I may have already mention Aiken to you. He's the guy I met downtown a few weeks back. He was sitting on a bench listening to his CD player when I approached him with the gospel. He told me he was saved already, and an ordained pastor to boot! But the Lord prodded me not to let him go. I asked him what he understood about salvation. He told me he had received the Word of God into his life, so he was saved and he was happy; however, he was not going to church because he was mad at God because he was homeless, but he fellowships with God on a daily basis in the wind and the sunshine and rain, etc. I see Aiken every time I go to the park, just sitting there on the bench, listening to his CD player, mad at God and fellowshipping with Him, saved as a snug bug in a rug. Or is he?
Just the other night I stayed up quite late while the neighbors celebrated a drunken, boisterous birthday party (most folks left at 2:00 a.m., but the debauchery continued until at least 4:00 a.m.), screaming happy birthday obscenities into the karaoke machine. You could hear it echoing off the surrounding houses. I am quite certain that a select number of the guests accompanied their mothers to church the next morning.
Prov. 14:12, "There is a way which seems right to a man, but the end of it is the ways of death."
I talked to a guy not long ago who told me he was saved, but he was backslidden and needed to get back into church. I asked him if he had ever slid forward to begin with. Why is getting back to church so important? What about getting back to God and repentance? So many ministries are consumed by dealing with backsliders, but putting Band-Aids on corpses who were never spiritually alive. Part of the reason for that is because of the kind of gospel they are responding to. The gospel that has no power over sin is a
false gospel.
“What a far cry this is from the present-day gospel that is preached-a gospel that gives no new heart or new nature, a gospel that does not break the power of sin, but allows one to live on in it, a gospel that gives only an insurance policy against hell and knows nothing about holiness of thought and action, a gospel that will let you indulge the flesh, and puts no restraint upon your passion, pride and evil heart! Oh, this is not a gospel, but a false thing! I say false because it says that all one has to do is say “yes” to the four spiritual laws and believe in a historical Jesus; and after he “believes” he is saved and saved for ever, no matter what he does.
Did you know that the average individual tells you that he made a profession when he was 6, 8, 12, or 15 years of age; but he drifted off into sin, and after 10 years or so he came back and rededicated his life and now gives himself to religious service? It is from this group that the majority of our missionaries, teachers and preachers come, and they know nothing of heart-felt repentance or standing before God as a guilty, lost sinner! If you are in this group, I tell you in love, you have mistaken the call to salvation -to come to Christ as a guilty, needy, lost sinner-as the call to service; and therefore you have become two-fold more the child of hell than you were before, unless the Holy Spirit by His Word and grace gives you a heart to see your desperate need of Christ. You see, you have mistaken the call to a broken heart and a contrite spirit, to repentance and faith-the call to break with sin and to walk in holiness of life in conversion-as a call to the ministry!”
[i]What are the marks of a genuine believer? What does one who has experienced true saving faith actually do?
In James 1:19-27, “James presents a third test of a true believer. The first was his response to trials (1:1–12). The second was his response to temptation (1:13–18). The third is his response to the truth revealed in the Word of God (1:19–27). When the true disciple hears God’s Word, there is an affection for its truth and a desire in his heart to obey it. One of the most reliable evidences of genuine salvation is that hunger for the Word of God (see Psalm 42:1). In 1:19–27, James focuses on two major truths relating to that evidence. First, saving faith is marked by a proper reception of Scripture as the Word of God (vv. 19–21). Second, it is marked by a proper reaction to the Word, reflected in an obedient life (vv. 22–27). Just as a newborn baby does not have to be taught to hunger for its mother’s milk, the newborn child of God does not have to be taught to hunger for God’s Word, his spiritual food and drink. That is the natural impulse of his new spiritual life, of his new creation. To use another metaphor, his spiritual dial is tuned to the frequency of Scripture.”
[ii]According to James, the child of God commits obedience. He is a do-er, not a hearer only. I remember growing up I was told that when I was given a chore to do, I could not take off and do my own thing. I had to “check in” to see what needed to be done next. The things I wanted to do just had to wait and in some cases, I never got to do them at all. The Bible describes the upright person as one who actually does God's Word, and who seeks what lies next in God's commands. He does not simply obey, then takes off to do his own thing. He goes from obedience to obedience, searching out what God would have for him next. The child of God is one who hides God's word in the heart in order that one would not sin against God. (Psalm 119:1, 10, 11, 14; 2 Timothy 2:15; 1 John 2:24; 3:10)
A few years ago I was given a project in which I was to interview a person of another world view on issues concerning the Bible. I chose to interview a Jehovah's Witness. After many phone calls, I was actually granted an interview at the Kingdom Hall itself. I met my contact and two elders and we went in—I was not allowed to tape our interview, so I had to write everything down by memory. My central question was “how do you study the Bible.” I opened the interview by asking if they had a favorite Bible verse?
