Recovering from Spiritual Decay
By John Fast
In our last study I examined some of the more common ways indwelling sin causes spiritual decay, even in the lives of true believers. Whenever the preaching of God’s word and His pure gospel is supplanted by ear-tickling, man-centered, shallow, crowd-pleasing, ego-boosting messages; when all the sharp edges of sound doctrine are rounded off and toned down so as to accommodate the culture and avoid offending unbelievers; when people are more prone to follow the teachings and experiences of popular men rather than the word of God; and when God’s worship is accommodated to people’s personal preferences – as is the case today – then decays and corruptions, even among true believers, are inevitable and unavoidable. All this is from indwelling sin. In this our final study into the power and presence of indwelling sin, I want to provide you with some ways by which a true believer can recover from this principle of spiritual decay which now characterizes the mass of professing Christians.
It is to be feared that for most professing Christians this will be impossible because they are unwilling to pay the price such a recovery involves (Jn 5:40); to avoid what they must avoid, deny themselves of what they must forsake, obey what they must obey, and live the way they must live. They want a Christianity without its Christ, its Bible, its doctrines, its holiness, its obedience, or its cross. Like those to whom the prophet Hosea prophesied, “Their deeds will not allow them to return to their God, for a spirit of harlotry is within them, and they do not know the Lord” (Hos 5:4). Very few will be found who have any oil in their lamps (Mt 25:8). Just so, most professing Christians and churches will be unwilling to pay the price associated with a recovery from spiritual decay and returning to the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For most it would cost them their big budgets and buildings, their big salaries, their large crowds, and require drastic changes to their lifestyles; in short it would require a sacrifice they are unwilling to make. They will choose to preserve their life in this world and convince themselves they are safe rather than deny self, take up their cross, and follow Jesus Christ. Jesus does not come in and set Himself down beside us at our nice warm fireside, but we must deny self, forsake all, and follow Him if we are to recover the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ from which the bulk of professing Christians have been led astray.
Two Categories of Spiritual Decay
All spiritual decay falls into two broad categories:
- Irreligion
- Immorality
The first, irreligion, may be further divided into two groups – atheism (both actual and practical), and false worship. Both are to be found in abundance today among those who call themselves Christians. Most today are resting in forms of godliness without its power and following the teachings and traditions of popular men, not Jesus Christ. They direct their ubiquitous thoughts and prayers “to a god who cannot save” (Is 45:20), because the god to which they pray bears no relation to the God of the Bible. People “swear by the name of the LORD and invoke the God of Israel, but not in truth nor in righteousness” (Is 48:1). God is “near to their lips but far from their mind” (Jer 12:2). Atheism is not simply denying the existence of any god, but rejecting God as He has revealed Himself in the Bible, “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him” (Tit 2:16). It is a sad reality that the mass of people who profess to know God still have not learned that there is no God other than the one who has revealed Himself only in His Bible, “I am the LORD, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God” (Is 45:5). It is insisted that all religions worship the same deity, but we are asked by God, “To whom would you liken Me, and make Me equal and compare Me, that we should be alike?” (Is 46:5). As for both actual and practical atheism, it is doubtful if any age can come close to equaling the times in which we live, especially if you honestly consider all the ways in which it is now openly and unashamedly expressed. Let me identify a few of the most egregious expressions of this atheism to be found everywhere today, even among the mass of professing Christians:
First, by the blasphemous and abominable cursing, swearing, and profanity that characterizes the normal, everyday vocabulary of every segment of our society, even among most professing Christians. It is virtually impossible to go anywhere or do anything without being verbally assaulted by the profanities which spew from the mouths of people, even women and children, in the course of their everyday conversation. Virtually every waiting area now has a television from which a steady stream of expletives, blasphemies, and obscenities continuously flow. Most people today have become so desensitized they no longer notice, nor are they even offended by them. The use of God’s name as an expletive is commonplace, even having its own abbreviation for texting purposes. People who never give God a second thought in their daily life except to blaspheme His name have the audacity to cry out to Him in a time of tragedy. All this is simply a contempt and irreverence for the name of God, and when did this disdain ever abound more than it does now in this nation.
Second, by the abuse, reproach, and corruption of the Spirit of God. Never before have so many of the works of the devil – false teachings, false gospels, extra-biblical revelations, religious charlatanism, the list is endless – been attributed to the Holy Spirit. Never has His work and nature been so distorted and maligned. Never before has the nature and necessity of the new birth been so ridiculed and distorted. Never has the Holy Spirit’s work of sanctification been so thoroughly corrupted and denied in this nation by professing Christians, the likes of which have never been known or heard of before. Never has there been so much love for what God hates and so little love for what God loves. Never has there been such a low awareness of our own natural sinfulness and depravity, and such high opinions of our own goodness among all sorts of professing Christians. When people commit their souls to blind guides, both must fall into a ditch, and there never was an age in which blind guides have been more abundant, active, trendy, and popular as this one. Practical atheism is just as ruinous as actual atheism. A false religion is just as destructive as no religion at all. A Jesus of your own or someone else’s imagination is just as disastrous as no Jesus at all.
