Hope of Nations - Where Will This Lead?, Part 2

Walking with Jesus in our day often means you're unpopular, a target for harassment, ridicule, maybe even persecution. How do you stand firm in your faith? How do your kids stand firm in their faith? When it becomes increasingly unpopular to be a follower of Jesus, to be misunderstood, to be called hateful when what you're trying to do is actually love God.

What a dilemma that is. That's today on Living on the Edge. Well, here's John with part two of his message, Where Will This Lead? Here's the third thing is the global rise of Islam. Islam is the fastest growing religion or ideology in the world.

It's growing at a rate of 76%. Right now, Christians are about one in three people in the world. This includes all your different brands of Christians, your 31 flavors, you know, Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, all of them, okay? About one in three people in the world today says, I'm a Christian. About one in five people in the world today claims to be a Muslim. That's rapidly growing, and by the time we get to 2050, out of every three people in the world, one will be a Christian, one will be a Muslim, and one will be something else, either communist or Hindu or atheist or agnostic.

This is interesting to me. You know, sometimes we meet people in American society right now who say, oh, religion doesn't really matter. Well, if you look at world demographics, religion matters big time.

Religion in every century of world history has been almost the most important thing of what happens among nations. So, okay, I've given you a little glimpse, but let's ask a way more important question. What if we could ask Jesus this question, where will all these things lead? Would anyone want to know what Jesus says?

I mean, if we could, like, bring him out here and put one of these little microphones on him, like, Jesus, where will all of this lead? Well, believe it or not, we know his answer, because his disciples asked him the exact same question. And it's recorded for us in Matthew 24, so let's see the question and let's see Jesus' answer to the question.

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. Tell us, they said, when will this happen? This is when Christ will return to set up his kingdom on earth. And what will be the sign of your coming? Christians always want to know. How do we know when it's the end times?

What will be the sign? Christians always want to know, which is good, because we're supposed to be looking forward to it, okay? But Jesus said, no one knows the day or the hour. No one can predict. And so, you know, Isaac Newton predicted there'll be the year 2060, so I'm hoping to live long enough to see if he was right. Who knows?

We don't know. No one can predict the day or the hour. Even Jesus, when he was on earth, said in his humbled form when he was on earth, I don't even know at that time, so what will be the signs of your coming and the end of the age? In other words, from the time Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden until Christ returns to clean up the whole mess and redeem it and judge evil and sentence Satan to a lake of fire and redeem those who believed in him, all of history is called the age in this passage. That includes Egypt. That includes Rome.

That includes the Soviet Union and Napoleon and us right now. We're living in this age that will end when Christ returns, and the disciples say, when's that gonna be? Well, Jesus starts to answer, and we'll pick up in verse 6 of his answer. He says, you will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it, choose that you will not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. So if we look back between where we are and when Jesus said this 2,000 years ago, there have been lots of wars. There have been world wars. There have been civil wars. There have been regional wars, and there have been lots of Christians who've lived through those wars. And Jesus says, if you see war in your lifetime, don't panic.

It's part of the process until I return of humanity. See to it that you're not alarmed. And then he says this, nation will rise against nation, and kingdom, that's when there's a conglomerate of nations, against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.

So it's like when a pregnant mother is at eight or nine months, and the contractions start getting closer and closer and stronger and stronger. Jesus says, if you see the world shaking, don't let it shake your faith. It means that the contractions are happening, and it's getting closer and closer to the birth, which in this case is Christ's return. Says this in verse 10, at that time, many will turn away from the faith. So Jesus predicts that as the end gets closer, some things will get harder for some Christians in some parts of the world.

That seems to align with the data we've got. Many, he says, will turn away from the faith. Many will just say, it's just too hard to be a Christian in this world. And he says, many will betray and hate each other. He says, many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. I want to camp on this for just a minute, because as I was reading this text, Matthew 24 is one of my favorite of the prophetic texts, because it's from Jesus.

