Spiritual Degeneration
We should not expect the world environment
to become increasingly God-centered
as we approach the second coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Here now is Gene Getz:
As we look at this Principle,
I think it's important to mention the fact
that there are people today,
there are Christians today--
and they have been: years ago
centuries ago--that believe that
every day it's getting better.
That Christianity will more and more
influence the world system.
And eventually we will bring in the kingdom.
As Jesus Christ comes back
to a renewed world
because of the church of Jesus Christ.
Well the fact of the matter is,
when you look at history--
when you look at world history.
And when you look at what the Bible teaches.
Both tell us the world is not getting better.
We are deteriorating.
Now we have times of renewal.
We have times of reformation.
And we've seen that particularly
within our own culture
during the great revivals.
But when you look at the overview,
it didn't last too long.
There was revival and then again deterioration
and the world began to go down.
Now when you look at the whole of history.
And when you look at Israel,
for example, or Judah in the Old Testament,
you see that again and again.
For example, what we have
in the book of Judges.
Again, and again, Israel deteriorated.
God had mercy.
For a while they followed Him
and then they deteriorated.
That's the story of the judges--again and again.
And each time they went down,
it got worse.
And so the history of the children of Israel
is not a story of going upward.
It's going downward until they were
eventually taken into Assyrian captivity
in the north and into the
Babylonian captivity in the south.
And so Zephaniah is prophesying
during a time that's leading up
to the fact that the children of Israel--
Judah particularly--is going to go
into Babylonian captivity.
The Assyrians had already
taken the north into captivity.
And so we begin right at the beginning
in verse 1 of chapter 1 of Zephaniah.
And this is Zephaniah's calling:
The word of the LORD that came
to Zephaniah son of Cushi,
son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah,
son of Hezekiah, in the days
of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah.
Now what this simply tells us is
that Zephaniah was called to prophesy
while Josiah was a king.
And the interesting thing is that
Josiah was one of the good kings.
He became king at 8 years of age.
And then when he matured
and began to have responsibility,
through one of the priests
he discovered the law.
Which was probably the book of Deuteronomy.
And he was absolutely stunned
as to how far the children of Israel,
and Judah particularly,
had moved away from the laws of God.
And so he began to bring revival.
He began to destroy all of the idols
in the temple, as well as up on the hillsides.
And he really worked very hard
at bringing Judah back to worshiping
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
He made progress.
But sadly, sadly, Manasseh
who had led Israel before for
over 50 years was such an evil king.
And had led them in such a wrong direction
that it never turned around.
It was temporary.
And Zephaniah knew this.
And it was really uncomfortable for him
because he had to bring this message of judgment
on Judah and what was going to happen.
And of course, after Josiah there
were four other kings that were
as evil as some of the previous kings.
And so the direction of Judah continued
to go downward until they were
taken into captivity by the Babylonians.
Now what we read here in terms of judgment
is very succinct and very straightforward.
And we read about it in
Zephaniah chapter 1, verse 2. God said:
I will completely sweep away everything
from the face of the earth--
this is the LORD's declaration.
And there very specifically I believe
it's talking about what happened in Jerusalem
when the Babylonians came in
and just burned the city.
And then took the remnant into
Babylonian captivity.
And of course, we know from
biblical history that that happened.
Now this was a very difficult thing
for Zephaniah to be able to have to
speak the word of God.
Now I said earlier that there are
some who believe that the world
will get better and better,
especially since Jesus Christ came
and the church was born.
And if we're light in this world
and salt in this world as we should be,
then we will influence the world
and it'll get better and better and better.
But that's not what Jesus taught.
I don't believe that's what Jesus taught.
For example in Luke 17.
These are the words of Jesus:
"Just as it was in the days of Noah,
so it will be in the days of the Son of Man: ...
Of course, the Son of Man there,
Jesus is speaking of Himself.
He is also speaking of the time of the end.
And He says:
...people went on eating, drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage
until the day Noah boarded the ark,
and the flood came
and destroyed them all."
What Jesus is simply saying is
that when He comes in judgment again,
the world will be acting just like
the people that lived in the time of Noah.
And when it talks about eating
and drinking and marrying--
certainly those things are not wrong
in themselves, but if you go back
and study what they were doing, it was evil.
They were scoffing.
They were certainly living out of the will of God.
