talking about is feeding your faith because your faith is going to be tested. Feeding your faith with fresh knowledge. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. We need a fortified faith in order to have that for the challenges that will come. We need fresh knowledge. Fresh knowledge of Christ every day. New, fresh encounters with Christ. And that will come as we seek Him earnestly. Casual Christians go about Christianity casually. They read their Bibles casually. They pray casually. They worship casually. The day of the casual Christian is over, it's war. It's time to be dead and earnest. If we haven't been before, we must be now. So go to your Bibles, go to your Bibles every day and read them carefully, ponder them, pray over them, ask Christ to speak to you, to show you his glory, his promises, his truth in new and fresh ways. And then seek his face. with earnestness and honesty. Don't pray prayers that you know he wants to hear. Pray honest prayers. Talk about the real struggles of your faith. Talk about real sin and temptation. Talk about fear and doubt. Talk about what you need. Talk honestly to him. Seek him earnestly. You need to know your Savior. Every day you need to become reacquainted with Him. I urge you, beloved, do not try to live upon past experiences of His nearness. Part of our privilege is that we can have joyful communion with Christ every day. multiple times in the course of every day. He is there. He invites us. He says, come, drink of me, eat of me. I am your life. That's what we need most of all. The stamina necessary for faithful endurance and the power necessary to bear fruit are found in Christ and in Christ alone. Well, that was my first council given two weeks ago. Obviously, I said more then than I just said. And I just dropped my notes, so I'm gonna bend over and pick them up. I didn't really disappear. But now I want to move to council number two. If you would live faithfully and fruitfully in our present culture, you must love your neighbor, whoever he is. You must love your neighbor. You see, when we think about bearing fruit for Christ, we have to think about other people. We think about faithfulness, we think about ourselves, we think about fruitfulness, we have to think about other people. We have to think about getting outside of ourselves and leaving our safe houses, engaging people, advancing the knowledge of Christ among people who have yet to recognize how great and wonderful and saving He is. And it would be helpful for us to understand that most of the people who fight against Christ really have no idea who He is. They don't know. And so part of our calling in this present culture is to advance the knowledge of Christ among those who don't know Him. And where do you begin? Well, you begin by loving them. that is fundamental to holiness is to love people. A lawyer tried to trick Jesus once and he said, Master, what's the greatest commandment? And Christ said, well, the first commandment is that you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. That is the first and great commandment. But the second commandment is likened to it. You shall love your neighbor. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. And Paul was referring to that when he gave this summary of our duty to our fellow man in Romans 13, eight. Oh, no one, anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. Now, when we were going through Romans, I made this explanation. I really think it's important. I think that when we hear the admonition to love our neighbor, it kind of falls flat because we are always thinking about love in a westernized context. And in the West, love means emotion. And we hear this command, have emotional energy toward your neighbor, even your enemies. And we look at that and say, that's impossible. I can't do that. But in the biblical context, I don't think love is primarily emotional. Love is a commitment. It's a commitment to our neighbor that we will treat him the way God commands us to treat him. We will do for him and to him what God commands us. We are committed to that and we will endeavor to do that with affection. And beloved, we can, by God's grace, do that. We can do to our neighbor what we would want our neighbor to do for us in any given situation. And that is a commitment that we must make. I will treat my neighbor the way I would want my neighbor to treat me, particularly if I'm in trouble. The point that I particularly want to make in that regard is that we must love our neighbor. We must be committed to him no matter who he is. No matter what his sexual orientation is. No matter what his religious ideas may be or his political ideology. We shouldn't bother to stop and ask. What is your sexual orientation? I'd like to know so I can know if I can love you. That's a mute question. If he's my neighbor, I'm to love him. I'm to be committed to his good without regard for his sexual preference or his religious ideals or his political ideology. Remember, Jesus was approached by someone who was trying to wiggle out from under the pressure of love your neighbor as yourself. Remember what the man asked Jesus, who's my neighbor? Hey, who is it? Come on, who's my neighbor? And Jesus answered as he often did by telling the story. It was this Jewish guy who was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho and a gang of hoods attacked him. and they robbed him and beat him and left him on the side of the road, dying. And a couple of very good Jews came, a priest and a Levite, and when they saw him laying in the ditch, they crossed over on the other side of the road so they wouldn't have to deal with him. Now, do