Social Justice and the Gospel, Part 1

our text is going to be the 18th chapter in the book of ezekiel and i wouldn't encourage you to turn to that chapter and i do understand that talking about the subject that i'm talking about can be a little bit controversial and that's fine i am the first one to want to help clarify things that folks might be confused about and i've been asked by many people if i would talk about this issue of social justice which is such a big issue in our society so that's what we're going to do i don't want to give you my opinion or anybody else's opinion i want to show you what the Word of God says so that we can understand this particular movement that's going on around us now my goal is not to talk about politics or economics or sociology or any of those things I just want to address the issue of social justice and the gospel social justice and the gospel our culture our society has been talking about social justice for for a couple of years social justice has been around for a long long time it's part of classic socialism but we have in recent months in recent years seen social justice become an issue in the evangelical church where there are many people saying social justice is an essential part of the gospel and if we don't understand that it's a part of the gospel we don't have the true gospel at all that is a pretty significant claim I was reading one writer this week who said we have never had the gospel until we understand social justice and the question that I want to answer for you is does social justice belong as an essential part of the gospel now let's define our terms a little bit when we're talking about social justice we're not talking about legal justice we're not talking about the law we're not talking about things that are lawful and unlawful good and bad right and wrong sinful and and so we're not even talking about divine justice divine justice says God meets it out will be perfect justice on all levels we're not even talking about biblical justice what the Bible has to say about justice is also clearly revealed we're talking about something different than any of those things you don't find social justice as such in in the Bible social justice is a term that describes the idea that everyone has the right to equal upward mobility everybody in a society equal upward mobility equal social privilege equal finances or equal resources and if you don't have those rights and you don't have those opportunities the society is by 8 nature unjust and I just want to rush right in to say of course Society is unjust nobody would argue that the government is flawed because it's run by sinful fallen corrupt human beings and try as it will collectively it lifts itself up a little bit but it's still fraught with injustice inequity discrimination we aren't arguing that at all but what has happened in this new effort to gain social justice is the demand of various groups of people for circumstances and consideration very different than what they think they have received they believe that they have been treated unjustly and now it's time for the society to treat them justly and I would add as well wherever anybody has been treated unjustly they ought to be treated justly where anybody has been treated cruelly they ought to be treated kindly but what social justice is saying is that we have been deprived of privileges in the culture we have been deprived of power we are the the unempowered we have been deprived of position we have been deprived of a property of status of prosperity we don't have what the powerful people have and consequently there is no social justice for us those of us who are the deprived one word sort of sums it up and that is the word victim each of these segments of our population who are crying out for social justice believed that they have been victimized by others in the society this word more than any other word describes their self designed condition the self perceived victims of social discrimination today are women who believe that they have been long abused by men not only personally but sort of collectively there are the poor who believe that they have long been abused by the wealthy there are the ethnic groups who believe that they have long been abused by other ethnic groups or who have more power and there are the sexually deviant the homosexuals in particular who have been abused by heterosexuals so you have these victim categories women certain ethnic groups the poor homosexuals and then there is a growing group of victims who would just simply categorize themselves as those who have to endure hate speech and hate speech in our society seems to be anything you don't agree with anybody who says something to you that you don't agree with you you find us hate speech or anybody who says something that you don't agree with has imposed upon you a micro aggression and they're acting aggressively on you because they they said something that that you did not like maybe a word maybe a phrase maybe an epithet or maybe an idea maybe a viewpoint so we have a growing category of victims of all kinds of micro aggressions and these are the people that are demanding social justice and by that they mean they they want to stop being oppressed by all the oppressors in society and the more victim categories someone is in the more empowered that person is the more important that person is the more truthful that person is the more authoritative that person is if you're in multiple groups this is a new idea called intersectionality all the segments of victimization come together for you and and your multiple victim status makes you the most authoritative person the one to be listened to but if you are not in any victim group you