March 1999

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Christian Chronicles, March 1999 - Volume 2, Issue 40

The Editor's Pen

There is no more insidious danger in the church than the danger of apostasy. The devil is so very subtle and so very much more intelligent than we are. He knows every button to push in every person, and loves nothing more than to make a fool of the Christian and a mockery of God.

One of the chief aims of the true Church must be to preserve and guard the doctrinal integrity of the Word of God against the attempts of the devil to subvert it.

Apostasy comes in many forms. The most perfidious form is the changing of a system based upon grace to one based upon works. But that is not the only form that apostasy takes. If the devil is able to bring unscriptural practices into the body of believers, it is only a matter of time before he starts affecting doctrine as well.

Every church ought to examine itself periodically, with an eye toward the Scriptures, to ensure that it has not introduced practices that are the fruit of reason rather than of doctrinal understanding. Stick to what is sound.

This and That

We appreciate your long-suffering through the upheavals of our improvments. Our new format is coming together nicely now. Your perseverance has been more than a little encouraging to us. We pretty much have everything settled down a bit now, and are ready to run. We will eventually increase to ten pages, but are content to produce eight for now. For the moment, we expect only minor adjustments in format and layout.

Again, thanks for your patience. God has blessed us with this wonderful ministry, and we want to fulfill it to whatever degree we can.

We hope to use this new format to teach doctrine more effectively. The center article in each issue will treat some doctrine or theological tenet at sufficient length to give a basic understanding of the salient points. This, so that God might be glorifed in the ministries of our readers as they preach and teach and write the gospel of the blessed God, the gospel of God’s grace to a lost world.

Our aim is not to produce a given number of pages, but to see our readers move up to a theological level where we have many writers to accommodate. Our interests lie in seeing this paper grow, not because we have 10,000 subscribers, but because we have 50 writers putting out a large volume of intelligent and insightful theology. God will take care of the number of our subscribers, and of all our financial needs. Our principle aim is the fruitfulness of the body, to the glory of God, through the teaching of His Word, sound in doctrine and faithful to Him who leads us.

Fruit of the Vine

Jesus said, "I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, fears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). It is a wonderful analogy, and very apt. We would certainly expect no less from our God. There is not a Christian on the earth who is not the fruit of someone else’s ministry. Neither is there a person born again whose responsibility is not to bear fruit himself or herself.

The magnitude of our reward depends largely upon our fruit-bearing. We all know that. What many do not realize is that our fruit-bearing does not depend upon any initiative from us. When we set out on a mission to "lead someone to the Lord tonight," more often than not, we come home fruitless. We are depending upon our own abilities, and not upon the Vine to supply the spirit to the unsaved heart and mind. It is completely proper for every Christian to desire to be fruitful, but to seek that fruit on the basis of our own abilities is to give the lie to what Jesus Himself declared to be so. As we surrender our will to His greater will, and look to Him to make us fruitful that He places us in fruitful opportunities. It is as we recognize that we have no basis for self-glorification that God is able to glorify Himself in us.

Perspectives

We lurch from crisis to crisis, still reeling from one even as we are crashing into the next. For some, it is a miserable life, one fraught with danger and a hopeless fear. For others, it is our great God Himself, showing His glory in the affairs of our lives.

It’s all in how you look at it, really. From an earthly perspective, crises get our full attention. The only basis for our hope in any crisis is faith in the promises of God. It takes a longer view than looking at the immediate circumstances. The prayer of the Christian in a crisis is not, “Oh God! Now look what You’ve gotten me into, and how am I gonna get myself out of it?” The prayer of the Christian is, “Behold, I am vile. But You, Father, are a loving God, and I trust that You know what You are doing . Therefore, if You will glorify Yourself in me in this crisis, then, Father, I shall be fruitful and blessed. Of what shall I be afraid?”

God does not cause His name to become a reproach in the world. He will always magnify His name in us if we let Him. Christian friend, it is no light thing to be called by the name of God. Our great God and loving Father has demonstrated many times and in many ways that His children will be blessed and He will glorify Himself in them. The eyes of the Christian ought not be on any transient troubles, but upon the everlasting power and mighty wisdom of a God in whom there is eternity. We may look bad from time to time, but God is glorified, and that is what this trip is about anyhow.

Look bad? That’s what starts many crises. We take stands based on pride, from which it becomes impossible to extricate ourselves later, when we would if it were not already too late. Or we fail to take stands, and spend our substance on foolishness unwisely. We stand on this principle and that point, and we reason among ourselves.

