How Understanding God Helps You Understand Our Chaotic World [rebroadcast from ]

How understanding God helps you understand our chaotic world. Dr. Stephen Lawson joins us today right here on the Christian Real View Radio program where the mission is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. I'm David Wheaton, the host, and our website is thechristianworldview.org. We hope you have a meaningful Memorial Day weekend remembering those who sacrificed their lives for the freedoms we enjoy in America.

Today's program originally aired September 4, 2021. Psalm 46 starts out this way, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, therefore we will not fear though the earth should change. The earth is changing. A strong delusion has bewitched the leaders and peoples of this world. There are authoritarian, baseless mandates in discrimination regarding vaccines, masks, lockdowns over a virus that kills an infinitesimally small percentage of those who contract it. The greatest superpower in the world spends billions of dollars and thousands of lives over 20 years in Afghanistan only to pull out before removing its own citizens and before securing its own military equipment as a terrorist organization takes over in just a matter of days. Political leadership is so sinful that the quote right to kill preborn children is a central plank of the Democratic Party, along with rejecting God's design for sexuality and gender.

The list could go on, bringing in millions of unvetted immigrants, paying able workers to not work, lying that America runs on white supremacy. Yes, the world feels like it's spinning out of control. So what's a Christian to do? Well, here's the answer. Focus on the most important thing, which is God and His perfect and powerful attributes. When everything is falling apart, there is nowhere else to go but to the Lord, for He is the anchor of our souls. Dr. Stephen Lawson is our guest today on the program. He was a pastor for 34 years and now preaches and teaches around the world. He's the president of One Passion Ministries, which is a ministry designed to bring about biblical reformation in the church and the author of many books, including the one we're going to discuss today, Show Me Your Glory, Understanding the Majestic Splendor of God. It's about the attributes of God, and it's such a good book that it's so good that we decided to offer it as our new, current, featured resource for a donation of any amount to The Christian Real View. We'll tell you how you can get the book throughout the program today.

For when you understand God and His attributes, you will understand and be at peace within the world that God controls. And now to the interview with Dr. Stephen Lawson. Steve, thank you for coming back on The Christian Real View today to talk about one of your recent books, Show Me Your Glory, which is about the attributes of God, and we're going to get into that in just a little bit today in our conversation.

But before we do, we haven't talked in a while, and I thought it'd be really interesting to get your perspective on some of the things going on in the world and in the church. And so let's start out with some really some big news that I'm sure has impacted you in some way. Just this week, in the last few days, Los Angeles County has settled its case that it had against Grace Community Church, where John MacArthur pastors and you teach the Master's Seminary, you often preach there. They agreed with the state, I believe, to pay Grace Community Church $800,000 in their legal costs. The state itself had nearly a million dollars in their own legal costs, and this was over the COVID mandates, the shutdowns they were ordering that Grace Community Church eventually decided to defy, I guess maybe is the word, or to not follow. The county and the state were going after them for dropping their case against Grace Community Church and having to pay their legal fees.

What are your thoughts, Steve? First of all, I applaud John MacArthur's bold stance and the elders and the grace community church that they wouldn't cower and back down to the city or to the state. We have the right for free assembly of freedom of worship, and they tried to really dictate to the church that the church cannot meet, and they far overstepped any lawful boundaries. And the reason they settled out of court, David, is they didn't want to go to court. They didn't want to go to court because they would have to supply evidence in a court of law, and they knew they didn't have the evidence to back it up, that Grace Community Church could not meet.

Statistically, scientifically, they could not prove their case that this was a pandemic of episodic proportions. Granted, there is a coronavirus, but in proportion to other deaths by other means, there's no way they could back up what they were saying in a court of law. So they went exit stage left so that they would not suffer the embarrassment, really, of having to defend their dictatorial stance and position. So MacArthur and Grace Community Church was vindicated, justly, in court of law, and I am so grateful for that, and it ought to embolden pastors and church leaders everywhere to stand up for our right to worship together as the people of God and not to be backed into a corner by just some politician where this hasn't even been legally passed down through lawmakers. So I applaud what's happened. It truly is a huge story, if you think about it, not just for Grace Community Church, although it's enormous for them, but as you said, it vindicates and emboldens. I mean, think about how much this happened around the country, and even in Canada, pastors are being arrested and thrown in jail, and yet the county and the state weren't even willing to take this case because they were fearful that it would not hold up, that this quote-unquote violation of Grace Community Church meeting in person, not wearing masks, all these things, would not hold up, that they'd lose. That's really, truly amazing.

