Many believers, even many pastors, know snippets of scripture, sentences or phrases that they will often quote to support their doctrinal beliefs. In doing so, they often take out of context what is really being said. For instance, one quotation I have heard quite often is something the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8, verse 1: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus…” They will then expound on these words of the apostle Paul and declare that “when God looks on a Christian all He sees is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We are no longer condemned. Jesus paid the price of sin and paid it in full. It is finished.” But here’s the full verse: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, WHO WALK NOT AFTER THE FLESH, BUT AFTER THE SPIRIT.” Out of forty-five different Bible translations examined, twenty-one contain the phrase, “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” and among those translations containing the phrase the following highly respected versions do so: Young’s Literal Translation, Smith’s Literal Translation, the Aramaic and Lamsa Translations, Tyndale’s Bible of 1526, Coverdale’s Bible of 1535, Bishop’s Bible of 1568 and the Geneva Bible of 1587. This same apostle warned that not only can believers fall into condemnation, but they can fall into the worst kind of condemnation, writing to Timothy, “For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God, not a novice (a new convert), lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil” (See I Timothy 3:5-6).
God sees us as we are. If we sin, He sees that sin and commands that we confess and forsake the same. It seems that there are few pastors who exhort their congregations to pay close attention to the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation. That is the passage wherein Jesus is described as standing in the midst of seven early congregations of believers of the First Century. He tells every one of them He knows their works. He sees their sins. Over and over again He commands them to repent, urging “he who has ears to hear, let him hear,” and warning them “I will give unto every one of you according to your works.” To the church at Thyatira, Christ warns, “I will kill her children with death” – the wages of sin! Jesus is not the author of confusion. He speaks plainly, forthrightly. He tells it like it is.
Many centuries before inspiring the apostle John to write the words quoted above, Jesus inspired His prophet Jeremiah to write: “I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins (the innermost being and thoughts), even to give every man (no exceptions) according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings” (See Jeremiah 17:10).
To the members of the ancient church at Sardis, Jesus promised “He that overcomes (his, or her, fleshly passions, tendencies to sin, Satan’s many deceptions), the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before His angels” (Revelation 3:5). Christ is not a deceiver. He does not falsely lead a believer to think his name can be blotted out of the book of life. Thousands of years previously, Jesus had said to Moses, “Whosoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book” (See Exodus 32:33). He changes not. God have mercy on any who forget that. Centuries later the Psalmist wrote of those who continued to sin, “Let them not come into thy righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous” (See Psalm 69:27-28).
Many professing Christians are members of congregations that embrace gross error and have those errors reinforced in their minds week in and week out as they sit under the teaching and instruction of pastors who have little understanding of the Word of God. What kind of pastors do you think many of the congregations mentioned in Revelation 2 and 3 had leading and guiding them? Those who teach falsehood can possess very pleasing personalities and can be very able speakers. That is why believers are commanded to “test the spirits” whether a pastor is truly anointed by the Lord or acting on their own in performing the office of a spiritual overseer of a given congregation. And, of course, those ignorant of the Word of God themselves are easily duped into following the spiritually blind.
Revelation Chapters 2 and 3 are the best test I know whereby one can “test the spirits.” Are the statements made therein something your pastor would say? If not, you should look for another pastor. Jesus Himself speaks words of condemnation to these believers, as many of them were men and women who walked in the flesh and not after the Spirit. He addresses Himself to those who already have a personal relationship with Him, warning many of them that they were in imminent danger of having their names blotted out of the book of life. For decades that danger was very real in my own life, but thanks be to God He was longsuffering and finally turned me around, making a lifelong enemy His faithful servant. I now live to serve and honor Him and to say what He says and to say it plainly, clearly and forthrightly.
Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley