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The Daily Word of Righteousness
Removing the Tares From the Wheat, #3
For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness [immorality], and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. (Jude 1:4)
The Book of Jude, written in the first century, speaks of the infiltration of the Christian assemblies by people who are not of God.
Peter also warns us concerning the presence of the wicked, of those who never were born of God, in the assemblies of the Christians.
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. (II Peter 2:1).
From its beginning the Christian Church has been a mixture of wheat and tares. The wheat and the tares, the righteous and the lawless, have grown side by side in the Kingdom of God. Now it may be time for the tares to be removed from the wheat and for the righteous to "shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father."
Jude claims that the wicked teachers and members of the Christian assemblies turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, into freedom from moral restraint.
. . . ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness [immorality], . . . . (Jude 1:4)
The Apostle Paul's teaching of grace is being perverted to mean Christians do not have to obey the moral laws of God.
All persons who, after repeated warnings, continue to break the moral laws of God without repenting, whether or not they profess to belong to Christ, are not of God. They are lawless people. They are tares. They "worship" with us in the assemblies but they are not of God. We know they are not of God because they practice unrighteousness.
Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. (I John 3:7)
The pastors, teachers, and evangelists of our day appear to not believe I John 3:7. They do not believe that it is the person who practices righteousness who is righteous, even as the Lord Jesus is righteous, or that those who persist in wicked behavior are not of the Lord.
The current teaching is that we are acceptable to God by belief alone apart from works. The doctrine of "faith alone" is in clear, direct opposition to I John 3:7. Notice the next verse:
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifest, that he might destroy the works of the devil. (I John 3:8)
The Christian churches of our day are in moral chaos because of the doctrine of "faith alone." It is not true, not scriptural, that we are justified (made acceptable to God) by "faith alone." If faith is not demonstrated in righteous behavior it is dead, "being alone" (James 2:17). This is what the Spirit has declared through James. Let God be true and every man a liar.
The Christian churches throughout the world are filled with people who are not walking in righteousness. They do not practice moral restraint. They are accepted by churches or by the denominations as Christians. They are not Christians. They are tares. They resemble the wheat but they are not wheat. We know they are not wheat because they practice sin. They are not walking prayerfully and righteously before the Lord.
To be continued.