1990 SINGLE SERMONS
THE DAY OF THE LORD IS COMING
DR. JIM DIXON
1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-18
AUGUST 26, 1990
The Day of the Lord is coming. That’s what the Bible tells us. At the close of the age and the consummation of history, the Day of the Lord shall come. It’ll be a day of judgment. It’ll be a day of tribulation, great tribulation such as the world has never known. The Day of the Lord will come as a surprise to most people in the world because the world is in darkness. But as Christians, that day is not meant to surprise us. We are supposed to recognize the season of Christ’s coming. Our Lord Jesus said that “When you look at the fig tree and you see its branches becoming tender and leaves beginning to grow, you know that summer is coming near.” He said, “even so, when you see certain signs happening, you will know that My coming is near.” So Christians, throughout the Christian centuries, throughout the generations have paused from time to time, taken a look at the world and asked what in the world is happening in order that they might appraise the season in which they live. That’s what I would like for us to do this morning. As I look at the world in which we live and we seek to appraise the times and seasons, I have three observations about our world.
First of all, Judeo-Christian values are eroding. Judeo-Christian values are, of course, those values that come from Judaism and Christianity. The moral and ethical instructions contained in the Old and New Testament. This nation, our nation, was founded on Judeo-Christian values. Modern historians have attempted to rewrite history, removing Christian influence from the formation of this nation, but the facts cannot be changed. For the first hundred years in the United States of America, the Bible was a standard part of the curriculum in all public education. The first college in America was Harvard University, founded in 1636, named after Reverend John Harvard, a Christian minister. The motto of Harvard University was “For Christ and the Church.” That continued to be its motto for more than 200 years. Eight of the first nine colleges in the United States of America had as their stated purpose “To equip men and women for the gospel ministry that they might take the message of Christ to the nations.” For the first hundred years of the United States existence, presidents routinely spoke of the American people as Christian people and incredibly, as recently as 1892, the United States Supreme Court referred to our nation as a Christian nation. Now, obviously something has happened, things have changed. We no longer view ourselves, most people no longer view us as a Christian nation. In fact, Christian values, Judeo-Christian values are eroding in our midst.
This last week in the Denver Post, there was an article which posed the question, who’s teaching values to our children in America? The article expressed concern because of the erosion of values in America with drug and alcohol abuse and an increasing number of teenage pregnancies and teenagers hopping into bed with teenagers and an increase in violent crime, and with the development of gangs in most of the major cities in our land. This article posed the question, who’s training our children in values? The article suggested that as parents, we ought to be doing that. The article suggested that most parents do not train their children in values. The article concluded no one, no one is training American children with respect to values. The article is wrong. Your children are being trained in values. They’re being trained by the public school systems. They’re being trained by the media.
You see, if you’re a Christian parent, you really cannot afford to trust the ethical and moral instruction of your children to the church because even if you sent your child to Sunday school from age five to age 18, your child would only receive 700 hours of Christian instruction. Your child, in that same period of time, will receive 25 times as much time being instructed in the public school classroom. During those same years, from five to 18, your child is, on the average, spends 17,000 hours watching television, an additional 5,000 hours watching movies, listening to records and radio. All this has a tremendous impact on our children, and if you trust the public school system to instruct your children in Judeo-Christian values, you’ve not looked very closely at the public school system. The public school system in the United States has changed, no longer has a Christian worldview. The public school system has a secular worldview. Their view worldview is no longer theocentric, it’s no longer centered on God, but it’s anthropocentric, centered on man. Man is not viewed as created in the image of God, responsible to God, separated from the animals, the crown of God’s creation, given dominion over the animals, but instead man is viewed as one of the animals; the most highly evolved animal accountable only to himself. Values as taught in the public school systems are values that do not come from the decrees of God, but the wisdom of men. And those values are not absolute, they’re situational. That’s what you can expect your children to receive in the public school system.
