The Deception of Carnal Christianity
“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” - II Timothy 3:2-5
My heart is heavy because of the spiritual darkness of our day and the unconcern for holiness and righteous living that is so manifested among so-called Christians. As I face this sad spiritual condition, my soul cries unto our living God, “O Lord, rend the heavens and come down; in wrath remember mercy, pour out Thy Spirit of grace and supplication upon us, for we need Thy redeeming grace in this hour!”
Never were there so many millions of nominal Christians on earth as there are today. Never was there such a small percentage of true believers. Not since before the days of the great reformation has Christendom been so crowded with those who have a form of godliness, but who are strangers to its transforming power. I seriously doubt whether there has ever been a time in history of this Christian era when there were such multitudes of deceived souls within and without the churches who verily believe that all is well with their soul, when in fact, the wrath of God abideth on them.
“A Form of Godliness”
Surely the Scriptures we have been using from II Timothy 3 apply to the condition we find today in Christendom, as verse 5 expresses: “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” Surely there is more light today upon the Word of God than there has ever been, for Bible Study groups are springing up everywhere; but there is less life in Christ than ever before. There are more professions today than there have ever been, but less sanctification of life. Seemingly everybody seems to be “born again”; but where are the fruits of the new birth? There is more fasting, praying and preaching than ever, but where is the practice and the power of true religion in Christ? As Isaac said to Abraham, “Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb?” (Gen 22:7). Where is the Christ-like life?-those to whom the Lord Jesus Christ is precious and a living reality?
Yes, we see many works and many duties; but where, is the life, the power, and the truth? Surely the voice is Jacob’s voice-everybody is “saying it right”-but the hands are the hands of Esau, for the man has never been made a new creature in Christ Jesus. The problem today is that the vast majority of Christendom has missed Holy Spirit conviction; and therefore men are ignorant of their sinful condition before God, and His holy requirements. For only the Holy Spirit of God can give a man a new heart and nature, and give him power to turn to God from his idols. Without Holy Spirit conviction, there is no new birth; and if you miss the new birth, you miss conversion; and if you miss conversion, you miss repentance; and if you miss repentance, you miss saving faith; and if you miss saving faith, you miss Christ!
Reasons for the Deception
The reason why this false gospel of carnal Christianity has been so widespread and so widely received is because it makes no demands upon you. It gives only a “form of godliness,” a covering, which allows its converts to indulge in any of the sins enumerated in II Timothy 3:2-4, and yet claim they are saved and on the road to heaven. And we know that the Holy Spirit is here describing these so-called “Christians” and not the world, because of verse 5 where He says, “Having a form of godliness.”
Why are so many deceived today concerning God’s way of salvation? Men are deceived because they do not know that regeneration is imperative. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Yes, people are using the term “born again” today, but they know not what it means. They believe it is something that man does-a decision he makes, a commitment or rededication. But the new birth is something that God does. It is wholly and completely of God’s power and of God’s grace! In regeneration the sinner lies passive; it is in conversion that he is active to repent and believe, and to turn to God from his sins. So it is because a person has been born again by the Holy Spirit of God that he repents and believes, in conversion. This is the evidence of his regeneration. He is not born again because he repents and believes; but he repents and believes because he has been born again by the Spirit of God. It is God’s work, not man’s!
Why are so many today deceived as to God’s way of salvation? They know not that there must be a new creation, a miracle of grace worked in the soul to make fallen man a new creature, that it may be said of him, “Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” The new Jerusalem in heaven is for new creatures. Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people, not for those with only a form of godliness, but for those who have a new heart and a new nature. Those who have been changed by the power of the Gospel of the grace of God in Christ.
Men are deceived because they are ignorant of the fact that God must communicate to the heart a principle of holiness before there can be any holy affection, holy motions or holy fruits. And certainly, without holiness “no man shall see the Lord” (Heb 12:14). But by nature man does not possess one grain of holiness! This must be worked in the soul by the regenerating power of God’s Spirit. And this is why you must experience His convicting work-to convince you that you have no goodness or righteousness that God will accept. Yes, He shows you that all you can bring to Him is sin, for that is all that you are! As he tells us in Isaiah 1:5-6, “The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.”
So ignorant are the vast majority today of God’s way of salvation, and so blinded by their love of sin, they do not take time to hear God’s Word which says there must be a denying of self before anyone can become a follower of Christ (Matt 16:24). This is setting aside all of our wisdom, righteousness, strength, desires, will and interests (Rom 5:6; Isa 64:6). Yes, by the Holy Spirit’s operation in us, we must be cut off from all that which is of the flesh and see ourselves before God as a lost sinner. “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Have you ever been lost, spiritually lost before God, not knowing the way out of your ruined, spiritual condition, where God, for Christ’s sake must save you or you would be eternally lost? Has Christ ever found you, the lost sinner? If not, this is the reason you have missed Christ, and why He is not precious and real to you-It is because you have never known your lost, ruined condition before God. Christ saves only lost sinners; He died only for lost sinners!
Men are deceived by this false gospel of carnal Christianity because they have never known that there must be a renunciation of the world before anyone can be a follower of Christ. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (I John 2:15). There also must be a crucifixion of the world to us, and us to the world, or we shall never enter into the blessings of the atonement purchased by Christ on the cross (see Gal 6:14).
Also, men are deceived because they have never known that to walk with Christ in that living, loving, and lasting union, there must be a plucking out of right eyes and cutting off of right hands. A mortifying of the flesh with its affections and lusts that we die daily (Matt 5:29-30).
Those deceived by this false gospel know not that there must be a taking up of the cross if any man will come after Christ; and this will cost him ungodly companions, the scorn of professors, and many a tear and groan (Luke 14:27). They know not that the Christian life is a fierce wrestling and a continual fight (Eph 6:12); it is a race that has to be run with patience (Heb 12:1). There is no discharge from the army of Christ (Eccl 8:8). They know not that God requires truth in the inward parts, which shows itself in a life of self-denial. If the professed Christians of today really knew all these things, they would not be so confident of heaven, when in actuality they are total strangers to the requirements of the kingdom of heaven. They would rather embrace a gospel that makes no demands upon them, and walk on the broad way that leads to hell, deceived by the false gospel of carnal Christianity.
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