The Worst Dangers Are Eternal
This clip is part of the sermon “When the Bad Guys Win (For Now)" delivered by Kevin DeYoung at Christ Covenant Church in Matthews, NC on September 14, 2025.
Why does Jesus tell his disciples in John 15 that the world will hate you?
Why did he tell them that? Why must you and I know?
Here’s the answer: John 16:1. “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.”
That’s why Jesus told them that.
You think the world is a dangerous place? It is. Has been.
The dangers we face out there can be scary.
But the worst dangers are eternal dangers.
Don’t lose your faith. Don’t leave the faith. That’s what Jesus says.
To be forewarned is to be forearmed. To know – I’m telling you, that some people will hate this. Do not leave the faith. Do not make shipwreck. Do not leave what Christ has done for you.
And maybe you’re listening this morning, and you’re blurry, you’re fuzzy on what all of this "Christ business" is and what all this "Christianity" is about.
Well, the word of God tells us. It has good news, bad news, good news, better news.
That our God, apart from any other agent, created this world. It was good, perfect, and Adam and Eve sinned, plunging this world into sin and rebellion.
How do you explain the darkness in our world? It’s the darkness in the human heart.
The prophet Jeremiah said, “Can a leopard change his spots?” You can’t. You cannot do it. You cannot make yourself new.
In the fullness of time, God sent his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And one of the things his son taught on earth is that you must be born again. That the spirit of God must so work in your heart.
And you say, “How can I make myself be born again?” Well, you can’t. But you can listen and you can have ears. And the sheep will hear the voice of the good shepherd and God’s people will know. Maybe even right now, you know that God is telling you something. He’s been trying to tell you something. C.S. Lewis once said that God whispers to us in joy, and he shouts at us in pain.
That God sent his son that whosoever believes in him might have eternal life and will not perish for his sins, but his life for yours, his punishment for you.
And so he calls us to repent and believe. You can do that this morning. To repent and believe.
Surely the word that must go out across this land and across the world in light of all that is facing our nation and all the events of this week and this month is the message that Jesus proclaimed so clearly: turn.
It’s not too late to repent of those sins, to turn from the darkness that cuts through. Not right, left, but through every human heart, and then believe.
There’s nothing you can do. You can’t earn it. God doesn’t say, “Come and prove yourself.” He asks for the faith of an empty hand, the faith to receive, to say, “I have nothing. Would you fill me?”
Then you follow him as Savior, as Lord, to obey, to love, to be filled with his spirit, to follow his word, to do whatever he says and say, “Lord Jesus, you now are savior for my sins and lord of my life, and what you tell me is good and right and true and beautiful, and I love it, and I will share it with anyone who will listen and even with those who won’t.”