They would lose. And David, I preached at Grace Community Church multiple times throughout this whole episode. In fact, I just preached there in August, I preached there in July, I preached there almost like every month or every other month, and they're not carrying people out of the services in body bags. People are not dropping out like flies. People are worshiping, they're singing, they're hugging. This thing has been so far overblown.

Granted, there is a coronavirus, but it's not the Black Plague either. So I think it's an attempt to really overthrow the established order of society and to overthrow really family values and historical foundations in our country, because it's in a crisis that dictators take over, because it puts such fear into the hearts of people that they will do whatever they're told to do. So this is a wonderful day for those of us who believe in freedom of religion and freedom of speech and really just liberties in our country that are being rapidly taken away from us. Dr. Stephen Lawson with us today here on The Christian Worldview, the author of the book we're going to be discussing in just a bit, Show Me Your Glory. He's also the president of One Passion Ministries.

He's been a pastor for over 34 years, author of more than a dozen books and many other things. Steve, there's this growing authoritarianism that you just talked about in this country and around the world. Further, there's a breakdown in societal stability, violence in the streets, riots, racial tensions, and so forth. Are there current signs that you see—and I believe you're a pre-tribulational, pre-millennial understanding of Scripture—are there current signs that you see to conclude that the rapture is imminent, and if so, what are they? Well first of all, the rapture has always been imminent.

Christ could come at any moment. What are the signs that we see that we could be living in the last days of the last days? Well, as I read the book of Revelation, David, I take it in a futuristic way, and I have to, because the events that I read here beginning in chapter 6 through chapter 18 are so unprecedented. They have never happened, in the history of the world, of the magnitude of what is represented in the book of Revelation.

I mean, so many want to allegorize it and say it's just a picture of the church age or the early centuries of the church or whatever. I mean, nothing even close has happened to what we read in Revelation 6 through 18. Well, the first thing that I see, David, is the ability for one person to control the world's economy. That's never been possible in the history of the world. As long as there is a cash society and each nation has its own cash system, there's no way one person can control the whole thing. But now with electronic computer means, we now see that one person actually potentially could control the entire world's economy such that you could not even buy or sell unless you take the mark of the beast, whatever that mark is. Some have suggested it might be your vaccine passport.

I mean, who knows? That might be a little sensational, but it does make the point that now you can't go into schools, you can't go into airports or airplanes, you can't go into certain stores except you would have a vaccine passport or something the equivalent thereof. So for the first time, right before our very eyes, even a blind man could see this, that there is this possibility. The other thing which is so interesting is in Revelation 17 and 18 talks about Babylon, the fallen. What's interesting is that is the same geopolitical area on the map where Iraq now is, and it's where civilization started between the Tigris and Euphrates River, and there is an export that is being sent out of that area that will control the world's economy. And when it's devastated, the smoke will go up. It's amazing how that part of the world continues to be the hub of international news and the effect that it has on the world. And who's to say but that even oil coming out of the Middle East does not have a major effect. And when it goes up in smoke, it says the merchants of the world begin to weep because it brings down the global economy. We read about a marching army from the east that will come into the Middle East area. We see the rise of China.

We see the rise of the turbulence in Afghanistan. I think it's cause to kind of scratch your chin and give some thought. Maybe we're not supposed to allegorize this.

Maybe it actually is what it says it is. And to be taken in a more straightforward fashion, we're told to be alert and to watch the signs of the times. And so I'm not a sensational preacher and I'm not a headline preacher.

I'm a Bible preacher. But as you give thought to this, there's increasing credence to the possibility that we might be living in the last days. And I'll even go further. I don't know how much further down the deplorable immorality can go in the world. Not just men with men and women with women, but now men becoming women.