You get the book of Daniel's got a lot of amazing stuff, the book of 2 Peter is rich, but this is straight from the mouth of Jesus. And what was so interesting to me as I read this verse, having looked at all this data and research about world beliefs right now and where things are heading, is this, that many, he says, many will turn away from the faith. So there's going to be a time when there are a lot of Christians and a whole bunch turn away. So the Pew Research Center, they actually have a statistic, it's called switching in and switching out.

In religious terms, we call it conversions, when someone converts from Christianity to Judaism or from Buddhism to Islam, a person can convert, we all have our own free will. And by Pew's standards of measurement of what's happening today, when they project it out over the next 30 years, the largest switching out of any religion in the world is actually Christianity. There's a minus 66 million, 66 million people who were born into Christian families, raised going to church, will abandon the faith at today's rate between now and 2050. Now Christianity will hold its spot as a percentage of the population because Christianity is growing in certain parts of the world, like Sudan, South Africa, Southern Africa, China, even Christianity is growing. But where will this minus 66 million happen? Mostly according to Pew researchers in the United States and in Western Europe.

Very interesting. You know, Christianity in the world is so much bigger than the United States and we have to remind ourselves of that as Americans. But I was thinking, man, these words here, many will betray and hate each other.

It's like, man, that just describes the political climate in our nation right now, doesn't it? Many will betray and hate each other. Then he says many false prophets will appear. You think, well, prophet, that's such a like old word from, you know, thousands of years ago. Who uses the word prophet anymore? Well, the one in five people in the world who are Muslim today, the one in three people in the world who are projected to be Muslim by 2050, they use the word prophet every day.

When they pray their memorized prayers to their God, Allah, they reference their prophet Mohammed. So Jesus says, as the end gets closer, there will have been many Christians and many will turn away. As the end gets closer, you'll see people hating and betraying each other. As the end gets closer, you'll see many people deceived by false prophets. All of that seems to align with what we're seeing.

I'm not given a date or anything, okay? Don't get me wrong. But this is very interesting. This was written 2,000 years ago. And the facts that I'm citing are all statistics from non-Christian researchers. It's just interesting how God's word aligns with reality even 2,000 years later. Because of these changes, Jesus says in verse 12, because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most people will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this is my heart for you as a pastor. I just, I want you to stand firm to the end no matter what happens in your life. I want your kids to stand firm to the end. I want your grandkids to stand firm to the end.

I want us to be a church of believers. It says no matter whatever happens in the world or in our world, we will be the ones whose love does not grow cold and who stand firm to the end. Are you guys with me about that? That's what this series is about. It's not just about gaining knowledge.

It's about choosing to save. We are strengthening our faith. In verse 14, Jesus turns it positive. He says this good news of the kingdom, the good news is that God loves all people. He died on the cross for the sins of the world. He desires all people to come to salvation and anyone who places their faith in him has his forgiveness applied to them. And he wants this good news of the kingdom of God to be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations. Jesus wrote this, again, back before his followers. They didn't even know what the Atlantic and Pacific oceans were.

They didn't even know that South America existed. And he says, I'm going to wait till I return until the whole world has heard about me. I want every people group to have an opportunity to hear about me. And then Jesus says, the end will come. So what will all these things lead to? Well, whether it happens in our lifetime or 200 years from now, ultimately these things will all lead to Christ's return.

And so what we know as we make our way through a desert land at times is that God will always give us our daily bread and that Christ is returning to take us to the promised land. So how can we respond? I want to very quickly give you three ways we can respond. Number one, the world needs the church more than ever. The world needs the church more than ever. The world needs the church more than ever. What the world doesn't need is just an empty, stodgy, religious-looking building with a whole bunch of people who are only concerned about themselves.

That's not what the world needs. The world needs is the living, breathing body of Christ that loves the lost, that seeks the lost, that binds up the hurting, that helps the addicts, that as the world gets crazier and darker and shakes, that is a place of hope and rescue and healing and repair and restoration. I want to paint a mental picture for you of a giant lighthouse out on the coasts up on New England where you've got those rocky, rocky coasts and those cold Atlantic Ocean waters. And you've got these big lighthouses that warn the ships, don't come over here, there's rocks over here.

