As some of you know, I’ve done a number of recent interviews, and people have asked me all kinds of questions. Some of them—you no doubt, have seen some of those interviews. I’ve been focusing on the fact that what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:2, “I [am] determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified,” is a very clear statement for Christians as to their purpose in the world. It is a statement that narrows everything down. “I [am] determined,” he says. That indicates to us he has to fight to maintain this focus: “I [am] determined to know nothing among you [but] Christ, and Him crucified.” It’s him saying, “I don’t want to get off message. It’s always about Christ and Him crucified.”

This is our calling as a church in the world. But the church has always struggled to stay on message. Its history is ample evidence of that. You could just go a hundred years ago, and you would arrive at a time in the church life in the United States of America when the mainline denominations of this nation—many of them very wealthy and powerful with thousands and thousands of churches and all kinds of institutions—had basically abandoned Christ and Him crucified. They had been sucked into all kinds of social issues. And Christianity was almost synonymous with what was called the social gospel. They were concerned about social things rather than spiritual things. There was an attack on the inerrancy of Scripture, the inspiration of Scripture, the deity of Christ, the doctrine of the Trinity, salvation by grace through faith alone in Christ alone. These attacks were literally coming from those very denominations that declared themselves once to be Christian denominations. And they were content to fight every temporal, social battle in place of the one reason for which they existed in the world, and that was the gospel.

As a result of that, there was a group of men who got together, and they wrote several volumes titled The Fundamentals. This is a group of Christian scholars who said, “We’ve got to go back to the fundamentals.” They had a great impact, and it led to a movement called fundamentalism. It went on for a while, and then eventually it sort of morphed into what we today call evangelicalism, which is, strangely enough, very hard to define. But we are looking at a day in the history of the church when Christianity, as such, is seen for something that it is not; and we need to get back to being seen for what we are. And I think I can make that pretty clear to you by just a couple of words.

Let’s take Christian. In the book of Acts, chapter 11, verse 26, it says, “and the disciples were first called Christians.” Now, that was not a title of honor. I mean, it was for them, but it wasn’t intended that way. When the society identified the disciples of our Lord as “Christians,” that was full of ridicule, scorn, mockery. It was a term of derision to be called a Christian. To be so completely identified with Christ was considered by the populace as a mark of severe intellectual inferiority. You were a lowlife. It was not intended to be an honorable term.

Christianous, “little Christs”—what a joke. The fact that it was a term of scorn shows up in the twenty-sixth chapter of Acts. You can look at it if you want, but I’ll read verse 28. Paul is talking to King Agrippa, and Agrippa says to Paul, “In a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian.” Now you might read that and say, “Wow, Paul was having success with Agrippa. Maybe he was actually thinking about becoming a Christian.” Well, if you thought that, you missed the interpretation. He is mocking Paul. He is saying to Paul, “In a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian, full of scorn, ridicule, mockery, and shame. Are you making a joke of me? Do you think I’m that kind of fool that you could so easily talk me into being one who has received the scorn and ridicule of this culture?”

In 1 Peter chapter 4, Peter makes reference to this use of Christian as well. He says, “If anyone suffers as a Christian,” I mean it was almost built in that if you were identified as a Christian, you would suffer because the very term was filled with disrespect. “If anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed.” Don’t be ashamed. They say that about you to make you ashamed. Don’t be ashamed, “but . . . glorify God in this name.” Turn it on them. They call you a Christian to shame you; you turn it on them, and you accept that identification and give glory to that name.

I wish it was still clear that the term Christian was so totally identified with Jesus Christ, the one whom the world rejects—that it was used as a term of derision so that Christians would understand the hostility against Christ, and their responsibility to bring the message of Christ and flip that use and show them the glory of Christ. But Christian has just become another lowercase “c” word in the dictionary.

Now I don’t mind being called an evangelical. I’ve been called that. I’ve been called worse things. But I don’t mind being called an evangelical because that’s a really good word, too. It’s the word euangeliz­ō in Greek, and it means “to preach the gospel.” That’s what it means: “to preach the gospel.”

Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 16, just as an illustration of the significance of this term. Paul says, “For if I preach the gospel”—there it is, euangeliz­ō—“I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.” So what is an evangelical? Somebody who—what? Preaches the gospel. That’s an evangelical. And Paul says, “That’s what I do; that’s my calling, and woe is me if I don’t do that.”

Now, what does that mean? That means that the narrow focus of Christians in the world is to be identified with Christ—and that is the fullness of Christ in the Scriptures as He is revealed—and we are to be identified as those who preach the gospel of Christ.

What does that look like? Well, let’s go to the tenth chapter of Acts, and we have an illustration of it. Here is Peter, and he is speaking to a Gentile named Cornelius. Cornelius has been desiring to know what the message is that the apostle has. And in chapter 10 of Acts and verse 33, Cornelius says, “I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here”—Cornelius and his friends—“[and we are] present before God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.” “Tell us what God wants us to know. We are gathered together. Give us the message from heaven. What is it?”

