Jesus - our only hope of glory

A 16-year-old sophomore in Pennsylvania calmly walks into school and stabs 21 people. Another fatal shooting spree at Fort Hood leaves four dead and 14 wounded.  Some madman opens fire on a Jewish community center and an assisted living facility killing three. Every day there’s breaking news of another spree of violence. 

Then there’s the alarming problem of increased human trafficking (slavery) not just in a few third-world countries somewhere else, but right here in our nation. There are gambling addictions, drug and alcohol addictions, pornography addictions and who knows what other addictions that are destroying lives and tearing families apart. 

There seems to be an unquenchable thirst for sexual immorality, impurity, lust, jealousy, quarreling, selfish ambition, dissension, anger, hatred and falsehood that has seeped into and taken over our cultural mentality, and it’s crumbling our foundations and rotting out the very walls that have held this nation together, strong and secure. 

We are in a mess. What in the world is going on?! 

Could it be that we’re simply suffering the effects of what happens when a culture becomes godless and jettisons biblical values? When sin goes unchecked and people do whatever seems right in their own eyes? When we reject the ways of the Lord and applaud the ways of the wicked? That is why – more than ever – we need to return to the hope of the gospel of Christ Jesus. And we’d better do it sooner than later. 

Don’t expect Washington to get it all figured out and straightened up. Neither laws nor politicians can change the wickedness of men’s hearts. Don’t wait for Hollywood to recognize the moral poison it’s spewing out and decide to clean up its act. The media wouldn’t even produce the kind of garbage they do if viewers weren’t craving it. Don’t think higher education holds the key to getting the ship back on course. Many of our nation’s leading universities are awash in atheistic thought and immorality. 

What we need is Jesus. In the words of Christian rock band Petra: “When will this world see that we need Jesus? If we open our eyes we will all realize that He loves us.” He is our truly only hope. Without Christ, we’re done. We’re sunk. If we don’t repent and get right with God through Jesus, we’re only going to see the chaos and confusion and violence and immorality escalate exponentially to our grave destruction. 

It’s only by God’s patient, loving grace that we’re not already feeling the full brunt of His displeasure. But if we continue to flaunt our sin in His face, it surely won’t be long until we are completely undone by His judgment. 

Church, I’m calling us to get on our knees and humbly seek the Lord and turn from our own sins first and foremost. How can we expect God to bless and heal our land if we’re not seeking His face and following His ways? How can we possibly expect the lost to come to Jesus if they don’t see Jesus living in us? 

And I’m calling us, church, to rise up and proclaim the gospel of Christ Jesus. Pastors, lead the charge for the sake of the kingdom! Don’t compromise the truth at the risk of offending someone in your congregation, but unleash the Word of God in all of its grand and glorious and life-changing power. Call your people to repentance and holiness in Christ. Tell them they’ve spent enough time already doing what pagans choose to do, and plead with them to crucify the flesh with its passions and desires, and to walk in step with the Holy Spirit in the light of God’s life-giving Word. 

This Sunday – Easter Sunday – is the perfect time to proclaim the meaning of the cross and the power of the resurrection. The world needs Jesus, our only hope of glory.