If you come over here, you'll be shipwrecked. And you think back before GPS and back before electronic mapping, these lighthouses were a matter of life and death. And some of these lighthouses would have what was called a life-saving club. A life-saving club was a group, sometimes they were paid like firefighters, sometimes they were volunteers, and they would in a storm man the lighthouse and make sure that the light stayed on, and then if there was a ship out there and a ship crashed on the rocks, they would actually go out into the storm to rescue the shipwrecked. And so the lighthouse was a life-saving club.

I was reading Car and Driver magazine yesterday, really religious publication, my favorite read every month. In Car and Driver, there's actually this column about a life-saving club in Montana for motorists who drive off the cliffs there, and there's all these guys who have jeeps and rappelling gear, and they rush out to save the life. Well, I want you to imagine the church as this lighthouse that in the storms of life is this beacon of light, and it's full of people who go out into the storm to rescue people. What we have to be careful about is that sometimes a life-saving club can turn into a country club, and we all show up and we got our plaques on the wall, we got all the life jackets properly in line, but we're coming to the club, but it really becomes about us instead of about the purpose. And here's the thing, when we understand the word of God, the more mature we get as followers of Christ, we understand this world's not our home, but we're here for a purpose, and it's not to just bunker down and hunker down and just survive the storms. We will survive the storms, and we will gather together, and we have a refuge in any kind of storm that can happen in our personal lives or in the world. We have a refuge here, but the point of the refuge, the reason God didn't zap us right to heaven when we believed, is that every one of us is to be mobilized as part of the life-saving club. Because there's people in our neighborhoods and in our families and in our schools who have shipwrecked on the rocks of life, and they're drowning in those icy cold waters, and God has appointed us now to be his life-saving club. Did you know right now that the fastest-growing cause of death in the United States is not cancer, is not diabetes, is suicide? Suicide is rapidly the fastest-growing cause of death in the United States. Our neighbors are drowning. Our neighbors are drowning. And all this stuff about how the world's changing, if we're not careful, we can take an immature approach and just say, well, how does this affect me?

What am I going to do? But here's the thing. We are here to be the life-saving club because we know how it's going to end. We know Christ is going to return and make everything right. We know our daily bread will be met every day, but a lot of our neighbors don't have that hope. A lot of our neighbors, they don't know where they're going to spend eternity. They're afraid of death. They don't know every day that their needs will be met.

They don't have a Heavenly Father. And we're here to be a life-saving club. The church is needed by the world more than ever. The true church, the pure church, the church that serves and loves the lost, the church that is a light in the dark. And secondly, the church needs Christ more than ever.

He's the light that we shine. The hope that we declare is not, you know, just human ideas of self-improvement. The hope that we declare is that the God who made every individual in His image and who loves them came to this world as a person in Jesus Christ. He died on the cross for their sins, and they can have freedom from shame, freedom from guilt.

They can have eternal life, and they can have peace and joy and fulfillment in this life. And all this happens through Christ alone. The church needs Christ more than ever. As the world around us gets darker, if we're gonna shine a light that's truly supernatural in its capacity and scope, it will only happen as we lift Christ high and as we elevate Him. The light of the church is Christ. We need His message.

We need His power. I was thinking about this last night, and I came up with a little bumper sticker phrase for us. Hope in Christ before the crisis so you can stand strong in the crisis. You know, I kind of chuckle in the physical realm whenever a hurricane hits Florida again or areas where they know there's hurricanes. On the news, they always show how, you know, Home Depot and Walmart and everywhere, all the generators are sold, all the bottles of water are gone.

And I always kind of laugh. Maybe it's because I'm a person who kind of thinks ahead a little bit. But I think if you lived there, wouldn't you buy a generator and water bottles, like, right after you move into your house? You're in, like, a hurricane zone, you know? Why wait until the storm to just react and panic? Why not just plan ahead and then when the storm comes, know I've got a plan? That's kind of the gist of this series is to know, like, I don't know what storms life may throw at us, but I know what I need.

