(Steve Evans – Pulpit & Pen) “Many of us belong to churches that have a low view of sin, but will have a very high view of love and grace. And then some of us are privileged to belong to churches where the true Gospel of Jesus Christ is declared weekly, where people are being called to repentance and pointed to the cross.”
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. –II Thessalonians 2:3
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 turned aside to fables. –II Timothy 4:3-4
These two passages come to mind often as I consider the state of the church today, especially when I look at the gospel declared and hold it up to the word of God.
A few weeks ago, as my sister and I were discussing Paul David Tripp’s “confession” (we have both been reading his devotional, New Morning Mercies), it brought to mind more of what is going on in the church today. Many of us here belong to churches where the gospel is not strongly presented, watered down, intellectualized or just flat missing.
Many of us belong to churches that have a low view of sin, but will have a very high view of love and grace. And then some of us are privileged to belong to churches where the true Gospel of Jesus Christ is declared weekly, where people are being called to repentance and pointed to the cross. They are urged to cast themselves on the mercy seat of Christ as their only hope; to look unto Him for salvation and to believe and trust. I am reminded of how my dad always gave an appeal to the cross of Christ to close every sermon he preached. Unfortunately, most of us belong to churches that fall into the first two categories.
So what is wrong in the Evangelical church today? Obviously, we are in a serious downgrade of our own. A term used by the Prince of Preachers, Charles Haddon Spurgeon to decry the compromise of his day.
The gospel is being perverted and watered down and compromised to make it more palatable. We have compromised the truth. It has become less offensive every day. The first time I heard Jordan Hall preach was his message on Sola Scriptura back in October 2017. Something he said has stayed with me. He said in answering someone that asked: “how can you expect to win them to Christ if you offend them?” And his answer was, “how can you expect to win them to Christ if you are not willing to offend?”