I mean, we're down to how can we go any lower? We have to be in the basement of immorality. And certainly in the last days, it would be that. And then it's interesting, in Matthew 24, when Jesus gives his Mount Olivet discourse, he talks about the pestilence of the last days, which is the spread of disease.

And again, you just read that and you go, huh? I mean, that's what's shaking up the entire world right now in Luke 23 and Mark 13 as well. And so as you look at all of this, I think it ought to sober us into being vigilant. Vigilant right now for the cause of the gospel and the cause of Christ. Very well said.

Thank you for that. Dr. Steve Lawson with us today here on the Christian RealView Radio Program. He is a preacher and conference speaker throughout the world, author of more than two dozen books.

We're going to talk about one of his more recent ones today, Show Me Your Glory. But we first need to pause briefly for some ministry updates. I'm David Wheaton and you are listening to the Christian RealView Radio Program. The Overcomer Course for Young Adults is fast approaching on Friday, Saturday, June 21st and 22nd at Stonehouse Farm in Jordan, Minnesota, just outside the Minneapolis metro area.

Age 18 to 28 is a highly transitional time of life. The Overcomer Course is designed to help young adults gain clarity and conviction on God's plan and their purpose in it. There will be eight sessions over two days on the most important issues of life, such as believing God in the gospel is the gateway to being an overcomer, handling God's Word accurately, embracing God's design for gender, sexuality, singleness, and marriage, stewarding God's design for time, work, and money, engaging in the local church, and more. There will be teaching and discussion, activities between sessions, and meals served on site. Reasonably priced lodging is nearby.

We hope to see you June 21st and 22nd. Limited space remaining, so learn more and register at thechristianrealview.org or by calling 1-888-646-2233. Christians with discernment know that the U.S. public education system is humanistic to the core. That is because subversives have successfully removed from government schools the most important subject to understand truth and reality, God. While Americans were once educated at home or privately in an explicitly Christian way, today government schools are radically anti-Christian, propagandizing children with evolution, graphic sexual content, gender confusion, and globalism. Alex Newman's book, Indoctrinating Our Children to Death, is our new featured resource.

It's softcover, 276 pages, and retails for $17.99. You can order the book for a donation of any amount to The Christian Real View. Go to thechristianrealview.org, call toll-free, 1-888-646-2233, or write to Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota, 55331. Welcome back to The Christian Real View. I'm David Wheaton. Be sure to visit our website, thechristianrealview.org, where you can subscribe to our free weekly email and annual print letter.

Order resources for adults and children, and support the ministry. Today's program, How Understanding God Helps You Understand Our Chaotic World, with guest Dr. Stephen Lawson, originally aired September 4, 2021. Steve, America is in decline, at least in my view. Sounds like your view, and I think many people's view. We're in decline. I think any sane person would say, America is in decline, and if someone doesn't see that, that person is in complete denial to reality.

That's right, but I'm sure we have some leftists and those who think we're marching towards a more utopian end, and the changes that are happening are good ones, but for the vast majority of listeners, I think they would agree that America is in decline. There's great division in our country. There's a self-loathing in our country, hating our founding and our development. We have wicked leadership in the truest sense of the word. We have weakness projecting outward. You see what happened in Afghanistan.

It's just completely inept. There's not even words to describe how the withdrawal from Afghanistan went. We may even be under the control of China, because China may have many things on our president, Joe Biden, for his family's dealings with that country. And then you referenced that passage in Revelation 18. So does that Babylon, fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, the angel says, as he comes out of heaven, and people mourning, lamenting over the fall of Babylon. Is your understanding that that Babylon is the literal Babylon in the Middle East, in Iraq, or is it a representative Babylon of the world system, or is it America who's been this incredible economic engine for the world?

What is it? I personally have taken it for many, many, many years in its simplest and most literal interpretation, which is whatever nation occupies that same boundary that the Babylonian Empire once held, that in the last days, that nation within those boundaries will be the fulfillment of this. I don't take it as America.

That is such a stretch. And I don't take it as just the general world system at the end, and I don't take it as a religious Babylon. I take it as actually there will be a nation occupy the same land that Babylon once occupied, which is in reality where the Garden of Eden was, where civilization started, where civilization started, and that area is where Noah's Ark came down after the flood.

History started there, and I think history will end there. So what goes around comes around, and the more things change, the more they stay the same. So that's just my understanding.

I could be wrong. It's obviously difficult to interpret, but I would agree with John Calvin that the proper interpretation of a passage is what is the simplest, plainest, most natural interpretation. In other words, you're not looking for something hidden, some hidden meaning. I think it's what just lays on the surface, which would be whatever nation happens to be there. And it's by no happenstance that that part of the world will not go away as far as its influence upon the whole world, and that there is a juggernaut of a nation there, and in that region as well, that could have devastating effect upon the entire world economy and the stability of the whole world. So that's just my take on it, and it's nothing new or novel.

I mean, I've held to that for the last 40 years. Dr. Stephen Lawson again with us today here on the Christian worldview. Let's get to a topic even more important than all these geopolitical world events, and that is the attributes of God, who God is, and from your book, this excellent book that we're offering to listeners as our new current offer, Show Me Your Glory.

And the inside flap of the book says, God is the source and purpose of our existence. Our knowledge of Him shapes how we view ourselves, how we interact with the world, and understand the events around us, as we've been discussing. Ultimately, our eternal destiny hinges on a relationship with our Creator and who we believe He is. Nothing is more important than knowing God and living for His glory.

Steve, explain why that is, and then part two of the question is, what are some of the most common misunderstandings or misrepresentations of God that we see in America or the evangelical church today? David, we know the most important thing in the world is to know God, simply because God is the most important person, being in the entire universe. No one takes precedence or priority over God. God is everything. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. No one, no theist, would argue with that. And so therefore, to know this God, who is the maker of heaven and earth, who is the architect of human history, who is the administrator of his own eternal decree, to know this God is the single most important thing in the entire world.

And in Jeremiah chapter 9, as you recall, the prophet says, Let not the rich man boast in his riches, and let not the wise man boast in his knowledge, and let not the strong man boast in his strength, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he knows me, is what God says. And so any other pursuit is folly compared to the priority of knowing God. And in John 17 verse 3, when Jesus prayed his high priestly prayer, he said, This is eternal life, that they may know you, the one true living God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. And so eternal life is to know God. And so if you do not know God, in a vital, living, personal relationship, you're dead. You're spiritually dead. You have no life in you.

You have existence, but you have no life. And to know God is everything. And it's the purpose for which we have been made. And to miss that, you miss everything.

And to miss that, you miss everything of any importance whatsoever. We suffer in the church today from low views of God, because we don't know who God is. The reason we don't know who God is, it's because the Bible is not preached in the pulpits, and because the Bible is not really studied. And it's glaringly obvious when you pick up a Bible and read it that it's about God. The purpose of the Word of God is to reveal the God of the Word.

That's the chief purpose. And so misconceptions today is a total, total neglect of the holiness of God. An incomprehension of the absolute purity and flawless character of God. That everything about God is holy. His Son is holy. His Spirit is holy. His Word is holy. His people are to be holy.

His judgments are holy. A total disregard for the holiness of God. We have lowered God and brought Him down to our level, at least in our minds and in our thinking. I think there's a total disregard for the sovereignty of God. I mean, we think the world is being run by democracy, or heaven and earth is being run by some kind of democracy, when in fact it's being run by a theocracy.

The government of one. That the will of God is sovereign, and it doesn't matter what man really tries to do to overthrow the purposes of God. The purpose of God will stand forever. The truth and the truthfulness of God is disregarded in churches today. There's more really credence given to pragmatism and to tradition and to just denominational thoughts and mores than really what Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John have to say. And there is a total disregard for the wrath of God.

I can assure you that. To even say the word hell is like thought to be in poor taste and in bad company, much less to hear a red-blooded sermon on the subject. I mean, Jesus did have more to say about hell than he did about heaven, and Jesus did have more to say about hell than any person in the entire Bible. Jesus actually threatened people with hell.