you think that that bleeding, dying Jewish guy objected that the one person who stopped to help him was a dirty, filthy Samaritan? who worshiped a false God, who was considered to be racially inferior to the Jews. Do you think that bleeding, dying Jewish guy objected to the Samaritan binding up his wounds and taking him to a hotel and preparing for his health? You get the point? Beloved, your neighbor is the person in front of you. at any given time. He's the person closest to you. He's the person who has needs around you. He may be lonely, he may be without a job, whatever. Your neighbor is the human being of like blood with yourself, with the common father, Adam, who is right before you. Now if we're gonna persuade people concerning Jesus, we need to love them the way Jesus loved. Going about doing good to all people indiscriminately. To publicans, I didn't say republicans, publicans, who were white collar thieves. To prostitutes. to Roman pagans and Samaritan pagans. If we're gonna be fruitful in this world, we're gonna have to be loving. And when I think of loving, I think of these letters, K-G-G, kind, gentle, and generous. It's what we're gonna have to be to all people, kind, gentle, and generous. I do understand that if in faithfulness to God, we have to rebuke certain lifestyles, and we will if we're faithful. to God, we're going to have to say, that's wrong, that's sin. And I do understand that if we say that, we will be accused of hating. This is a major shift in contemporary virtue, the way our culture views virtue. Christians used to be known as loving people. Now we are being called haters because we take God's side against sin. We're haters. We will be accused of hating. You can't avoid that without compromise. But beloved, just make sure of two things. Make sure that you are not a hater in your heart. Make sure that you have compassion for all people and that you pray earnestly for their good. Secondly, make sure that what you have shown them is love, that you have dealt with them kindly, gently, and generously. So that if they continue to call you haters, they will do so despite the evidence, the evidence to the contrary. And please understand, please, please understand, the angry, hateful Christian is a contradiction of Christ and the gospel. There ought not to be any angry, hate-filled Christians. Make sure you're not one. Listen, beloved, Christ's enemies could not provoke him to hatred. Let's make sure that Christ's enemies don't provoke us to hatred. Okay? We must love our neighbor. Now, here I feel compelled by the scriptures to add a postscript, and please understand this postscript is not taking back anything that I've just said, okay? The postscript is this, loving our neighbor, irrespective of who he is, doesn't mean that we are forbidden to distinguish peculiarly vile and determined enemies of God. Most of the people we encounter out there are fighting God, but they don't know who he is. They don't understand his nature. They don't understand his law or the reasons behind it. They're just fighting because somebody told them they needed to be angry and they love sin. They don't know what they're doing. But beloved, there are some who know exactly who God is. They have an intelligent understanding of the Bible. They know who God is. They know He is holy. They know why He forbids certain things. And with eyes wide open, they are fighting. Those enemies are different. Jude said, on some have compassion, making a distinction. but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. There are some upon whom we just should throw blankets of compassion and ignore their growling. But there are others that we need to guard our souls around. We want to see them saved, but they're dangerous. You see, the same apostle who wrote Romans 12, 14, bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. That same apostle wrote 2 Timothy 4, 14, which reads, Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm, may the Lord repay him according to his deeds. Well, the third word of counsel regarding being faithful and fruitful servants to Christ in our present circumstance is this, speak the Bible. Speak Bible truth plainly and plentifully. Do you remember when the Jewish authorities called in the apostles and said, look, You guys have filled Jerusalem with the doctrine of this Jesus. We forbid you to teach or preach any longer in that name. Remember that? Remember that account? Do you remember what the apostles said? Remember what they said? We must obey God rather than men. Now, beloved, we ought to be thankful we haven't reached that point yet. We're getting close. But we haven't come to the point that we are being forbidden to speak of Jesus in the marketplace. That time hasn't come yet, so what do we need to do? We need to be speaking while it's still day before the night comes and no one can work. We can speak with impunity. So we need to speak often and we need to speak candidly and we need to speak with love. But we need to speak. Something I hope will encourage you, not everything is bleak. In the midst of some very discouraging cultural developments, I believe there is more sound preaching now than in any time in my lifetime. And I believe it's found in distinctly Reformed circles, and the Reformed doctrine is what the church is gonna need if it's gonna be strong in times of persecution. But even outside what we consider Reformed churches, there is a return to a more serious approach to the Bible. This week, I was pursuing an article that had come across my attention. Very sad. It was about a pastor whose daughters, ages 24, 21, and 18, had all been killed at