It's a lot more than generators and water bottles. It's Christ. And so I'm going to hope in Christ before the crisis so that I can stand strong in the crisis. And that'll allow me and us as a church to not only provide for our kids and our loved ones, but to be a life-saving club. And when other people are panicking and scrambling because of world events, that we're able to stand strong and have some stability and say, we have peace, we have stability, come on in here. We got you covered.

That's our heart in this series. We're hoping in Christ. We're choosing. Remember, Jesus said, you'll hear about wars and rumors of war. See to it.

Choose that you're not alarmed. We can choose today. We place our hope in Christ before the storm so we can stand strong in the storm. And so on Christ, we've staked our lives, our fortunes, our eternities, our families, our hopes and dreams rest on this reality, that Jesus of Nazareth is God of the universe, that he came down among us as Messiah, that he died on the cross for the sins of the world, that he rose again on the third day, and that he will return to establish a kingdom of peace and prosperity.

And until then, he will give daily bread to all of his followers and he will sustain us. Peter writes, in him, in Christ, you have everything necessary for life and for godliness. The church has no power apart from Christ, but in Christ, the church has all the power it will ever need. In Christ, you have all the power you will ever need.

In Christ, you can do all the things that he's called you to do. You have everything necessary for life and godliness in him. Romans 15, 13 puts it this way, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him. It's when you trust in him before the storm and in the storm, that's when he fills you with joy and peace so that you may overflow with hope. This is written to Christians who are running for their lives. This is written to Christians who are in an uncomfortable situation and he says, you will overflow with hope and they did. They continued to change the world. Why?

Because they trusted in God and he filled them with his hope by the power of the same Holy Spirit who lives and breathes inside of you today as a follower of Christ. Third response for us is that now is the time to go all in for the kingdom. Now is the time. There are moments in life when you get shaken and you get perspective.

You know, very often as we do marriage counseling here for couples who are, you know, usually it's some kind of, either someone had an affair or almost had an affair or something and they get shaken and there is, we got to work on this. Or sometimes you're going along and in your finances, all of a sudden you guys, whoa, I got to make some changes. And the thing is, when we really see where the world is headed, outside of our suburban cocoon but the rest of the world, when we see where it's headed, if we have got our eyes open, if we're reading the word of God, it should shake us up a little bit to cause not a panic but a sense of purpose and urgency with purpose. We say now is the time. I mean, we are the richest Christians in all of world history. We are the most free Christians in all of world history. We have the ability to film a video or write a devotional about Jesus today and have Christians around the world hear it today.

No other church in history has had these opportunities that are before us. And we see this window of global peace and this window of prosperity and opportunity, it's not going to last forever. Now is the time for us to go all in in raising our kids for Christ and in using what God has entrusted to us to tell others about Christ because our hope is in the one who will carry us safely to the promised land. When we understand where the world is headed, we can't go on living like Jesus is just another hope on a buffet of hopes. When we understand what's happening humanly and spiritually in the world, we will have an urgency with our neighbors and our classmates and our relatives to actually share with them. Jesus is the only hope. He's the only hope who will outlive the shaking of the world. There is a true hope of nations.

Well, I just want to tell you one true story and it's a story about a handful of people who changed the course of world history. In the early 1940s, Germany was advancing Nazi Germany around Europe and they were blitzkrieging these neighboring nations and it literally looked like they were going to overtake the world. Looked like Nazi Germany was going to overtake the world. And it was at that time that the president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, he issued a call to Americans. He said, America, I know we don't want to get in another war after World War I, but we have the largest industrial manufacturing capacity of any country in the world and if we will retool it, we could become the arsenal of democracy. And we could send tanks and ammunition and planes to the good guys and help them win the war. Well, it was this bold vision, this big vision, and at the time, a lot of Americans were still really comfortable here in America.

