The 4 Heresies of the Modern Evangelical Church
Introduction:
I had a dream 5th February 2012. In that dream I was preaching at the District Assembly. This is the message the Lord gave me in that dream that night. I awoke from my sleep, went into my office, took down my journal and wrote down the main points.
That is why I know precisely the night of this dream. It was so vivid and Jesus shared with me some points and as I pondered this dream and thought about what was shared with me that night, I realize how true the dream is. Many times since then I have thought about that dream, especially when I see people living below what Jesus provided for us with his death. “The Abundant Life”
That dream is going to come true in your hearing tonight. [I preached this sermon at the Solomon Island District Assembly November 10, 2012]
This sermon is entitled, “The 4 Heresies” – There are four heresies that have so infiltrated the modern or post-modern church that we believe they are scriptural but they are propagated to make mediocrity & nominalism a norm. It is hard to tell by the way people live whether they are a Christian, non-Christian, or backsliders. The way “Christians” live, the things they watch, their business dealings, their personal integrity, etc. is almost identical or even lower standard to that of a non-Christian. Since the points of this sermon cuts so close to what you and I [Fellow Christian believers] have been taught and have come to believe, many who hear this message may really disagree with me.
Even some of the things I share tonight even go against some of my own former beliefs and teachings. This is what was shared with me and God in my dream gave me scripture after scripture with each point.
1. Heresy #1 Are we a Saint or Sinner?
There is a popular song and I use to sing this song and cry while it was being sung and it would bless me. The lyrics goes, “I’m just an old sinner, saved by grace.”
Is that true? Are you a sinner? The Bible refers to believers most often as Saints. Are you a sinner or a saint?
Now let’s look closely at the Bible passages most often quoted when affirming this belief. These are the “sin” passages if I can refer to them as such. The Bible says, “We have [past tense] all sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.” Romans 3:23.
1 John 1:8 Says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
So you say there you go it proves we are sinners. 1 John 1:7, the verse right before verse 8 says, “if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7 The remedy for the sin is the cleansing power of the Blood of Jesus.
If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 1 John 1:9-10 (NRSV)
Verse 10 is very true in that anyone is lying who claims to be sinless and therefore has no need for the cleansing/forgiving power of the blood of Jesus.
1 John is written as one letter or more likely as one sermon, and one of the purposes for the evangelist’s writing of this letter is that they “will not sin.” (see 1 John 2:1)
Then notice what is written in John chapter 3 verses 5-10.
5 You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 Everyone who commits sin is a child of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Those who have been born of God do not sin, because God's seed abides in them; they cannot sin, because they have been born of God. 10 The children of God and the children of the devil are revealed in this way: all who do not do what is right are not from God, nor are those who do not love their brothers and sisters. 1 John 3:5-10 (NRSV)
Now let’s read from Romans, the same letter of Paul where we read the “all have sinned” passage. This letter too was written in its entirety as a unit. So when interpreting Romans 3:23, we have to keep it in context of the full letter. We need to maintain the integrity of the message Paul was trying to get across.
Romans 6:1-18 says, 1 What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For whoever has died is freed from sin. 8 But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
{Note here it does not say to consider yourself a sinner, but consider yourself dead to sin. Let’s quit the “I’m just a sinner” talk. Let’s live like and talk like we are dead to sin and alive to God.}
12 Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. 13 No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
15 What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, 18 and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. Romans 6:1-18 (NRSV)
The most common words for Christian in the Bible is saint or believer. I don’t see one place where a Christian is referred to as a sinning believer or sinning saint.
2. Heresy #2 I will call for lack of a better term “Decision Theology”
It goes something like this “We make a decision to follow Christ”. This is said like it is our choice and we can decide to become a Christian when we are good and ready.
In one sense this is sort of true. But the way it is practiced is not true and on the practical side it is a heresy.
Salvation is a gift of God not a decision of the human. It’s not about praying, saying a prayer, or repeating a prayer, and you are now “born again”. You can pray forever and ever and never have it. It means dying to the old ways. Surrender everything to God. Give it all up.
{I want to make this point many people have genuinely been born again from this type encounter because the person did in fact surrender the will to God and they then received the gift of salvation. I will and I want to urge you to continue to use any method possible to bring the message to the unsaved, but we need to be careful claiming someone is born again unless we disciple them and see the fruit evident from a life devoted to God.}
We can decide to receive or reject God’s gift, but we have no control over when the gift is offered. As soul winners we need to be sensitive to when God is moving in the life of a person. In that time a simple prayer in faith will do it. But a good persuasive salesman can convince almost anyone to pray after them and can be a mighty “soul-winner” and have thousands of converts on his/her records, but people are not saved through salesmanship.
You can decide to come to church, join the church, be baptized. You can decide a lot of things but you cannot save yourself. You can never become a Christian by your decision.
3. Heresy #3 – You know you are saved based on “Fact” not Feeling
It is commonly brought this way. We have the assurance of our salvation based on Fact not Feeling.
The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: Romans 8:16 (ASV)
True? What is the ‘Witness of the Spirit’? Is that fact of the head or a feeling of the heart?
The fruit of the Spirit contains, ‘Love, Joy, Peace, Patience’. These are emotions. I venture to tell you these are feelings. We certainly have the knowledge or the fact that they are a part of our life, but we ‘know’ love is there because we feel love.
It is true, that just because we wake up with a serious head ache, or the flu and we don’t feel good, or our boss cusses us out and we don’t feel especially holy, it does not mean we’ve lost our salvation and backslid.
If someone says something, or we feel discouraged, down-hearted, etc. and we don’t especially feel holy it does not mean we’ve lost our salvation. (Job)
Whatever the witness of the Spirit is it has to be a feeling. When one is saved or sanctified there is a radical change, accompanied by the witness of the Spirit, whatever that is it has to be a feeling.
