Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
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A most frightening aspect of this culture’s rejection of Jesus is the effect that the absence of the gospel is having on the spirits of young people. The gospel of Christ is of such power that it has a softening influence on the hearts of all who hear it, even on those who do not respond in faith, and everyone is blessed in a society where the gospel is preached, not just believers. But in cultures where the gospel is suppressed, there is nothing to take its place, and young people are left to grow up without a godly conscience, and without a true sense of good and evil.
We are seeing in some places now the awful effects of keeping children from the gospel. This generation, with its pseudo-sophistication and pride, is beginning to pay the price for its foolish insistence that to deny children the gospel is the way to true freedom, and for striving to make this culture godless. Nothing in human society strikes me as being quite as dreadful as the roving packs of young men in the streets now, with no conscience, attacking at random and without even the motivation of robbery. The pain they inflict is just for kicks. That is but one result of keeping the young from the influence of the saving gospel of Christ.
To be godless is to be merciless, for God is merciful. To be godless is to have no moral boundaries, for God is good. To be godless is to be beastly, driven by the base appetites of the flesh, for God is holy in all His ways. To be godless is to be perverse in judgment, because God is wise and just. To be godless is to have no strength or will to resist and to overcome the dark spirits in this world, for God is full of power.
Teach your children the stories that God has provided for us in the Bible! Don’t make excuses. Do it! Are you too busy to save your own child?
The whole world has benefitted from the influence of the gospel of Jesus Christ because our forebears made sure the gospel was known, in their homes and beyond. They understood the value of the gospel and yielded to the power of its influence. They knew that the message of the gospel would restrain the baser aspects of human nature. If we would be wise, we will not take that precious influence for granted.
If parents fail to acquaint their children with the gospel, if they fail to walk in its light so that the young can become acquainted with the feelings and the wisdom of the gospel, what will keep the young from being godless? And then, when those godless little children mature and begin living like animals, with no sense of shame and no fear of God, who will control them?