Verse 34, you have a response. “Opening his mouth, Peter said: ‘I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him.” Now remember, this is a Gentile; and Peter is saying, “OK, I get it. Here’s the message from heaven: God is not limited to the Jews. His salvation is not limited to them.” “God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him.”

There’s no such thing as national conversion; it’s all personal. It’s “in every nation the man who fears Him.” God is offering a universal salvation to everyone in every nation. And what is the method of that? What is the message that leads to that salvation? Verse 36, “The word which He sent to the sons of Israel”—that is the original coming of Christ and the opening of the gospel. The original message which came first to Israel and now is extended to the Gentiles is that “peace [comes] through Jesus Christ.” That’s the message. And who is He? “He is Lord of all.”

This is the message. This is so direct. Cornelius, a Gentile, says, “What does heaven want me to know?” “He wants you to know that salvation is not limited to Israel, but that any person from any nation who fears God, does what is right, is welcome to Him. But the way to come to Him is through Christ because peace with God is through Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is Lord of all.”

And then Peter goes on, “You yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee after the baptism which John proclaimed.” “You know what happened in Judea and Galilee after the ministry of John the Baptist when Jesus showed up. But you know about Him.” Verse 38, “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” You know that. The record of that is clearly what’s laid out in the four gospels.

And Peter says, “We are witnesses of all the things [that] He did”—apostolic witness—“both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.” “You know the story of Jesus,” Peter reminds them, “who came with Holy Spirit power, did good, healed, overpowered demons, was crucified, rose again, appeared to many after His death.”

And then in verse 42, “And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead.” “He is not only Lord of all, He is not only the one who alone can make peace with God, He is the Judge of the living and the dead. It is of Him all the prophets bear witness, that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.” That is the marvelous conclusion that you have with Peter’s restatement of the gospel concerning Christ: “Believe in Him, and have your sins forgiven.” That’s the message of the gospel.

The gospel means “good news.” The good news is He is Lord of all. He is Judge. And if you’re going to be right with God, you have to make peace with God through Him; and if you don’t make peace with God through Him, you will be judged; but if you believe in Him, you will receive the forgiveness of sins. That’s the message from heaven.

Cornelius says, “What did God tell you to tell us? What’s the message?” It’s the gospel. I love the simplicity of that. That’s like Paul: “I am determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” There were all kinds of things that could easily have distracted Paul, all kinds of social issues, all kinds of temporal issues, all kinds of tragic things that needed to be resolved in human life—lots of distractions. But he was determined to know one thing, and that is Christ, and Him crucified.

So I’ve been thinking about that. I’ve been thinking about it in the endless cacophony of political harangue going on in our country, which seems to have sucked up so many evangelicals, to the degree that when I do these interviews, people ask me things like, “What do you think of Christian nationalism? Why are you Christians trying to take over the country?”

Sadly, evangelicals are seen as a conservative political movement sort of set against the established power of liberalism and progressivism. We are being accused of being a kind of revolutionary group that has political objectives, objectives for power, so that we can and take control of the levers of power in this nation and establish our own traditional view of morality as the required standard of living. We’re accused of trying to take over the American government by political means to install morality as the traditional Judeo-Christian morality as the dominant position in society. So we are being basically rejected, not for our identification with Christ, not for preaching the gospel, but for traditional morality and political ambition.

Now look, we’re not surprised to be rejected. Yes, our Lord said we would be hated. He said we would be persecuted. He said we would be rejected. He said we would be jailed—looking at Christian history. He said we would even be killed. The question is, For what? For what? Well, let’s go back to John 15 where Jesus lays out very clearly the answer to the question, For what?

John 15:18, He says to His disciples, “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.” “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.” “Don’t be surprised, really.” “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake.” When you’re persecuted, it’s going to be because the name of Christ means something. “You’re being persecuted for My name, for you’re identifying with Me and My message of the gospel.”

And verse 21, He says, “‘And they do not know the One who sent Me”—“They hate Me, and they don’t know the One who sent Me.” “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also.”

Why do they hate Jesus and the Father? Because He exposed their—what? Their sin. Their sin. “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.” “Even with all the works, they still hated Me”—because, as He says earlier in the gospel of John—“because I told them their deeds were evil.”

Really, summing it up, verse 25, “They hated Me without a cause.” “They hated Me without a cause.” They hated Him because of His message, and His message was the message of the gospel. But the gospel begins with the confrontation of sin and death and judgment.

Evangelicals today are being resented for the wrong reason. We’re being resented for our efforts in the political arena, efforts at societal morality, political power. This is why they accuse us of Christian nationalism, like trying to take over the government. An illustration of that: in Washington, D.C., there are currently in excess of two hundred religious advocacy groups that have several thousand employees and spend about $400 million a year to lobby and advocate with politicians to gain a foothold for religion and morality. Now you could get lost in the sea of all of those groups, but let me just pick one out.

