Quote: “People love their sin and as their sin is legitimized, as their sin is normalized, as their sin is legalized, they’re going to cherish their sins more openly and more publicly and they’re not going to be interested in the things of Christ and suffering for the cause of Christ.” – John MacArthur. Certainly such a quote fits with what we see and hear from the people of the world today, but they’re not the people he was referring to. He was referring to what we see and hear from the people of the church; not of the true Church of course, nevertheless, the people of the world don’t know that!
Do you see the sin progression? Legitimized, normalized then legalized! That’s the principle of gradualism working to perfection – “by gradual steps rather than by drastic change,” is how one dictionary describes it. That’s how same-sex marriage wormed its way to acceptance in churches. Sin-loving, godless devils long ago stepped into the pulpits with one primary objective – encourage sin-loving, godless people to toss aside the word of God and embrace the word of their sin-loving selves. For who else but these does the Scripture speak? For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for condemnation, ungodly men who turn the grace of God into licentiousness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ Jude 4.
The above Scripture applies to the leadership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sweden too. The clergy there have been instructed to refer to God only as “God,” and not “Father” and “Son” in order to be gender neutral. Could this crowd be described as sin-loving, godless devils? Yes, anyone who is godly wouldn’t entertain such blasphemy and denial for one moment let alone embrace it. The apostle Peter warned us of these. There will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed 2 Peter 2:1-2. Talk about the ultimate denial of God!
The ever-increasing number of sin-loving godless devils inhabiting church pulpits are the primary reason we have an ever-increasing number of sin-loving godless people inhabiting church pews and there will be no turning back from that reality this side of the Great Tribulation. For sin-hating godly people, that means we must not allow ourselves to naively believe everyone who says to us, “I’m a Christian.” On what basis do they say they’re a Christian? That’s the question we must ask, for their good as well as ours. There is only one answer to the question. “I’m a Christian because I’m trusting in the finished work of Jesus at the cross. He shed His blood for my sin there, died for me and rose again. On that basis, Jesus is my Savior and Lord and I serve Him as such.”
Firstly, for their good: Any answer other than that one means that more than likely they are trusting in their own efforts for their salvation, such as: I am a good person. I go to church every week. I love God. I tithe 10% of my income. I pray and read the Bible daily. I am a church deacon. I am a church elder. If these or similar answers are all we hear from such people, probably they are not Christians at all, but merely religious people; false Christians in other words, of which there are far more of sitting in churches than there are true Christians. If that’s the case, they are hell-bound, not heaven-bound. Therefore, they need to hear the gospel of Christ preached every bit as much as the sin-loving heathen in the world need to hear it preached.
Secondly, for our good: We are living in the end-times. How far into them, only God knows, but such times promise increased persecution for genuine Christians. Now is the time to pray in preparation for that, for the worst of it will come from those within the church, not from those without. And just as it was Judas who betrayed Jesus, it will be “Christians” with a Judas spirit who will betray us. Better we know that in advance because for those who don’t know it, they’re in for a devastating experience. It’s one thing to be betrayed by the people of the world, but it is something else altogether to be betrayed by the people of the church! Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me Psalm 41:9.
In reference to these end-times, it is the nature and character of sin-loving godless devils inhabiting church pulpits and sin-loving godless people inhabiting church pews that the apostle Paul wants sin-hating godly people to be fully aware of. 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, traitors, 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! 2 Timothy 3:1-5. No, we’re not to be judgmental, but we must learn to discern.
To discern is to, Judge with righteous judgment John 7:24. Spiritual discernment is a Holy Spirit-given gift, closely related to spiritual wisdom. Christians exercising spiritual discernment don’t make judgments based on outward appearances, but rather, by what the Holy Spirit reveals about people or situations. It is a spiritual gift seriously lacking in most churches today, which explains why there are more sin-loving godless devils inhabiting church pulpits and sin-loving godless people inhabiting church pews than there are sin-hating godly people. If it were otherwise, this post would not be written. We must not bow to the “don’t be judgmental” crowd; they don’t know what we know. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good Romans 12:9.
Encouragement for sin-hating godly people who believe they may be lacking spiritual discernment: Tell the Lord Jesus in prayer and ask to be drawn closer to Him. The way He will do that is place a hunger in your heart for His word. Tell Him you want to make the Scriptures of the Bible your final authority as they are, His. Tell the Lord you will reject anything and everything you hear that doesn’t line up with the Scriptures and if that means leaving your present church, you will do so under the timing and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Tell the Lord daily that you hunger and thirst for righteousness. Two promises come to the Christian who prays for that: 1) You will be blessed 2) You shall be filled with it. Matthew 5:6.
More encouragement for sin-hating godly people: The more we know the Scriptures and live according to them, the more we know God and live according to His will. The two go hand in hand and can never be separated. Just as God watches over His word, He watches over those who obey His word. Something else: Outside of the Scriptures God has nothing to say. So when we hear of or listen to sin-loving godless devils inhabiting church pulpits telling people, “Love unites us, doctrine divides us,” we know in a flash those people are giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils 1 Timothy 4:1. Doctrine does divide, but not because of love, it is because of truth! If it were simply a matter of love, they would not have put Jesus on that cross!
Be diligent to present yourself approved of God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth 2 Timothy 2:15. Thank God doctrine divides! If it didn’t there would be no way of knowing how accurate we were in our studies of Scripture. That being the case we might end up joining the ranks of the sin-loving godless, cherishing our sins openly and more publicly, rather than joining the ranks of the sin-hating hating godly. For it is only the study of Scripture and the correct application of it to our lives under the ministry and power of God the Holy Spirit that separates us. Too, there is no other way we can take spiritual power and authority over Satan the devil and his cohorts when we come up against them.
Who knows the next sins to be legitimized, normalized then legalized? Polygamy? Polyamory? Pedophilia? They’re all on the way for sure. Sin-loving godless devils inhabiting church pulpits will not stop with same-sex marriage. They know how the principal of gradualism works and how to manipulate it so as to keep sin-loving godless people inhabiting church pews from turning to the Lord Jesus Christ. Therein is the mission for all sin-hating godly people. I pray we make ourselves available to God to pull a few of them from the gates of hell. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil….. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God John 3: 19-21.