SHALL HE FIND FAITH?
“Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:” Luke 18:6-9
We begin our study this month with the words of our Lord as He taught on humility.
Whilst we should not push the thought that His rhetorical question implies that there will be no faith on earth when He, the Son on Man, returns to establish His kingdom, we must be aware that He will still reject the wrong kind of faith!
Here our Lord’s warning against the sin of self-righteousness and pride reflects His hatred for a sin which was with the religious Jews of His day, and is still so readily manifest in His ‘Church” today. Jesus illustrated this concern re “faith” with the story of the publican and the Pharisee. (vs. 10-14)
The beating of one’s chest by so many of our present, errant Church leaders (and perhaps most of their ‘disciples’), must surely be as repugnant to a holy God today, as it was then!
“Touch not God’s Anointed”, a phrase from the psalms indeed, but one wickedly taken out of context, highlights the pride found in so many of these men and
women who rise up with such venom when asked to justify their aberrant
teaching.
The Church at large, for almost a century now, has
stood against the many sects within the church scene who proclaim the gospel of
me-ism in its many forms, and yet, it is just as strong today as it was at its
beginning.
A “refusal to
be corrected” has become the hallmark of all cults, and at its core is this
self-righteousness, which despises all who would try to bring correction.
As with the
Pharisee of old, these folk project the trappings of faith, indeed are not some
sections referred to as the “Faith” movement?
However, to
have “faith in faith” is to miss the mark as surely as the Pharisees of Jesus’
day did for did not Jesus warn us that in that day of the coming of the Son of
Man some will hear those dreadful words of our Lord:
“Many will
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in
thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew
you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Mathew 7: 22- 23
To “work iniquity” is not to fall into sinful behaviour from time to time
as most Christians can and do, but to
deliberately turn away from Christ’s true Gospel and preach a gospel that is no
gospel at all!
The Apostle
Paul warned of this when addressing the Galatians' error of simply adding one
extra doctrine (circumcision) to Christ’s Gospel. He warned: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that
called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another;
but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any
other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be
accursed.
As we said before, so say I now again, if any man
preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be
accursed.” Gal 1:6-9
John Wesley’s commentary on this theme caught my eye;
On “I never knew you” he states” - There never was
a time that I (Christ) approved of you”: so that as many souls as they had
saved, they were saved, were themselves never saved from their sins.” Sober stuff!
It seems that, even in the midst of a cultic
situation, if Jesus (the true Jesus, that is, and not one who needed to be
born-again in hell! etc.) is preached, then it is still possible for souls to
be saved! Sadly, for those who continue to “work iniquity” continue to run the
very great risk of damning their own souls!
Dear reader,
it is not too late if you or your loved ones have been followers of any of
these pernicious movements which continue to plague the Body of Christ. Do not
let self-righteousness or pride prevent you from walking away from error.
There are
still some places which still preach the simple Gospel of Christ in every
corner of your city, and though it may be difficult to find them, it is in your
interest to search them out - even if it means
fellowshipping with just a few of like-minded believers.
“Revival” is
a very common cry throughout the Church and nothing would give true Christians
more joy than to see a great Holy Spirit revival sweep through our nation, but
beloved, who wants to see a false revival of me-ism, that is, a man-centred,
money hungry “faith” that demeans God at every turn! I am sure this writer does
not!
Peter, Christ’s enigmatic apostle who learned to
follow his Saviour the hard way, foretold of the seductive deceivers who would
plague the end-time Church with their iniquitous theology in 2 Peter 2:1-2
“But there were false prophets
also among the people (Israel), even
as there shall be false teachers among you (the Church), who privily
shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and
bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious
ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through
covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose
judgment now of a long time lingered not, and their damnation slumbered not.”
It never ceases to amaze me that so many Christians
today simply want to put their hands over their ears, not wanting to hear
anything against anybody!
If a Peter or a Paul were to walk amongst us today,
many of these despisers of correction would no doubt want to charge Christ’s
apostles with bringing division and dissention into the Body of Christ! Shall He find faith? We pray so! Rod Rowland.
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