The proper stand for the Christian in any crisis is to act on faith. That usually means doing nothing. Faith understands that you are where you are, wherever you are, by the grace of God, and that it will ultimately prove to be the very best and wisest path, upon which alone shall you be blessed and God be glorified.

The issue is your faith. Do you trust that God knows what He is doing in your life? Or do you not trust Him, preferring your own pleasures? What did Daniel do in the den of lions? He trusted God from moment to moment.

Daniel walked with God every day, and trusted that whatever happened in the den of lions was going to turn out for His glory. If that required his being mauled and eaten, then he was willing to submit to the wisdom of God and walk those roads upon which he found himself.

Daniel was not weak or whiny, but he acted upon the very Word of God, trusting his God to direct his paths, and to use him however He may in order that His holy name might be glorified in the hearts of the unsaved and the unblessed. Daniel was not worried about temporal things; he served the eternal purposes of God. Look how Daniel’s name has been remembered and God has been glorified through his faith.

Are We Pharisaic

But woe to you scribes and Pharisees!
For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men;
for you neither go in yourselves,
nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
(Mt 23:13)

The gate of pearl is locked against those who attempt to enter on the merits of their own good deeds. Many men do many good deeds, but good deeds will not get you into heaven. One good deed is what it takes to save men: the good Deed that Jesus did on the Cross, when He paid for our sins. The Pharisees had turned away from the grace of God, depending upon their adherence to the minutiae of the Law of Moses to make them good enough , without any need for God’s mercy at all. They could not enter those gates because they glorified themselves, and not God who saved them. It was no longer about God’s grace, but about their own glory and worthiness. It made God smaller than they were. And how arrogant was that?

In that same way, many churches focus on the believer himself, and not upon the Object of his faith. It becomes a system of do’s and don’ts. It seeks the glory of man and not the grace of God. Yet, those who preach and teach these things are not saved themselves.

Paul declared a great end-times apostasy of the church. Just as the Pharisees became apostate, so has the bulk of the professing church. By looking at sin and darkness, they have turned their eyes from the only true Light.

Legalism is not the first step in the apostasy of a church; it is the last. The first step is a dependence upon reason, and not upon the Word of God.

Apostasy

But even if we, or an angel from heaven,
Preach any other gospel to you
Than What we have preached to you,
Let him be accursed.
(Gal 1:8)

Paul warned his young protege Timothy that at the end of the Church Age, the professing church would be characterized by apostasy. Webster defines apostasy as “renunciation of a religious faith or defection.” In a theological sense, apostasy is turning away from tenets of the faith that were previously held, to some other doctrine that is contradictory. It is interesting to note that when Paul first wrote to the church at Corinth he was careful to let them know that, in spite of the sinful carnality that characterized that church, he still thanked God for them, and for their adherence to the doctrines of grace. Conversely, when he wrote to the churches of Galatia, he offered no such word of thanks or encouragement. Rather, he scolded them sharply, saying,

I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ to another gospel... O foolish Galatians! (gal 1:6; 3:1)

Thus, we see that Paul valued sound doctrine over moral rectitude, though it is certain that he also valued the latter very highly as well. But Paul was not thankful for these Galatian Christians who were renowned for their fickleness regarding their beliefs. Many students of the Scriptures view First Corinthians as Paul's harshest letter, but it was not. His harshest was reserved for those churches in Galatia who were becoming persuaded to mix a bit of law in with the grace of God, either for their salvation, or for their sanctification, or for their security.

Those unstable souls in Galatia were known for transferring their allegiance from one traveling philosopher to another whenever a persuasive speaker passed through their cities. Paul was astounded that they would set aside the wonderful grace of God in favor of a system of works whereby they had no hope of ever pleasing God. And if Paul reserved his sharpest criticism for those who diluted sound doctrine with worldly wisdom, then it behooves every Christian to understand what constitutes apostasy, and to avoid it altogether assiduously. Let us hear his words to Timothy:

As I urged you when I went into Macedonia; remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. (1 Tim 1:3-7)

Paul and Timothy had been serving together in Ephesus when Paul decided to leave there and travel through Macedonia with the gospel of grace. Having been gone for some time, he wrote this touching and personal letter to Timothy, whom he had possibly led to the Lord himself, and with whom he had an especially close relationship. Paul considered Timothy his "son in the faith," and was writing him a letter of instruction for the governance of the church at Ephesus.

