Carl F. H. Henry warned a generation ago that evangelical Christians risked becoming a wilderness cult with no more social significance than the ancient Essenes. In Canada today, that warning feels less like prophecy and more like a headline.
Christianity is in retreat across the Western world. Cultural Christianity has evaporated. Bills are being passed that criminalize the faithful witness of the church. And in the midst of it all, most people — even most Christians — are simply going about the ordinary business of life as though none of it matters.
Jesus saw this coming. In Luke 17–18, he told his disciples that the days before his return would look exactly like the days before the flood and the destruction of Sodom — not dramatic evil, but busy, godless normality. Then he told them a parable about a widow with no power, no advocate, and no weapon except persistence. And he asked a question that should stop us cold:
"When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"
In this sermon, Pastor Josh Claycamp walks through the full context of Luke 17:20–18:8 and makes the case that persevering prayer and faithful biblical education are the two things that will determine whether the next generation knows Christ or forgets him entirely.
This is not a comfortable sermon. But it is a necessary one.