He said, if you're right, I cause you to stumble, pluck it out of you. Otherwise, you're going to the fiery hell. We have such an effeminate view of God. We have trivialized who God is. We have modernized God to fit the way we want him to be, rather than looking in the Bible to see who he is. And so it's affected everything in the church. It's trivialized our worship. The fear of God is gone. I mean, who fears God anymore? And so worship is made to be horizontal, not vertical.

The spiritual life of members in the church is just like the frog and the kettle. We just blend it in with the world. We're fearful of even being distinct from the world. There's very little confession of sin, very little contrition over sin. And so therefore, it's even affected our outreach, because we're trying to be as much like the world as we can possibly be and have forgotten that we have to be different in order to make a difference.

And so we just want to be accepted by everybody. The average pastor is almost like the captain of the love boat. He just wants to make sure everyone's having a good time in church. Really, then, being like a watchman on the tower, who blows his trumpet to warn the people in the city of the encroaching dangers around us. So it's low views of God that are pulling the church down, weakening the church. And the only remedy is a very careful, intentional study of the being, the attributes, the perfections, the names, the works, the triunity of Almighty God. And apart from that, I doubt a person could even be a Christian and not know who God is. So that's kind of where we're living.

And I know that was a heavy, I just dropped on this. But you asked me the question. I mean, you turn on Christian television, you certainly don't hear the making known of who God is. And you go to the local Christian bookstore and you walk in and look for books on God. That's a tough sell.

If you wanted to find a book on how to have a happy vacation, then that might be easy. But to know who God is, that's just an unknown subject today. So therefore, we're weakened, we've lost our way, we've lost our voice, we've lost our power, we've lost our gravitas, because we've lost our view of God. And so therefore, I mean, even the name of your program, Christian World View, you cannot have a Christian worldview without the knowledge of God. The knowledge of God is your Christian worldview. We are to see everything through the template of who God is. We are to see the world around us, through the grid, through the lens of the character and the attributes of God.

Otherwise, nothing makes sense. And in fact, you can't even understand yourself until you know who God is. David, the knowledge of God is everything, and when the church loses that, it's become like the world. You're exactly right, and this is why we really wanted to feature your book for listeners, Show Me Your Glory, because there is actually no more important topic than the one we're discussing today, Who is God?

What are His attributes? You go through it in the book, chapter 1, Chapter by chapter, the glory of God, the triunity of God, the sovereignty of God, the holiness of God, the immutability, omnipresence. You go through all these different attributes, the wrath of God, the love of God, the grace of God. I think in that one answer, actually, Steve, you answered all my upcoming questions on the sovereignty and holiness and wrath. That's fine, because you cover them well, and let me just quickly tell listeners how they can get this book, Show Me Your Glory. This is our new current resource here for The Christian Real View. It's a 278-page hardcover.

It retails for $19. We're offering it for a donation of any amount to the Christian Real View for a limited time. You can order the book by going to our website, thechristianrealview.org, or by calling us toll-free, or by writing to us, and all our contact information is given during this upcoming meeting. Thank you so much for joining us. We'll pause briefly for some ministry announcements.

Stay tuned, much more, coming up with Steve Lawson. I'm David Wheaton, and you are listening to The Christian Real View Radio Program. Christians with discernment know that the U.S. public education system is humanistic to the core. That is because subversives have successfully removed from government schools the most important subject to understand truth and reality, God. While Americans were working once educated at home or privately in an explicitly Christian way, today government schools are radically anti-Christian, propagandizing children with evolution, graphic sexual content, gender confusion, and globalism. Alex Newman's book, Indoctrinating Our Children to Death, is our new featured resource. It's softcover, 276 pages, and retails for $17.99. You can order the book for a donation of any amount to The Christian Real View. Go to thechristianrealview.org, call toll-free, 1-888-646-2233, or write to Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota, 55331. The Overcomer Course for Young Adults is fast approaching on Friday, Saturday, June 21st and 22nd at Stonehouse Farm in Jordan, Minnesota, just outside the Minneapolis metro area.

