The following sermon is by John MacArthur, pastor, author, and Bible teacher with Grace

to You.

If you've never contacted Grace to You, we want to send you a free booklet by John that

unpacks fifteen Greek words in Scripture that explain a stunning paradox, how a God

of perfect justice can show mercy to sinners who deserve only punishment.

Request your free booklet titled 15 Words of Hope by writing to Hope at gty.org.

This offer is good in North America and Europe through June 2023.

And now unleashing God's truth one verse at a time.

Here's Grace to You, Bible teacher John MacArthur.

There is a sermon announced in the bulletin, but you can disregard that because that's not the subject for today.

Come to the conviction that we need to receive some encouragement as the people of God.

This is a dire time and I can speak on your behalf because I know you carry the same burdens that I do as a church.

This is a very hard time for the church.

The church is least in name filled with false teachers defecting pastors, immoral leaders, proud, arrogant men.

Power being usurped by women, division, racial hatred and animus, bad theology, whirliness.

It's a very dire time.

And it is compounded by the fact that we feel like we're being persecuted because we're being told we can't meet.

There are some people who might wonder what the future of the church is.

Some churches have just shut down, but that's because they fear the powers or because they're basically trying to please the culture and they can't find a way to do that in this setting.

It's a very difficult time for faithful pastors. They can't shepherd their flocks.

They can't come alongside the weak, the struggling, the unruly, the needy.

I've had to make phone calls to dying people in a hospital rather than be beside them with them as they went into glory.

...