Don’t expect the media to instruct your children with respect to Judeo-Christian values. If you have eyes to see and if you have ears to hear, you know the media does not contain a Judeo-Christian values system. In fact, if you’ve read anything of the Lichter and Rothman study, an amazing study of just a few years ago, you know the problem that exists in the media throughout America. Lichter and Rothman interviewed journalists from the New York Times, from the Washington Post, from the Chicago Tribune. They interviewed journalists from Time Magazine and Newsweek and US News and World Report. They interviewed the news departments at CBS and NBC and ABC and PBS and they interviewed executive vice presidents in charge of programming in the television industry. They interviewed writers and directors in the motion picture industry. They interviewed cross section of the media and their survey concluded that 93% of the people in the media never attend church. 93% in the midst of an American population where 40% of the people do attend church and 63% are members of churches. 93% of the media never attend church. And 97% of the media believe in abortion on demand in a nation where that issue is perhaps 50/50 among the general population. 97% of the media believes in abortion. And 80% of the media believes that homosexuality is a valid alternative lifestyle. More incredibly, 83% of the media believes that extramarital affairs are not wrong. And 98% of the media believes in premarital sex.
Most alarmingly, the Lichter and Rothman study showed that 63% of the media believes that their purpose is to train this nation in values and bring about sociological reform. And it’s happening. America is changing, and Judeo-Christian values are eroding. As recently as 1910, only one-tenth of 1% of the population in America had experienced divorce, one-tenth of 1%. Today there are almost as many divorces as marriages every year, and 10 million evangelical Christians have been divorced. Judeo-Christian values are eroding even in the Christian sector.
Well, biblically and prophetically, the Bible tells us that the erosion of biblical values will characterize the consummation of the age. The Apostle Paul writes, “In the last days, there will come times of stress. Men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhumane, and profligate, slanderous, fierce, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding the form of religion, denying the power of it.” It says in the book of Daniel that in the last days, the people of the world will seek to change the laws of God. That’s what’s happening in America today.
You know, I don’t mean to blast the media because the reality is that the media is simply a tool. There are some good people in the media, but the media is being used for great evil in our time. As Christian parents, we need to admonish and instruct our children to analyze everything they see and everything they read in light of a Christian worldview. We need to encourage our children to consider careers in the media that they might go forth as Christians and be light in the midst of a world of considerable darkness. As Christian parents, we need to write sponsors of television programs that blatantly defi Judeo-Christian values. We live in a free nation. People with a secular worldview seek constantly to influence the world towards their view. As Christians, we have the freedom to influence this nation towards a biblical perspective.
Secondly, as we look at the world in which we live, it seems to me that Christianity’s power base is shifting. Judeo-Christian values are eroding and Christianity’s power base is shifting geographically. Now those of you who are familiar with history know something of the Roman Empire. Some historians consider the Roman Empire to have lasted about 500 years from 27 BC when Octavian became the first emperor of Rome, took the title Augustus, which means exalted, until 476 AD when Germanic tribes overthrew the last Roman Emperor. Other historians take a broader view and they view the Roman Empire in the broadest sense as lasting almost 2,000 years from 509 BC when the Roman Republic was established to the overthrow of the Byzantine Empire, the East Roman Empire, 1453 AD. But all historians agree on this: no matter what the length of the Roman Empire, in the beginning, the Roman Empire geographically was centered on Rome. The power base of the empire was geographically centered in the city of Rome. That’s where the government was, that’s where the strength was. But something happened in the year 330 AD. Constantine the Great became the Roman emperor. He decided to move the center of the Roman Empire from the city of Rome to the city of Byzantium to shift the power base of the empire geographically. So he moved all the Roman government from Rome to Byzantium. He renamed the city Constantinople in a great act of humility, naming the city after himself. Of course, today the city’s called Istanbul. And you see, Constantinople became the very center, the power base of the Roman Empire. The government was located there, the strength of the empire focused there. And in point of fact, the Western Roman empire in the city of Rome fell in the fifth century, but the Eastern Roman empire and the city Constantinople continued to the 15th century.
