If I Could Te

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ThingNatha

Pitchford

Chapter Six: To the Christian (Part Two)

If there is one thing that the preceding overview of contemporary western Christianity has madeclear, it is that there is surprisingly little

true

Christianity left in the midst of a thousand different falsegospels and counterfeit Christian movements and denominations across the religious landscape. Butthis fact should not discourage anyone seeking a true Christianity to follow or a certain gospel to trust.Yes, the gospel has been twisted, perverted, denied, and misrepresented, but it has not been overcome,nor will it ever be overcome, but will finally triumph over every scheme of the enemy, and bring all of God's children home to glory. That is the unshakeable conviction compelling me to write, and it is thefoundational truth I want to drive home to you before I even address you, and keep ever before you as Ispeak.Really, it should not surprise us that broad Christianity is in such a deplorable condition: after all, that is what the first Christian apostles prophesied. Even as Christianity grows and spreads acrossthe world, we are reminded that, at the same time, “evil men and seducers will grow worse and worse,deceiving and being deceived”

. According to the clear testimony of the Holy Spirit, “in the last times,some shall turn aside from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, speakingfalsely in hypocrisy...”

. In fact, “the time will come when they shall no longer endure sound doctrine, but, according to their own lusts, heap up for themselves teachers who tickle the ears, and they shallturn aside from hearing the truth, and be drawn away to fables”

. Look at the current state of professingChristendom and tell me, if that prophecy is not being fulfilled today, when will it ever be fulfilled?But in a way, even this state of affairs, as dismal as it is, should be an encouragement; for itassures us that God's foretold plan is actually taking place even today, right before our eyes. If the prophecies of demonic doctrines and false gospels are being fulfilled, then we may be sure that theother prophecies are likewise being fulfilled, prophecies of the certain spread and sure triumph of Christianity. The true gospel will certainly be proclaimed among every people on earth

, it willcertainly have a fruitful impact, calling out people from every kindred, tribe, tongue, and nation

; andwhen that has taken place, Christ will certainly return, giving rest and comfort to us who are his, anddestroying all of our enemies, who have perverted the gospel of his grace

. If the promise of falseteaching is being fulfilled, how much more confidently may we suppose that the promise of theworldwide success of the gospel will likewise be fulfilled?In fact, this is exactly in accordance with how God has worked among his people from the beginning of time. Ever since God first called to himself a people whom he would redeem, they weresmall and outnumbered, a mere remnant of grace. Cain killed Abel and built a populous city, hisdescendants made war against the descendants of Seth, Abel's replacement, and soon had them sooutnumbered that the whole world was awash in wickedness, and the sole surviving remnant of gracewas one man, Noah, with his family

. Ever after that, the same basic dynamic occurred again and againin redemptive history: and in fact, when God had called the one small nation of Israel to be his peopleout of all the many nations on the earth, the false teachers and impostors outnumbered the true remnantof grace even within the outward people of God. In the days of the prophet Elijah, God had preservedonly seven thousand true believers in Christ, out of a whole nation of those who by outward

1 2 Timothy 3:132 1 Timothy 4:1-23 2 Timothy 4:3-44 Matthew 24:145 Revelation 5:96 2 Thessalonians 1:6-107 see Genesis 4-6

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cisrcumstance could be designated his people

. This reality, which has been consistent throughoutredemptive history, is by design: it shows that God does not need the strong and powerful toaccomplish his redemptive plans, but he works through the outnumbered, lowly, and despised.Ultimately, he provided a perfect redemption through one man, more despised and lowly than all, todisplay the greatness of his power

.So if outward Christianity today is largely corrupt, and the realChristians, who cling to the true gospel, are outnumbered and despised, should we be surprised or discouraged? We ought to be neither, if we realize how God has pleased to cause his truth to triumph inand through the few and the lowly, not the many and mighty.I must make one further point before I address certain kinds of professing Christians: thecategories I will employ here do not fall neatly into the categories of movements and denominationsthat I used earlier. While we may relegate entire movements within Christendom to the sphere of falseChristianity, if they are confessedly adhering to a false gospel, we may not so easily place an entiremovement or denomination within the realm of the true Church. The heavenly Kingdom is notcomposed exclusively of Southern Baptists, or the Presbyterian Church of America, or any other suchgroup. It finds its true citizens all across the world, and in virtually every part of the professing Church.If true and false Christianity may be compared to wheat and tares, then it is not as if one field is full of wheat and three others are full of tares. No, all the fields have some wheat and some tares mixedtogether, and this will be true until Christ returns to separate them

.So now, with that in mind, I will address these categories of professing Christians: first, themerely nominal; second, Christians who openly embrace a false gospel; third, Christians who pursuerighteousness as if it were of their own works; and fourth, Christians who genuinely embrace thegospel of God's free grace, and show practical fruits of it in their lives.

