By Steven J. Hogan
~ A Saturday Morning Post #343 ~
I am shocked at what’s been happening in the United States these past few years. As you know, we have been witnessing more violence, shootings, terrorism, division – and sadly, the assassination of Charlie Kirk. But we can also be glad and that’s because Charlie is in heaven with Jesus, and because God is using his life, death, and homegoing in a remarkable way. Regardless of what’s been happening in our country, God is sovereign, and all that’s been taking place is part of His grand plan to get the gospel to sinners, and to bring about Christ’s return to rapture the church, to judge the world, and to reign over this earth. In this and the next post, I plan to go over several things about the state of the “United” States, the gospel, and our role as God’s servants.
There is SPIRITUAL WARFARE – “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil” (Eph. 6:10-11). Spiritual warfare has always been occurring in our country, but I believe it’s worse now than ever before. The unseen forces of good and evil, of God and His angels and the devil and his demons, are fiercely battling each other. And as Christians, we are on God’s side, and Christ our Commander is leading us in this war and we are fighting with Him, and we are the winners, the victorious ones. Ps. 18
1 John 5:18 tells us, “The whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” Eph. 6:12-13 describes our struggle as not against people, but against the devil and his forces, “against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Dan. 10 gives examples of this spiritual warfare, of angels and demons fighting against one another. Rev. 2:9 speaks of “a synagogue of Satan”, a Satan-controlled synagogue (think of false churches) in opposition to Christians.
Rev. 2:12-13 talks of Pergamum as a city “where Satan’s throne is” (think of evil cities). In John 10:10, Jesus says, “The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy.” Luke 4:13 talks about temptation – “When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.” 2 Cor. 4:4 states, “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving.” These verses help us understand the immense, spiritual warfare occurring in people’s lives, in our cities, and in our country. Without question, there’s an incredibly intense struggle between good and evil, between truth and error.
The devil’s invisible, behind-the-scenes’ work is visibly seen – more demons are influencing more bad people to do more wicked things. The hate that Satan’s children have for God’s children is undeniable, heard not just verbally, but seen in increasingly violent ways. This growing and obvious polarization between the righteous and unrighteous is unmistakable. And God warned us that this spiritual world war would get much worse before Christ’s coming. (Matt. 24:11, 2 Tim. 3:1-3). “Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you…” 1 Peter 4:12-19
The main problem in our country is SIN. “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Sin is the root problem, and our primary sin is not loving God (Mk. 12:30). Sin manifests itself in idolatry, pride, rebellion, disobedience, selfishness, anger, covetousness, immorality, greed, gluttony, gossip, jealousy, murder, theft, laziness, sorcery, loving money, loving pleasure, and loving evil. There’s also adultery, abortion, racism, drunkenness, human trafficking, rape, war, euthanasia, all kinds of crimes, and brazen Satanism.
Sin starts with evil thoughts which lead to evil words and evil actions. This adds up to an incalculable number of sins in a person’s life – and God knows every sin that’s ever commited. The life of a God-rejecting sinner is summed up this way – “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” Rom. 1:20
What are the consequences of sin? As you know, God cannot and will not be silent. He will not excuse sin, or let it go, or forget about it. “God will by no means leave the guilty unpunished” (Ex. 34:7). God is the Judge, and He is perfectly righteous, and He will judge every sin that’s ever committed in the whole history of the world. For example, Jesus says this about sinful speech – “I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.” Matt. 12:36
The result of sin is DEATH. Rom. 6:23 tells us, “The wages of sin is death.” Ez. 18:4 states, “The soul that sins will die.” What is death? It’s spiritually and relationally being separated from God; it’s physically not being alive, with the result that the soul is separated from the body; it’s eternally being separated from God, having no relationship with God.
If a person is not forgiven of his sins by God before he physically dies then he’s eternally dead – he’s spiritually, physically, and forever cut off from God. Death is a huge and horrible problem, the worst problem in the world. And God is infinitely holy, and will justly punish deserving, unrepentant sinners. “Your sins have made a separation between you and your God.” Is. 59:2
Sinners who die during this age go to Hades (Lk. 16:22-23), a fiery place of pain and punishment. During the 1000-year kingdom age, all unrepentant sinners will continue to be punished in Hades (Rev. 20:13-15). After that, during the eternal kingdom age, there’s the lake of fire, a tortuous, everlasting judgment for all unrighteous unrepentant unbelievers. “Depart from me accursed ones into the eternal fire… into the eternal punishment.” Matt. 24:41, 46
The answer to sin is JESUS CHRIST. The penalty for sin is spiritual, physical, and eternal death. But God wants to save people from sin and death. So what did He do? In His wisdom, by His power, through His justice, and because of His love, He devised a solution by which our sins would be wiped away, be forgiven, by which our eternal punishment would be dealt with. How did God do this? “God made Him (Jesus Christ) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor 5:21). “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). “Christ died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God.” 1 Pet. 3:18
God sent His Son to this earth to die in our place, to take our sins upon Himself, to be punished for us, so as to make a full-final-forever payment for our sins. God showed His justice when Jesus suffered and died so we would be just, so we would be perfectly holy. God showed His love when Jesus suffered and died so we would be perfectly loved, so we would always be cared for. Jesus’ death was infinitely purposeful, the most meaningful, important death ever, one that changed the whole course of history, that defined and impacted all eternity.
So Jesus died, and then miraculously rose from the dead, gaining the victory over death. “God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death” (Acts 2:24). By His resurrection, Jesus dealt with death so God could make us alive, could give us life. “God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our sins, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him.” Eph. 2:4-6
But not everyone is saved, is made alive. It’s not just that Jesus died and rose again so that everyone from all time is saved. Jesus told us, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). To be saved, a person must respond to God, and to the fact that Jesus His Son suffered, died, and rose again. He must tell God that he is sorry that he sinned against Him – and he must believe that Jesus is the Christ, God in the flesh, and that He died and rose again to deliver him from sin and death. If he does this, he will be forgiven and receive eternal life – a spiritual, physical, purposeful, satisfying, everlasting, God-blessed, God-glorifying life in heaven and on earth. Heb. 12:22-24
It must be said that salvation is a free gift – it’s not by our works, by anything good we do, but by God’s work, by what God through Jesus Christ did for us. “The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Rom. 6:23, Gal. 2:16, Tit. 3:5
The worst Problem in the world is SIN and DEATH. It’s not divorce, heart disease, cancer, money woes, a bad leader, losing your job, a car crash, a drug overdose, or a family member dying. It’s sin and death. And the only Answer is JESUS CHRIST. It surely isn’t the government, more money, more education, a good relationship, a better family, a better job, being healthy, crime-free streets, or getting a new car, a nicer home, or having fun. It’s Jesus Christ, and He’s the only solution, the only way a person can get victory over sin and death, be forgiven, and be given eternal life, a super-blessed and joyful life with God, Jesus Christ, the angels, and all the believers. “I came that you might have life and have it to the full.” John 10:10
P.S. There’s a lot going on in this country and we must come back to the basic, bottom line truth that sin and death is the problem, and that Christ is the only answer. As Christians, we must not get off track from the real issue, from what’s essential. Here are two posts further explaining this most important subject: “The Most Important Thing for You”, “A Sin-Wrecked World and the Coming of Christ.”