I have a marriage license that confirms the “fact” that I am married to my wife. It is an undeniable fact and I can prove that to anyone who questions it. But our relationship is much more than that fact. I have a deep love for Nancy. It is a feeling that I have in my heart that makes me want to ring her whenever we are separated. It’s the “feeling” of love that makes me want to get home to her soon. That fact that we invited Jesus into our heart, is not enough, we need to live in that committed love relationship with the master. Whatever “Love” is, it has to be a feeling.
When the thieves came to my house and I was caught outside on the Veranda and they were threatening me with a bush knife {Machete} and through the turmoil of this potentially dangerous situation, I had an inner peace. That peace was a feeling. During that time the fact or knowledge of my salvation would not have been enough to sustain me, but the inner peace, which was a “feeling” allowed me to have a calm and even courage to witness to those who wanted to harm me.
4. Heresy #4 I will term “Easy Salvation”
This is closely related to Heresy #2. It’s easy to be saved, all you have to do is repeat this prayer after me and you will be saved. It definitely can happen that way, but often nothing transformational happens at that time. Frequently that is the start of one’s hunger and thirst for God.
Is salvation really about repeating a prayer? Neither Jesus, Paul, Peter, Phillip nor any of the other Apostles or people in the Bible used this plan of discipleship, and of conversion. If it was such a hot idea why didn’t these people think of it. Does that make it a bad plan? NO! but it does have limitation. Where it is not good is where you tick that you have one more conversion, just because someone came to the altar and prayed or repeated a prayer after another Christian. That does not make them a Christian.
This type of conversion reduces the salvation of Jesus to a magic formula. You do the formula right and zap you are a Christian.
In Jesus’ approach to people what does he say.
To Nicodemus he said, “You must be born again,”
To the rich young ruler he said, “Go sell what you have and give to the poor.”
To the crowd he said. If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple.
And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26-27 (NIV)
In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:33 (NIV)
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven. Matt 7:21 (ASV)
There are many scriptures, quotes from Jesus’ own mouth about the radical lifestyle of being a Christian. It was easy, however for those who had faith in Jesus. Like the woman who touched the hem of his garment. Frequently with Jesus ministry divine healing and spiritual healing went together.
Let’s see what the New Testament writers say:
Yea, and all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. 2 Tim 3:12 (ASV)
The writer of Hebrews says, “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” Heb 12:14 (NIV)
That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Romans 10:9-10 (NIV)
"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Romans 10:13 (NIV)
Peter calls us to Holy living, “Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. 14 Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. 15 Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; 16 for it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." 1 Peter 1:13-16 (NRSV)
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
Without Confession
NO Repentance
Without Repentance
NO Forgiveness
Without Forgiveness
NO Salvation
Without Salvation
NO Heaven
SORRY but this person is LOST in SIN
Many are Christians in name only, “I’m a Nazarene” or whatever.
I go to church (Unless I want to miss or have something else to do.)
I obey the rules of the church, (At least most of them.)
I’ve received Christian Baptism
I partake of the Lord’s Supper (Holy Communion, or Eucharist)
I’m a Sunday School teacher
I serve on the Church Board
I’m a pastor, missionary, evangelist (or whatever position you hold).
I sing in the Music Group.
These are all good “spiritual” things but they do not make one saved. Salvation is a gift from God and the trouble is we have many converts but many of these converts have received NOTHING. Help us LORD! They have converted to our church, but the “Gift of God” is about being transformed into the likeness and nature of God. To be Christ-like if you will.
That is why we have so many backsliders. They are serving the Lord, doing the best they can, but have received nothing. They are reformed. The reformation is sometimes complete. The transformation has not happened. They have not received the nature of Christ.
Illustration from the Butterfly: The butterfly young is a caterpillar. It eats leaves and is quite destructive. These caterpillars can destroy your garden or fruit trees, by eating all the leaves. Once the caterpillar goes into the cocoon (dies), it is changed and “born again” into a beautiful butterfly. The adult butterfly can no longer eat leaves. It is impossible because its very nature was changed. It no longer has the chewing mouth parts necessary to eat leaves. There is a similar radical transformation that takes place in the life of a Christian, who dies with Christ and is born again into a new life with Him.
There is no easy way to be a Christian.
Conclusion – You Too Can Be a Genuine Christian
Jesus Christ is waiting for you to come to him.
Are you still a sinner or are you Saved by Grace? You are not both at the same time.
If you are a sinner, confess your sins to Jesus, he is ready to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. He wants to save you by His grace and to save you from all sin.
Has Christ come to you? Do you have the assurance and know for certain that you are going to Heaven? Do you know that you are His child? You can know and be assured of your salvation.
Have you given everything to God? Is God in control? Is He the boss of your life? God wants control of your life. God wants the reigns. Let him set in the driver’s seat of your life. Are you tired of the mess you’ve made of your life? God is ready to help.
Do you have a love for God? Do you have that deep feeling of love that goes way beyond the fact of your salvation? I want to assure you that you can.
When I was a child I never heard the talk about making a decision. The talk I received was, “Pray, until you pray through to victory.” I’d like to encourage you to pray and earnestly seek God until you have the victory. As for me that victory came in the form of tears to my eye, songs in my heart, a flood of love all over me, and the weight of sin was removed. These were all feelings. The historical fact that something wonderful happened is good but I know that Jesus is still there due to the love that I feel for my Lord and the witness of the Holy Spirit that I am His child.
The fact of salvation is an historical reality but the feeling confirms the indwelling presence of our wonderful Lord and Savior.
May God bless you in your walk with Him.
Sermon by George Miller