Third, by the exploitation, peddling, adulterating, commercialization, and politicizing of Christianity to where the word “Christian” has become merely a brand, a marketing tool, a music genera, a class of consumers, a demographic, and a political constituency. Never before has Christianity been so exploited, pillaged, and abused by people who profess to be Christians, yet whose only interest in Jesus Christ is how much money they can squeeze out of His name and make Him serve their own self-interests. Christ, Christianity, and His gospel have become commodities to be marketed and sold, or tools with which to rescue the culture, or the means for personal fulfillment, not the exclusive agency for saving a soul from hell. Financial profit and self-interest, not truth, is what commands their attention.
Fourth, by the abuse, corruption, and scoffing at all things holy; at everything that expresses a reverence and fear of God, especially His word. Today we are told that God’s word must change to accommodate modern tastes, values, and opinions; that we must make it relevant to our contemporary culture; that the Bible must conform to the dogmas of feminism, evolution, secular psychology, and social engineering; that we can’t take the Bible too literally, and that God’s laws are no longer valid. Not since the times prior to the Reformation, when the Bible was not even available to the common man, has there been so much biblical ignorance and illiteracy among professing Christians. Great natural intelligence and impressive academic credentials provide no immunity from the deceitfulness of sin and the deceptions of Satan. Today, the person who would dare profess a fear of God in all they do makes themselves the object of scorn and derision. They are belittled as being narrow-minded, uneducated, and intolerant. They are told they should bow to and follow the opinions of popular theologians and the conventional wisdom held and practiced around them, not search the Scriptures. Do not be deceived, the distance between the world’s conceptions and the Bible’s descriptions of the nature God, and of who is and is not a Christian, could not be greater. Let everyone who reads this mark it well, that it will never do to think as others do and follow the crowd if you ever want to get to heaven. The world’s opinions and mistakes about God, Jesus Christ, salvation, and Christianity are many and dangerous.
Fifth, by the wide-spread mistakes common in the world about who God admits into His heaven. There is a universal delusion about this today, and it is one of the greatest dangers abroad, and one of the clearest evidences of a massive spiritual decay among professing Christians. Do people today, even most professing Christians, think that those around them, their friends, neighbors, relatives, and coworkers, are in danger of going to hell? There is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that they do. Oh, it may be admitted that they have some faults, but who doesn’t? They might not be very religious, but so what. They may never have darkened the door of a church for years, and led a worldly, immoral, and profligate life, but what does that have to do with whether they went to heaven or not? They were basically a good person. They had a good heart. They at one time showed an interest in religion and went through a religious ceremony. Perhaps they were even a regular church-goer. They mentioned God, and said some nice things about Jesus before they died. As soon as this person is dead, people begin to say “he/she is in a better place; they are happy now”. They easily persuade themselves by grasping at any crumb, at the smallest fragments, and at the most vague comments, that the person who died went to heaven. I ask anyone who knows the spirit of our age if this is not true? I do not wish to be unkind, but I assert, without any fear of contradiction, that there is a miserably common practice of affirming that everyone who dies goes to heaven, or at least to “a better place”. How they lived and what they believed apparently matters little. No one goes to heaven simply because their friends and family think and say they did. The great Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs once wrote that “God’s glory is more precious to Him than the lives of a million people”, but today most people expect God to subordinate His glory and holiness to their lives and own beliefs. What is this but strong evidence for a great practical atheism, even among the mass of professing Christians?
Sixth, by redefining spiritual attributes, the fruit of the Spirit, in natural terms so as to make them attractive to the natural mind, especially the spiritual fruit of love. There is a spurious and counterfeit love popular with the masses, even with the bulk of professing Christians, which disdains any and all dogmatism over biblical doctrines, and which accepts anything and anyone. A love which would leave everyone comfortable in their sins, false securities, and worldliness. A love which takes for granted that everyone is going to heaven and essentially denies such a place as hell, at least the hell which Jesus describes (Mt 13:42, 50; Mk 9:48). But this love is not the love which is the fruit of the Spirit, but of the devil, the world, and of self. The love which is the fruit of the Spirit tests everything by the word of God. It believes nothing, hopes nothing, and approves nothing that is not authorized by the Bible. The love which the Apostle Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 13 is not blind, deaf, and willingly ignorant, but has eyes to see and ears to hear to discern between what is true and what is almost and partially true; between what is biblical and what only appears to be biblical; between godliness and what only has the form of godliness; between those who truly fear and love God and those who only pretended to, “Those who hate the Lord would pretend obedience to Him” (Ps 81:15). The love which is the fruit of the Spirit does not rejoice in, protect, profit from, participate with, and justify unrighteousness, but it rejoices in nothing but the truth (1 Cor 13:6). It reproves, corrects, rebukes, warns, and speaks the truth in love (Eph 4:15). And the awful truth is, this wholesale redefining of spiritual attributes is clear proof that the mass of professing Christians have decayed into a horrible practical atheism from which, it is to be mourned, very few will ever be recovered.
Finally, the contempt of all God’s providential warnings is another proof of atheism. Never has a nation had more providential warnings of God’s imminent judgment, and never have His warnings been more despised. Never have the effects of corrupting and rejecting God’s word, law, and worship been more obvious, nor has the obvious been more thoroughly ignored and denied by the mass of professing Christians; “Yet the people do not turn back to Him who struck them, nor do they seek the Lord of hosts” (Is 9:13).
Atheism has become so pervasive today that all these expressions of actual and practical atheism, and many more could be mentioned, are now openly and unashamedly practiced, even by the mass of professing Christians. Some are even considered virtuous. They abound more and more every day, exposing the extent to which the bulk of professing Christians have decayed into actual and practical atheism, holding to a form of godliness while denying its power. We live in a time and place of the artificial, the imitation, the manufactured, and the substitute. It is an age where virtual reality has replaced actuality, and where the make-believe is made to appear realistic. This describes the Christianity of our day. The Christianity of most is not the Christianity of the Bible, but some form without its power; a form without its saltiness, its doctrines, its obedience and holiness, and without the marks and evidences of true conversion. I know that for most this will seem like a harsh, judgmental, arrogant, and unkind thing to say. I cannot help that. Such a response is to be expected in the times and place in which we live. My only desire is that people’s Christianity be that of the Bible, their Jesus be the Jesus of the Bible, and their salvation that of the Bible. However, it is to be feared such is not the case with the mass of professing Christians. It is obvious from the extent which atheism now dominates that the minds of most have been led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.
Immorality
The second category into which spiritual decays fall is immorality. It would be an endless process to name all the sins which now reign among professing Christians – fornication, divorce, worldliness, materialism, immodesty, sensuality, pornography, perversions, effeminacy, undisciplined children, godless forms of entertainment, just to name a few – all reigning, not only in our nation, but also among the mass of professing Christians; sins which the Bible tells us that those who practice them shall not enter the kingdom of God (1 Cor 6:9, 10; Gal 5:19-21). The line of demarcation that separates professing Christians from the world has, for all practical purposes, vanished. We live in an age where the bulk of professing Christians are absorbed in earthly things. Never has there been a time where such a low, worldly, and carnal standard of Christianity has prevailed. I mention these things to be mourned and grieved over, like the prophet Jeremiah mourned over the sins of Israel (Jer 8:21), and like the psalmist who wrote, “My eyes shed streams of water, because they do not keep Your law” (Ps 119:136). However, what is even more alarming is that added to this preponderance of sin among professing Christians is a strange and horrifying spiritual security. People complain of crime, violence, inequities, injustices, societal collapse, and the like, but to draw any connection between these and their sin and godlessness, and to see the hand of God in all this, such thinking is far from them. They rest in their own dreamy false security, the likes of which this nation has never experienced.
The name of God is blasphemed, the Spirit of God is maligned, the Son of God is trampled underfoot, the word of God is prostituted, a torrent of impiety, sin, and evil has flooded over both our nation and professing Christianity, there is a pervasive delusion dominating the minds of people about who goes to heaven. All things are going backward; everything is in decline. The false security that characterizes our nation and professing Christians is dismal, and the conduct and message of the bulk of its pastors under which they sit is unable to free them from this false security to which they are chained. It seems to be a security from God, a “spirit of stupor” (Rm 11:8) to lead the nation into judgment. It is the solemn duty of everyone who professes to be a Christian to seriously examine, not only the state of professing Christendom in general, but the condition of your own soul in particular. We hear much about having “a personal relationship” with Jesus Christ (an idea never taught by the Bible), but very few ever stop to consider that you cannot have a relationship with someone you do not know, or who you know wrongly. We hear much about God forgiving our sins, but rarely do we hear of the necessity of having a true and saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, of being renewed in the spirit of your mind, of being made a new creature in Christ, and freed from the dominion of sin. Jesus never said you must have a “personal relationship” with Him to be saved from the wrath of a holy and offended God, but that “You must be born again” (Jn 3:7). It is not enough, as many believe, that our sins are forgiven. There is something else besides forgiveness which Jesus requires, and that is a new birth, “unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Jn 3:3). We need the Holy Spirit to renew and transform us as well as the blood of Christ to cleanse us.
The Path to Spiritual Recovery
If we are to recover spiritual life we must draw as close as possible, and abide as much as we are able, at the Fountain of Living Waters, Jesus Christ. I am not saying we need to try and do this, but I am saying we must do this. I have searched the Bible in vain for any hint of where God merely tells us to try and do anything. We are not commanded to try and repent of our sin. We are not told to try and return to God, rather we are told, “Return to Me with all your heart” (Joel 2:12), not part of your heart. God does not command us to try and believe and obey Jesus Christ. He does not direct us to try and be holy. He does not tell us to try and obey His commands and trust His promises. We are not told to try and forsake the world and crucify our flesh with its lusts and desires. Jesus Christ is the source of our spiritual life. He is our life. In Christ “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3). It is in an origin of spiritual life from Christ, and in conformity to Him, that we must look for our spiritual life. And herein lies the poison in most people’s religion; the fountain from which they drink is not Jesus Christ. His living and active word is not the source of their wisdom and knowledge, but the doctrines, wisdom, opinions, and traditions of men.
Now if this forsaking of the Living Fountain for broken cisterns, different gospels, and imitation Jesus’ is the plague of our age, and the disease of the place in which we live, and the epidemic of professing Christianity, we must be very careful to make sure that this pestilence has not infected us. When an especially virulent disease is causing a general epidemic, it is very rare if anyone is not infected to one degree or another. Most will die in this disease because they never admit they are infected, some are permanently disabled by it, but very few make a full recovery from it. If we are wise and value our eternal soul we will seriously examine whether we ourselves have been infected with it more or less.