To the Nominal Christian

First, I would speak to you who call yourselves Christians, but the whole tenor of your livesindicates that something other than the gospel is fundamentally important to you. What do you think you gain by calling yourself a Christian, when you know nothing of the power and reality of Christianity? Do you just want it as a part of your heritage, when it means nothing to you for what it isin itself? Do you think that, just because you're a Norwegian, you must be a Lutheran? Or just becauseyour grandparents were Baptists, you must be too? But consider how foolish that is, even on the face of it: your ancestors possessed something that was real and life-changing; and now, even while you profess to honor their memory by labeling yourself a Christian, you dishonor them by making amockery of all they held dear.But not only is it foolish and hypocritical to claim a label that is not rightfully yours, it islikewise immensely and eternally dangerous; for if you call yourself a Christian, and bring reproach onthe Name of Christ, you will bear your eternal punishment for that dishonesty, and it will be moresevere than you could possibly imagine. If an invading army overran your country, and the commander caught you in your own fields, professing openly to be a citizen of the country with which he was atwar, although he would doubtless take you captive you might perhaps expect some leniency; but whatif you donned the uniform of his own soldiers, and in his own name went into his country as if youwere one of his subjects, to plunder and destroy his people? Then, when he captured you as atreacherous spy harming both his people and his reputation, you could expect no leniency, but only thefull punishment of the law. So too, when you call yourself by the name of Christ, and yet live for the

8 1 Kings 19:13-18; Romans 11:1-59 see Isaiah 5310 This illustration comes from Christ's parable in Matthew 13:24-30

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devil and destroy right doctrine by your lifestyle and example, and thus lead many others around youinto the blasphemous notion that they too can live according to their own whims and yet still beChristians, then you are as the treacherous spy, destroying and plundering in the very name of theconquering King whom you oppose. Your punishment will be great, and you will find no mercy.Do you really think that Christ is such a weak and paltry King as that? Do you think you canoppose and deny him, that you can live just like the rest of the world and not acknowledge him in your daily life at all, but still claim him as your Lord? Do you not remember what our Lord said, that if anyone desired to follow him he must leave his father and mother, deny himself, take up his cross,wage a steady warfare against sin

? That if anyone put his hand to the plough, that is, representedhimself as a Christian ready to enter the service of the Master, and then looked back to the lifestyle hewas called to leave behind, and fled back in his lust to all his old ways of living, that he could not at all be his disciple

? If you do not give up everything to follow Christ, you have no right to be called byhis name. If your desires and concerns all involve this world and this life, yet you say you are aChristian, then you are a liar and a blasphemer, you are spitting in the face of the Savior and slanderinghis name in the world. It would be far better for you to drop the name you insincerely anddisrespectfully bear, and call yourself a pagan or an atheist, anything but a Christian. You will still bear your punishment, but at least the great guilt of desecrating the precious name of Christ will not beadded to your heap of sins.Oh, that you would realize the vast weightiness and importance of this! Christianity is not agame, it is not a social club, it is not something you do on Sunday morning and then forget. It is themost fundamental and eternal reality you have ever encountered, it sets before you unspeakable andeternal bliss, if you would cast yourself truly and utterly on Christ – but oh, the horrors of rejecting him by a life of casual flippancy even while you confess his name outwardly! Oh, what punishment you arein danger of! If the almighty and righteous God thought sin was serious enough that he was willing to put his own beloved Son to anguish and shame because of it, what will he be pleased to do to him whomakes light of the immense self-sacrifice of Christ? If the weight of his wrath against sin overwhelmedthe infinite and mighty Savior, if it broke his very heart and cast into death the One who, in his eternal person, is Life itself, what will the same cup of wrath do to you, when you drink it for yourself on theDay of Judgment?How many Christians in name only are like this, though? They call themselves by the name of the Savior, but throughout the week they make light of his glorious name, they use it as a curse word toexpress their impatience and anger, they gossip and backbite, they live openly in fornication anddespise his holy estate of marriage, they do all the same things that the world does. Tell me, then, howare you a Christian when you do these things? How brazen can you be in the guilt of your rebellion, tolive in open rejection of Christ's commandments and still say he is your Savior? I promise you, if youlive your entire life despising his authority and refusing to follow his clear commands, he will not saveyou at all, but rather make you know all the fury of his wrath. He is not the kind of King that can bemocked and never demand it of the laughing rebels. You may mock him for a time, you may play your game of respectable Christianity that means nothing real for all the days of this little, fleeting life, butyou will soon meet the Lord face-to-face, and he will then mock those who once mocked him, andshatter them with an iron rod

. Oh, that you would come to your senses and repent!

To the Self-Professed Christian Embracing Heretical Doctrine