They were not worshiping the true God.
And so, God of course in His mercy,
took Noah and his family into the ark
and started all over again after the flood.
So we read, even from Jesus that things
are not going to get better.
They're going to get worse.
And that shouldn't surprise us as far as
the overall world situation is concerned.
Paul spoke to this as well
when he was writing to Timothy.
The last letter that he ever wrote
before he gave his life in martyrdom
for the gospel.
And this is what he said.
And when you read these words,
it's very clear. He says:
But know this:
Difficult times will come in the last days. ...
The interesting thing is that Paul and Timothy
and New Testament Christians
believed they were in the last days.
In a sense, they were in the last days
as it's defined.
That was 2,000 years ago.
So if they were in the last days, where are we?
And look at what was written. And then
think about what we see in the world:
...But know this: Difficult times
will come in the last days.
For people will be lovers of self, [sound familiar?]
lovers of money, boastful, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents,
ungrateful, unholy, unloving,
irreconcilable, slanderers,
without self-control, brutal,
without love for what is good,
traitors, reckless, conceited...
And perhaps here's a great summary statement:
...lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
holding to the form of godliness
but denying its power. ...
And of course Paul warned:
...Avoid these people!
And one of the reasons he said that was:
Don't allow them to influence you
to become a part of their lifestyle.
And he's simply saying that things
will get bad before the great day
of the Lord comes.
And of course we believe before
the church will be removed.
So look at this Principle once again
in view of what we've just looked at,
both in the Old Testament and New Testament:
We should not expect the world environment
to become increasingly God-centered
as we approach the second coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so the question for Reflection
and application is simply this:
Though Scripture teaches that
in the last days more and more people
will choose to serve self and sin,
how should this impact true believers?
That's a very practical question
for us today, isn't it?
Well I'm going to let the authors
of Scripture answer that question.
Peter, for example.
What did Peter say?
In his second Epistle,
chapter 3, verses 17 and 18:
Therefore, dear friends...
And of course, he's speaking to believers:
...Therefore, dear friends,
since you know this in advance,
be on your guard, so that you
are not led away by the error of lawless people
and fall from your own stability. ...
In other words, he is simply saying
to these New Testament Christians
and to us today that we're surrounded
by lawless people.
And we will, as the days move on
towards the end of days before Christ comes,
will be influenced more and more.
And he's saying: Don't--don't allow that
to make you unstable in your faith.
He goes on to say:
...But [by contrast] grow in the grace
and knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ.
To Him be the glory both now
and to the day of eternity. Amen.
So the apostle Peter simply says:
Be on guard.
That's a real answer to that
practical question, isn't it, for us today?
Now let me take you to what Paul said.
Paul said: Be serious.
Another word that we could use
there is be temperate.
Be sober.
And this is what he wrote
to the Thessalonians:
But since we belong
to the day, [using that metaphor]
we must be serious...
We must be temperate.
We must be sober-minded.
...and put the armor of faith
and love on our chests,
and put on a helmet of the hope of salvation.
Those three words Paul used
many, many times to describe maturity in Christ.
Faith and hope and love--
but especially our love.
So Paul says: Be serious.
And then later, in a very practical way,
here in 1st Thessalonians, he says:
Build up one another.
We need each other:
Therefore encourage one another
and build each other up
as you are already doing.
And so one of the ways in which we
should live our lives
as the world deteriorates around us,
is to build up one another.
To encourage one another.
To practice what we've just read
in these previous verses.
And these "one another's" are so important.
I had the privilege of writing a book
called "Building Up One Another."
I wrote some other books that
picked up on the same theme
such as "Encouraging One Another,"
"Praying for One Another."
And it's fascinating that just about
a week ago I got an email
from down under--from Australia.
From a good friend and a fellow pastor
who's retired, John Mills.
I had the privilege of ministering with John and
for two weeks in Australia at one point in time.
And so he wrote to me just this past week.
And said: Gene, I've just been
reviewing your book, "Building Up One Another."
He said: I've used those messages.
I've used those concepts
in my own ministry for years and years.
Thank you so very much.
And so John if you're watching us tonight,
thanks a lot for your email
and for encouraging me to keep on
building up the body of Christ.
Realizing that as every joint supplies,
every part does its work, the body of Christ
will build itself up in love.