From this perverse generation

And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation." – Acts 2.40

At the very end of Peter’s sermon were drew it all together. Not all of the sermon is recorded here but when he got done he simply said, ‘be saved from this crooked and perverse generation.’

When I look at that I might be tempted to say something like, ‘if that was a perverse generation what is today’s generation?’

The truth is that every generation since the fall of man has been a perverse generation.

The tragic events of last Friday only serve to remind us of what a wicked and perverse world we live in. The deaths of twenty children and their teachers shocked us, and rightfully so. But every day all over the world innocent children die. Many die of starvation because their governments are so corrupt that they deny them relief. Children are drafted into armies and used as ‘cannon fodder.’ Other children are sold and traded as sex slaves and discarded like rubbish when they are done.

And yet history is replete with violence like this. Until about 200 years ago children were seen, even in many parts of the ‘civilised west,’ as commodities to be used up and thrown away. Ancient Greece and Rome saw nothing wrong with rulers and aristocrats having young boys as their sex toys.

Yes, we live in a perverse world. But the world has always been perverse.

That is why Peter’s words are so memorable. They don’t speak to one age. There is only one answer to every perverse generation. That is the salvation that Peter preached about in his sermon. What people need is not so much a public forum, or changes in the law, or a crackdown, or moral change. What they need is Jesus. A real, genuine relationship with Jesus Christ is the key to overcoming and changing our society.