“No” was my stern answer.
“Do you have a ‘life-verse’?” I asked?
“No”. Came the answer.
Basically, the Jehovah’s Witnesses consider it a sin to memorize scripture because it is subject to one’s own interpretation, and one will idolize that passage above all else. I learned that Bible Study is done by groups only, it is considered a sin for an individual to read the Bible, so personal devotions is strongly discouraged. Interesting how a person of false conversion is one who will have nothing to do with God's word. The truth is, one genuinely converted will study to show himself approved unto God, a workman who is not ashamed (2 Tim 2:15). God's Word must abide in the one who belongs to Him (1 Jn 2:24). "In this the children of God are revealed, and the children of the Devil: everyone not practicing righteousness is not of God, also he who does not love his brother." (1 Jn 3:10)
Handling and Receiving God’s Word is an intentional act on the part of the believer. Believers receive God’s Word. This is what separates believers from unbelievers. One must be separate from sin, which comes in part through hearing the Word of God. One must also remain separate from filthiness and wickedness, overflowing of evil. This is part of handling and receiving the Word of God. He keeps himself unspotted from the world.
Romans 13:12-14: “The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts” (see also Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:8; Hebrews 12:1; 1 Peter 2:1-2)
John 14:21-24 is a “golden nugget” where we find this treasure: the one who loves Jesus will do as He commands. The one who does not keep His words is one who does not belong to Him. Obedience to God’s Word shown through the study and application of it is a love-motivated act on the part of the believer.
God gives us the resource of His Holy Spirit to empower us to continue on in the Word, living obediently. Pressing forward without the Holy Spirit is to press on into spiritual delusion and empty religion.
The fact remains that we live in this world and the world would have us not pay attention to God’s word. We fall into the habits of entertaining ourselves to death. Sports and movies and television and luxuries eat up our time when we allow them. We would be shocked and surprised how we set ourselves up for the fall if we sat down with a sheet of paper and listed the hours on one column and blocked out how much time we spend sleeping, playing or watching sports, reading magazines, comic books, blogs, searching the internet, playing computer games, shopping, hobbies.
Remember 2 Kings 22? The Bible was a lost book because the people neglected it. Josiah, a godly king, was repairing the house of the Lord when a priest found the book of the Law in something much akin to a closet within the house of the Lord (the word was neglected by those entrusted with its care and distribution!). The nation of Israel had lost the source of the divine power! Is it any wonder they became apathetic and walked in an overflow of evil?
Remember how the high priest showed the book to the scribe, and the scribe brought the book to Josiah and read it.
Remember Josiah’s reaction? He broke down with intense sorrow because of the neglect of the Word of God. Josiah ordered the Book of the Law to be read and the people responded to it!
“The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant.” (2 Kings 23:3)
"As important as the proper reception of the Word of God is, without obedience to its truths it is not only without benefit but becomes a further judgment against its readers. It is essential to hear the Word with an attitude of submission, but even that is not enough. Obedience to the Word is the most basic spiritual requirement and is the common denominator for all true believers. The bottom line of true spiritual life is not a momentary feeling of compliance or commitment but long-term obedience to Scripture."
[iii]“The Bible is not a lost book but a found book if we read it daily and live according to it. The Bereans searched the scripture diligently (Acts 17:10-11). Lois and Eunice searched the scripture and taught young Timothy (2 Tim. 1:5; 3:14-17). The early Christians continued in the teachings of the Scriptures (Acts 2:41-42). Above all, the Bible gives us Jesus Christ.”
[iv] **********
[i] Shelton, Jr. L.R.
The True Gospel vs. The False Gospel. Pensacola: Mt. Zion Bible Institute, 2001.
[ii]MacArthur, John. James : Guildelines for a Happy Christian Life. MacArthur Bible studies, Page 26. Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group, 2001.
[iii] MacArthur, ibid.
[iv] Poganski, Donald. 50 Object Lessions. St. Louis: Concordia, 1970.