After the salutation, the very first thing that Paul said to Timothy was to be watchful against those who would pervert the gospel, teaching the Law of Moses rather than the grace of God. The Law of Moses demanded love; the Law of Christ is love. It is more like a natural law (a supernatural law), whereby the love of God is instilled in the human heart, and flows out in the energy of the Holy Spirit toward the objects of God's love. The Jews, under the Law, did not have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. Therefore, their actions were strictly governed to conform to the law of love for God and for one another. Christians today have the indwelling Holy Spirit, who leads them and loves others through them. Paul warns Timothy that those who teach the Law of Moses today do not understand the Law of Christ. Neither do they know what they are talking about.

Then Paul changes direction. He shows that it is not the Law that is bad, but that it is the Jews' understanding of it that is bad. The Law was not given as a way to get to heaven, but as a means of revealing the sin that is in man. It was given to convict, not to save. Paul wrote:

But we know that the Law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the Law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.

According to the glorious gospel. What makes the gospel glorious? An understanding of that would clarify the meaning of this passage. The Law was made for man. It was made for every man who ever sinned. If the Bible had ended with the giving of the Law, it would be the very worst news that we could ever dread to hear. But it does not end there.

Man could not save himself. There is none good; no, not one (See Rom 3:10-19). If any man were to be saved, then his salvation would have to be effected without depending upon him to earn that salvation through any good works. If God were to be just, then He must judge every single sin. He cannot "wink" at sin and simply overlook it. Else He would not be just. No, God must judge every sin, and he must exact its full penalty. And so He did.

Here is the glory of the glory of the gospel of the blessed God: That He is able to be both just and the Justifer of him who believes in Jesus Christ. God is able to save every man who will accept the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary as sufficient to pay the penalty for his sins. The Blood that was shed on the cross was the price that God's righteousness demanded as payment for the sins of all of mankind. ”For without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sins.” God loves man so much that He paid for our sins Himself. There is the glory of the gospel of the blessed God. The glory of the Gospel of the blessed God is the miracle of His justice and His mercy. How wise is our God? He is smarter than we are.

Apostasy is any system of belief that denies the free salvation, by grace and not by works, of man, glorifying man and not God. Many churches give you the gospel on one hand and then take it away with the other by adding some qualifying work (baptism, speaking in tongues, adherence to the Law, doing or not doing some few or many things on the cultural “list” of the land wherein they are found). The glory of the gospel of the blessed God is God’s glory, not man’s. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (Jn 8:32). Apostate churches try to “reform” man, making him finally good enough (or spiritual enough) to get to heaven on his own merits.

We have shown many times and in many ways that these appear to be the last days. Hear what Paul had to say about these last days. Both passages were written to Timothy, though they were passages in two different letters.

Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. But reject profane and old wives fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness... these things command and teach. (1 Tim 4:1-7, 11)

and,

But know this, that in the last days, perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traiters, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins and led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. (2 Tim 3:1-7)

Christian friends, many volumes could be written on the wickedness of apostasy. It is a pernicious evil. All the devil ever wants is a small foothold in any church, a bridgehead, from which he can enter and corrupt the whole believing assembly. It is a far more serious problem in the professing church today than many realize. It has become popular to say things like, “Well, the Bible means different things to different folks.” It simply isn’t so. There is but one Way, and Christ is that way. All it takes is a wrong attitude toward the Bible for the devil to work his sin in any church. Hear how Paul concludes his first letter to Timothy:

O timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge -- by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen. (1 Tim 6:20-21)

Every Christian is to be a guardian of the revealed truths of the Bible as long as he is in the world. We are certainly to serve as ministers of the gospel, but we are also to guard the great truths of the gospel as well. In order to guard the truth, we must first of all know and understand the doctrines of our faith, and then we must fight against all the devil’s attempts to intrude with his subtle deceptions and lies. We are to be fruitful witnesses, but we are also to be guardians, soldiers who dress themselves daily with the full armor of God.

Paul did not say that maybe there would come a great apostasy. No, this is a definite certainty. With all the signs pointing to the very climax of this age, it cannot be supposed that this apostasy is not already upon us. What do the unsaved say of the Christian churches? They scoff at the sheer hypocrisy of it. And they are right. It is past time to return to sound doctrine in the churches, but we know that it will not happen. The very best that we can hope and pray for is that God will lead us individually into all sound doctrine, that we might truly be guardians of those precious doctrines that first introduced us to the wonderful grace of God. This is not a time for compromise or weakness. Rather, this is a time for every Christian to redouble his or her efforts to stand firmly on the great truths of the Bible, preaching steadfastly the grace of God, and letting God deal with people’s sins. He is able; we are not. Stop protesting against other peoples’ sins, and start preaching God’s grace to a lost and sin-darkened world.