Age 18 to 28 is a highly transitional time of life. The Overcomer Course is designed to help young adults gain clarity and conviction on God's plan and their purpose in it. There will be eight sessions over two days on the most important issues of life, such as believing God in the gospel is the gateway to being an overcomer, handling God's word accurately, embracing God's design for gender, sexuality, singleness, and marriage, stewarding God's design for time, work, and money, engaging in the local church, and more. There will be teaching and discussion, activities between sessions, and meals served on site.

Reasonably priced lodging is nearby. We hope to see you June 21st and 22nd. Limited space remaining, so learn more and register at thechristianrealview.org or by calling 1-888-646-2233. Welcome back to the Christian Real View.

I'm David Wheaton. Be sure to visit our website, thechristianrealview.org, where you can subscribe to our free weekly email and annual print letter, order resources for adults and children, and support the ministry. Today's program, How Understanding God Helps You Understand Our Chaotic World, with guest Dr. Stephen Lawson, originally aired September 4th, 2021. Steve, Christians often correctly say we need to live for God's glory, and this is what you write in your book. This must be the chief pursuit of our lives today. God must be the greatest priority in our life. We must seek to know more of His glory with everything in our being. Every decision we make must have God as our primary concern. Wherever we'll most magnify God must be our highest priority. We must not choose the path of least resistance. Neither must we follow the crowd for fame and fortune.

We must not pursue what looks the most appealing. Instead, we must prioritize the glory of God in all that we do. And of course, there's passages in Scripture, do all that you do in the name of the Father, giving glory to Him, paraphrase of that in Colossians chapter 3. But what does it mean, Steve, and how can we put some meat on the idea of trying to live for God's glory? Well, theologians refer to God's glory in a two-fold way. There's His intrinsic glory, which is the sum of His entire being.

It's the sum of all of His attributes together. Moses said in Acts, excuse me, Exodus 33, show me your glory. And the intrinsic glory of God, we cannot add to it.

We cannot take away from it. God is who God is. He is the God who was, and who is, and who shall be forever. So God's intrinsic glory is set, it's fixed, it's eternal, it's immutable. The other aspect of God's glory is His ascribed glory. And that is the glory that we give to God. That is our worship. That is our praise.

That is the honor that comes to Him by the way that we live our lives and the way we reflect His character and the way we conduct ourselves. And so your question really deals with ascribed glory. It's the glory we are to ascribe to God. And we do that with our mouth as we give praise to God, as we testify for God, as we teach about God and speak of God. And we also ascribe glory to Him as our lives become more and more increasingly like His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that glorifies God for us to obey His Word and to become like His Son. And so that is ascribed glory to God. 1 Corinthians 10, 31 says, Whatsoever you do, whether you eat or drink, do all for the glory of God. And so that really is really to be the tip of the spear for everything that we do.

Our every decision to be made should always, we should ask this question first and foremost. What will most glorify God? As I take a job, as I marry someone, as I pursue a path in this world, what will most glorify God? And that must be every Christian's heartbeat is to bring honor to the name of our God in a world that is fallen and is perishing.

So, David, I don't know if that answers your question or not. It's to live godly. It is to emulate the attributes of God. So if God is truth, then we must speak truth. If God is love, then we must show love. If God is holy, then we must pursue holiness. That's what we call communicable attributes of God, attributes of God that can be evident in the life of His creatures. Some attributes are what we call incommunicable attributes and cannot be replicated in the creature. For example, we are not sovereign.

We are not self-sufficient. God is, and so that belongs to God alone. That's just kind of a quick kind of soundbite answer, David, on what it is to glorify God. It's to reflect His character in and through our lives.

That answered it well. Thank you for that, Dr. Stephen Lawson, again with us today, the author of the book we're discussing, Show Me Your Glory. Later in the book, chapter 15, you title it Mercifully Saving the Grace of God, and I want to just read the first couple sentences of that chapter. The very nature of God is to rescue those who are perishing, rescue. Though He is under no obligation to intervene, the heart of God yearns to save those who are in great spiritual peril. He delights to deliver those whose souls are in grave danger of eternal destruction. The extraordinary riches of His grace are most clearly demonstrated in His saving acts to recapture those who are in danger of suffering under His wrath. This is the unfathomable greatness of the saving grace of God.

Divine grace is God's unmerited favor toward unworthy sinners that delivers them from His just condemnation and bestows on them His forgiveness and righteousness. That's beautifully put, Steve, and I know there are listeners today who are coming across the dial. Maybe you've never heard this program before, maybe you've never heard what the good news of Jesus Christ is. Could you explain and invite those who are listening today what this grace is and how to respond to this grace being offered to them by this gracious God?

Absolutely, David, would love to. The grace of God is at the very heart of what salvation is, and that's the good news. It's what the word gospel means.

But before you know the good news, you have to know what the bad news is, or the good news is just not good. You have to know the bad news, that every person born into this world has been born spiritually dead and separated from God, and falls short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death, which is eternal condemnation under the holiness of Almighty God. And that's where every one of us stand, or once stood, as we came into this world. We were enemies of God, alienated from God, and deserving, because of our sin, to be eternally condemned. But God in His mercy and in His grace has sent His Son into this world on a rescue mission of salvation to deliver sinners from eternal hell. And salvation is really from God, by God, for God, in this sense. We have to be rescued from the wrath of God, and there's only one way to be rescued from the wrath of God, and that is to be rescued by God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was 2,000 years ago born of a virgin.

He entered into this world through a woman. He was born under the law, so that He would live a sinless and perfect life, and by the merit of that life secure perfect righteousness to be given to all who would believe upon Him. It also merited Him going to the cross, to there, upon that cross, bear in His body the sins of everyone who would call upon His name. And the Bible says, Him who knew no sin, God made to be sin for us. And so Christ shed His blood upon that cross, and with the shedding of that blood, there is the washing away of the guilt and the defilement of sin. With that death upon the cross, He has reconciled holy God, the sinful man, and has brought the two together, the Bible says, through the blood of His cross. And it was in that death upon the cross that Jesus gave Himself and shed His blood in order to purchase rebels out of the slave market of sin. And Jesus said, If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed. And so Christ actually bought the church, the true church of believers, with His own blood at the cross, and He satisfied the righteous anger of God towards sinners who will believe in Him. And for the wrath of God to be satisfied means that when you put your faith in Christ, there is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So for anyone listening today, if you have never come to the end of yourself, denied yourself, taken up a cross, and become a follower of Christ, I call you this moment, I invite you to step out of this evil world system, and to step out of your life of sin, and leave the crowd behind, and to commit your life to Jesus Christ, and to believe upon Him. And if you will do that, the Bible says, Him who comes unto me I will in no wise cast out. So may God give you eyes to see and ears to hear, a heart to believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen, Steve.

Thank you so much for explaining that good news. They're the best news that sinful men and women can be reconciled to a holy God, this holy God that you display and feature so well in your book, Show Me Your Glory, through repentance of their sin, and putting their trust, their faith, their belief in who Christ is, who Christ is, the Son of God, and what He did for them, for each one who comes to saving faith on that cross. Steve, we so much appreciate you, your preaching ministry, One Passion. Again, listeners can find out more at onepassion.org, all that you have going on in ministry. They can get your Expositor magazine, which we get, we love that, and we appreciate all you do to bring glory to God, Steve, and we just wish all of God's best and grace to you and your family. Oh, thank you, David.

Same to your family, Brody, and all that you do there, every blessing to you in Christ. Well, I hope you benefited from that interview with Dr. Stephen Lawson, and there was one quote from the book right toward the very beginning in chapter one that I'd like to read just as a conclusion. He says on page three, the greatest need of every individual is to know who God is. No matter who a person is, whether he is inside the church or outside of it, whether he is a true believer or a militant atheist, his most basic need is to know God, if he is to know himself and understand the world around him. He must know who God is and what God is like.

Every other knowledge that someone may acquire is a far distant second in importance. Everything in an individual's life is affected by his knowledge of God. A true knowledge of what he is like is that important. The most important aspect of who we are is what comes into our minds when we think of God. The trajectory of our lives is directed by our understanding of God. Moreover, our eternal destiny hinges on our relationship to him in who we believe he is.

If we are to live as he intends us to live, we must know who he is and what he is like. That from the book Show Me Your Glory by our guest today, Stephen Lawson. And again, I'll just say how you can get this book. We're offering it for a limited time for a donation of any amount to The Christian Real View. It's a 278-page hardcover that retails for $19, and we're offering it for a donation of any amount to The Christian Real View. Just go to our website, thechristianrealview.org to order it.

Give us a call, 1-888-646-2233, and we'll give the address if you want to write to us and send us a donation through the mail immediately following the program today. This would be a great book as a companion to your daily Bible reading, just to go chapter by chapter through all the various attributes of God that Steve Lawson lays out in this book. I mentioned some of them earlier on the triunity of God, the sovereignty, the holiness, immutability, omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence. There's chapters on each one of those attributes of God and many more, so such an important topic.

You've heard the line, the most important part of someone is their view of God and whether it is accurate, and that is unfortunately what is most lacking today in our society, of course, but even within the church as well. And just on a personal note, you know, outside my own parents and raising me, Steve Lawson and just a couple other pastors have had a tremendous impact on my understanding of God and the Bible and the Christian faith. I remember first hearing Steve preach at the shepherds conference probably back in 2004 or 2005 out at Grace Community Church in Los Angeles. I'd never heard of Steve Lawson, just kind of ambled into the sanctuary in the middle of one afternoon, and he gave a message entitled, Bring the Book from Nehemiah 8, where Ezra comes and reads the scripture to the people for a long period of time. He just talked about the importance of preaching from the Word and God's Word being impressed upon people.

And I distinctly remember to this day that the message was so powerful that the audience, there were people audibly groaning in the audience because the message was so strong. Well, I knew Steve Lawson was after that, and over the years I've just so benefited from his preaching. And this is one of our purposes for the Christian Rule of Your Radio program, is to feature someone like Steve Lawson and how you can get connected with his ministry and his preaching so that it can impact your life as well. I just recommend his Thursday morning Bible study. He does it live on Facebook at 7 a.m. Central Time every Thursday morning.

It's based out of Dallas, but you can watch it from anywhere, and this would be a tremendous start to your day on Thursday mornings. And you can find the link for that at our website in today's preview for the program at thechristianworldview.org. You can also get connected with his ministry through their website, onepassion.org. All right, I just want to end where we started today from Psalm 46 in the midst of this changing, turbulent world that Psalm starts up by saying, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth should change.

Skipping down to verse 6, the nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered, they certainly are, he, God, raised his voice, the earth melted, the Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our stronghold. Again, today's program originally aired in September 2021, but we hope you found that it was just as relevant for today. Just a reminder that we are less than one month away from the Overcomer Course for Young Adults on June 21st and 22nd at Stonehouse Farm in Jordan, Minnesota. There are about 10 spaces remaining, so please encourage the young adults in your life to attend. Full details and registration can be found at our website, thechristianrealview.org or just by giving us a call.

This Memorial Day weekend, we owe a big thank you to those who sacrificed their lives for our nation and thank you for your support of this non-profit radio ministry. Let's remember that the world may be chaotic and always changing, but the Bible says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Until next time, think biblically, live accordingly, and stand firm. The mission of The Christian Worldview is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. We hope today's broadcast encouraged you toward that end. To hear a replay of today's program, order a transcript, or find out What Must I Do to Be Saved, go to thechristianrealview.org or call toll-free 1-888-646-2233. The Christian Worldview is a listener-supported non-profit radio ministry furnished by the Overcomer Foundation. To make a donation, become a Christian Worldview partner, order resources, subscribe to our free newsletter, or contact us, visit thechristianworldview.org, call 1-888-646-2233, or write to Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota, 55331. That's Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota, 55331. Thanks for listening to The Christian Worldview.