Ac 7:51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers [did], so [do] ye.
These words were spoken by Stephen to the religious
leaders
of the day just before they rose up & stoned him to death!
This
situation is true to form wherever we read in the Scriptures of men of
God who mean business with God & His truth. Their mission of
delivering the truth of God to the children of darkness is most often
met
with fierce opposition & resistance; and no where is such
opposition
& resistance to the truth more intense than among those who wear
the
robes of religion & present themselves as men who represent the God
of heaven! Christ Himself met this very resistance in His mission to
save
His people; and that resistance came from none other than the
recognized
religious leaders of His day... who were ultimately responsible for
putting
Him on the cross because He bore witness to the truth... which, among
other
things, exposed their hypocrisy! And so... ladies &
gentlemen...
as I have been attempting to say in these articles concerning the
gospel
of salvation... whenever this gospel is faithfully proclaimed, two
things
will occur;
1. The elect of God will be called to eternal life by it and... 2.
It will inevitably be met with great opposition & resistance from
the
children of darkness... most especially... those who are well
established
recognized men within the confines of the religious community.
The modern day evangelical church is filled with people
who profess themselves to be ‘Christian’, who claim to ‘Love the
Lord’, or who give some sort of ‘testimony’ to having been
‘saved’.
Many carry Bibles, attend church services regularly, frequent
Bible
studies & even ‘witness’ to people. Many more occupy places
of
prominence & leadership in churches, religious seminaries,
Christian
schools etc. They know the language! They traffic in
the Bible. They study & spout theology!! In a word...
they
look good! They look very good! They look... very very
good!
Until they are subject to close scrutiny under the microscope of the
word of God... and then... many are exposed for what they truly
are.
Candidates for the words of the martyr Stephen!
Objection: It’s folks like you, who have nothing better to do but travel up & down the land examining everybody sos you can pronounce them either ‘saved’ or ‘lost’, that are troubling the church with your judgmental attitude. What gives you the right to pass judgment on the religious community? The church would be better off without such trouble makers stirring up the soop all the time. Go home! Go read 1Cor 13... !!
Answer; I did read 1Cor 13... and verse 6 tells us that love... rejoices in the Truth! This is one of the main instruments of resistance used by those I speak of in this paper in order to effectively resist the gospel of truth & escape the pressure of the word of God. But God is on His throne & the time is fast approaching when the jig will be up! The Bible meets this objection to the truth head on. The NT is filled with instructions to examine both ourselves and others in order to ascertain who are & who are not genuine believers. To avoid this is to avoid the truth of God. Nay we are ‘commanded’ to try the spirits & avoid the temptation to believe every Tom Dicken Harry who says he’s a Christian. And not only are we instructed to judge righteously... we are also instructed as to the proper action that must be taken. But here I will present another notable passage of Scripture showing this is indeed the truth of God.
2 Timothy 3...
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall
come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous,
boasters,
proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers,
incontinent,
fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than
lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof:
from such turn away.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead
captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the
truth.
8 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also
resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
No doubt there is many a preacher that likes to use this passage to point out the fact that we are now in the ‘last days’ because this is speaking of the general world of lost unbelievers. All you have to do is look around to plainly see that all the wickedness that vss 1-4 speak of is rampant in our day. Immorality, abortion, corruption, crime, drugs etc. etc. etc. are all evidences that we are indeed in deep hot water. The world is coming to an end & soon the Lord will return! Well... I submit that... as true as that might be, this passages is not talking about the world of unbelievers... at all! Rather, this passage is directed right to the community of the professing church of Christianity & all the sin... all the hypocrisy... all the false face of religion... that is taking place in it! And how do we know this? By the fact that we are plainly told right in the passage in vs 4 that these people, who engage in such wicked activities, are doing so by way of a choice! And that choice is the difference that they have chosen between being lovers of their own selves... and lovers of pleasures... as over against being lovers of God! In other words... these are people who are familiar with religion & the truth of God... but they willingly make a deliberate choice to reject Him and indulge their flesh to the destruction of their souls! This is fully confirmed to us in no uncertain terms by the very next verse that tells us that these people... possess something that looks good on the outside. Note that these people have a form of ‘godliness’ and everybody thinks that they are real & genuine when all the time they are nothing but a sham in the name of religion! On the outside it appears that they are ‘practicing’ religion while all the time they are in truth, practicing the most wicked activities as are described in this passage and it constitutes an accurate description of the church of our present day... ladies & gentlemen... ! It is time to wake up & smell the espress-o before it’s too late. And if you are reading this & claim to be a Christian & are scratching your head saying... ’what in the world got this nut all wound up to post such a thing to the web...’; then... may God have mercy on your soul & open your eyes! Lest any think this view is a concoction of my own brain I offer the comments & observations of another, greater one of bygone days...
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[ 1... In the last days. Under “the last days,” he includes the
universal
condition of the Christian
Church. Nor does he compare his own age with ours, but, on the
contrary,
informs Timothy
what will be the future condition of the kingdom of Christ; for many
imagined some sort of condition that would be absolutely peaceful, and
free from any annoyance. In short, he means that there will not
be,
even under the gospel, such a state of perfection, that all vices shall
be banished, and virtues of every kind shall flourish; and that
therefore
the pastors of the Christian Church will have quite as much to do with
wicked and ungodly men as the prophets and godly priests had in ancient
times. Hence it follows, that there is no time for idleness or for
repose.
Secondly, it ought to be remarked, who are the persons of whom he
speaks.
They whom he
briefly describes are not external enemies, who openly assail the name
of Christ, but domestics,
who wish to be reckoned among the members of the Church; for God wishes
to try his Church to such an extent as to carry within her bosom such
plagues,
though she abhors to entertain them. So then, if in the present day
many
whom we justly abhor are mingled within us, let us learn to groan
patiently
under that burden, when we are informed that this is the lot of the
Christian
Church.
Next, it is wonderful that those persons, whom Paul pronounces to be
guilty of so many and so
aggravated acts of wickedness, can keep up the appearance of piety,
as he also declares. But
daily experience shows that we ought not to regard this as so
wonderful;
for such is the amazing audacity and wickedness of hypocrites, that,
even
in excusing the grossest crimes, they are excessively impudent, after
having
once learned falsely to shelter themselves under the name of God. In
ancient
times, how many crimes abounded in the life of the Pharisees? And yet,
as if they had been pure from every stain, they enjoyed a reputation of
eminent holiness.
Even in the present day, although the lewdness of the Popish clergy
is such that it stinks in the
nostrils of the whole world, still, in spite of their wickedness, they
do not cease to arrogate
proudly to themselves all the rights and titles of saints. Accordingly,
when Paul says that
hypocrites, though they are chargeable with the grossest vices,
nevertheless
deceive under a
mask of piety, this ought not to appear strange, when we have examples
before our eyes. And,
indeed, the world deserves to be deceived by those wicked scoundrels,
when it either despises
or cannot endure true holiness. Besides, Paul enumerates those vices
which are not visible at
first sight, and which are even the ordinary attendants of pretended
holiness... As it was the
design of Paul to brand false prophets with such marks, that they might
be seen and known by all; it is our duty to open our eyes, that we may
see those who are pointed out with the finger. ]
John Calvin on 2 Tim 3...
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And when men of corrupt minds go about propagating a false message of the gospel based on false doctrine they are fulfilling this prophecy of Paul before our very eyes. They claim to speak of the faith when in fact they are reprobates in regard to it! They 'traffic' in the faith while at the same time they deny it. From such we are instructed to turn away.
But in addition to those directly involved in such wickedness, like the swirling of a raging whirlpool they drag many a folk into their vortex of erroneous errors causing their mission of darkness to spread even further! I speak of those in the Christian community who are called upon to recognize this condition for what it is and join in the battle for the truth... who, when entreated to take up the fight, They resist the truth... they turn a deaf ear with like excuses as I am pointing out here. Thus they give evidence that they are in league with those described in this passage & possess the same mind as that of Jannes & Jambres noted in vs 8... it being more than obvious that this is true of them by the fact that they themselves engage in the most God-dishonoring practice of resisting the truth!! They are clearly shown that the message of Arminianism is a false gospel & that Arminians are deceived & lost but they, who so boldly claim to know the true doctrine, will have none of it! They rather choose to embrace these wicked people & call them Christians & ‘brothers in Christ’ rather than stand on the side of the Lord & His truth... but they shall give account. The Scriptures tell us that those who resist the truth of God resist God Himself & they shall not escape.
Objection 2: Neither you nor anybody else can see into a man’s heart! You ought to learn to exercise the judgment of charity & leave the judging to God. He’s the one who decides who gets into heaven & who doesn’t; not you!
Answer; This is another weapon used by those who would oppose
the truth in an attempt to short-circuit the effectual power of the
truth
to expose hypocrisy & falsehood for what it is!
But the Scriptures contain exhortations everywhere for us to give every
effort to make a proper assessment of someone who says he is a believer
based on two main elements... Doctrine and Life. These are
discovered
right here in our passage, notice vs 10...
10 But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, ......
and those things that follow these words can safely be placed within one of these two major categories both of which are proper measuring tools God has given to his people that they may discern false prophets. So we are told these two things in various places in the NT as for example; 1. By their fruits, which is an indicator of a man’s life, shall they be known... but the Scripture does not stop there for; 2. He who abides not in sound doctrine... even the doctrine of Christ, does not have God. Believe not every spirit but try the spirits; 2Jn 9 & 1Jn 4:1ff. Thus God has plainly given us these two measuring sticks & woe unto the man that does not use them both for the purpose of the purity of the gospel! By these two we are able to make as close & proper assessment of what is in a man’s ‘heart’ as God would have us to in order that we might maintain the purity of the church & the gospel in as close a way possible in this darkened world!
And so dear people, if anyone comes and says he is a 'Christian' and either his doctrine or his life do not match the word of God... then we must not regard them as a brother in the Lord. Would anyone be so naive as to apply the objection... ‘who are you to judge the heart’... to the activity engaged in by the Apostle Paul in 1Cor 5... or numerous other places in the NT where he boldly & unashamedly confronted sin in the camp head-on & rebuked it? And so... when we who have been consumed with the truth of God in the gospel dare... by the grace & power of God... to confront the cancer of ungodliness that has taken up residence within the walls of the professing church... and men turn a deaf ear by these & who-knows-how-many-other objections that they are able to concoct from the stuff of their own brain, then such men are exposing themselves to the indictment of 2Tim 3:8 by their resistance to the truth! Let such go over to 2Tim 4:14,15 and take serious consideration of what kind of people they are identifying with when they so vehemently withstand the words of truth!
2Tim 4:14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord
reward him according to his works:
15 Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our
words.
And so dear friends, we have been given ample warning by God of what shall be the condition of the church and further instruction as to how we must proceed. May God so work it in your mind & soul that you will rise up & be committed to Him & His truth of the gospel of His blessed Son. There simply is no other choice... except extinction!
Are there those in your church or circle of friends that are 'of the Arminian persuasion'? What are you doing about it?