A very significant group is called the Christian Coalition, the Christian Coalition. And I looked them up just to see what their purpose was, and here’s their agenda. I’ll give you the list. One, stop funding abortion. OK, I certainly agree with that. Number two, secure energy independence. I even like fossil fuels. God provided them. Three, reform criminal justice. Now, that would be good. People ought to be treated fairly. I don’t know, I wouldn’t want to be in a jury trial. Protect the environment—lots of luck with that. And finally, repeal Obamacare.

So did you notice anything Christian about any of that? What is a Christian coalition? There’s nothing Christian about any of those things. Oh, and by the way, they also said there were 300 other issues, so that would make 315, none of which is the only issue that Christians should be concerned about, which is what? The gospel. If we’re going to be resented, let’s be resented for what we’re supposed to be resented for.

Now look, I feel just the way any Christian person would feel about a morally debauched culture. I hate it. I resent everything about it. I would love to be in a society of virtue and integrity and truth and honesty. I support and pursue biblical morality. I couldn’t do less—a Christian can’t do less; a preacher can’t do less. I expose and attack the sins that destroy society as the prophets did.

But that’s not why we’re in the world. The issue is if you want lasting virtue and you want genuine righteousness, how do you get it? Through politics and media and lobbying and a measure of public intimidation, paying millions of dollars and pouring money into elections and media events and pressure groups trying to sanitize America? And for all that, you’re hated for your societal and political ambition. Is that the Christian mandate?

Let me give you something to think about. People assume that God will bless America if America becomes moral. Listen to this: God has never blessed morality. He doesn’t bless morality. In fact, He doesn’t bless morality any more than He would bless immorality. He doesn’t bless people because they’re moral.

Just look at Jesus. He accepted the wretched sinners, ate with them, and spent time with them, and He pronounced curses on the Pharisees. You want morality? You’ve got it with the Pharisees. They were the most moral people in the world, and their morality was even tied to divine revelation in the Old Testament. And yet in Matthew 23, Jesus blistered them with the most severe diatribe that ever came out of His lips. He pronounced more condemnation on moral, religious people than He ever did on immoral, irreligious people.

A more moral America would not escape divine judgment. Trying to grab yourself by your own bootstraps and clean up your act and live a more moral life will gain you nothing with God. Jesus looked at the Temple and the whole system of Pharisaic Judaism, pronounced judgment on it, said the Temple’s going to be torn down; 70 AD used the Romans as His instrument of judgment. They came in and massacred tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of Jews who were all, by at least their own personal confession, committed to the law of God.

The only way you escape judgment is not by morality. Morality apart from godliness is the devil’s morality. All false religion and every moral code that goes with it is designed by the devil to deceive. The Pharisees thought they were sons of God. Jesus said, “You’re sons of hell.” The Pharisees thought they produced other sons of God by their religion. Jesus said, “You produce many more times sons of hell.”

Look, it all comes down to one thing, 1 Corinthians 16:22, “If anyone does not love the Lord, he is . . . [cursed].” Our mission in the world is to introduce the world to Christ, not to biblical morality. That comes after Christ. We must proclaim Jesus as Lord, Savior, and Judge, like Peter did, and proclaim Jesus as the only one who can make peace with God; as Jesus, the one who alone can forgive sins for all who believe in Him.

I wish with all my heart that evangelicals were known for one thing, and that is with love—with clarity, with conviction, with boldness, proclaiming the glorious truth of Christ and the gospel. But we’re being resented for the wrong thing. It’s like 1 Timothy 4:8. First Timothy 4:8 says, “For bodily discipline is only of little profit.”

There are people who get caught up in exercise, right? I mean, we have fanaticism at a level in this culture that’s probably never been seen before. That’s OK, you know; it’s good: Take care of your body. But “bodily discipline is only of a little profit . . . godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds [the] promise” of eternal life. The analogy is very simple. Some things are nice for now but have nothing to do with forever. And nice for now isn’t enough to rescue sinners. We have, in the world, this calling to the gospel. I just pray that we’ll be faithful and bold and courageous and relentless, and that we’ll start making the main thing the main thing.

And that leads me to say that we’re here this morning because this is the main thing, right, to come to the cross. We all know that. I think it’s safe to say there won’t be any lack of moral people in hell. In fact, there really won’t be any truly moral people there, because Isaiah said, “All your righteousness is”—what?—“filthy rags.” And Jesus said, “Look, I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

If Christianity is meaning anything in the world, it ought to be calling sinners to repentance. But instead of that, when Christians get caught up in politics, they look at the people of opposing political viewpoints and opposing social viewpoints as the enemy rather than the mission field. You don’t want to turn the sinners into the enemy; they are the mission field, and we’re the missionaries, and the gospel is our message. And so as we come to the Lord’s Table this morning, you recommit yourself to just exactly what you’re doing here: showing forth His death till He comes. Let’s pray.

Father, we thank You for the opportunity to gather together and participate in this time around Your Table. Lead us and guide us, we pray.