Well, in the Christian world, we’ve seen similar changes. In the Christian world, initially, geographically the power base of the Christian world was the Middle East and the hub of the Christian world was the city of Jerusalem. Missionaries went forth in the name of Christ from the city of Jerusalem and from the Middle East. Those missionaries went forth to all the nations of the world. The power of the Christian movement was located and centered in the Middle East. Of course, today there are very few Christians in the Middle East. The city of Jerusalem is very precious to most Christians, but very few Christians there. Most of the Middle East is Islamic. The power base of Christianity shifted in the fourth and fifth centuries, moved to Western Europe and Western Europe became the power base geographically of Christianity. The city of Rome became the hub of the Christian movement. Then in the 17th and 18th centuries, the United States of America joined with Western Europe as part of the power base of Christianity worldwide. Missionaries began to go forth from America. As they had gone forth from Western Europe, so now they went forth from America and more missionaries went forth from America than from any other nation taking the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Well today, today obviously the city of Rome is still the center of Roman Catholicism. But the truth is that Christianity has faded in Western Europe. There are some nations in Western Europe where less than 5% of the population even attends church. Some modern historians are referring to Western Europe as having entered a post-Christian era. Today, right here in the United States, Christianity is beginning to be watered down as it is mixed with the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of light. Here in the United States, Christianity has been diluted through its mixture with materialism, and hedonism, ascensionism. But even as this is happening, Christianity is flourishing elsewhere and the Holy Spirit is moving in a mighty way in other parts of the world.
You see, today sociologists speak of the first world and the second world and the third world. The first world is America, Western Europe, and our allies. The second world is the Soviet Union and their allies. But the third world refers to all the other nations, most of them impoverished. Until recently, the power base of Christianity has been the first world America and Western Europe. But the power base is now shifting to the third world.
In the midst of their poverty, the gospel of Christ has taken root and Christianity has great passion throughout the third world. This church is an evangelical church. We’re affiliated with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. But even though this church has a Presbyterian government, we do not stress Presbyterianism. We view ourselves above all else as a Christian church, and we welcome all who believe in Jesus Christ from all denominations. Our church is relatively large by American standards, but there’s a Presbyterian church in Seoul, Korea that’s 65,000 members strong called the Youngnak Presbyterian Church. There’s another church in that same city called the Yoido Full Gospel Church and it has 500,000 members. When Campus Crusade for Christ took their ministry to Korea and they had a crusade there, they were stunned to find 16,300,000 Koreans participate. They had all night prayer vigils where 5,250,000 Koreans participated. 300,000 signed up for evangelism training. Nothing like that’s happening in America or Western Europe. In communist China, there are 50 million evangelical Christians, perhaps as many evangelical Christians as are here in the United States. Recently, through recent years, evangelical Christianity has grown in Latin America by 30 million people. It is now said that in the African continent, 50% of Africa is Christian. The third world is embracing Christianity.
I just talked to a missionary after one of our services who was so excited because as she visited different parts of Africa, they’re sending out missionaries to America. A great shift in the power base of Christianity, most of the wealth of the Christian world still located here. But the passion has shifted. Biblically and prophetically, much of this fulfills what the Bible describes as the Great Apostasia, the Greek word from which we get the word apostacy. The Bible says that in the last days there will come a great apostasia, a word which literally means falling away. Those who claim to know Christ will begin to fall away from Christ. That’s what we’ve seen happen in Western Europe, where once Christianity was strong. That’s what we’re beginning to see happen here in the United States, where apostacy is growing in mainline Protestant denominations.
But you see the Holy Spirit is still moving and working and in the third world. Christianity is thriving. You know, I don’t really care that America be the hub of Christianity worldwide. That would just be pride. But I care very much, and I hope you do too, that Christianity be strong here. The Christian community be faithful here as we would like the Christian community be faithful all over the world. We need desperately to pray for revival in America. We need to pray for revival that’s not centered on simple evangelism. There’s a lot of nominal Christians in America, people who confess Christ as Lord and Savior. We need a revival that is focused on repentance, a revival that is focused on a quest for piety and holiness before the Lord, hungering and thirsting after righteousness. That’s the kind of revival we need in our land. And God might heal his people. God might heal this land.
Well, thirdly and finally, as we look at the world today it seems to me that we’re seeing an increase in international tensions. Judeo-Christian values are eroding. Christianity’s power base is shifting, and international tensions are increasing.
I know all of you have heard of Robert E. Lee. Robert E. Lee was of course the commander of the Confederate forces in the Civil War. He was one of the most beloved leaders of the South during the time of the war between the states. Perhaps you didn’t know that Robert E. Lee never really embraced the cause of the South. He didn’t want the southern states to secede from the union and he didn’t believe in slavery. In fact, he considered slavery to be a curse upon the land. He had long since freed his slaves before the Civil War began or when the Civil War began. But you see, he was kind of betwixt and between when the war began. He had a lot of friends in the north. He served the United States military for 35 years. He’d been commander of West Point, but his family and his children and his home was in his beloved Virginia.
When the war broke out, many people don’t know this, but when the war broke out Abraham Lincoln asked Robert E. Lee to command the Union armies. But of course, Jefferson Davis invited Robert E. Lee to command the Virginia forces. Ultimately, he decided that he couldn’t fight against his own children. He decided he couldn’t just sit there and watch his children die. So he commanded the Virginian forces, and finally commanded all the Confederate forces. When Lee surrendered to Grant ultimately at Appomattox Courthouse, that was the end of the war for him. But it wasn’t the end of the pain. Abraham Lincoln was so angry at Lee that he decreed that Lee’s home in Virginia would be turned into a federal cemetery so Lee and his family wouldn’t want to return there. Today that cemetery is called Arlington Cemetery, where Lee’s home is still preserved. Robert E. Lee wasn’t pardoned until after his death, which I’m sure meant nothing to him.
The Civil War was a tragic time in American history and more American lives were taken in the Civil War than in any other war of history. More American soldiers died in the Civil War than in all other wars combined from the Revolutionary War to the Vietnam War. The incredible thing is most of the people in the North and the South really didn’t want to go to war. But you see, the tensions were increasing. Tensions over the issue of slavery, tensions over the issue of state’s rights, tension over sectionalism and over different ways of life, and ultimately the tension just exploded into war. If it’s possible for a nation to go at war with itself, how much more possible is it for a nation to go to war with other nations when tensions increase? International tensions are increasing certainly in our time.
You know, the Bible tells us that in some sense, war is to characterize the consummation of the age and increase in wars. Nations shall rise up against nation, kingdom against kingdom ultimately culminating in the great battle of Armageddon. We’ve seen more war in the 20th century than any other century in history. Only a few months ago people were talking about unprecedented peace because the iron curtain fell and people embraced the possible union of Eastern and Western Europe. But of course, more recently with the invasion of Kuwait by President Hussein in the Iraqi forces, the worlds on the very brink, teeters on the brink again. It’s kind of scary. Of course, we’ve sent forces into Saudi Arabia.
The Bible says “Blessed are the peacemakers.” It’s not as simple as that because the Bible also tells us that God has given an ordained that earthly government should bear the sword as a deterrent to evil. Some people have said, “Well, we’ve sent our military into Saudi Arabia because we don’t want a dictator to control half of the world’s oil reserves.” I hope that’s not our primary reason. I think most parents wouldn’t want to sacrifice their children just to keep oil under $30 a barrel. I’d like to think that we’ve sent our forces into the Middle East because we don’t want to see a malignant dictator just overpower helpless nations.
If good people see evil and do nothing, evil prospers. If relatively benign governments look at evil and have the power to resist it and do not resist it malignancy covers the earth. What a difficult time in which we live. And as Christians, we’re called to seek peace, but also to resist evil, a difficult balance. But biblically and prophetically, God wants us to understand this world will never have peace until Jesus Christ comes back. He beats our swords into plowshares, our spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation. Neither will they learn war anymore. The kingdoms of our world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.
We look at the world and we see the erosion of Judeo-Christian values. A shifting in the power base of Christianity, an increase in international tension. We might ask ourselves, how should we live? The Bible says that as Christians, we should hold fast the word of life in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among which we shine as light. God has called us to be light in our neighborhood, in the city of Denver and all over the world. Now more than ever, we need to take the gospel to the nations. Now more than ever, we need to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with people who are in our sphere of influence. We need to seek to be salt on the earth, seeking to make the world a better place, knowing the world will never become perfect until Christ comes. Fighting the good fight, keeping the faith, finishing the race, that’s our call. Let’s close with a word of prayer.