have nothing to say shut up and sit down that's where we are we have an ever increasing belligerent mass of victims who are defining their lives by what other people have done to them now listen I do not doubt that people are victims we're all victims in many ways you know fundamentally we're all victims of Adam's sin we've all been victimized just by being born into this world we're a part of sinful totally depraved humanity so I get that most of us have suffered at the hands of someone else most of us have been treated unjustly unfairly unkindly sometimes brutally and sometimes mercilessly most of us have been misunderstood most of us at some point have wondered why do the wicked prosper and the righteous struggle we we understand that in a fallen world that's humanity that's life in the world it isn't going to be the way everybody would like it to be that's why we're longing for the New Jerusalem in the Millennial Kingdom when our Lord sits on the throne and righteousness rules the world it's a tough world to live in I read that in the 20th century alone a hundred and million people died in genocides that's not war that's just slaughtering a race or a tribe of people 170 million something like 1.6 4 billion are believed to have died in modern wars the world is full of victims victims of war victims of genocide victims of crime victims of terror the world is merciless for all of us on many levels but lately this victim status has been embraced by the evangelical church and I've seen it coming now for a couple of years and it's it's landed with full force recently and this is the idea that it's an essential part of the gospel to understand the importance and the need for social justice now social justice by its very definition is a temporal sort of economic concept not a spiritual concept so on its face injecting a temporal bull a temporal economic sociological concept into the gospel is injecting something alien into the gospel but without regard for that there is a very loud cry being raised that we're not even Christians who have the gospel if we don't include the social gospel which means earthly temporal equity for everyone now that's the question is it a part of the gospel or is it not a part of the gospel and that is the question that I want to answer because it's my responsibility to always make the gospel clear through the years I have been fighting the battle for the gospel whether it's the gospel to Jesus the Gospel according to the apostles ashamed of the gospel the Gospel according to Paul the Gospel according to God all of these books through through decades of my life trying to clarify the gospel so here we go again with some people saying that something must be part of the gospel and we need to know whether that is accurate or not so that is my intent now just as a foundation social justice is nowhere included in any New Testament passage about the gospel social justice is nowhere included in any passage in the New Testament about the gospel so on its face it's not included as a part of the spiritual gospel it is also not a part of any Old Testament gospel as we will see in the 18th chapter of Ezekiel but I'm getting ahead of myself that is not to say that we're not to love people and live justly and care for them and minister to the people who have been treated unfairly and unkindly and mercilessly we are as Christians of course we are we're to be known by our love love to one another and love to the whole world and we are we are to be as as Christ was to them caring for them meeting their needs ministering to them loving them that is a result of salvation the question is is the social gospel a part of the saving gospel or as caring for people a result of the gospel now here's the thesis social justice is not a part of the gospel social justice is not a part of the gospel go one step further it is a serious hindrance to the gospel it is a serious hindrance to the gospel and that is why I am so concerned about it I'm not saying that people haven't been mistreated they have I'm not saying that they shouldn't be treated better they should I'm only asking is this treatment of certain people in society part of the gospel or not and it is my conviction that it is a serious hindrance to the gospel that is why it's never included in any biblical passage on the gospel so let's go to Ezekiel chapter 18 and I'm just going to make a reference to one verse here and then we're gonna have to wait till next week to look at it because they have a lot more things I want to say before we get here in verse 4 there is a statement at the end of the verse the soul who sins will die the soul who sins will die that is the thesis of this chapter the soul who sins will die now before we talk about that a little bit let me tell you about Ezekiel Ezekiel is a prophet he is a prophet in the Exile in the Babylonian exile his name is only mentioned in his prophecy nowhere else in Scripture his name means strengthened by God so let's look at his call go back to chapter 3 Ezekiel chapter 3 he is called son of man frequently verse 1 verse 3 verse 4 and again through this passage down in verse 10 he is called son of man and the other person called son of man in the Bible is Jesus another preacher but let's listen to this text starting in verse 4 God speaks to Ezekiel he says son of man go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them that's that's any pre that's every preachers task speak my words to them for you or not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or different language I'm not sending you to foreigners you're going to the people whose language you speak you're sent to the house of Israel your own people nor to many peoples of unintelligible speech or difficult language whose words you cannot understand but I have sent you to them who should listen to you yet the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you since they are not willing to listen to me surely the whole house of Israel is stubborn and obstinate this sounds like a lot sounds a lot like Isaiah skal doesn't it in chapter 6 you're gonna go and you're gonna speak but they're not gonna listen because they're rebellious and stubborn and obstinate so verse 8 I have made your face as hard as the faces as their faces and your forehead as hard as their foreheads you're gonna butt heads with them and you're not going to give in like Emery harder than flint I have made your forehead do not be afraid of them or be dismayed before them though they are a rebellious house Ezekiel I've made you a rock you are a rock you've got a flint forehead you don't back down even though they hate what you say verse 10 moreover he said to me son of man take into your heart all my words which I will speak to you and listen closely go to the Exile to the sons of your people and speak to them and tell them whether they listen or not thus says the Lord God then the spirit lifted me up I heard a great rumbling sound behind me blessed be the glory of the Lord in his place I heard the sound of the wings of the living beings touching one another and the sound of the wheels beside them even a great rumbling sound so the spirit lifted me up and took me away and I went embittered in the rage of my spirit and the hand of the Lord was strong on me then I came to the exiles who lived beside the river khabar at tel aviv and i sat there seven days where they were living causing consternation among them so he receives this call he's going to be hard-headed and resolute preaching the message to the people that God gives him they're not gonna like it they're not going to listen they're gonna be obstinate and rebellious and stubborn but to confirm his call he has a vision of the glory of God and then he has dropped into the place of Babylon near essentially 20 miles or so south of Babylon to the to the bank of the river khabar and he sits there seven days causing consternation among them they knew he was the prophet of God they knew he had a hard message and they were disturbed that he was in their presence at the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me saying son of man I've appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel whenever you hear a word from my mouth warned them from me we'll stop there for the time being alright Ezekiel was 25 years old when he was taken captive with ten thousand other Jews he was taken captive in 597 BC and you remember the story the southern kingdom Judah was still in existence and the southern kingdom was attacked by the Babylonians and the first attack came in 605 and that was the first deportation they conquered the Jews and hauled thousands of them off into captivity they came back again in 597 in the second deportation they took about ten thousand more Jews captive and Ezekiel and his wife were in that second deportation in 597 so now he is living in Babylon by the river Chebar south of Babylon the city his wife dies we don't know exactly when but there's a record of his her death in his prophecy and he lives on through the whole a prophecy obviously and writes it he lives till about 560 the rabbi said when he was murdered by a Jew whom he confronted by about adaiah dolla tree he confronted the fellow Jew about idolatry and he was slaughtered by him according to rabbinic tradition but during the time of his ministry that most say his ministry he probably went for about 22 years he began it when he was thirty that's how the book begins chapter one verse one in the thirtieth year so he's five years in captivity before he begins his actual ministry and about halfway through his ministry Jerusalem is destroyed in the 586 siege so for half his ministry he's warning the Jews that more judgment is coming and the warning chapters are chapters 4 through 24 he is a preacher of judgment preacher of judgment now how did they get into captivity you remember the people of Israel wanted a king they had judges they wanted a king so the Lord gives them a king they have three kings in the United Kingdom have Saul David and Solomon after Solomon the kingdom splits ten tribes go north and formed what is known as Israel two tribes stay in the south and form Judah but they coexist that the unified Kingdom lasted about a I'd say a hundred and ten years and then it split the northern kingdom fell first in 722 to the Assyrians and God used them to judge his idolatrous northern kingdom and they went into captivity from which they never returned 722 the southern kingdom survived another 135 years and at the end of that period of time God brought judgment from Babylon and it came in three waves 605 597 586 now just prior to that 609 the Egyptians came and killed King Josiah good King Josiah the Egyptians killed him 609 and immediately there were bad Kings four of them in a row really wicked corrupt kings plunging the people after the good reign of Josiah into sin and iniquity and idolatry and so God brings the Babylonians to judge them and Ezekiel then is dropped into the captivity to preach to these captive Jews that God is not yet finished with his judgment there's more judgment to come including the 586 complete destruction of Jerusalem and the temple he is then a judgment preacher and all his sermons pronounce judgment not only on the people back in the land but on the people listening to him who are hard-hearted stubborn and obstinate and will not hear him he is a judgment preacher and he has one foundational basic principle of divine judgment and this