What is the Hearts of Apostasy

Many people feel that apostasy has only to do with the doctrine of salvation. That is another of the great deceptions of the devil. A church may teach the doctrine of salvation with great clarity and soundness, and yet be so apostate as to drive many true Christians from its premises. Apostasy, a turning away from a doctrine that was previously held, applies to the entire body of doctrine. While it must be acknowledged that it generally implies a teaching of works rather than of grace, that is usually the end result of an apostasy that had its genesis in other doctrines.

One of the key ways in which most churches depart from sound doctrine is in the matter of tithing. While there is nothing wrong with giving the church a tenth of your material goods, there is no compulsion in the New Testament to do so. When a church begins to preach tithing as a matter of compulsion, it is denying the providence of a God who fulfilled the Law, and who has promised to meet the needs of His children. It seems innocuous enough, but tithing has never been applied to the church by the Bible.

Apostasy might be said to comprise any function of the local church that is not in accordance with sound doctrine. While the Bible does not present all of church order under one single passage, it does provide a fairly complete body of doctrine on the matter in its accumulated teachings on the way churches should be organized and operated. It is not likely that any church conforms in every particular and every nuance to Scriptural prescriptions. However, most churches understand the need for conformity with the Bible.

It is a simple thing, really. Those things that the Bible commands ought to be done. Those things that are forbidden ought not be allowed. It is not about who sins how. We all sin in many ways that we are not even aware of. But if the Bible says that women ought not have authority over men, then that is how it ought to be. If the Bible teaches that churches ought to celebrate the Lord’s Supper and Baptism, then those ordinances ought to be practiced. If the Bible demands the laying on of hands in certain circumstances, then that ought to be practiced. If the Bible demands a unity of faith, then that unity ought to be in accordance with sound doctrine. If the Bible enjoins the singing of hymns, then the church ought to raise its collective voice in praise and supplication.

These things are not often problems in churches. Apostasy most often creeps in, not through disobedience to some specific command, but in the addition of things not specifically required. Rituals. Worldliness. Rules. Legalism. Standards of dress. Partiality. Cliques.

There are so many things that come into play when a church starts down the road to apostasy. It isn’t so much that a church suddenly begins to preach a doctrine of works rather than of grace. Instead, other things begin to come into a church, and doctrine slowly and inexorably loses its relevance. The plain and normal interpretation of Scripture gives way to rationalization, usually through some “modern-day” application that does not bear on the original intent of the writer. “Well, we know that it says such and so, but we need to make it pertinent to today.” This is how it is usually put.

Another platitude that is a favorite among preachers is that the congregation is not mature enough to handle the deep things of God. “They can’t handle anything but milk...” And whose fault is that? Why haven’t they been equipped to digest meat? In this writer’s experience, every Christian is able to grow, not because the teacher enables them, but because God does.

Sometimes, sound doctrine is not convenient. It might make someone mad. And maybe that someone is one of the wealthier members of the church, who provides much in the collection plate on Sunday. Heaven forbid that they should be offended by the truth. The apostate church will often overlook sound doctrine in order to accommodate one who would be offended by it. And then faith goes out the door. Then, the just do not live by faith, but by reason. Many pastors are literally afraid to take a stand on doctrinal matters for fear of losing their jobs. One pastor said to me, “If they didn’t pay me, I wouldn’t do the job.” Not I couldn’t do the job, but I wouldn’t.

If every Christian assembly would adhere to sound doctrine in everything, as commanded, God would bless His Church in ways that have never been done before. There would be fruit aplenty for everyone. There would be money enough for every ministry and more. If the churches would teach and hold fast to sound doctrine, there would be a revival around the world such as has never been before. The church would grow as fast as it did in the apostolic period and shortly thereafter.

Alas! We know that it will not be so. The Bible predicts a great apostasy, and we must know, therefore, that it shall be. But do not think that individual Christians cannot make a difference in any assembly. Learn sound doctrine and guard it, well, religiously. Encourage you pastor to stand on the truth, and then stand behind him.

What Good Does it Do To Suffer

What good can possibly come from a crisis? Plenty. It is often a crisis that drives us to our Bibles for comfort. When we get there, we always find the comfort that we seek, but if we are receptive, we also receive instruction. No crisis is allowed in the life of a Christian simply for God’s amusement. Whenever He allows us to suffer, it is always for a good purpose. If we are submissive to the will and the mind of God, He never fails to bless His children. Not in spite of crises, but because of them.

We read for comfort, but if we then turn to God with our whole hearts, we always find His message, both of love and of correction. It is most often through crisis that we grow, becoming more fruitful, and learning that ours is a God to be trusted and obeyed. Our faith grows in direct proportion to the magnitude of the crisis, and we become more effective in our personal ministries, but only as we are exercised by the Word of God. Sometimes the message is simply that we need to trust Him. More often, there is something in our lives that needs correction; something in our understanding that is faulty and must be straightened out. If we are compliant, blessing always follows.

Crisis is never easy. It stresses the mind and body, sometimes terribly. But God is not mean. He does not hate us. God is never more severe than we force Him to be. If we correct our children as gently as possible, God more so. But neither is He gentler than He can be if He is to effect our growth in faith and in the knowledge of Him. Sometimes we are very stubborn, and God thumps us on the head hard enough to get our attention. The mature Christian is one who has learned not to resist the chastening of God, but to react swiftly, and in conformity to His Word. God does love us, but sometimes love is not a soft caress, but a punch in the nose. Sometimes that is precisely what we need. Because He loves us, God gives us what we need. If we trusted Him in good times, we would not suffer so many bad times. Let us conform to His Word and be blessed!

The Riches of Divine Grace

And you being dead in your trespasses
and the uncircumsicion of your flesh,
He has made alive together with Him,
having forgiven you all trespasses... Col. 2:13

Believers are forgiven all trespasses as we see from this verse and this is in the sense that there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ. These trespasses that have been forgiven include all trespasses, whether past, present or future. The best explanation of the very center of this divine undertaking is best expressed by Chafer.

He writes, “The divine dealing with sin is doubtless difficult for the human mind to grasp, especially such sins as have not been committed. However it will be remembered that all sin of this age was yet future when Christ died. It’s power to condem is disannulled forever. In this connection the Holy Spirit inquires, ‘Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect?’ and, ‘Who is he who condemns?’ The inspired answers are conclusive: God justifies rather than charges with sin; and condemnation has been laid upon Another, who died, who is risen, who is at the right hand of God for us, and who also makes intercession for us.”

This brings us to the issue of the continuing forgiveness that goes on between the believer and God – between the child and His Father. It seems contradictory to say that one who is already forgiven needs to be forgiven but this, as Chafer puts it, “is explained on the ground of the truth that there are two wholly and unrelated spheres of relationship between the believer and God.” The first, being his standing in Christ and made forever a child of God, can never be undone as it is grounded completely in the merit of Another. Yet there still remains the believer’s state wherein he must continually be both forgiven and cleansed (1 John 1:9). The writer to the Hebrews said that through the sacrifice of Christ, there no longer remains a consciousness of sins. This certainly does not mean that the believer will not be conscious of the sins he committs but rather that his conscience is free in regard to condemnation. A Christian, when sinning, never breaks his union with God but rather his communion therefore needing restoration of fellowship by means of forgivness and cleansing on the basis of his own confession of his sin and, Chafer writes, “the deeper truth that Christ has borne the sin which otherwise would condemn.”

Again Chafer sums it up best by saying, “None of the believer’s positions before God, when rightly apprehended, is more a blessing to the heart than the fact that all condemnation is removed forever, God for Christ’s sake having forgiven all trespasses.”

Further Reference on Apostasy

Because apostasy is such a grave danger to the church, we would like to offer these further references for your continuing study of this rapidly blossoming phenomenon in the church. While these references in no way exhaust the Bible’s warnings concerning apostasy, they do offer at least some understanding of the gravity of the issue, and of the necessity in the local church of guarding against it with all diligence.

Mt 23:13; Lk 18:8 (and Scofield note); 1 Cor 1:26-31; 1 Cor 2:1-13; 1 Cor 3: 11-23; 1 Cor 16: 13; 2 Cor 2: 17; 2 Cor 4:3-7; 2 Cor 11: 3-4, 13-14; 2 Cor 13: 5-8; Gal 1: 6-9; Gal 3: 1-2; Gal 5:1; Gal 6: 12-14 Col 1: 21-23; Col 1: 24-27; Col 2:8, 20-23; 2 Th 2: 13-17; 1 Tim 4: 1-16; 1 Tim 6: 20-21; 2 Tim 2: 1, 14-17; 2 Tim 3: 1-17 (note); 2 Tim 4: 1-5; Titus 1: 10-13; Heb 4:11-13; Heb 10: 38-39; 2 Pet 3:17; 1 Jn 2: 18-27; 1 Jn 4:1-6; Jude 3-4; Rev 3:14-22

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