Today, people are being taught, and believe, that to become a Christian is to become a better person; that the call to Christ is nothing more than a call to be a better human being. In pursuit of that aim they search out the scriptures to find out about God and to obtain all the facts in the Bible.
But to know Biblical doctrine is meaningless in terms of sanctification and salvation. Many in hell know that God created the world, the heavens and the earth and that Jesus His Son was crucified for the sins of mankind. The Bible is more than a book of facts about God, His creation and His dealings with man; no man is better off for knowing that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Even the devil and his demons know that and hell is full of those who know such facts as these. The Bible is more than a book of facts, it is a call to moral action. If there is no moral response and alteration to what the Bible teaches there is no true saving faith, as the Bible teaches saving faith.
As Paul wrote; “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). But it is only profitable if it is obeyed.
In modern evangelicalism the call to Christ pretends that there are no harsh demands made nor any calls for painful sacrifice; Jesus did all our suffering for us on the Cross and all we have to do is “believe”, whatever that means, and enjoy the free ride. No mention is made of the necessity for conviction of sin and certainly none of the cross that we ourselves must bear.
But our cross is no different to that which Jesus Himself bore; upon it we, too, must be crucified. We do not take up our cross to lead us to repentance or to be a better person or to re-order our lives; our cross is there to slay us; to put an absolute end to the life that is governed by self. Until that life is done away with, the new life is unable to thrive as it should and only if it is truly slain can a believer be truly raised up to eternal life; not in the next life but in this. We all of us are under sentence of death and the sooner we embrace that death the sooner we will be raised up.
The Church of today offers conversion without the conviction of sin and Bible teaching that separates doctrine from moral application. As such, it is a “different gospel” and presents a false Christ and if you will be satisfied with a false Christ you must needs be satisfied with a false salvation. Today’s Church is preparing itself to fall into the arms of the anti-Christ at his parousia and when they do, those who belong to Christ and are outside the religious camp (Hebrews 13:13) will be betrayed. “Then they will betray you into trouble and they will put you to death and you will be being hated by all of the nations because of My name; then many will give up their faith and betray one another and will hate one another” (Matthew 24:9-10).
It will be as Jesus said; “Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering a service to God” (John 16:2). Who can doubt that these days are upon us?
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