is it the soul that sins will die that's his message the wages of sin is death in the language of the Apostle Paul the soul that sins will die physically yes spiritually yes and more importantly and ultimately eternally so he's pronouncing judgment on those who sin this is the foundation of the gospel now where did he go get this let's go back to Deuteronomy back to Moses back to the law Deuteronomy chapter 24 and in Deuteronomy chapter 24 God is laying out his law he come down to verse 16 Deuteronomy 24:16 fathers shall not be put to death for their sons nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers every one shall be put to death for his own sin there's nothing ambiguous about that right everyone will be put to death for his own sin whether you're talking about the capital punishment under the Mosaic law or whether you're talking about physical death in general or whether you're talking about eternal death everyone experiences death any kind of death because of his own sins that is the foundational gospel principle and here it comes we say it all the time you Jesus says will die in your sins and where I go you will never come you will die in your sins this is the law of individual responsibility it found its way into the life of God's people Israel and it shows up in an interesting illustration in 2nd Kings chapter 14 if you want to look over to second Kings samp 2nd 1st and 2nd samuel then 1st and 2nd Kings chapter 14 there's the king named joash joash is murdered he is murdered by two officials named Josue cam and jaha's Abad they murder joash Amaziah the son of joash becomes king the murder of joash is in Chapter 12 chapter 14 his son a messiah becomes king he's 25 years old he reigned for 29 years in Jerusalem verse 2 said and he did right in the sight of the Lord he did right in the sight of the Lord [Music] not everything right but but still that's the epithet he did right in the side of the Lord one illustration of him doing right is down in verse five it came about as soon as the kingdom was firmly in his hand he killed his servants who had slain the king his father that was according to Mosaic law Genesis you take a life you forfeit your life he killed the ones who slew the king his father but notice verse six but the sons of the Slayers he did not put to death according to what was written in the book of the law of Moses as the LORD commanded saying and it quotes back in Deuteronomy 24:16 the father shall not be put to death for the sons now the sons be put to death for the father's but each shall be put to death for his own sin so this was law in Israel somebody else for another person sins people would be killed for their own sins that is the foundational principle of the gospel you will be judged for your own sins several generations later now and we come to Ezekiel let's go back to chapter three and Ezekiel knows this Mosaic law and he knows that it was upheld in the life of Israel certainly by King Amaziah so in verse 18 Ezekiel is instructed by God when I say to the wicked you will surely die to the wicked you will surely die and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live that wicked man shall die in his iniquity but his blood I will require at your hand that is some serious statement this is called blood guiltiness if you Ezequiel you're a preacher if you don't warn the wicked their blood is on your hand when I take their life amazing doesn't mean that Ezekiel was going to go to hell it simply means that he had sinned severely by not warning them verse 19 yet if you have warned the wicked and he doesn't turn from his wickedness from his wicked way he shall die in his iniquity but you have delivered yourself you are a watchman verse 17 you're a watchman you're a guardian you operate with vigilance that's your calling you tell people danger is coming you warn people and the danger is the judgment of God verse 20 again when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity and I placed an obstacle before him he will die if somebody starts out doing the right things and ends up wicked he's going to die since you have not warned him he'll die in his sins and his righteous deeds which he had once done in the past shall not be remembered but his blood I'll require at your hand this is the primary responsibility of the preacher to warn the wicked that they will die in their sins verse 21 however if you have warned the righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin he shall surely live because he took warning and you have delivered yourself no wonder James says stop being so many teachers for theirs is a greater condemnation this is serious business you fail to warn the wicked of their sin and to warn them that they will die for their own sins and you have their blood on your hands back in Joshua chapter 1 verse 18 it says anyone who rebels against your command and does not obey your words and all that you command him shall be put to death only be strong and courageous this is - Joshua be strong and courageous the people though don't listen to you when you speak for God they will die this is the universal responsibility of every preacher otherwise we're blood guilty now I want you to go to chapter 14 of Ezekiel chapter 14 now remember we're right in the middle of his judgment section he'll all these judgment sermons and I just want to read starting in verse 12 the word of the Lord came to me saying son of man if a country sins against me now you say yeah doesn't God punish countries he does but let's read what he says if a country sins against me by committing unfaithfulness and I stretch out my hand against it destroy its supply of bread and send famine against it and cut off from it both man and beast even though these three men Noah Daniel and job were in its midst by their own righteousness they could only deliver themselves declares the Lord God do you understand what he's saying the only people he spares are the righteous all the rest die in their own sins even when God judges a nation with famine those that are under that judgment are those who die in their own sins the righteous are delivered he said if it's not a famine maybe wild beasts verse 15 if I were to cause wild beasts to pass through the land and they depopulated it and it became desolate so that no one would pass through it because of the beasts and though these three men the same three men Noah Daniel and job we're in the midst as I live declares the Lord God they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters they alone would be delivered but the country would be desolate or if I should bring a third possibility a third disaster sword or war on that country and say let the sword pass through the country and cut off man and beast from it even though these three men were in its midst as I live declares the Lord God they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters but they alone would be delivered or a fourth if I should send a plague against that country and pour out my wrath in blood on it to cut off men and beasts from it even though Noah Daniel and Jobe were in its midst as I live declares the Lord God they could not deliver either their son or their daughter they would only deliver themselves by their righteousness for possible severe judgments referred to even in the next verse when God sets to judge he judges those by their sins even in a collective judgment the best illustration of that is the universal flood in Genesis 6 he judged the whole world but it wasn't that he drowned the whole world because of the sins of a few he drowned the whole world because the whole world was sinful he looked and he saw that everyone was corrupt and all that was in their hearts was only evil continually even God's collective judgments come at the ungodly and sinful people and the righteous are spared but not those related to the righteous only the righteous every person responsible for his own sin yes there are times when God may delay judgment because there are some righteous people we saw that in Genesis 18 didn't we and the story of Sodom and Gomorrah God said if they're just this many righteous or this many I I could withhold judgment for now but when judgment does come it comes on individuals another way to say it no one dies for someone else's sin no one dies for someone else's sin now chapter 33 I wish I had time to read this but I don't I'm gonna just give you a little of it but I want to show you the consistency of this Ezekiel 33 the opening 20 verses but I just want to start at the beginning with you the word of the Lord came to me saying son of man speak to the sons of your people say to them if I bring a sword upon a land again very much like 14 and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman and he sees the sword coming on the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does take does not take warning and a sword comes and takes him away his blood will be in his own head he heard the sound of the trumpet didn't take warning his blood will be on himself but had he taken warning he would have delivered his life but if the watchman sees the sword coming the judgment coming and doesn't blow the trumpet and the people are not warned and a sword comes and takes a person from them he has taken away in his iniquity but his blood I will require from the watchman's hand now as for you son of man I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel so you will hear a message from my mouth and give them warning from me when I say to the wicked verse 8 o wicked man you will surely die and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way that wicked man shall die in his iniquity but his blood I will require from your hand but if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way he will die in his iniquity but you have delivered your life this is the job of the preacher the Lord punishes everyone individually for his or her sin judgment comes because of what the sinner has done you say now wait a minute I thought it said in Exodus 20 verse 5 that that the sins of the fathers or the iniquities of the fathers are visited on the children to the third and fourth generation it does say that it's repeated in Deuteronomy five nine the sins of the fathers or iniquities of the father's are visited upon the third and fourth generation of children and grandchildren it says the same thing in Exodus 34 verse 7 that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation what is that saying it's simply saying this father's plural that's a generation of leaders a generation of influencers the fathers of the nation people talk about the fathers of our nation that generation of fathers leaders if they are iniquitous their iniquity creates circumstances that go through the subsequent generations we understand that right and we're living in as wretch at a time as human history could ever have experienced because of the vile of the internet evil is everywhere at a level of never known in human history this is a vile corrupt culture the fathers of this culture the architects of this culture the educators of this culture the people who are giving birth to this culture the choices that they have made will go on for generations you understand that you're afraid for the world of your children you're afraid for the world of your grandchildren you're afraid for the world of your great-grandchildren you can't even imagine what that's going to be like because you know the corruption of this generation will go right on through subsequent generations and that's exactly what those verses are saying so we understand that that the sins of a generation create a kind of condition of corruption in which subsequent generations have to live look we're living in the corrupt generation now that was set in motion by the last generation so the principle there is one generation based on its leadership and educators and influencers creates an environment that is passed on to subsequent generations we're living in a very very difficult wretched world passed down to us from those before us I'll go even beyond that the sin of one man Adam affected all of us as an Adam we all died so we come into this world affected by the sin of a man named Adam and his sin causes us to be conceived and born in iniquity totally depraved unable and unwilling rebels against God operating on the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes the pride of life we are wretched sinful there is not one whose righteous no not one that's because of Adam so yes Adam sinned and passed on a condition to everybody past generations have sinned and their sins had consequences this generation is probably more corrupt than any generation this corruption will have consequences in future generations however no one will be sent to hell for the sin of Adam and no one will be sent to hell for the sin of anybody else you will die in your own sins the context the conditions yes the result of others but my sin is my sin and your sin is your sin and God holds us personally culpable and guilty no one has ever been sent to hell because of the sin of Adam you will die in your sins because you believe not on me Jesus said no one has ever been sent to hell because of the sin of a past generation or the sin of fathers mothers family or the sins of people around them let me make it clear in God's eyes listen no one is a victim we are all perpetrators of open rebellion scandalous blasphemous sin against God we are all rebels we are all obstinate we are all stubborn sure the exiles they were in Babylon because of bad choices Kings made because of bad choices that their ancestors made to bring the idols into the land they were in captivity because of those choices that created the context in which they live but Ezekiel says to them the soul that sins shall die here we have the critical fundamental principle of the gospel no one is a victim from God's viewpoint in it no one is a victim even the conditions that we live in today fit into God's purpose God has ordained you for this time to be who you are in the family you're in among the people you're with in the place you are all within his sovereignty and if you say I'm a victim I'm a victim I'm a victim because I'm this or because I'm that or because of something in the past then really you're joining Adam you remember that God came to Adam and said Adam why did you eat he said the woman you gave me he wasn't blaming Eve he was blaming God the woman you gave me I went to bed single I eyed even know what a woman was then she showed up in all hell broke loose you did this that is absolutely how human nature operates oh I'm the victim of other people's choices I'm in the situation I'm in because of what this person did what that generation did what my ancestor did what somebody else's ancestors did what the culture has done and a faithful watchman does he say oh yeah you're right does he say yeah that's right you've been abused you know you've been treated unjustly what we sympathize we see that we want to embrace all that we want to have a conference to make LGBTQ people feel welcome in the church we want to start elevating women make more women preachers and yeah we're sorry you feel bad is that what a preacher does or does a preacher warn that person that wherever you are in this world and whoever you are you are here within the purposes of God's sovereignty and the only thing that you need to be concerned about is your own sin that message is the absolute foundation reality of the gospel all who die under the judgment of God died for their own sin and not somebody else's that is clear and unambiguous but it is human nature to fight against it to say I'm a good person I'm a good person it's just bad people around me have done bad things to me sometimes 200 years ago sometimes two generations ago sometimes it's just part of the dominant male chauvinistic culture or sometimes it's just that homophobia and all this has been done to me and so hashtag me - I'm a victim me too me too I was abused I was abused I was abused somebody offended me somebody made a microaggression against me so I'm a victim of certain racial attitudes there's gender attitudes or sexual preference attitudes or hate speech or economics or education I'm just a victim of intersecting prejudice and oppression and I'm a victim I've got so many categories I ought to be given the Medal of Honor for all my categories of victimization everybody's offended me previous people I don't know dead people have offended me living people have offended me you offend me I'm a victim of past injustice and inequity and present rejection discrimination offense and and most of you don't even know how much you offend me it's unconscious and by the way if you're not a victim then you're a part of the oppressor group you must repent I'm not surprised that exists in the culture because that's that's what Adam said I mean that's how fallen people react they don't take responsibility they just blame somebody else and they're perfectly happy to blame God but that notion has gone to church now it's taken over the evangelical movement all the victims now expect the church to take up their victim nation cause and they're demanding social justice how did this go to church how did this get into the church how did it push it push its way to a point where people are saying it's part of the gospel I can give you a quick answer I don't have much time just real quick a few decades ago the church decided in order to win the world they had to become like the world right out went the organ out went the choir out went the orchestra out when humans and we got rock-and-roll lights since mirrors and smoke and every form of worldly entertainment well hey we didn't change the message we just changed the method we didn't change the substance we just we just change the style you know we're trying to reach people and they don't like him they don't like long drawn-out expositions of Scripture so we're not gonna be able to win the world if we don't change so so we've just made an adjustment so we can win the world and and we're now doing what they like we're giving them what they like we're giving them what they're used to we're giving them what they want we're giving them the style they want let me tell you something I wrote a book back in the 1990's called ashamed of the gospel when the church becomes like the world and I said we're on a slippery slippery slope and that's like over 25 years ago we're in a slippery slope and I warned this the world will accept you changing your style for them but pretty soon they're going to demand that you change your substance they're going to demand that you well they like the fact that you have taken their method they're going to demand you change your message and now they've been courting the world all these evangelists have been courting the world and they've gotten they've gotten the world convinced that they really want to make them feel comfortable and the world is now blue and now so aware of their complete commitment to this that the world has decided we're now going to shift from style to substance from method to message and so you have these people literally embracing all of this victimization stuff and now the church has to do this or we are we're out we're to be rejected we're anathema you can't believe anything else you're not supposed to believe anything else you're supposed to fully embrace all of this and and be sympathetic to all the victims this is just pragmatism and oh by the way they're still saying hey we'll give them their style but we'll keep the message and then they're saying hey we'll give them their social substance but we'll still keep the message next step out goes the gospel because the gospel is the stumbling block and it's the message they hate and it's going out anyway because in this new style of evangelicalism you don't preach like Ezekiel was told to preach you don't preach that individuals are going to die in their sins and go to hell forever you don't preach that that's what that's what the watchman should be warning forget what your societal deprivations are you will die in your sins you don't need to worry about what happened in the past or what's happening collectively to your group you need to deal with your own sin before God because you're gonna be held accountable look I know people have suffered injustice I get it that's a fallen world but I also know the Bible is explicit if you are a preacher regardless of what people's social condition is you have one job and that is to warn them of wickedness and the coming judgement of God is it our duty to affirm that people are victims of the sins of somebody you know where that leads they're gonna blame God and if they blame God for their condition how they gonna go to God because they think he's merciful you you you acknowledge that somebody get a bad deal in history you've indited God because he's the author of history that's the slippery slope what is what is this part of the gospel clearly not absolutely not the gospel says whatever your condition in the world however you've been treated what Evers gone wrong is a small issue compared to your own sin should we make homosexuals into victims rebellious disobedient women into victims adulterers boarders of babies liars thieves criminals victims of society should we let people think that it was what somebody else did to them no Ezekiel no no don't let him do that confront their own sin and tell them this repent or you will die you will die in your iniquity and he says that over and over and over in chapter 18 his blood will I require at your hand if you don't give that testimony the preacher who is negligent in his duty to preach the severe deadly an eternal judgment of God to sinners has blood on his hands now we're gonna see how this all is laid out in Ezekiel chapter 18 let's bow in prayer father we're so grateful for your word it speaks to everything around us and everything in us thank you for the clarity of divine revelation thank you for this precious Church these wonderful loving gracious people who love your word and love one another and even love the world and help us to give our lives in the name of Jesus Christ to care for all those who suffer but at the same time to warn them that they're going to be held accountable before you not for what somebody did to them but for what they have done against you give us the boldness and the courage to be faithful to preach that essential starting point for the gospel confirm these things to our hearts by your Holy Spirit in Christ's name Amen

Channel: undefined

Views: 225,856

Rating: 4.7481332 out of 5

Keywords: John MacArthur, Bible, Preaching, Christianity, Expository, Exposition, Sermon, Jesus, Christ, Social Justice, Racial Reconcilliation, racism, structural racism

Id: _ix_eHfGYuA

Length: 56min 27sec (3387 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 05 2018