one time in a car wreck. They were returning from a church conference, and they had a wreck, and they were killed. In my heart, I'm a dad, and I'm trying to envision what would that be. to lose three children in one car wreck. So I'm wanting to read. I'm wanting to read more about that. And that took me to a charismatic website. Don't be alarmed. When I think of charismania, I think of superficiality. I think of emotional hysteria. That's not fair because it's not all like that, but that's what I think about. And so as I was reading about this pastor and his loss, there were some other articles that caught my eye and I perused a couple of them. And there were articles about the superficiality of church life today. It was an article about what is called mega grace churches. And the author talked about antinomianism and the failure to preach sin and call people to repentance and to living a holy life. The very kind of things that I might say in that context, this man was saying in an entirely different ecclesiastical context from mine. And I thank God for that. You see, as the pressure intensifies, casual Christians will drift away, but God's people will get more serious, and they'll get more serious with their Bibles and with doctrine, and that's happening, and we ought to be glad. Now what I'm calling you to is a more aggressive publication of truth, beginning with the gospel. Turn to Romans chapter one. I apologize for going so deep into a sermon before I ask you to turn to a text, but Romans 1, and you know this passage very well, but I want us to look at it again. Romans 1, 16. Paul said, for I'm not ashamed. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God. It is that vehicle through which God pours his power for salvation for everyone who believes, Jew first and also the Gentile. Now look at verse 18. And this is why the gospel is so necessary. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, men who suppress truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. And that means that even people who don't have Bibles, who have never crossed the door of an evangelical church, they know who God is. Essentially, they know that He is God who created the universe and He reigns over all and He is to be worshipped and honored. Everybody knows that. And they suppress that in the pursuit of unrighteousness. And in that pursuit, they make up other gods to take the place of the God that they know in their conscience. Everybody needs a gospel because the wrath of God is poured out upon all unrighteousness. But beloved, in preaching the gospel, let's be like Paul, but let's also follow Paul's model for preaching the gospel. Turn please to Acts 24. I hear people say, just preach the gospel. Just preach the gospel. And often what they mean is just preach the cross. Just preach the cross. Don't preach anything. Just preach the cross. Beloved, listen to me. To a vast number of our neighbors, the cross makes no sense. You can't start with the cross if people don't know who God is, or what His law is, or what judgment is. Notice how Paul preached Christ to a Roman official named Felix. Acts 24, verse 24. And after some days, Felix came with his wife, Drusilla, who was Jewish. He sent for Paul and heard him concerning faith in Christ. That's what Paul was talking about, faith in Christ. Now, as Paul reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Now what's he talking to him about? He's talking about faith in Christ. But what are the particular subjects that he is arguing? Righteousness, self-control, and judgment to come. And Felix became afraid. And answered, go away for now, and when I have a more convenient time, I'll call for you. He was preaching the gospel, but he was preaching the gospel to a pagan. who didn't know God. He didn't understand righteousness. He didn't understand the necessity of repentance. He had no idea about a coming judgment. So in order to get to the cross, Paul had to talk about the doctrine of God and the doctrine of sin and the doctrine of accountability. So don't be naive. You can't start with a man who doesn't know God and tell him that God sacrificed his son. I had a guy tell me one time, what kind of a God is it that would kill his own son? We see he doesn't understand righteousness. He doesn't understand justice. The gospel is indeed of paramount importance. And our primary aim must be to get people to the cross. But beloved, there are other truths that are foundational to the gospel. The godhood of God, the content of moral law, the certainty of a coming judgment. You see, I've become persuaded of this. The church must reeducate the American conscience. so that God is once again recognized to be on his throne, so that sin is once again recognized to be evil, and so grace is once again seen to be amazing. The American conscience has been lost to Christianity. And in part because we haven't talked about sin and righteousness and judgment. So my challenge to you is buy up every opportunity to proclaim biblical truth. Conversations, handing out literature. You ought to have literature readily at hand that you can distribute. Writing letters. using social media, I'm gonna say something you never thought you'd hear me say, join Facebook or join Twitter. If you're not a member, join, just so you can link people to truth. So you can publish Bible text and link articles and link music that declares truth. Something else I never thought I would say, I'm still not sure I'm saying it. Even use t-shirts. I've always been opposed to slogan Christianity. I still fundamentally am, but I'll tell you what's happening. The door is closing. We need to get truth out there every way we can. So I've even thought about a couple of t-shirts, so if I show up wearing one, I really have, there's one I may see if I can get printed. Speak the Bible while you can, beloved, speak it. Cut back on trivialities. I know you gotta talk about the weather and football season's coming on, we all want, well, not everybody, but some of us wanna talk about that, but minimize that and get to the Bible. and try to get to the cross, but understand the cross is not gonna make any sense if people don't know about God and sin and judgment, okay? I'll try to make this short. I wanna take some closing minutes to try to give some help to your emotions. Now, maybe you're saying, I don't need any help, I'm strong, I'm good. I'm not. If we're intent, God helping us and being faithful and fruitful, we're gonna be opposed. And so it's nothing new. Well, that's true. But one thing has changed. The opposition that we face, now has the backing of the U.S. government. That's different. See, I'm not really sympathetic with those who say nothing has really changed. Oh yes, things have changed. And now the U.S. government has declared war on the Church of Jesus Christ. That has frightening implications. And I'm troubled by that. So I want to try to give some hope, encouragement. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 20, please. One of the things that happened to me over the sabbatical is that I had become very, very interested in the book of Deuteronomy. One of the writers that I read said it was the most important book in the Old Testament. I don't know if that's true, but I'm reading the book of Deuteronomy in a fresh way. It is a fascinating book written by Moses. I think the greatest leader in the history of Israel was Moses. He led them out of Egypt. He led them to the border of the Promised Land through 40 years of wilderness wanderings. But because of one act of disobedience, God did not allow Moses to enter the promised land. So before he dies, he gives some parting words of counsel to the nation. Counsel about entering the promised land and enjoying the blessing of God once there. This is his parting document. It's recorded in the book of Deuteronomy. In chapter 20, Moses anticipates wars that Israel will have to fight. They're going to have to fight to get into the land. People already there will have to be uprooted and, and this gives us, they're going to have to be annihilated. They're not to be spared, they're to be annihilated. And we have problems with that. Every man, woman, boy, and girl is to be killed. And we struggle with that. But beloved, understand that is a foretaste of the day of judgment, when God will not spare. This is a foretaste of that wrath that is coming upon the world. But that's not the only war they will have to face. Once they're there, they'll have to fight against other nations who will try to come and steal their land. Verses 10 through 20 of Deuteronomy 20 are fascinating instructions about fighting war. Two different kinds of war. Read it, it's intriguing. There's even some instruction about ecology at the end. protecting the environment in times of war. It's a fascinating chapter. But the thing that draws me to this is Moses' counsel to Israel about facing their enemies. In every case, with a rare exception during the height of David's empire. In almost every case, Israel will be substantially outmanned and under-equipped. They won't have as many soldiers and they won't have as many horses and they won't have as many chariots. And by every discernible measure, defeat seems inevitable, except for one thing. Jehovah is their God and they are his people and they are doing what he has commanded them to do. And he, he will make them successful. It won't be the strength of their armies, the number of their horses, the might of their military power, it will be Jehovah. They are his people, he is for them. And as long as they're faithful to him, they cannot be defeated. The problem is they will have to fight. Hebrew men will have to put on their armament, take up their swords and spears and go to the battlefield. And some of them will be wounded and some of them will die, but the battle will be won. And as I thought about that, as I thought about the fact God isn't gonna send angels out of heaven to fight the wars for them. They're gonna have to fight. Even though they're outnumbered and under-equipped, they're gonna have to fight. And that does kind of represent us. What do we have to go against the strength of evil and error in our culture. We're so few. And all we have are words. We have God. And beloved, listen to me. Think about this. God is glorified when his people, by faith, use the means that he has appointed to attempt the impossible, simply because he commands them to do it. Well, that's what Israel will have to do. Now, what does this have to do with us? We're not Old Covenant Israel. We have not been given a land to take and guard. We do not have physical weapons. And the greater part of our enemies are not even flesh and blood. So what does this have to do with us? It has a lot to do with us. First of all, as the Church of Christ, We are Jehovah's people and He is our God in a way that transcended Old Covenant Israel. The real Israel of God is Jesus Christ. He is the Israel of God and everyone who is joined to Him is part of the Israel of God. We are the covenant people of God. He is our God. Furthermore, the entire earth, all the nations of the earth belong to God. And He has promised to give them to Christ as His inheritance. And Christ has promised to make us co-heirs with Him over the nations. The meek will inherit the earth. We will judge the nations and even angels. And thirdly, Christ has sent us on a mission. In anticipation of the coming day of His glory, He has sent us into all the nations with the gospel to make disciples out of all the nations. And we go in His name and in His authority, calling upon men and women to repent of their sins and leave their gods and come and follow Christ. Israel was called to take a land by war. We have been called to take the nations by the gospel. So it does refer to us. And everybody who fights against our gospel, everybody who wars against our effort to make disciples, makes himself to be the enemy of God. Now, usually when we preach the gospel, we do it with an invitation. And we plead, and I've often pleaded with you who haven't believed on Christ to come. And I've assured you that Christ will receive you, that he will save you if you'll call upon him. But there's another side to the gospel. It's the Lord of glory who commands you to repent of your sins and believe. And if you refuse, you have declared yourself to be at war with him. And part of what I must tell you is you will not win. You will not win. I call you to stack arms, surrender. You're beaten. He's the Lord of glory. Don't fight him. Yield to him. Now, with all that said, look at the promises. Deuteronomy one, chapter 20, verse one. And when you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them. For the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, who redeemed you, and we substitute the cross The Lord your God is with you, who redeemed you by the blood of his Son on the cross. So it shall be. When you're on the verge of battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people. It's a biblical basis for the chaplaincy in armed forces. They were to take priests with them to the battlefield. And before they were engaged in battle, the priest was to stand before them and say this, like on the Lord's day, I'm to preach to you and challenge you as you go out into the battlefield. He shall say to them, hear, O Israel. Today you're on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint. Do not be afraid. Do not panic. Do not tremble or be terrified because of them. For the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to save you. And that's what I have to tell you. more true of you than of them. The Lord is with us. Now when we're out there, we may feel all alone. We're fighting temptations and we're trying to speak truth in a hostile environment. We may feel all alone, we're not alone. The Lord our God is with us by His Spirit. He's even given us reason to think that in the crutch, He will come and give us words that are suited, fitted for that occasion. We are not to be afraid. We're to know that He is with us. But more than being with us, He fights for us. Verse four, He fights for us. Again, in ways we don't understand, He fights for us. We resist the devil and he flees. Why does he flee? Because he's afraid of us. Are you kidding? It's because Christ fights for us. And when we're trying to love people, we're trying to do good to them, so they will see Jesus in us. And we're trying to give them the gospel and plead with them to flee the wrath that is coming. What we don't understand is how Christ uses our words and uses our deeds and the hearts and minds of those people. We go away thinking nothing has been accomplished. You don't know. We sow, we water. It's God that gives the increase. And when we have spoken truth, we have to believe. It won't just fall to the ground. Those people will think about it. And when we have loved them and been kind to them in the face of their anger toward us, they won't be able to forget that. The Lord fights for us. We take out weapons and we use them and we say, what is my weaponry? What are my words? What's my love? It's so weak. Well, it is, except the Lord is with you and he fights for you and he takes your words and pierces into the conscience and causes people to think. And that could be the beginning of their journey toward grace. Finally, the Lord will deliver us from all our enemies. He will make us gloriously triumphant. For your sake, we are killed all day long. We're accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. My message to you today is this. Stay close to Christ. Love all men. Do good to all. Speak truth with the view of making disciples. Be courageous. Expect to win. and look for the return of your exalted Lord. And for those of you who are on the other side, you've never surrendered to Christ. My dear friend, you're on the losing side. You may seem to be winning, but you're not. And soon you're gonna die. And you're gonna die all alone. And the world's not gonna help you when you die. You will die all alone. And you will stand before this Christ that you have rejected. It's inescapable. So I plead with you, lay down your weapons. Surrender. Believe on Him. You may still join His army that wins. Let's pray. Dear Father, we have often, we have often dreamt of what it would be to have lived in the days of Spurgeon, or to have lived in the days of Whitefield and Edwards, to see tens of thousands of people streaming out into cow pastures to hear the gospel. We have dreamed of what it would be like to be in a company tens of thousands of people and hear people crying out, Lord, have mercy. But you have appointed that we should live in these days. And we ask you for grace to be faithful in these days and to be fruitful. Keep us from fear and panic. Make us courageous. And Father, you can turn these days into days of revival. And we ask that you would do that for the greater glory of your Son. Amen.