For sin, forms of godliness without its power, false securities, and immoralities you may well be ashamed, but you never need to be ashamed of caring for and watching over your own soul. Let others scornfully laugh at you. Let others ridicule and ostracize you. Let your nominally and culturally religious friends and family think you strange for not following the mass of professing Christians. One day soon they will no longer laugh, but will long to be where you are. Bear it patiently and quietly. Tell them you have made up your mind to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. Tell them you are resolved to return to the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ, and have no intention of wavering. Tell them you realize there has been a great spiritual decay from which you are determined to be recovered even if they will not be. Tell them you have learned that you have a precious and immortal soul, and that come what may you have no intention of continuing to neglect it. Tell them you are heeding, and refuse to ignore and dismiss, all the providential warnings of God which are all around us.
Some Means for Spiritual Recovery
Someone may ask, “How are we to draw closer, to drink more deeply, and abide more than we have at this Fountain of Living Water?” Many professing Christians see and feel their need; they know that something is horribly wrong in our nation; they are looking for solutions, but they want solutions that require no substantial changes to their own lives. Some know that the causes of all our problems are spiritual in nature and not social or psychological, but they have no one but blind guides to lead them, and who cannot help them without condemning themselves or endangering their own self-interests. Instead of real help they are given multistep programs, trendy books on spiritual growth, mystical contemplative techniques, or their concerns are glibly brushed aside as being overly concerned with spiritual things. They are told they have enough religion to get them to heaven, or that we need to be more community-minded. Allow me to offer a few things drawn from Scripture for your prayerful consideration.
First, let us begin with a humble, sincere, and contrite confession of our spiritual decay; of our drifting from what we should have paid much closer attention to (Hb 2:1). Abiding in Christ involves being pruned of all that is not of the mind of Christ (Jn 15:2; Hb 12:7-11). Let us admit that we have not lived up to the calling with which we have been called (Eph 4:1). We should have been salt and light in the midst of a perverse and crooked generation, but the difference between professing Christians and the world has been slight, infinitesimal, and superficial at best. We should have lived as citizens of heaven and set our minds on the things above (Col 3:2), but we have set our minds on earthly things (Phil 3:19), placed our trust in riches and princes, and settled down in the world as if it were our home. Let us confess that our minds have been led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ, and we have allowed ourselves to be “carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming” (Eph 4:14). We should have been wearing the full armor of God, but we have become self-confident and fallen into a Laodicean-like false security. We have allowed the deceitfulness of riches and the cares, concerns, and worries of this world, and the desire for other things to choke and corrupt God’s word, eat out the heart of our spiritual life, and encumber us with all sorts of counterfeit, superficial, and external forms of godliness.
Let us confess how poor and feeble has been our witness against sin and for holiness, and how great has been our neglect and ignorance of God’s word. How weak and timid has been our faith. How quick to compromise with and capitulate to evil and turn the grace of God into a license to sin. How zealous for the applause and approval of a sinful world. How very few of us have lived as if we really believed all that is written in God’s word. How much we have corrupted His word with our own wisdom and trusted in our own understanding. For prioritizing programs, entertainment, friendships, fellowship, success, personal preferences, religious traditions, and our own self-interests over and above the unadulterated preaching of God’s word and the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ, let us repent. Oh, do we not have good reason to be ashamed when we think on these things and consider how far we have drifted, and how much and how quickly professing Christianity has decayed, especially in just the last two or three generations? Do we not see all around us the effect of professing Christians failing to be salt and light? Should we not feel it? Should we not mourn over it? Should there not be an outpouring of self-abasement among professing Christians? Sadly, I confess, I see no signs of it. But do not let this stop you from crying out, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly” (2 Sm 24:10), and begin to bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance (Mt 3:8). If you do, and I pray that all who read this will, I must tell you that you will find yourself among a very small and widely scattered minority who are despised not only by the world, but by the bulk of professing Christians, but you will have gained your soul.
Secondly, let us strive to abide in Christ more painstakingly than we have up till now. When I see a professing Christian becoming more worldly; when I notice them becoming resistant to spiritual truth; when I see them being influenced by false and novel teachings, trendy preachers, and the latest pop-theology; when I observe them becoming prideful and legalistic from all their religious knowledge and activities; when I see them clinging to their own presuppositions and traditions of men; when I see the desire for other things creeping in and being given priority over and above the word of God, I know the cause of it. They are clinging less tightly to Christ than they once did. They are failing to “abhor what is evil; cling to what is good” (Rm 12:9). Their mind has been led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ (2 Cor 11:3). They are trusting in their own hearts, wisdom, and understanding and not acting in faith on the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is to “dwell in your hearts through faith” (Eph 3:17). Faith is the grace by which we are not only joined to Christ, but also by which we abide in Him. Let others spend their time if they will in the latest religious fad, new and trendy books, learning various new methods, and chasing popular preachers, but let us spend our time studying to learn and know Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is what the Apostle Paul prayed for the Ephesian believers (Eph 1:17-19; 3:14-19).
Let us study Christ more; let us meditate and set our minds on the things of Christ – His love, His holiness, His sacrifice, His mediation, His imminent return; let us keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated (Col 3:1), not on the things that are on this earth. I am always amazed by how careful so many are to abide in the teachings of some famous and popular preacher who affirms their own personal prejudices, but totally neglect abiding by faith in the person of Jesus Christ and His word, “that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God” (Eph 3:19). Let us go to Christ more often, let us strive for a closer communion with Him. Let us trust Him more unreservedly and look to Him more constantly and unconditionally, not to our own abilities, not to other men, not to our own wisdom. Let us lean on Him more completely, depend on His strength more entirely, and love Him more sincerely. He is the vine, we are the branches. Apart from Him we can do nothing that is spiritually beneficial. Apart from Him people can do all sorts of religious works, they can be popular preachers and draw large crowds and sell tons of books. They can invent their own forms of godliness. They can do all sorts of benevolent and humanitarian good deeds, yet only in the end to hear those awful words, “Depart from Me,” (Mt 7:23). Apart from Him all our religion, all our good works, are filthy rages. Let all our hope, power, strength, and comfort be drawn from Christ. Let us abide in His love “like a weaned child rests against his mother” (Ps 131:2). Let us feed on Him daily, not on our own experiences or the experiences and opinions of others. Let us strive to say with Paul that “For to me, to live is Christ,” (Phil 1:21), and, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;” (Gal 2:20), controlling, dominating, directing, guiding, and governing every second of our life by faith. Let us be vigilant to pursue this and we shall recover the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ from which we have decayed.
Thirdly, let us be on guard against excuses. The world, our flesh, and the devil are never short of excuses as to why we cannot be obedient, forsake the world, examine ourselves, our doctrine, and our practices against the test of Scripture, walk by faith, trust God’s promises, and be fruitful right now. It is not hard to find others who will validate our excuses, and even offer more, because they themselves are making the same excuses. It is the nature of our fallen flesh and indwelling sin to invent and offer excuses for rejecting God and His word, and to justify and legitimize our disobedience, negligence, and unbelief in our own eyes. “But they all alike began to make excuses” (Lk 14:18). We persuade ourselves that our case is unique, that we are an exception, that God’s commands and principles do not apply to our particular situation, that our church is different, and that there is something about our particular case that makes any change in our life impossible just now. All excuses come from indwelling sin.
We seem to think our excuses are original and unique to us, but they have all been made before countless of times for generations since the fall of mankind. It will be useless to plead that God’s word is ambiguous when generations who have gone before, even children, have found it abundantly clear. Ignorance of God’s will and His word will be a frivolous excuse when He has graciously made both so readily available to you. “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin” (Jn 15:22). God sees all the excuses invented by man for what they are (Is 29:15); an opposition and hostility toward Him as sovereign and law-giver, and an unwillingness to forsake our idols of self, the world, and false hopes (Jn 5:40). These are the idols that have replaced Molech, Dagon, Venus, Zeus, and Artemis in the minds of most today. People do not reject the truth, disobey, and doubt because they find reasons and excuses to do so, but they look for reasons and excuses to justify their rejection, disobedience, and unbelief. Do not be deceived, recovery from spiritual decay cannot be achieved without any changes to our lives; changes which very often at first appear insignificant, or harsh, costly, and painful. In any case, beware of making excuses for not actively pursuing a recovery from spiritual decay. What will it profit you to gain the world and lose your soul?
Fourthly, be very watchful and on guard against false doctrine. This is the great danger of our day, and as such it requires a more extended treatment. Unsound doctrine can never be the author of sound practice, and the days in which we live abound with false doctrine and those who propagate it and/or endorse those who spread it. The landscape is littered with people who have departed from sound doctrine and embraced all sorts of subtle and not so subtle errors, many of whom have gained a reputation and following for being sound teachers, making them even more dangerous. Virtually no effort is made by Christian radio, television, bookstores, parachurch organizations, pastors, and professing Christianity in general to distinguish between what is true and what is laced with falsehoods; between the voice of the Good Shepherd and the massive array of other voices (Jn 10:27). They do not divide their books and broadcasts into sound and dangerous, but mix them all together. Most today seem to think that Jesus’ warning to His disciples does not apply to us today, “Take care what you listen to” (Mk 4:24). Never has there been a time when false doctrine has been so varied, so pervasive, infiltrated so much, been so widely disseminated, so subtle, so eagerly received, so little guarded against, and so profitable. Very few today realize the importance of taking care not only to what you listen to, but also to what you read. There is no greater enemy to the true people of God like false Christianity.
You should carefully consider what kind of ministry you are accustomed to attending, who you are in the habit of listening to, and to what you normally read. You have every reason to be very cautious. Do not follow the crowd, or form your judgement from whom and what is popular. Contrary to conventional wisdom, all are not essentially the same. It is to be feared that there are very few places which go by the name of “church” or “Christian” where you are likely to find Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He has been hidden behind the glitz, the showmanship, the programs, and the band. He has been obscured by the social and political agendas, the human inventions, and worldly wisdom. He has been buried under the traditions of men and the conventional wisdom held and practiced around us. He has been thrust aside for secular psychology, worldly success, self-improvement, and forms of godliness without its power. He has been tucked away in the shadow of institutionalized religion. His person, His gospel, and His worship have been adulterated and peddled so as to accommodate as many assorted views, tastes, preferences, and opinions as possible. His grace has been turned into a license to live in sin.
Those who masquerade as servants of righteousness deceive others because they are deceived themselves, “deceiving and being deceived” (2 Tm 3:13), and try to make others as they are. Satan always seeks to send delusions, to counterfeit truth, and to tailor his deceptions to the times and place in which people live. The closer a counterfeit comes to the original, the more deceptive, successful, and dangerous it is. Do we think Satan will bring delusions from what is obviously false, or from those whose inventions and fallacies are blatant, or tempt you with a deception for which you have no inclination? No, he will come as an angel of light with more orthodox, evangelical, and subtle devises. He does not oppose truth with direct opposites, but sets truth against itself. His servants oppose the gospel with a similar, but more flattering gospel. They oppose the true Jesus with a similar, but not so narrow Jesus. They oppose the true work of the Holy Spirit with newly invented manifestations. They oppose faith with a new version of faith; love with a redefined love; humility with a false humility; church with a new version of church; worship with a new kind of worship – and so gradually and imperceptibly, what is true and biblical becomes substituted with similar counterfeits called by the same names.
The mass of professing Christians never suspect or realize until too late that the truth of God has been exchanged for a lie, that their minds have been led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ, that their foundation is built on nothing but sand, and that they have been deceived into accepting a counterfeit Christianity for the true. Many will try to enter heaven that will not be able because they attempt to climb in by another way. They remain convinced they are in the right because they are not willing to compare what they hold to with Scripture. Holding to a form of godliness, they cannot see that “a deceived heart has turned him aside” (Is 44:20) from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ, “And he cannot deliver himself, nor say, ‘Is there not a lie in my right hand?’” (Is 44:20). Listen carefully reader, take nothing for granted. Examine everything by the measure of God’s word. If you are convinced your condition is good, and your beliefs are right, searching the Bible will do you no harm, rather it will give you the comfort and encouragement of the Scriptures. But if your beliefs are unsound, and your hopes are false, searching the Scriptures cannot make you worse; rather it is the only way to be rescued from the deceitfulness of sin and spiritual decays. A mistake about your soul is an eternal mistake.
Be very cautious of receiving anything which cannot be proved by God’s word. Do not think for a moment that false teaching will be blatantly obvious, saying “I am false doctrine and I want to lead you astray.” False teachers do not wear labels identifying them as wolves in sheep’s clothing. Apostate churches do not post signs identifying them as such. Do not think that those who preach error will never preach what is true. If that were the case their error would be obvious to all but the most blind and gullible and would do little harm. Error always comes mingled with much that is biblical and true. The sermon will be right except for a few details. The book will be sound except for a few sentences, or a few pages. This is the danger of much of the error today; it is a subtle poison and works so deceitfully. It sounds so reasonable, and it comes from such popular people that it catches people unawares. But remember, even Satan transforms himself into an angel of light, and his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness (2 Cor 11:14, 15).
Keep away from any system of religion and any church which confuses the world and true believers, and makes no distinction between those who are true believers in a congregation and those who are obviously not. Have nothing to do with any church or denomination that recognizes and appoints women pastors, women elders, or women teaching men (1 Tm 2:11, 12). Run from anyone who would twist, corrupt, misinterpret, annul, or deny the least jot and tittle of God’s word. Keep clear of those who fail to make any distinction between who and what is true and what is false, between the holy and profane, who do not teach the difference between the unclean and the clean (Ezk 22:26). Fly from anyone who teaches what God’s word does not teach, permits what God’s word forbids, and adds the least bit of human wisdom to the Bible; who pit the New Testament against the Old, one teaching of the Bible against another; one verse against another verse; one attribute of God against His other attributes.
Pay no attention to those who make claims of having received extra-biblical revelation and experiences, and who base their teaching on these and not on Scripture, especially when they are in direct contradiction to God’s word. Beware of any teacher, church, institution, and denomination that is noncommittal, ambivalent, and evasive toward, or compromises doctrines and teachings about which the Bible is crystal clear; doctrines such as a literal six-day creation; a literal fall of a literal Adam and Eve; the sinfully depraved nature of mankind and our hopelessly lost condition; a world-wide flood; a literal devil. Flee from those who are ready to compromise or deny the divine and full inspiration, sufficiency, and authority of Scripture; the virgin birth of Jesus Christ; His full humanity and full deity; His death and bodily resurrection; salvation by grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ alone; the doctrine of the Trinity; the doctrine of sovereign election to salvation; the doctrine of eternal torment in a literal hell for all outside of Christ; the necessity and nature of a new birth; biblical sanctification; forsaking the world; the unique and divinely ordained roles of men and women, just to name a few.
Do not build your faith on any preacher or any set of ministers. Make no man, denominational dogma, or creed your Pope. Make no living Christian your standard of what is biblical in faith and practice, no matter how popular or famous, no matter how high his position and learning. Do not pattern your practice and beliefs on the conventional wisdom held and practiced around you. Let your authority be the Bible and nothing but the Bible, and your example no one but Christ (1 Pt 2:21). Beware, unless “your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Cor 11:3). Examine yourself often to see if you have drifted away from the truth. A narrow path is easily strayed away from, and few are those who find it (Mt 7:14). If a ship strays from its course by even a fraction of a degree, and if a surveyor is off in his measurements by just a fraction of an inch, if the mistake is not caught, and the course is not adjusted and the measurements not corrected, the error only compounds itself, and at their journeys end both will have greatly missed their mark. Many are they who begin well, but end badly. People have strayed into gross and heretical errors, and built entire systems of false teaching, and led multitudes astray into various forms of godliness, upon the misinterpretation of one word, or by placing an undue emphasis on the tense of a verb. If we are unwilling to submit all our beliefs, views, opinions, and practices to God’s inerrant, impartial, and infallible word, it is useless for us to make any pretense of being a Christian, “The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;” (1 Jn 2:4). If we are to recover from spiritual decay we must be on our guard against all forms of error and false doctrine.
Fifthly, let us take care in little things, especially in those things pertaining to salvation. Let us not neglect little spiritual obligations. Let us not tolerate little faults in ourselves by telling each other we are “broken”. Let us not allow ourselves the enjoyment of a little sin, even in our entertainment. Nothing that affects the soul is too trivial. People think it was a trivial thing for Uzzah to have reached out his hand and steadied the ark of God, but it cost him his life (2 Sm 6:6, 7). People think it was a minor oversite, or harmless bit of innovation for Nadab and Abihu to offer strange fire before the Lord, but it cost them their life (Lev 10:1). People think the sin of Ananias and Sapphira was not so great, but it cost them their life (Ac 5:1-11). All fatal diseases begin small. All cancer begins with only one bad cell. Nothing grows large all at once. The greatest sin, heresy, and apostasy have a beginning. All spiritual decay begins with small things. Little compromises with and accommodations for sin and error turn into great false doctrines, unbiblical practices, false worship, and sinful living. All the spiritual decays, evil, atheism, and forms of godliness with which we are infested today began with little deviations, accommodations, and compromises. All were deemed necessary, pragmatic, broadminded, and charitable at the time they were made.
Reader, do not forget how comprehensive the New Testament writers were concerning all the details of the Christian life. Peter did not say to be holy in some of your behavior, “but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior” (1 Pt 1:15). Paul did not tell us to cleanse ourselves from most of the defilements of flesh and spirit, but “let us cleanse ourselves from all defilements of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor 7:1). Jesus did not warn us to beware and be on our guard against only the most obvious forms of greed, but “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed” (Lk 12:15). We are warned by Paul to abstain from every form and appearance of evil (1 Th 5:22). Jesus did not congratulate the disciples on the road to Emmaus for believing some of the Bible, but rebuked them for not believing “in all that the prophets had spoken” (Lk 24:25). Not just some, not just most, but all that we do, whether we eat or drink, is to be done to the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31).
There is a morbid fear pervasive within professing Christianity that people should become too serious, too zealous, and too spiritually-minded. There is an anxious fear of people becoming too biblical in their religion, too discerning between truth and error, too holy in their lives, and too separate from the world. The fear of man keeps people from speaking all God’s truth in love. They fear the implications for their worldly pleasures, interests, and reputations of being too simple and pure in their devotion to Christ. I do not deny it can be unnerving, especially at first, to walk by faith and not by sight; to feel like you are stepping out into thin air with nothing under your feet but the promises of God. But I can testify from personal experience that I have always found a Solid Rock under my feet.
Pastors, churches, and religious leaders who will tolerate antinomianism, relativism, mysticism, modalism, feminism, racism, ecumenicalism, nominalism, universalism, materialism, theological liberalism and religious charlatanism will be filled with indignation and decry anyone who pays attention to Scripture’s details and distinguishes between the holy and profane; who teaches and preaches the necessity and nature of the new birth, holiness, obedience, and biblical sanctification; who make a clear distinction between those who are Christians and those who are not; between what is biblical and what is fanciful and heretical; who teach the true nature of God, the true person of Jesus Christ, and the true work of the Holy Spirit. It is much easier to profess Christianity in a vague, syrupy, and general way, than it is to believe, abide in it, and live it in all its particulars. Many today profess to be Christians in general, but precious few know anything of being Christians in the particulars. Where do we find anyone today who is caring for their soul too much? Where do we see too much simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ? Where do we notice too much faith, too much love, too much obedience, and too much holiness? Carelessness in the particulars of Christianity is one of the primary causes of spiritual decay.
Lastly, let us be more diligent to edify our fellow Christians. It is so sad and disturbing to compare how the Bible speaks on this subject with the conduct and conversations of the bulk of those who profess to be Christians. We are told in the Bible, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear” (Eph 4:29). We are commanded, “do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks (Eph 5:3, 4). The believer must “not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them” (Eph 5:11). Christians are instructed to “encourage one another, and build one another up” (1 Th 5:11); to be “building yourselves up on your most holy faith; praying in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life” (Jude 20, 21).
How much difference is to be found between the social media pages of unbelievers and those of the mass of professing Christians? I fear very little, if any. It is to be feared that a great many pastors, by their shallow and false teaching, worldly lives, and bad examples, are a corrupting influence rather than a sanctifying influence on their flocks. The bulk of their conversation reveals that their mind is set more on the things of this earth rather than on the things that are above. They live as citizens of this world rather than as citizens of heaven (Phil 3:20). They do not model what it is to walk by faith and not by sight.
We fall very short of the New Testament pattern in this regard. Anyone who knows anything of church history can tell you there has been a serious decay in how professing Christians interact with one another. Attempts at serious and meaningful spiritual conversation are typically met with glazed expressions, attempts to change the subject, and hasty retreats. Even most home fellowship groups are nothing more than social gatherings and mutual admiration societies, with enough religion thrown in to be respectable; but woe to the one who brings out the true meaning and implications of a passage of Scripture. There is a great decay and failure here that ought to be corrected.
Let us open our Bible’s more when we get together. Let us share our excitement over some new pearl we have found that had previously escaped our notice. Let us humbly and gratefully receive instruction when we are shown from Scripture that we are mistaken in some point of truth or practice. Let us encourage one another with the promises of God to His children, with His loving and faithful care, and His all wise ordering of every detail of our lives. “Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds” (Hb 10:24); to patience and forbearance with one another’s weaknesses; to perseverance and endurance under trials; to separation from the world and holy living. Let us speak more with one another of our eternal hope and home in heaven and less of the things of this earth. The people of this world are not shy about sharing their hopes and plans for the future, so why should we be silent? It is a sad and certain proof of spiritual decay when the priorities and conversations of professing Christians are indistinguishable from unbelievers in all but the most superficial of differences. Let our mutual interactions be a visible witness that our minds are preoccupied with spiritual, not worldly and temporal things. This will go a long way toward a recovery from the dismal spiritual decay which dominates the lives of professing Christians today. This decay is from indwelling sin and is ample evidence of its power, presence, deceitfulness, pervasiveness, and success as the primary enemy of our souls.
I know that for most people who make the effort to read this, that much of what has been said will be strange to your ears. Like many of Jesus’ disciples you will say, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it” (Jn 6:60). This is to be expected in a time characterized by a great spiritual decay. Truths that were once commonplace and taken for granted, are now virtually forgotten, and if not forgotten, then scorned. As I said at the outset of this paper, I know very well that few will be willing to pay the price necessary for a recovery from spiritual decay. All I ask is that you compare what I have said with God’s word, not to find excuses to reject it, but to see if these things are so. Be a good Berean. I am exceedingly confident you will find what I have written to be true, sound, and biblical. You can no longer plead ignorance. You dare not ignore what has been said. You will be held accountable on the last day for how you respond to these truths. I implore all who read this, for the sake of your precious and immortal soul; begin now to seek your recovery from the horrible decay that now claims the minds of the great mass of professing Christians. Make every effort, spare no cost, and be willing to pay any price to return to the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ from which the minds of the overwhelming amount of professing Christians have been led astray. Whatever others do, be sure you do not neglect your own soul. Recognize that you have an enemy within that can only be subdued and defeated by the indwelling power and presence of the Holy Spirit. Begin now to cling more closely to Jesus Christ.
Concluding Remarks and Exhortation
What has been written in these twenty-one studies of the power and presence of indwelling sin has been, I confess, but a poor representation of this subject. It is not from an ignorance of the nature of this present age that I have endeavored to present these long forgotten, neglected, and mostly rejected truths. I know full well that they are unsuited to the spirit of this age. I am well aware that the subject matter of these studies comes into direct collision with the latent and deep-rooted prejudices of our day, so that their content is more likely to make me an enemy rather than the friend of fellow-sinners because I tell them the truth (Gal 4:16). The most comfortable Christianity is always a vague, ambiguous, and indefinite Christianity; a Christianity that makes few demands and requires minimal commitment and self-denial, and no fundamental change in how we think and live. God has promised that His word “shall not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it” (Is 55:11). I would never have undertaken such a project if I did not have some confidence in God that it is His truth which is herein declared, and hold to some hope that this work may be acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, and may be of some use to a few of His people; all of which I leave with the Lord who alone gives the increase for His glory. I have endeavored to write only that which I have labored to feel and know in my own heart and life. I pray that God would grant that all who read these studies would be profited by them, and not let their truths be discarded, forgotten, and diverted by the power and presence of indwelling sin.
When I remember that the true success and usefulness of sermons and books has very little to do with the skill of the instrument God uses, the style and format of writing, or the notoriety and popularity of the author, and that God has chosen to use the weak things of the world and the despised, and that many might be useful who cannot be excellent and famous, I am willing to expectantly and prayerfully entrust these studies to the direction of God’s sovereign providence and the blessing of the Holy Spirit. I have no idea how, where, when, or to what extent God will use these, but I do know He cannot use them if they are not written. My heartfelt prayer is that, “This will be written for a generation to come; that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord” (Ps 102:18). The edification and comfort of any believer or the conviction of any unbeliever will more than compensate for the labor expended in this service. It is my sincere and fervent prayer that some enemies and corruptors of God’s grace might yet fall under the power of His grace and turn from sin to Christ, and be brought to understand “the grace of God in truth” (Col 1:6), and embrace the faith they now corrupt, exploit, reject, and seek to destroy (Gal 1:23).
If these studies have stirred-up anyone to a greater watchfulness over their own heart, a greater pursuit of holiness, a greater appreciation for the sinfulness of sin, a greater realization of their desperate and hopeless condition and their need of God’s regenerating grace found only in Jesus Christ, and a greater love, knowledge, devotion, reverence, and thankfulness for the unfathomable wealth of God’s grace in Christ Jesus in loving and redeeming such sinners as ourselves, I will have been overpaid for my feeble efforts. For any reader to whom God, in His all wise providence, has directed these studies, and who has received a blessing by means of them, let them not neglect to return praise and thanks to the only God and Savior Jesus Christ, who by His sovereign grace and power has redeemed a people for His own possession, “that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;” (1 Pt 2:9).
Our next series of studies is entitled Living in Dangerous Times: Preparation for Suffering and will expound Paul’s warning to Timothy, “But realize this, that in the last days difficult (i.e. “dangerous; perilous; violent”) times will come” (2 Tm 3:1). Simply read through 2 Timothy 3:2-5 to see the criteria that distinguishes a season as being dangerous, and there can be no doubt that we are living in dangerous times.