The Difference Between The Noun....'Awe'....And The Adjective....'Awesome'

                The church has lost the awe of what it means to be born again. You may still hear the phrase from time to time....and you may even hear the story in a sermon of Nicodemus's late night secret visit to see Jesus....but somewhat as with a grade school student when called upon for an answer to a question that they do not know....he or she may be able to string enough words together....well enough that the teacher has to accept the answer....but it is only head knowledge at best.
                 If we realized what the word 'lost' means....and what the word 'saved' means...along with the incalculable and eternal difference.....and consequently realized that it was us that was once lost....and us that are now saved....it would by every rule of logic and common sense....turn us into what the world calls....fanatical Christians....who want nothing to do with this world....but only to live truly as a pilgrim in a world headed to destruction....but you see....that is not us!
                 We have over time....talked ourselves into believing....or let ourselves be led into believing....that this salvation thing was just an everyday occurrence....made so easy....that all one has to do is believe.....(a simple act with no corresponding emphasis on just what the word 'believe' might mean)....and then they can sit back and expect all the blessings to begin!  
                  Charles Spurgeon and J. C. Ryle both....circa 1850 to 1900....lamented....and preached on....and warned with a passion....that the gospel was being lost in the church at the time....and the gospel was indeed disappearing in the church at end of their long ministries. Spurgeon called it....The Downgrade.' 
                   The church underwent a resurgence of the proclamation of the true gospel in the latter half of the last century....led by men like Martyn Lloyd-Jones and MacArthur and Sproul and Billy Graham and others....call it a minor awakening or a generational revival or whatever you might want to describe it as....but it faded as revivals always do...and these men were taken home....almost to a man!
                    Thirty years ago an alarm was sounded with the growing popularity of the megachurch and the user-friendly gospel....John MacArthur especially defended the gospel....but we lost that battle! We were hit in short order by 9/11....a disastrous economic collapse....then a pandemic....and each one shifted our emphasis away from defending the gospel to defending the constitution and protecting our way of life. Trump weakened what was left of evangelicalism....as we are essentially today the....Trump evangelical....which is no evangelical at all! 
                     No one has to be born again....they only have to be recruited....and then sign on the dotted line. There is no power in the pulpits. You can literally skip over any verse or passage or whole book in God's word if you want to. The Sunday worship service is a pleasant time....and if it's not a pleasant time....then we will go somewhere else where it offers a pleasant time!
                     So what is next on the biblical agenda? Surprises are next. The unexpected is next! That may sound odd coming from someone who 'expects' that Jesus is at the very door....and can recite one fulfilled sign after another fulfilled sign of His return....but we will need real faith in the real near future....and real warnings....of a real holy God.
                      There is a difference between the noun....'awe'....implying an almost paralysis before a holy God....'that sermon had me in awe of a holy God'.....and the adjective....'awesome'....which is how the church of today looks at God....'that was an awesome sermon.'