The Nazis weren't anywhere close to the United States, but there were a few people who saw where things were going and decided we're going to go all in for democracy and for freedom and for what is right. So what happened is a small handful of individuals, Edsel Ford was one of them, of the Ford Motor Company, the CEO and president of General Motors at the time, the CEO of Packard and of Chrysler, they all said, we're going to retool our factories because we see where things are going. And instead of building, you know, Chrysler automobiles, we are going to start building tanks. Why did they do this? They had vision. They saw where the world was going and they saw a need and they realized we can meet the need. A lot of these automotive executives, until the war ended, they worked for $1 a year.

They said, we're going to go all in. So Chrysler started building tanks. Ford up in southeast Michigan started building these B-24 bomber airplanes. And this massive industrial complex that was making automobiles switched.

Why? Because of the leadership of four or five people who saw what was happening in the world and who said, we will go all in with the resources we have, with the influence we have, we will go all in. And here's what's crazy. By doing this, they changed the course of world events. You think of World War II, it wouldn't have ended with the US and the United Kingdom's winning if they didn't have these planes, if they didn't have the tanks, if they didn't have the ammunition.

It was a wartime effort to go all in. And here's what I want to challenge us with, that we live in such a time when a small group of people, the American church is not the whole church, but we are the wealthiest church in world history, could turn the course of world events if we choose to go all in. And the question for us, maybe the world's too big to think about, but how about changing our kids' lives at least, is will we go all in in our faith? Will we be Christians who understand what's happening and where it's leading so we can respond with a stronger faith, an all-in faith? You are listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. John Dickerson has been our guest teacher for this program, Where Will This Lead?, from his series Hope of Nations.

Chip will be here with us in just a minute to share his application for this message. As you look around, are you filled with anxiety? Are the instability and chaos overwhelming? If you're looking for tangible hope, not only for yourself, but for the future of our society, this series is for you. John explains where we can find true hope in a world spinning out of control. Matthew chapter 12 says, In his name the nations will put their hope. Stay with us as we discover what that means and how we can find encouragement in these trying times.

For a limited time, the resources for Hope of Nations are discounted. For ordering and pricing details, visit livingontheedge.org. App listeners tap special offers. Now here's a quick word from Chip. Thanks, Dave. I want to talk to those of you who partner with us financially. Your gifts help us not just stay on the air, but they provide the necessary funding to create curriculum and develop our website and provide resources at extraordinarily reasonable prices. I mean, your giving is making an amazing impact.

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Your generosity is greatly appreciated. As we close today's program, I have to tell you, I loved the challenge that John gave us. What I really heard him say was, you know, if people like Henry Ford and others who transformed their plants to build planes and tanks to rescue the world from oppression, shouldn't we, the church, respond in the same way? Or the picture they had at the Lighthouse Life Saving Club, being the church that the difference that we can make, instead of being fearful, instead of fighting, instead of blaming, instead of accusing, making a difference.

I love the motto of the Coast Guard, semper paratus, meaning always prepared. I think that's the calling of the church right now. I don't know the future of America. I believe there is hope for nations. But I think that hope has to come through us. And it has to come through us in ways like never before. And we have to be prepared. It starts in our own homes. Then it starts in our churches. We don't want to simply circle the wagons and protect ourselves from the evil that happens. We need to be difference makers.

We are, by definition, salt, light. You, ordinary person, getting up, going to work. You, fixing things around the house, making dinner here, leading a corporate office there. You, living, loving, caring, day by day, saturated with God's Word, prayerful and dependent, connected to other people, in a local community saying, We are going to bring the reality of Jesus, His love, and His truth to bear in everything we say and everything we do. That will change the world.

It's the way it's always happened, and it's no different now. Fear not. He's with you. Hey, before we go, let me remind you of an easy way to listen to our extended teaching podcast. Hear Chip anytime on Amazon's Alexa Echo and Echo Dot. Just say, Alexa, open Living on the Edge, and you'll hear that day's extended teaching anytime you want. Well, for Chip and everyone here, this is Dave Drewey saying thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge.