Other Causes of a Difficult Season
By John Fast
“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.” – 2 Timothy 3:1
Like the Apostle Jude, I had originally intended to write about one thing, but instead felt the necessity to write about another and devote at least one more study to the causes which make a season dangerous. Sadly, these causes are nothing new, but have occurred repeatedly at various times and ways throughout the course of history. These causes are of the worst kind and produce the most pernicious consequences, which are the open and visible apostasy from the commands of the gospel and the obedience which it requires. The gospel itself is a command which is either obeyed or defied, not an invitation to be accepted or declined. When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, it will be to deal “out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thes 1:7, 8); “what will be the outcome of those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Pt 4:17); “He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation” (Hb 5:9); “he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on Him” (Jn 3:36); “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…teaching them to observe all that I commanded you;” (Mt 28:20); “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (Jn 14:15). This love which Jesus spoke of, the love that will actively keep and obey His commandments, is the fruit of the Spirit, not of the spirit of this world (Gal 5:22). The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God (1 Cor 2:14), including the faith and love that are the fruit of the Spirit, so the world invents its own counterfeit versions and calls them by the same names. True saving grace is transforming grace that produces holiness, self-denial, separation from the world, and an active, loving, and grateful obedience to the commands of the gospel. Any other is a cheap counterfeit.
This open apostasy from the commands of the gospel has produced the materialistic, sensual, worldly-minded, self-centered, and carnal way of life which the mass of those who call themselves Christians have drifted into. If any reader of this study should object to this generalization, if they should be of a different mindset, if they should suppose and judge that the ways, habits, lives, and practices of the generality of churches, individual Christians, institutions, and nations which profess themselves to be Christian, are such as the gospel requires and approves of, then I would contend that they are either willfully and woefully ignorant of the true state of things in the world, or are greatly misled and destructive to the cause of Christ and to the grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ. What missionary worthy of the name would affirm someone a true convert who continued to live in a way indistinguishable from the people and culture in which they lived? Could a cannibal remain a cannibal, and idolaters continue to be idolaters and still be Christians? Would any serious-minded Christian ever affirm that a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Muslim, a Taoist, etc., could be regenerated by the Holy Spirit and yet still live in a way that is indistinguishable from a Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, etc.? Yet this is precisely the mindset of the bulk of professing Christians today, that they can be a Christian and yet exhibit not a single shred of evidence that they are in any way substantially different in their tastes, habits, fashions, speech, values, priorities, thinking, and lifestyles from the generality of people and the culture in which they live.
To suppose that Jesus Christ, by His gospel, contrived to make a way whereby people could go to heaven while their mind remains spiritually darkened, hostile to His word, unsubmissive to His law, His commands, and His principles (Rm 8:7), and find His commandments burdensome (1 Jn 5:3); a gospel in which God would wink at all the filthy, carnal, worldly, profane, abominable, and noxious lusts which at this time have overwhelmed the lives of the mass of professing Christians simply because they at one time made a profession of faith in Christ, prayed a prayer, had an experience, and went through a religious exercise, is to do what the devil never could, and that is to make the gospel not only useless, but very pernicious to mankind. In so doing it is the same as saying that by Jesus Christ and His doctrines, approval is given to all the wickedness, immorality, greed, and lusts that even the world’s false religions condemn and do not allow. It is to say that the fruits produced by the Spirit that is from God are indistinguishable from the fruits produced by the spirit of this world and that is now working in the sons of disobedience. It is to say that a walk that is according to the course of this world is essentially identical with a walk that is worthy of the calling by which a believer has been called. What is there in a gospel of this kind to offend and incite the opposition, hostility, animosity, and anger of a natural, carnal, worldly, unregenerate mind and heart? The true gospel of Jesus Christ is not a gospel that is according to man or from the mind of man, “the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man” (Gal 1:11). The spirit of this world is totally opposite to the Spirit of God. They are so hostile to each other that nothing can make them love one another. The Spirit of God is the Holy Spirit; He is the Spirit of holiness (Rm 1:4), and produces the fruit of holiness in all whom He indwells.
If faith does not subdue the flesh and its lusts, conform the mind and will to the will and word of God, and produce a holy life, sound mind, obedience to the commands of the gospel, separation from the world, a love for all of God’s word, and a life of faith, it is indeed a false faith and a dangerous delusion. Just because something claims to be “faith-based” does not mean it is Christian, especially if the faith on which it is based is not the faith that is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. It is no different than the faith of demons (Jm 2:19). “What use it is, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but he has no works” (Jm 2:14)? If they do not have a working, active, functioning faith purifying the heart from sin and the world, and producing in a clean heart all the fruit of the Spirit and obedience to the commands of the gospel, then they lack the scriptural marks of a true faith. No matter how much they profess to be, and no matter how strongly they are persuaded that they are a Christian, they are in a dangerous delusion. What they imagine to be a living faith is a dead and false persuasion. There can be no mistake in this because it is the sure and firm rule of Jesus Christ, “you will know them by their fruits” (Mt 7:20). How can the fruit of the Spirit be mistaken for the fruit of the flesh, especially when we are told that the deeds of the flesh are evident (Gal 5:19), and that the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious (1Jn 3:10)? What use is the Bible if by its standards we cannot know whether something or someone is or is not Christian? Surely we do not lack any evidence to refute the profession of an adulterer, a fornicator, a homosexual, a drunkard, the covetous and all the rest mentioned by the Apostle Paul (Rm 1:29, 30; 1 Cor 6:9, 10; Col 3:5), or the profession of those who give hearty approval to those who practice such things (Rm 1:32), or the profession of those who teach a different gospel and a different Jesus (1 Jn 3:19)?
The fruits of true grace and the fruits of natural fallen nature are as opposite as the two natures and spirits that produce them. One abounds in the works of the flesh, the other crucifies the flesh with its lusts and desires (Rm 8:13). One fills the mind with spiritual pride, envy, and hostility to the law of God, while the other begins with humility and works by love. One lives in open transgression to the law of God and in open rebellion to the commands of the gospel, while the other submits and conforms his speech, works, thinking, and even the thoughts of his heart to the standard of the Bible. One seeks to be a friend of the world, while the other crucifies the world to him and him to the world. Can anyone see these different fruits and be confused as to the nature of their author? It is the very essence of true faith to destroy sin in the flesh, renew and transform the mind, will, and affections, work a holy obedience, instruct us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, and conform us to the image of Christ. Therefore, and I sincerely wish anyone could produce any creditable evidence to the contrary, there now dominates within the mass of churches to which the generality of professing Christians belong, a visible and open apostasy from the holiness, obedience, self-denial, spiritual-mindedness, faith, reverence, and separation from the world which the gospel indispensably requires of a true disciple of Jesus Christ, and that is the fruit and evidence of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, and which the primitive Christians diligently followed and eminently abounded in.
What are the means and causes of this apostasy is what this, and possibly another paper in this series of studies, will delve into. At one time the primary source of all apostate Christianity was confined to Roman Catholicism. All that was not directly Roman Catholic was of the same type and nature, and influenced by it and its doctrines. Today, however, the causes of this apostasy have multiplied, and continue to multiply, at a rate that is hard for even the most diligent person to keep up with. It is not the internal causes of this apostasy – the corrupt, depraved, and fallen nature of man; the deceitfulness of sin; the remainders of indwelling sin; the love of the world and its values, pleasures, tastes, and honors; the heart’s natural hostility to the commands of God; the lusts of the flesh, etc. – which I intend to address. These and similar corruptions are common to all people, in all times, and in all places. Rather it is the more visible, public, and external means and causes that have created, expanded, and promoted the apostasy which abounds today which I intend to consider, and which makes the season in which we currently live a dangerous season.
The First Cause of Apostasy
The foremost preacher of The Great Awakening, George Whitefield, once declared, “As God can send a nation or people no greater blessing than to give them faithful, sincere, and upright ministers, so the greatest curse that God can possibly send upon a people in this world is to give them over to blind, unregenerate, carnal, lukewarm, and unskilled guides”. In all times of apostasy and in all dangerous seasons this has been the first cause; the public guides, teachers, and leaders of the people in the matters of Christianity. By this I intend all sorts, and every class, rank, and denomination, however they distinguish and describe themselves or are described by others. I make no discrimination because no one denomination, movement, or group is immune. I know how indiscriminately they are dispersed and multiplied, how convincingly and successfully they disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, and how perniciously this apostasy has been promoted by all sorts of them.
In all times spiritual leaders have, and must have, a special influence on the holiness or worldliness of the people, and on the purity or apostasy of the church. They provide either a sanctifying influence or a corrupting influence. They either promote, teach, and demonstrate gospel obedience, holiness, and separation from the world, or they promote, teach, and encourage a false security, carnal lifestyle, and friendship with the world. They either endeavor to set the minds of people on the things above, or by their worldly lives and compromised teaching they set the minds of people on self and the things of this earth. They either exhort, ground, and root people in sound doctrine, or by their negligent and shallow teaching they leave them vulnerable to being tossed to and fro “by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming” (Eph 4:14). They either make a clear distinction between what is and what is not Christian, or, under the cloak of a false charity and spurious unity, they muddle the distinction between the clean and the unclean, and between the holy and the profane (Ezk 22:26). They either emphasize and teach the narrow and difficult way to heaven, which is the way of holiness, self-denial, gospel obedience, and separation from the world (the way which comparatively few ever find – Mt 7:14; Lk 13:24), or they strive to make the way to heaven broad, easy, commercially viable, and popular with the masses.
The self-sacrificial, laborious, persevering, humbling, unpopular, and often solitary ministry which Christ and His apostles first instituted in the church was the means ordained and used by the Holy Spirit for converting sinners to a gospel obedience so that believers no longer walked just as the unbelieving world in which they lived and worked (Eph 4:17-19). Believers were not taught, and they did not learn Christ in this way, that they could be a Christian and remain indistinguishable from the generality of the people and culture in which they lived (Eph 4:20). They were not taught that holiness, separation from the world, and gospel obedience were optional, or were the result of a second work of the Holy Spirit reserved only for certain kinds of believers. Rather, the ministry of the New Testament exhorted believers to actively persevere in their gospel obedience, to walk as children of light (Eph 5:8), to not shrink back to destruction (Hb 10:35-39), and to persevere until death (Mt 10:22)..
All the authors of the New Testament epistles made a clear and definitive distinction between the ways, practices, tastes, values, thinking, and lifestyles of a true believer and those of the generality of the people and culture in which they lived, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,” (Rm 12:2); “Now we have received, not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit who is from God,” (1 Cor 2:12); “This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk,” (Eph 4:17); “for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light” (Eph 5:8). Scores and scores of similar verses could be cited which, taken altogether, are irrefutable proof that the apostles and ministers of the early church taught that there was to be a clear and visible distinction in the lives of believers from the generality of the people among whom they lived, a distinction for which they were maligned, marginalized, and sometimes persecuted (1Pt 4:4), oftentimes by false brethren (2 Cor 11:26). It is useless to try and dodge the force of these verses. One may dodge one or two verses, but this truth does not come at us one verse at a time which can be nimbly sidestepped, but they come as an avalanche, verse upon verse, the combined force of which cannot be so easily avoided.
These pastors were men who themselves were exhorted to “pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things for as you do this will insure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you” (1 Tm 4:16), to “suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Tm 2:3), to “speak and exhort and reprove with all authority” (Tit 2:15), and to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction (2 Tm 4:2). They vigorously and diligently opposed and exposed all false teaching, false teachers, false doctrines, false practices, false worship, false gospels, and false Jesus’. They tirelessly corrected errors, rebuked all gospel disobedience, and exhorted the churches to a life of holiness, separation from the world, and gospel obedience. They insisted that believers prove the reality of their faith and show the evidence of a true work of the Spirit in their life by abstaining from the “fleshly lusts which wage war against your soul” (1 Pt 2:11), and by avoiding and abstaining from any and every appearance of evil (1 Thes 5:22). In this way their doctrine, their example, their lives, their prayers, and their preaching, were blessed and prospered by God for the salvation of those who were chosen. The transformation that was produced in the hearts, minds, and lives by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit working through the pure word preached and taught by these men was so great, so noticeable, and so distinctive, that a new word had to be invented to distinguish these believers from the people among whom they lived, because they did not fit any current designation, “the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch” (Ac 11:26). It was for the glory of Christ and for the sake of those who were chosen that these men endured hardships, trials, discouragements, slanders, misrepresentations, oppositions, abuses, imprisonment, deprivations, isolation, persecutions, betrayals, defections, and martyrdom (2 Tm 2:10).
But those who came after them in succeeding generations were not of this mindset. Many became trampled springs and polluted wells, corrupting and polluting all the springs of Christianity. Over time and by various degrees the leaders which arose in the church became corrupt, motivated by pride, personal ambition, lust for power, and love of the world, and in turn corrupted the people by their worldly-mindedness, carnal lives, and false doctrines. By their negligence they allowed Christ’s doctrines to be adulterated with the wisdom and practices of this world. By their carelessness and pragmatism they allowed the intrusion of and assimilation with the pagan culture and its festivals, superstitions, lifestyles, and practices. The true gospel was gradually supplanted by the traditions and opinions of men, and the people were deprived of the means of being converted and conformed to the doctrines and commands of the Bible.
Destructive heresies were secretly formulated, introduced, circulated, and promoted. These included false views of Christ, of the Holy Spirit, and of the Trinity, and destructive notions of the nature of salvation, the new birth, and sanctification just to name a few. Many of these malignant errors are still taught, promoted, and believed by multitudes of people to this day, people whose minds remain blinded by the god of this world. A few faithful men arose to battle these destructive heresies and labored to expose their malicious and ruinous consequences. In some cases they stood virtually alone, for years, and against the prevailing opinions of their peers, the powers that be, and under continual threats and pressure to compromise and make allowances for the views of others. However, despite all of their efforts, many of these pernicious teachings continued, and still continue, to resurface and be taught and promoted under different names, and when they do, they never fail in producing their destructive effects in leading the minds of people away from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ and gospel obedience.
A Double Apostasy
In the Old Testament, Israel’s priests and prophets led the people into a double apostasy. First they led the people into idolatry and superstition, “For both prophet and priest are polluted; even in My house I have found their wickedness” (Jer 23:11). When God sent His true prophets to call the people to repentance and obedience, ”they refused to pay attention, and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from hearing. And they made their hearts like flint so that they could not hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from the Lord of hosts” (Zech 7:11, 12; cf. Jer 44:16, 17). The people’s refusal to renounce their superstitions and idolatry resulted first in God giving the Northern Kingdom over to destruction and dispersion by the Assyrians in 722 B.C. (2 Kgs 17:22, 23), and then the Southern Kingdom to desolation and captivity by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. (2 Kgs 25:1-12), after which Israel never again engaged in superstitious idolatry.
Secondly, after their return from Babylonian captivity, Israel’s priests and prophets, by their negligence, ignorance, ineptness, irreverence, worldly-mindedness, and bad example, turned the people away from God and His law. This was begun in the days of the prophet Malachi, “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?” says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name”; “But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by the instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts” (Mal 1:6; 2:8). This resulted in 400 years of prophetic silence in which Israel drifted into greater and greater apostasy, until the time of Jesus when He would look upon the multitudes and see people who were like sheep without a shepherd (Mk 6:34), despite all of the rabbis, priests, scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees which the people had in abundance. And when at last the people rejected their Messiah, the holy Son of God, it was these same guides and leaders who led, stirred up, and even intimidated the multitude of the people to call for His crucifixion. They did not want this man to reign over them or anyone else (Lk 19:14). These same guides and leaders then spread false stories concerning the resurrection of Christ (Mt 28:15), and then sought to prevent the apostles from preaching Christ (Ac 4:18; 5:40).
It is to be feared that something of a similar nature has taken hold of professing Christians in our time. The first great apostasy in the church-age was when the people were led into gross superstition and idolatry, principally by the doctrines and conduct of the Church of Rome, and to a lesser extent by its counterpart Eastern Orthodoxy. This plunged the world into a thousand year period known as The Dark Ages, and was accompanied by a profane and wicked way of life among all sorts and ranks of people, from kings to priests to people. Many nations, people, and churches were delivered from this darkness by the Protestant Reformation and the recovery of gospel light and obedience which sprang from it. However, after about 70 or 80 years, through the negligence, ineptness, and worldly-mindedness of its teachers and leaders, the people were once again led away from a gospel obedience into a carnal, worldly, profane, and self-absorbed life. J.C. Ryle, in his Christian Leaders of the 18th Century, characterized the spiritual condition which post-Reformation Christianity eventually degenerated,
“Christianity seemed to lie as one dead, insomuch that you might have said, “she is dead.” Morality, however much exalted in the pulpits, was thoroughly tramped under foot in the streets. There was a darkness…that might be felt….The blight of ease and freedom from persecution seemed to rest upon the Dissenters. Natural theology, without a single distinctive doctrine of Christianity, cold morality, or barren orthodoxy, formed the staple teaching in both church and chapel. Sermons everywhere were little better than miserable moral essays, utterly devoid of anything likely to awaken, convert, or save souls….And as for the weighty truths for which Hooper and Latimer had gone to the stake, and Baxter and scores of Puritans had gone to jail, they seemed clean forgotten and laid on the shelf….When such was the state of things in the churches and chapels, it can surprise no one to learn that the land was deluged with infidelity and skepticism. The prince of this world made good use of his opportunity. His agents were active and zealous in promulgating every kind of strange and blasphemous opinion….Of the utter incapacity of the pulpit to stem the progress of all this flood of evil, one single fact will give us some idea. The celebrated lawyer, Blackstone, had the curiosity early in the reign of George III, to go from church to church and hear every clergyman of note in London. He says that he did not hear a single discourse which had more Christianity in it than the writings of Cicero, and that it would have been impossible for him to discover, from what he heard, whether the preacher was a follower of Confucius, Mahomet, or Christ.” (J.C. Ryle, Christian Leaders of the 18th Century (14, 15), Banner of Truth Trust, 1978)
It is to be feared that by the same means and causes the mass of churches which profess to be Christian and the people who belong to them have fallen into the same carnal, worldly, sensual, profane, and ungodly apostasy from the true gospel of Jesus Christ and the obedience and holiness which it requires. Is it any wonder our land is “deluged with infidelity and skepticism”, not to mention lawlessness, irreligion, false forms of Christianity, immorality, perversions of every sort, addictions, etc., all to an extent never before seen or imagined? The prince of this world is once again making good use of his opportunity, and his agents are busier and more zealous than ever. They now have more means at their disposal for promoting every kind of new, novel, strange, and blasphemous opinion, resulting in the wide-spread, open, and visible apostasy from the obedience, holiness, and separation from the world which the gospel teaches and requires.
In a season in which the mass of professing Christians will no longer endure sound doctrine, and turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths, the efforts of the few and ever diminishing number of faithful men who are laboring to reclaim and recover the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ from which the minds of the mass of churches and those who belong to them have been, and continue to be led astray, are unable to “stem the flood of all this evil”. What was true in the days of Hosea remains a standing rule to this day, “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). This spirit of harlotry is the spirit of this world. This makes a season dangerous. Only the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, can convict the world of sin, its guilt, its danger, its sinfulness, and its judgment, and how near the soul is to eternal death and hell. He makes the conviction felt, and the poor sinner (for that is what he now feels and knows himself to be) is made to flee to Christ (for there is salvation in no other) from the wrath to come, a wrath which will be especially severe on those who having known the truth, but have now apostatized from its commands and the obedience they require, “For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment given to them” (2 Pt 2:21).
An immoral, degenerate, profane, and lawless society is the consequence of an ineffective, negligent, worldly, and compromising Christianity, which is the consequence of the generality of professing churches and Christians being given over to and dominated by inept, blind, worldly, unregenerate, self-serving, and pragmatic guides, teachers, and leaders. The well-being of the church depends on the office of the ministry being executed in the way ordained and prescribed by God in His word. This is plainly declared by the Apostle Paul, “And He gave some as…pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ….As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;” (Eph 4:11-15); “O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge” – which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith” (1Tm 6:20). In the proportion to which this is carried out or neglected, to that same proportion the church will either thrive or decay in gospel obedience and holiness.
If, therefore, those who take up the office of a gospel minister, teacher, and leader, and seek to exercise that office, are biblically unqualified (and this includes any and all women despite all of the world’s opposing arguments, all of the current cultural revulsion to this clear prohibition of Scripture, and all of the various attempts to circumvent the Bible’s clear teaching), and if they consistently and infamously fail in the performance and exercise of its responsibilities, and especially if they do so generally, across the board, and over any long period of time over successive generations, then it cannot be otherwise that the people will be corrupted, deteriorate, and depart from the rule of the gospel and obedience to its commands and principles. Where the shepherds are negligent, inept, careless, undisciplined, timid, compromising, worldly, preoccupied, and self-serving, then their flocks cannot help but be prey to every savage wolf, thief, hireling, and every wind of false doctrine. Where the farmer sows the corrupt seeds of man’s wisdom, panders to the opinions, tastes, and spirit of the age, and cares little for the nature of the plants that grow in his field or for the kind of fruit which they bear, just so long as he can boast that his field is full of plants, then the fields cannot help but be overrun with weeds, thistles, thorns, and tares that not only bear no good fruit of gospel obedience, holiness, and separation from the world, but choke and drive out any plants that might bear good fruit.
For several generations the generality of the church’s guides, teachers, and leaders have increasingly been sowing to the flesh and accommodating the fallen wisdom of the world. They seem to have forgotten that the world is the enemy of Christ and His people, and that it is always offering something to lead the mind astray from Christ and obedience to the commands of His gospel. The world promises to make them successful and happy in its pleasures. It affords a continual temptation to live to the world and to the things of it. They seem to have forgotten that ALL that is in and of the world is the means of enticing and feeding some lust, which is why the Apostle Paul calls it “this present evil age” (Gal 1:4). Jesus came to give Himself for our sins in order “that He might deliver us from this present evil age,” (Gal 1:4). They have forgotten that the world loves its own and only its own (Jn 15:19), therefore the only way to attract, gain, and keep the approval and admiration of the world is to become more and more like it in its values, thinking, reasoning, judgments, tastes, fashions, priorities, and preferences. Therefore, the mass of churches and the people who belong to them have become imitators of the world, not imitators of God as beloved children (Eph 5:1). Its guides, teachers, and leaders have been pandering to, accommodating, and integrating the fruits of man’s fallen nature. The gospel they have been preaching is one according to man and this world’s fallen wisdom, a gospel designed to preserve man’s pride and independence. Therefore it is a decidedly man-centered gospel, a gospel that is dependent on man exercising his non-existent freewill and making the right choice whenever he gets good and ready for its efficacy. They have sought to make their preaching and teaching interesting, educational, controversial, entertaining, crowd-pleasing, flattering, motivational, sympathetic, emotional, and virtually everything else but biblical, sound, accurate, specific, serious, searching, grave, convicting, humbling, deep, and weighty.
This has produced, as it always must, a bumper crop of fleshly, worldly, and carnal apostasy from the commands of the gospel and the obedience and self-denial it requires; an apostasy which now dominates the mass of churches and the people who belong to them. It should be self-evident that whatever the generality of the church’s guides and teachers have been doing, they have not been making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to observe all the He has commanded (Mt 28:20). They have not been drawing clear distinctions between the clean and the unclean, the holy and the profane, and what is and is not Christian. Whatever they have been preaching and teaching, it has been of no value against indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind (Eph 2:3; Col 2:23). It has not resulted in a faith that is the fruit of the Spirit, but one that is indistinguishable from that of demons, and in untold forms of godliness.
The reason we are witnessing an explosion in the number of forms of godliness and different expressions of Christianity is not because true Christianity is so versatile, malleable, and inclusive so as to accommodate so many different tastes, forms, preferences, and viewpoints, but because the mind of man is so darkened in its understanding of the one true God and hostile to His word and commands. Mankind’s own natural wisdom, reasoning, and understanding will never lead him to a saving knowledge of God in and by the person of Jesus Christ, or give him a love for the truth so as to be saved from this present evil age, or produce the obedience which the commands of the gospel require. Rather, because the natural mind is hostile toward God, man’s natural wisdom and reasoning will invent a thousand different forms of godliness, and seek to shape God and His gospel into an image in the likeness of corruptible man, and worship that. Until the mind is enlightened by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit no one can ever come to a true saving knowledge of God through Jesus Christ, so people keep inventing their various forms of godliness, and adapting them to the times in which they live, and under which they remain friends of this world and live comfortably in their sin. The world has its snares, traps, and forms of godliness for every generation and season.
Many today point to the local church as the solution to all our problems, but how can this be when the mass of churches and the people who belong to them have apostatized from the obedience which the commands of the gospel require and are simply mere forms of godliness and not the bride of Jesus Christ? To look to the present day institution of the church is as deceptive as the Jews looking to the temple, “Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord’…Behold you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail” (Jer 7:4, 8). It is like Israel looking to the ark to rescue them from the Philistines, “Let us take to ourselves from Shiloh the ark of the covenant of the Lord, that it may come among us and deliver us from the power of our enemies” (1 Sm 4:3). They turned the temple and the ark into something it was never meant to be, the object of their trust, loyalty, devotion, and hope. The same has been done with the institution of the church, which is precisely the doctrine of Rome.
We are told, and rightly so, that no one can love Jesus Christ and not love His church. But Christ’s true bride will not forsake her first love. She will not apostatize from the commands of His gospel because no one can truly love Christ and not love ALL His commandments (Jn 14:15). She does not attempt to be friends with the world and imitators of it, and thus prove herself to be an enemy of God, not the bride of Christ. Those who truly love Christ’s church seek to reclaim and recover it from the apostasy into which it has currently fallen and make a clear distinction between the clean and unclean, not define the church in such broad terms so as to wash all meaning out of the word. The true church has always chosen the path of separation from the world, the path of suffering, persecution, and even martyrdom rather than compromise and accommodate the ways and wisdom of the world, peddle and adulterate Christ’s gospel and person, or suffer even the least of His commands and worship to be corrupted, denied, or set aside (Rv 12:11). They have always sought to come out and be separate from the world, not assimilate into it, and learn and practice its ways, speech, tastes, fashions, values, and thinking (2 Cor 6:17). They are the true circumcision; therefore they put no confidence in the flesh, but by the Spirit they are daily striving to crucify the flesh with its lusts, desires, affections, and deeds, and to bring even the thoughts unto the obedience of Christ.
All of the conferences, conventions, organizations, associations, parachurches, megachurches, social and political activities have done nothing to “stem the progress of all this flood of evil”. Instead the generality of local churches have become nothing more than glorified community centers, entertainment venues, and personality cults. It seems as if the goal of most guides, leaders, and churches is church growth, increasing membership, and expanding their customer base, not the glory of God, the equipping of the saints, guarding the flock and the sound doctrine that has been entrusted to them, exhorting to gospel obedience, holiness, and separation from the world, and the salvation of souls. Some pastors and church leaders now allow people of false religions, such as Islam, and organizations which have repudiated the commands of God, such as The Boy Scouts, to use and meet in their buildings. They invite popular but false teachers to speak at their church and/or conferences for the sole reason that they are popular, and are therefore likely to draw a crowd. They mix the false with the true and the heretical with the faithful in their radio programing and in their bookstores. This may gain the admiration of the world, it may draw a crowd, it may expand their listening audience and customer base, but by doing so, like the priests of Israel, they have failed to make any distinction between the holy and the profane, or teach the difference between the clean and the unclean (Ezk 22:26).
Today, as overall church attendance is declining, there is much talk and emphasis amongst church leaders about how to “do church” in such a way so as to hold and attract a new generation of church-goers. Conspicuously absent is any emphasis on being the church. It is easy to get people to “do” church when you accommodate and pander to the fleshly desires, carnal minds, self-interests, trendy fads, and worldly lifestyles of unregenerate people. “Doing” church will not save anyone’s soul. But to actually be the church requires being holy as He is holy (1 Pt 1:15). It requires separation from the world, being a stranger and alien in this world, being spiritually-minded, abstaining from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul, crucifying the flesh with its lusts and desires, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, disciplining yourself for the purpose of godliness, and being so different and distinct from the generality of people who make up this dark world that to the world believers appear as lights in the world (Phil 2:15). What could be more opposite than dark and light? And let us never forget that darkness hates the light and will never come to the light of its own freewill because it loves the darkness (Jn 3:19, 10). Being the church requires taking up a cross and following Christ, not the world, in everything.
We are so inclined to call every hardship, everything that is contrary to our will and self-interests, a cross. But this falls far short of the cross which Jesus declared all who would be one of His disciples and a member of His body must daily take up and carry (Lk 9:23). Christ’s disciples must not only deny the will of the flesh, but deny themselves and their life in this world. They must not only deny the flesh and this world, but they must be crucified to them. This is total resignation and submission to the word and will of God. Not only the will, but the whole person is crucified with Christ. The greatest thing we have in this world, life itself, is renounced and presented to Christ as a living sacrifice (Rm 12:1). In this way Christ teaches His true disciples submission and obedience to the commands of the gospel to where it becomes not easy, but pleasant to say and practice, “Not my will be done, but Your will be done”, and to walk by faith, living in total dependence on the gospel promises and power of God, in loving obedience to the commands of the gospel, not by sight, sense, feelings, and our own understanding. Instead of seeking, calling, teaching, modeling, and exhorting people to be the church in obedience to the commands of the gospel, and making clear distinctions between who is and is not part of the church, most guides, teachers and leaders are too busy trying to figure out how to “do” church.
All of this has only served to promote, facilitate, accommodate, and exacerbate this apostasy from the commands of the gospel which now dominates the generality of churches and the people who belong to them, all while maintaining and living under a false security and profession of Christianity. Due to the failure of the generality of its guides, teachers, and leaders, the mass of churches and the people who belong to them are like the first Samaritans who, “while…they feared the Lord, they also served their idols; their children likewise, and their grandchildren” (2 Kg 17:41). They are Christian in name only without any scriptural marks of true Christianity. This apostasy from the commands of the gospel and from the obedience which they require is now generational. The generality of professing churches and people who belong to them have once again been led back into idolatry by the mother of all harlots, the spirit of this world, and the superstitious belief that everyone goes to heaven when they die. This makes a season dangerous in the extreme.
What is Required
Sadly, the bulk of people who enter into the office of the ministry do so for various reasons other than the only reason required by God. In rare and exceptional cases God has overruled these wrong motives and used such a minister for His glory and to the blessing of God’s people. But as a general rule they are the cause of the churches degeneration from its obedience to the commands of the gospel. Some enter into the ministry for humanitarian reasons, some to make a social statement, some because they “want to make a difference”, some because it is expected of them, some because they were encouraged and influenced by their parents and/or their peers, and some for innumerable reasons of their own. All these various reasons have one thing in common; they enter into ministry as a career, not as a calling. They all lack the one thing essential, and that is a clear conviction of a divine call. The bulk of those who run were not sent. “I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit” (Jer 23:32), is a standing rule to this day. If they had been called and sent “then they would have announced My words to My people, and would have turned them back from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds” (Jer 23:22). Instead, they usually lead people away from God’s word and the obedience which the commands of the gospel require, and they lead the mind astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ which the gospel demands.
In order to accommodate and facilitate this vocational model of ministry an ecclesiastical corporate ladder of sorts has been devised within much of the church. Making allowances for the occasional exceptions to this rule, the process goes something like this. A young man goes straight from college to seminary. Upon graduation he enters the ministry as a youth leader or some other entry level position that has been invented by the church. If he survives this stage, he eventually advances up the ladder to become an associate pastor, where, if he manages to avoid rocking the boat, keeps his nose clean, and becomes more proficient in how to “do” church, he eventually becomes a senior pastor of a small but stable and respectable church. This he can use as a spring board toward becoming the senior pastor of a bigger and better paying church until he reaches the age of retirement and retires with the distinguished title of pastor emeritus. In some instances, if he really distinguishes himself early on by his natural gifts and talents as some sort of prodigy, this will place him on the fast track in his ministerial advancement, until, to the shock and dismay of all who know him, he falls into some gross scandal and/or false teaching which may or may not disqualify him in the eyes of his fans and supporters.
Granted, this representation is over-simplified and a bit pejorative, but it is not so far off the mark as most might think. The average tenure of a Southern Baptist pastor at any one church is currently a little over two years, and the statistics are no better for other denominations, or non-denominations for that matter. The percentage of men who leave the ministry altogether after only being in it a short time, is shocking. A significant percentage of pastors have admitted they would leave the ministry if they possessed the skills to do anything else. Obviously these people never had the conviction of a call. Without delving into and analyzing all the various reasons for these dismal statistics, it cannot be denied that a corporate mindset has overtaken the ministry and the generality of professing churches. The number of pastoral positions that have been invented has gone from the unbiblical to the absurd. Show me anywhere in the Bible a college pastor, a singles pastor, a women’s pastor (which is a contradiction in terms), a pastor of creative arts, or a pastor of emerging generations (whatever that is), just to name a few. It is still impossible to accomplish spiritual ends by worldly means without corrupting the ends. When the church mixes and mingles with the world and learns, adopts, and imitates its methods, practices, priorities, values, and its pragmatic standards for judging what is good or evil, right or wrong, biblical or unbiblical, then it cannot help but take on the spirit of the world and apostatize from the commands of the gospel and the obedience which they require.
How much this corporate model has influenced the church is especially evident in how many church leaders now go about seeking a pastor. They want to know if a prospective pastor has experience, not a calling. They want a person with “vision”, not one who will adhere to God’s vision revealed in His word. They require a man who will support their practices, programs, agendas, priorities, and views, not one who will examine them by the light of Scripture. Ultimately they desire a man who is capable of increasing the church’s membership, not one who will exhort in sound doctrine with great patience and instruction in an age where most professing Christians will not endure it. Very few church leaders ever stop to ask, “has this man been called of God; has he been sent; has he been called from anything, did he leave any nets to follow the call of Christ; has his faith ever been more than theoretical, has it ever been tested by fire; does he possess those things that are indispensably required by God of the guides, teachers, and ministers of the church to preserve its purity and promote its obedience to the commands of the gospel?” The remainder of this paper will examine four of these indispensable duties which I hope all who profess to believe the gospel cannot possibly refuse or deny, and without which all the natural talents and corporate skills in the world will ever offset.
Four Indispensable Requirements
First, it is required of all who enter the gospel ministry to keep the doctrine of the gospel pure and unadulterated, especially that which concerns the nature, causes, motives, and ends for the obedience, godliness, and holiness which it commands. Of this the Apostle Paul was adamant, “For we are not like many, peddling the word of God,” (2 Cor 2:17); “but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God,” (2 Cor 4:2); “If anyone advocates a different doctrine, and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing;” (1 Tm 6:3, 4; cf. Gal 1:8). This was one of the main reasons for which Christ instituted and bestowed the office of the ministry in His church, “And He gave some as…pastors and teachers,”(Eph 4:11). And why did He give them to His church? “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge (i.e. true knowledge) of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:12, 13). What is to be the result of this equipping? “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ,” (Eph 4:14, 15). It is given as a hard and fast requirement that those who enter into the gospel ministry must be men who have a history of “holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching” (not that which is accordance with some denominational dogma, some tradition, or with the lusts, desires, opinions, practices, and prejudices of those who will not endure sound doctrine), “that he may be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict” (Tit 1:9). He must be a man whose “exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit; but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men but God, who examines our hearts” (1 Thes 2:3, 4).
It is upon the faithful, diligent, and consistent performance of this duty which the church depends if it is to be the pillar and support of the truth and not apostatize from it. It is upon this that the church depends if it is to grow up in all aspects into Christ. It is upon this which the recovery and reclaiming of the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ depends, and from which the mass of churches and those who belong to them have now been led astray by their guides, teachers, and leaders. Speaking the truth in love implies not only knowing the truth, but truly knowing the truth. It was against the introduction of all sorts of strange, perverse, and corrupt opinions, both from outside and inside the church, which were contrary to the truth in which they had been instructed that Paul issued a special warning to the leaders of the church in Ephesus, “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Ac 20:29, 30). The Apostle John warned the chosen lady and her children that “many deceivers have gone out into the world” (2 Jn 7). The Apostle Peter warned the church that just as false prophets arose among God’s people in the Old Testament and led them into apostasy, “there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies” (2 Pt 2:1). It is the fundamental duty of the shepherd to preserve the purity of the truth which has been entrusted to him and to guard it against everything and anyone that would threaten to corrupt, adulterate, and undermine the commands of the gospel and the obedience which they require.
Gospel truth and gospel holiness are inseparable. Gospel truth is the only root on which gospel holiness and obedience will grow. If any worm, any disease, or any other corrupting influence infects the root, then the fruit will quickly wither and decay. It is impossible to preserve the power of godliness, and not degenerate into mere forms of it where the doctrines conforming to godliness are unknown, adulterated, or despised. Likewise, when professing Christians grow tired and weary of holiness, self-denial, separation from the world, the cross, disciplining themselves for godliness, and gospel obedience, they will no longer endure the sound doctrine that teaches and commands them, but will accumulate for themselves teachers whose teaching is in accordance with their own lusts and desires, turn away from the truth, and turn aside to myths. They will find gospel truths not only useless, but irritating, bothersome, offensive, and oppressive. This explains the great opposition that exists today against so many important truths of the gospel, not only from the mass of professing Christians, but also from their guides, teachers, and leaders. This opposition is from the natural dislike and aversion which people have for the obedience, holiness, godliness, self-denial, and spiritual-mindedness which these gospel truths lead into and require.
Secondly, it is indispensably required of all who would enter the gospel ministry that they diligently and prayerfully instruct the people which God has allotted to their charge in the whole counsel of God, in the mystery of the gospel, and in the doctrine conforming to godliness, so that they may know and do the will of God. This was the pattern set by the Apostle Paul, “I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable” (Ac 20:20). Since we are told that all Scripture is profitable (2 Tm 3:16), and that human wisdom and man-made religion are of no value against fleshly indulgence (Col 2:8, 23), it is the duty of a gospel minister to preach, teach, and declare all the truths and principles of Scripture so as to equip every person for every good work (2 Tm 3:16), specifically the works of faith and gospel obedience which God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Eph 2:10). This they are to do by all the means which God has appointed – preaching, teaching, writing, reproving, rebuking, correcting, setting an example, training in righteousness (2 Tm 3:17; 4:2; Tit 2:15). The truth has not been entrusted to them so they might keep it to themselves, or to be adulterated, edited, explained away, and peddled to serve their own self-interests or those of the party to which they belong, and in so doing lock up the key of knowledge. Rather they are to accurately and fully communicate and teach it to others so that they might obey and practice it. God has not given a spirit of timidity to those whom He has called and sent, “but of power and love and discipline. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,” (2 Tm 1:7, 8), which includes all the commands of the gospel, both positive and negative, and the obedience they require.
There is a great aversion to this today. We are told by many guides and leaders today that we need to emphasize what has been done by Christ, not what the gospel commands believers to obey and practice. We are told that emphasizing the obedience which the commands of the gospel require only leads to legalism and self-righteousness. What these people seem to fail to realize is that without the obedience there is no evidence that anything has been “done” by the gospel in their heart and life. There is no fruit of the Spirit. There is no evidence that they love Jesus Christ with the love that is the fruit of the Spirit. They remain indistinguishable from the world from which Christ came to redeem a people for His own possession, thereby exposing that nothing has been done in their heart and life to distinguish them from this evil age. They are still in love with this world. It is the mind set on the flesh that does not subject itself to the law of God (Rm 8:7), and the mind set on the flesh is death because it is still hostile toward God (Rm 8:6, 7). These are the scriptural marks of an unbeliever, not of a true Christian. At the risk of repeating myself, I once again ask what the Apostle James asked, “What use is it my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him” (Jm 2:14)? No, because it is not the faith that is the fruit of the Spirit, but the devil’s cheap imitation. Anyone who has no desire, and does not work to declare to his flock (be they thousands or two or three) all things that are profitable for them, if they avoid and water down truths which much (or perhaps all) of their flock would find offensive in order to preserve a paycheck, if they compromise the truth and look for some middle ground between obedience to the commands of the gospel and the ways, thinking, practices, and lifestyles of the people and culture in which they live, then they can have no evidence that it is God who has called them to the office of the ministry.
Many will profess and claim to preach Christ – faith in Christ’s blood for forgiveness, faith in His righteousness for their justification, His cross, resurrection, and ascension, His love for sinners, the joys of heaven, the freeness of His grace – but they leave out the reason and need for Christ’s sufferings, the holy wrath and condemnation that all sinners are under, the fact that all mankind are sinners by nature and choice not victims of their sin, the nature and necessity of the new birth, the hopelessness of self-salvation, the convicting, purifying, and sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in all whom He indwells, and the commands of the gospel and the obedience which they require. They preach some truths to the exclusion of others which they will not dare touch with even their little finger. They boldly denounce sins which neither they nor their congregation are tempted to engage in, but ignore the worldliness, carnality, and self-indulgence that makes them indistinguishable from the people and culture in which they live. They accommodate their preaching to the season. They adopt the world’s sanitized euphemisms for sin so as not to offend the world. They psychologize sin out of existence. They preach morality, politics, and patriotism, but not Jesus Christ. They preach Jesus Christ, but not Him crucified. They preach up grace, but not the grace of Jesus Christ. They turn grace into license and indulgence, and ignore the purpose of God’s grace in sending His Son, “that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds” (Tit 2:15), those “good deeds” being obedience to the commands of the gospel, holiness, and separation from the world, which the natural, carnal, worldly mind finds so offensive, burdensome, weary, and foolish, and is anything but zealous for.
Thirdly, it is required of all who enter the gospel ministry, so far as human frailty and the remainders of indwelling sin permit, that they live a life that is consistent with the doctrines they preach to others, and represent the message and nature of the One whose doctrines they preach and teach. You who exhort others to walk by faith, do you walk by faith? You who proclaim the authority, inerrancy, and sufficiency of Scripture, do you trust its promises, follow its principles, and obey its commands, or do you integrate and supplement the Bible with human wisdom, inventions, practices, methods, and programs? If the guide has not been, or is not willing to go where he attempts to lead others, they will have little inclination to trust his guidance. Why should they believe truths and follow commands when it is obvious that he does not? Why should they deny self and the world when he does not? And on the other hand, the unwillingness and aversion which the bulk of professing Christians have to going where he is striving to lead them, so instead they choose teachers and teachings that are more in keeping with their own lusts and desires, does not absolve him from living the life and preaching the message to which he has been called of God.
