Let no
one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling
away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 2 Thessalonians 2:3 NKJV
I
am sure many of us are familiar with this verse, especially at this point in
time when many are saying the end of the age is upon us and the return of
Christ for His Church is imminent. It is
used often to describe what will occur within the body of Christ as many
believers turn away from what the Bible teaches and follow a false gospel
created and engineered by Satan himself.
As I was reading yet another commentary about this falling away this
past week, the thought occurred to me that while accurate, do we often overlook
one of the reasons this might be happening?
By that I mean, although we tend to focus on the individuals themselves,
who or what is leading them astray?
Sadly and unfortunately, my conclusion was; the Church itself.
If
we look at the definition of falling away as used in this passage, this is what
we find; apostasia; a falling away or
defection from the truth. Of course,
this leads us to the question we have all heard at one time or another,
especially if you took a philosophy class in college, “what is truth”?
Jesus
said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through Me. John 14:6 NKJV
Personally,
I love the simple answers in life. This
is certainly not the answer many people I have encountered wanted to hear, but
it is, nonetheless, an answer straight from the God of the universe. So my first question of any church is this;
do you teach this truth? Unfortunately
today in many churches, especially those who lean towards the emergent church
model, this is something you will never hear from the pulpit. The focus is all about service and works and
being involved, but nothing about first acknowledging your need for salvation
and accepting the sacrifice Jesus Christ made for your sins.
For I
am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation
for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. Romans 1:16
NKJV
Sadly,
the vast majority of churches today teach what I have termed the “gospel of the
moment”. That is, they teach whatever
they feel the congregation wants to hear in order to fill the seats with happy,
contented people. Sadly, it is not as if
God did not warn us in advance that this would happen. In his second letter to Timothy, Paul warned
of this problem in advance and explained that people would turn away from the
truth of the Gospel and instead embrace the lies of the evil one.
For the
time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their
own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves
teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned
aside to fables. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 NKJV
In
all of his letters, Paul makes it plain that the truth of which he is speaking
is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Greek
word for gospel is euaggelion, which
translates as; gospel, the glad tidings
of salvation through Christ. The
truth is, there is only one way for mankind to be saved from eternity in Hell
but rather spend it with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in Heaven above and
that is by accepting the salvation offered by His sacrifice on the cross for
our sin. On the day of Pentecost, after the Holy Spirit had come upon the
disciples, Peter makes it very clear when talking to the High Priest and his
advisors that there is only one true gospel, and that is the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
“Nor is
there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given
among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
NKJV
The
power of the gospel of Christ was so powerful that even these who had crucified
Him were forced to admit that something they could not explain had indeed occurred.
But
when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred
among themselves, saying, “What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a
notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in
Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. Acts
4:15-16 NKJV
When
Paul and Silas were put into prison in Philippi, a miracle occurred when God
produced an earthquake which caused the doors to open and their chains to fall
off. When the jailer was about to kill
himself, he was stopped by Paul and responded by asking this question;
And he
brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” So they said, “Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Acts 16:30-31 NKJV
Notice
that Paul’s answer to him was the gospel of Jesus Christ, and not some of what
you might hear in many churches today which teach a different “gospel”. When Jesus was explaining the gospel to
Nicodemus He said this;
Jesus
answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
John 3:3 NKJV
Jesus
went on to tell him that to be born again is to be born of the Spirit, which is
what happens when we choose to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John
3:16 NKJV
What
is the truth of the Gospel of Christ?
That God loved us so much that He sent His only Son to die on a cross
for our sins. What is required of us is
to simply admit we are sinners, and believe that Jesus paid the penalty for our
sin when He died on the cross. This is
what it means to be born again, and it is a gift given to us free of charge,
the only requirement being we must receive and accept it.
For by
grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the
gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 NKJV
What
is truth? The gospel of Jesus Christ. My question for you today is, are you
fighting for the truth? Does your church
teach the gospel of Christ? Does your
pastor teach, just as Jesus did, that we must be born again? Do you hear the message that mankind are
sinners in need of salvation? Have you
heard lately the words, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you
will be saved”? If not, I would
suggest that in order to fight for the truth, ask these questions of your
church. Copy this study and give it to
your pastor or the elders with the question, “why not”?
If
you are reading this today and have never made the decision to accept Jesus
Christ as your Savior, I encourage you to do it right now. Simply ask God to forgive you of your sin,
and believe that His Son Jesus Christ paid the penalty for your sin, and you
will be “born again” and “have everlasting life” just as Jesus said. This is the truth of the gospel. Do you fight for it?
Keep
watching.
