“Before God and Jesus Christ, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom, I solemnly charge you: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 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 will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables (untruths).” ~ 2 Timothy 4:1-4
When was the last time you heard the full gospel in your local church, so that you would know how to share it with others out in the world, in your workplaces, among your family members, with your waitress and bartender, with your enemy? People say that want to know the truth, but there are none who naturally seek after God’s truth. To assume there are “seekers” is a lie and against the Word of God, yet some leaders in local churches teach that the World is seeking God’s truth. What does God say in this area? Psalm 53:2-3 says, “God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understands, who seek God. Everyone one of them has turned aside; they have together become corrupt; there is non who does good, no, not one.” Romans 3:10-12 says, “As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.” How does leaders in churches reconcile their teaching of being “seeker-sensitive” with what God has already said, yet then say they trust in the whole Word of God? There’s a dilemma here for them.
Yet, the greater problem is, while local churches are being “seeker-sensitive,” by removing Christian symbols and working overtime not to look like a traditional “church,” they are failing to preach the full gospel, teaching their flocks so they can go out into the World understanding what the gospel is to effectively communicate it to those who are lost and not seeking. For anyone to seek after God would be doing good, yet Scripture says “there is none who does good, no, not one.” This creates a cyclical, hypocritical, contradicting problem. To be seeker-sensitive, there is the assumption someone is seeking to know the truth of God, which is the full gospel, yet if we don’t teach the full gospel, those who would be seeking would continue to be seeking, for the gospel would never be communicated. Chase that rabbit down the endless hole to splitting tunnels of great destruction of the soul to only find Hell and Death being cast into the Lake of Fire for eternity (Rev. 20:14). Yes, of course! Everyone wants to go to “heaven.” THEY JUST DON’T WANT GOD TO BE THERE WHEN THEY GET THERE!! (quoted Paul Washer). We all know a just judge must judge rightly and execute a punishment for breaking the established law. The devil enjoys a lazy and neglectful preacher and teacher who sacrafices the instructions of God to be relevant to the changing times and world whom they assume are seeking God’s truth.
So, in remaining faithful and obedient to Christ to preach His message, here is the full gospel. Here is the answer to the doubts and fears of those who do not believe God’s truth. God loved you in this, that while we all were still sinners (enemies against Him and His ways), He provided His own sacrafice to receive His just wrath that is due upon us all. Rather than punish us, His Son, Jesus took on our punishment. Yet that is not understood without first understanding why His sacrafice is important. All sins, no matter how small or great, must be judged by the holy & perfect God.
Knowing that a just judge will provide a judgement for the breaking of law, no one is able to hear the verdict, then say, “Please overlook it this one time.” The verdict will be given. This means that no one can escape God’s judgement. Yet, God, being the Creator of all that exist, set the standard for satisfying His wrath. He requires a perfect, sinless sacrafice to place His judgement upon. Thus, He gave Christ up in our place for us. We didn’t ask. He took the needed initiative and just did.
Why would Jesus die for us, when we don’t even love Him? Why would He step into the eternal path of destruction for us? Why would He present us with an eternal hope in the midst of a chaotic, dark world? Simply put, He loves us beyond our understanding. He, being love, is the standard for love. His ways are the standard for truly living. Jesus didn’t come to make this world better, as the Jews misunderstood the Scriptures concerning the coming Messiah. Rather He came to provide the only way back God, away from His wrath – providing the only way to eternal life beyond our existence on this earth, where there is no fear or doubt.
God makes it clear that none of us has the ability to seek after Him or His truth. We love our sin, for we naturally are sinful. He initiates the process by drawing us to Him by His Holy Spirit. He regenerates or revives our dead spirit (not the same as soul) so that we are able to then hear His calling us. We then respond in recognition of how sinful and unworthy we are of His calling by repenting for our many, many sins. W e ask His forgiveness. We learn about Him & Son Jesu, through the Holy Spirit teaching us, and we accept His sacrafice. As we accept His sacrafice, we desire to commit ourselves to Him and His ways. He resides as our Lord, for He has then saved us from our sinful, dead state of existence. It is because of our sin that we were already dead & separated from Him, unable to hear His calling us to repentance, but once we have heard & responded, we completely turn from our sins & old ways to run to Him and remain in His safety.
As we run to Him, we make Him known to others, unashamedly, for He has paid the greatest debt for our very souls. This does not mean our lives are now easier, however, our eternal hope can now rest assuredly in Him. We then immediately obey His leading to be baptized as a symbolic gesture of being crucify, dead & buried and raised again to new life in Him. The person who travels this road is a Christian. They understand that temptation of their old life will always be present. They may stumble, but they get back up and keep running to Christ. They understand the devil is always at work to bring them to destruction. Yet, their hope is in Christ, for He is. He is because He is God with us. He paid the great price for our sins, whether or not we accept that truth. His sacrafice is not in vain, for He has already said few would respond to His calling. Rather, their love their sin and darkness will take them down the road that leads to eternal destruction, which is exactly what the devil desires. Satan has no forgiveness, for he was never flesh to be sinful, but rather willfully chose to sin against God. He has been punished to that eternal damnation that many of man are now choosing themselves.
It is appointed unto every man and woman to die once and there after be judged by God, through His Son Jesus. It is the shed, spilled blood of Jesus that each true Christian has been washed in to be able to stand before God on judgement day & not be condemned. Those who have reject the sacrafice of Christ will have already condemned themselves and choose hell.
There is a misperception that Jesus desires to cramp peoples style and be a kill-joy. Yes, Jesus came to give mankind life more abundantly. He, being God in the flesh, had always knew the state of man was deprived of life due to sin. He knew man would be doomed without redemption. He knew that man would come up with ways we thought we could get back to God, but that none of those ways would not be acceptable to God, which would result in our eternal condemnation to Hell. He knew & acted on our behalf.
Jesus only ask that we accept this truth. We don’t make a decision to come to Jesus & make Him our saviour. Rather we accept His calling, regeneration, forgiveness, redemption and adoption to be His children. We commit ourselves to Him daily, seeking Him daily, resting in His comforting arms daily, as He changes & molds us to perfection in Him, keeping our hope & faith in Him alone & not ourselves or anything this world has to offer. This is the gospel of Christ. Let those who have read this heed the Word of God. Be blessed.
First, I want to say that I agree with you about the seeker-sensitive church. In my opinion it is unbiblical. I categorically reject it. I have written extensively against it on my blog. Secondly, I want to thank you for writing the article. More than any other post I have read on WordPress, this one has had me thinking all weekend!
I can not shake out of my mind your main problem with the S.S movement. I disagree with your take, and I don’t often comment on someone else’s blog when I disagree with them. This is something I have been wrestling with for a while now, and I thought I would discuss it with you. Feel free to not post this on your blog.
You said,
“To assume there are “seekers” is a lie and against the Word of God, yet some leaders in local churches teach that the World is seeking God’s truth. What does God say in this area? Psalm 53:2-3 says, “God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understands, who seek God. Everyone one of them has turned aside; they have together become corrupt; there is non who does good, no, not one.” Romans 3:10-12 says, “As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.” How does leaders in churches reconcile their teaching of being “seeker-sensitive” with what God has already said, yet then say they trust in the whole Word of God? There’s a dilemma here for them.”
I understand this is clearly a reformed perspective on depravity. Over the course of my life I have held the position myself. So I understand the larger picture. However, the passage you quoted does not say that people can’t seek after God. It simply states that they don’t. Clearly that is a significant distinction. “There is none that seeks God.” We have to qualify what “none or no one” means. Clearly, born-again believers seek God or at least can seek Him. Was Paul excluding himself, the other Apostles and all NT believers from his statement? If we do, then we have two categories of people, those that do and those that don’t seek Him. “None” has just been redefined. When we look at the OT, there are example after example of people who did seek after God. Cain and Able were able to seek God through worship, and this was just a few years after the fall. If one human being can seek God, then it is either a special situation, or God created mankind with some type of ability to seek him. Both are possible views.
I think these facts are indisputable. So we are back to what “none” or “no one” means in this passage. Here is my take on it. I think the writers are saying that no one seeks God the way he should be sought after. No one fully follows him, and offers an unstained life of obedience. That doesn’t have to mean that people can never, ever seek him or never ever obey him at all. I must admit, I wrestle with this “no one” can plank of Calvinism, when clearly some have.
Thanks for the post!
Hey Jim…I appreciate you commenting and encourage you to comment more on anyones blog when you don’t disagree, if it is for the betterment of iron sharpening iron to help further the kingdom. The best way you and I can do that is to present Scripture and avoid opinion as much as possible. That way, when there is a refute, their refute is not with you. It is with the Holy Spirit and them to gain right understanding. With that said, let me quickly address your response.
First, I’m sure you will forgive me when I tell you that I narrowed this post down rom eight pages (single spaced) to make it somewhat appropriate for blog size. Even after I posted this entry, I felt there were points made that were weak in full explanation. One of those points was the very one you are presenting.
I am never conformed to a “reformed,” calvanist, armenian or any other perspective of man that is not the perspective of the Holy Bible. I’ve lived enough of my past in opinion and following personalities. It has only brought the American church to much great division. My desire is to stand on the Word and let it speak for itself. Having said that, you stated, “So I understand the larger picture. However, the passage you quoted does not say that people can’t seek after God. It simply states that they don’t. Clearly that is a significant distinction.” I totally agree. To not be longer winded than I already have been, let me clarify. Anyone who has been regenerated in spirit is able to seek after God. With a dead spirit, there is no acknowledgement of God. Rather, Jesus said, “No one comes to me, unless the Father draws Him” (John 6:44). You stated, ” However, the passage you quoted does not say that people can’t seek after God.” Anyone that is being drawn by the Father definitely “can and will seek after God. If you were to look up the Greek meaning/phrase for the word “drawn,” in John 6:44, you would find that it means “to forcefully drag.” This same word draw is also used in John 21:6 when talking about the disciples having to drag the net filled with fish, after Jesus instructed them to do so. I stand in agreement with you that people can seek God. However, the point I was highlighting from Scripture was that Jesus spoke to our inability to do so apart from Him. Let me know if that makes sense. Yes, Cain and Abel both did seek after God. Cain and Abel both had already acknowledged God too by the time you read the passage you are referring to. God had already revived their dead spirit to be able to hear His call to even desire to make an offering to Him.
Again, I could have gone Scripture after Scripture to speak to the point I was trying to make. I do not want you to wrestle with the “no one.” I’m not a calvanist or any other title, nor do I desire to be. I am a Christian only, and called to teach God’s Word (rightly divided). I do not stand above correction, rebuke, exhortation or submission. Your response helped me to grow. I’ve learned in this one encounter how important it is to be thorough in presenting God’s Word. If I can’t do it in the blog I post, I should rethink positing it until it is more effective in it’s presentations as God would have His Word to be. That’s a big problem for our local churches today. There is little teaching of God’s Word in order to remain within the guidelines of program curriculums and time restrictions of weekend services. Stay blessed brother and hit me back. With all thy getting, get an understanding. (o: