Psalm 19:1 (Lost People)

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE CHURCH TODAY? (Part 4/4)

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1).

Who are the lost of today’s generation? What do they look like? How do they live? What distinguishes one who is spiritually lost from one who is found?

From the Bible’s perspective, those who are “lost” have not professed faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, nor tasted the freedom which comes with repentance and reconciling our hearts to God for eternal salvation.

However, there is another group of lost people in the church today who are doing more harm than good because their moral foundation is not based entirely on the absolute truth of God’s Word. In other words, they profess Jesus as SAVIOR for the eternal benefit His death provides sinners but reject Him as LORD because of the personal responsibility and accountability Holy Scripture demands in return.

“This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:8–9).

This creates a dilemma for local churches today because pastors have no way of determining what any self-proclaimed Christian truly believes theologically. Therefore, we must take full responsibility to educate our fellow brethren on the differences between absolute truth and relative truth, because the future success or failure of Christ’s church depends on how seriously we address this foundational issue.

“Relativism says this: “Truth is what you perceive it to be, and what is true for you may be false for somebody else.” In our present society, you’re perfectly free to believe whatever you like, but the one thing you may not do is to deny its antithesis. You can say, “I believe that this is true.” But you cannot say with impunity that that which opposes it is false. We have a whole generation of Christians who have been brainwashed by the spirit of relativism so they’re completely hesitant to say, “I deny that error over there.” We don’t have heresy trials anymore because, in relativism, there is no such thing as heresy.”

— R.C. Sproul

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THE TRUTH WAR:

From the unbeliever’s “lost” perspective, faith in the Bible’s accuracy and validity ranges from non-existent to questionable at best. Their doubt far outweighs their willingness to believe its divine inspiration, so they reject its authenticity and relevance altogether, using human authorship, presumed contradictions, inaccuracies, and cultural irrelevance as common objections to its validity.

However, from the believer’s “saved” perspective, in today’s culture at least, faith in Jesus typically supersedes or even substitutes any need for endorsing the Bible as absolute truth. In other words, more and more self-proclaimed Christians are treating Jesus and the Bible as two separate entities, rather than one cohesive, interconnected manifestation of one another as described in John’s Gospel.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

The common denominator for those who are saved ultimately comes down to God’s Word (and not necessarily the sinner’s prayer) whether we realize it or not. For what we know about Jesus comes from Holy Scripture, which makes it even more confusing how people can profess full faith and assurance in Jesus but not trust the Bible’s inerrant validity in its entirety.

What is most concerning, though, is how easily Christians are swayed by cultural influence and popular opinion to the point where God’s Word is minimized or disregarded to justify sin. Therefore, more and more people are flocking to churches which are preaching false doctrine because they’re told what they want to hear to appease their actions, rather than the convicting, absolute truth of what God’s Word actually says.

“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Timothy 4:1–4).

ABSOLUTE TRUTH:

The challenge most lost people have with the Bible is how unashamedly dogmatic it declares itself without error. Their rebuttal is simply this: How can a 2,000-year-old book written by multiple authors over hundreds of years be perfect, inerrant, and considered absolute truth?

It is a fair question, but in many ways it’s important to understand how Scripture describes itself before immediately discrediting it. Why? So we can understand the benefits associated with placing faith and trust in what it says.

“The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward” (Psalm 19:7–11).

Psalm 19 assures us that God’s Word is perfect, sure, right, pure and true, and therefore we should fear the Lord with reverence because His judgment upon the sins of mankind is just, for He is holy and righteous. Therefore, we can trust His Word with 100% confidence knowing His standard of righteousness never changes.

As a result, the benefits we receive for standing firm on the foundation of His Word are spiritual revival, wisdom, joy, enlightenment, and eternal assurance that what He says will endure forever. Knowing this, how can any Christian reject the Bible as absolute truth?

Keep in mind, most seeker-sensitive churches today focus most of their ministry efforts marketing God’s love to unbelievers to the point where they assume God is pleased with them regardless of their post-conversion behavior. However, those same churches typically fail their new converts by neglecting to help them fully understand and revere God’s wrath and judgment, which underscores the reason His grace is so amazing.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves” (Matthew 23:15).

Consequently, it all comes down to embracing Scripture as the absolute foundation of our faith which provides the reason for the hope we have in Christ. For the Bible is our treasure map guiding us home by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, through the blood of Jesus for the ultimate purpose of reconciliation with God the Father forevermore.

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” (Romans 5:8–11).

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GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY:

One of the other main reasons those who are spiritually lost struggle placing faith and trust in the Bible is because they cannot fully comprehend the depth and breadth of God’s sovereignty over all creation.

To accept God is sovereign over all means we must yield to His final authority over our lives. Therefore, we can rest assured He will never leave us nor forsake us, even when trials test the fortitude of our faith foundation (or lack thereof).

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2–4).

God’s sovereignty demands we relinquish control of our lives to Him, trusting that He knows what is best even when we cannot see the horizon. It is truly the linchpin of our Christian faith revealing how deep our roots are planted in Scripture, for God’s sovereignty is the thread which connects every book of the Bible into one cohesive story of redemption.

“No doctrine in the whole Word of God has more excited the hatred of mankind than the truth of the absolute sovereignty of God. The fact that “the Lord reigneth” is indisputable, and it is this fact that arouses the utmost opposition in the unrenewed human heart.”

— Charles Spurgeon

However, God's sovereignty forces us to reconcile we do not have all the answers in life, and that we’re okay with that. It is a critical aspect of our faith we cannot miss, for trials and tribulations will tempt us to doubt whether God is truly present or that He cares. Therefore, in those moments we must decide whether we’ll continue trusting Him when life simply doesn’t make sense or lose faith altogether.

The other aspect of God’s sovereignty lost people struggle to understand focuses on why God allows certain things to happen (natural disasters, death of a loved one, evil in this world, etc.), and why we struggle with some of the things we do (fleshly desires, physical, mental, and emotional ailments/handicaps, etc.)

However, we cannot allow ourselves to fall into the trap of requiring answers to all life’s questions to trust God’s sovereignty. Why? Because trust is the byproduct of faith, and accepting we are not omniscient is the first step toward relinquishing ultimate control to God.

“The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:3).
“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable” (Isaiah 40:28).

BOTTOM-LINE:

We have all been spiritually lost at one point or another in our lives, but the difference between those who are lost vs. those who are found hinges upon the absolute truth of Scripture, which details God’s plan of redemption for the sins of mankind.

Undoubtedly, Jesus is the thread which connects every book of the Bible together. Therefore, we cannot allow our minds to compartmentalize Jesus apart from Scripture to live however we want. Rather, we must relinquish control of our lives to His sovereign will, and trust His Word is absolute truth from Genesis to Revelation.

“Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” (John 5:45–47).

For everything written in Scripture is meant to guide and protect us from conforming to the pattern of this world, which means we must accept by faith its inerrancy and validity, especially in today’s culture of relativism.

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17).

Bottom-line, being spiritually lost no longer means unbelief in Jesus. Simply look around in most churches today and we’ll find countless self-proclaimed Christians posturing freedom of self-expression and God’s love to justify abortion, homosexuality, divorce, etc.

However, there will come a day when we will ALL bow before the judgment seat of God almighty and give an account of whether we built our lives on the solid rock of His Word (absolute truth), or the sinking sand of man-made religion (relative truth).

Make no mistake, Jesus expects us to live unashamed of Scripture if we profess ourselves as His followers. Therefore, we must reconcile our hearts to God, for His Word is the fountain of knowledge and wisdom we desperately need to survive this world.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:21–23).