How can anyone preach truths which have no effect on them, which to them are merely theoretical, and of which they have no experience, nor ever felt their power? How can they preach the commands of the gospel and the obedience they require when they have no desire, and a great aversion to subjecting themselves to the obedience they require? Actively pursuing and disciplining himself to live what he preaches (however imperfectly, feebly, and falteringly) will often have one of two effects on others. We see these two effects in the life of the Apostle Paul. It was Paul’s example of his willingness to suffer the loss of all things for the cause of Christ which not only emboldened some “to speak the word of God without fear” (Phil 1:14), but also caused all who were in Asia to turn away from him and the gospel he preached (2 Tm 1:15), and to go astray from the truth and lead others astray (2 Tm 2:18). Here again we see the reason why today the commands of the gospel are so neglected, maligned, scoffed at, misrepresented, despised, and explained away. Here we see why most of the emphasis today is on church growth, church leadership, church life, church planting, church revitalization, and “doing” church; why most of the preaching today emphasizes personal empowerment, self-fulfillment, and having a better life in this world; why the “done” of the gospel is preached to the exclusion of the “doing” and living of the gospel; and why we are witnessing the universal apostasy from the commands of the gospel and the obedience they require. Being an example to the flock requires a gospel minister to deny self and the world (the two great idols), take up his cross, walk by faith and not by sight, sense, and the wisdom of this world, and to follow Christ wherever He leads and goes.
Whatever vices, worldliness, and self-indulgences people observe in their guides, teachers, and leaders, they will not attribute them to their fallen nature and inward corruptions, but to the truths and doctrines they profess. Their people will be prone not only to follow their example in vice, worldliness and self-indulgence, but to excel them. For this reason Paul exhorted Timothy that “in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe” (1 Tm 4:12), and to Titus he wrote, “in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach” (Tit 2:7, 8). This is the life into which God calls all whom He truly calls into gospel ministry, that in their life they should reflect the power of His grace, the purity of His gospel, the joy of His commands, the love of His truth, the honor of His glory, the evil of this world, the trustworthiness of God’s word, and the holiness of His doctrines to others. All the natural talents and advantages in the world can never make up for, or undo the damage caused by the bad example of a carnal, worldly, self-indulgent, and unbiblical guide, teacher, and leader. And nowhere is this more dangerous and fatal than where the people love to have it so (Jer 5:30, 31), and where they decry as legalistic, pietistic, judgmental, and archaic, and thereby despise whatever is spoken to the contrary, so that it is considered almost a crime for anyone to speak against the soul-ruining ambition, worldliness, compromise, accommodation, ineptness, and negligence of these sorts of people.
Fourthly, it is required of all who enter the gospel ministry to guard the church by means of the diligent adherence to the rule of church discipline as established and appointed by Jesus Christ for the edification of the church and the preservation of its purity, holiness, separation, and obedience (Mt 18:15-20). How rare this is today. Most church leaders have abandoned the practice of church discipline altogether as unloving, judgmental, and even unchristian. After all, we are asked, if we are all “broken” how can we do church discipline? We are told, “We don’t shoot our wounded.” Neither do they obey the commands of the gospel, but live and boast in their open apostasy from them. Besides, the mass of the people who belong to these churches would not tolerate it even if it was practiced. Where this is lacking it is morally impossible that the generality of the people will not apostatize from the commands of the gospel and into biblical ignorance, immorality, licentiousness, worldliness, and unholiness of every kind, and give their hearty approval to those who practice such things (Rm 1:32).
As much as I desire to say otherwise, and as much as it grieves me to say it, it cannot be denied that the primary reason we are now witnessing among the generality of churches and the people who belong to them this wholesale apostasy from the commands of the gospel is due to the widespread failure perpetrated by their spiritual guides, teachers, and leaders. It is on account of them that the generality of professing Christians have been led astray, either willingly or insensibly, from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ and into the present apostasy. Not until God sees fit to give to His people shepherds after His own heart who will feed them on knowledge and understanding (Jer 3:15), and who will preach and teach, not as pleasing men, but God (1 Thes 2:4), in much greater abundance than exists at this time, it will remain a dangerous season. Not until God will revive and increase a holy, spiritually-minded, zealous, self-denying, unadulterated ministry by an outpouring of His Holy Spirit, and empower their uncompromised preaching with His Spirit to convict sinners of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and use them to bring sinners to a true saving faith in Jesus Christ, then, and only then, may we hope to see a recovery of the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ, and a more widespread obedience to the commands of the gospel.
Those who are not troubled by the present state of professing Christianity, who think that the obedience of faith among the generality of churches and those who belong to them are as good as they ever were, or need to be, and who have no interest in their becoming more holy, but only in their growing, these may continue to live in their false security without concerning themselves with these things. But for those who cannot help but see the apostasy from the commands of the gospel that now characterizes the mass of churches, institutions, and the people who belong to them, and which is now carried to such a height that it is ready to, if it has not already, result in idolatry and atheism, it is time for them to consider at whose hand and under whose watch all this has come about, and be motivated to put a stop to its further progress before it is too late. The ministry cannot be recovered by the same men, means, methods, messages, ministries, systems, philosophies, and practices that have corrupted it and led to this present apostasy from the commands of the gospel. To suppose that it can be recovered to a holy obedience and to the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ by any means other than those commanded and blessed by God – the unadulterated preaching and teaching of the whole counsel of God, fervent and sincere prayer, all empowered by the convicting and converting power of the Holy Spirit – is to render the ministry altogether useless. Here is where the cure for this apostasy which the mass of professing Christianity has fallen into and which makes the season in which we live so very dangerous must begin, and that is with the renovation and recovery of a powerful, uncompromising, and unadulterated gospel ministry if it is to ever serve any eternal, redemptive, and salvific purpose in this world.
Our next study will consider some other causes of the apostasy which makes the season in which we live such a dangerous season.