We live in an era where many people are easily offended and offer up phrases of “You can’t judge me!” with a sense of entitlement that has reached an embarrassing pitch in our culture. Drag queens are welcomed into kindergarten classes to read to children, teachers are encouraged to promote gender as a social construct, child pornography is in the news constantly and pedophilia is viewed as a sexual preference in some circles.
What began as an expression of freedom of speech has morphed into full blown attack on the traditional family. Joni Eareckson Tada hit the nail on the head when she said, “Though gradually, though no one remembers exactly how it happened, the unthinkable becomes tolerable. And then acceptable. And then legal. And then applauded.”
The Church Is In Crisis
The prevalence of sin in society today is evidence that mankind has strayed far off the narrow road and the traffic on the broad road is congested and heavy. And perhaps the most alarming trend of all is that a significant portion of people identifying as Christians occupy multiple lanes on the highway to hell. Grace theology has gripped the hearts and minds of many who call themselves Christians and who speak loudly about the nonsense of ongoing repentance in the life of a believer, while progressive Christianity makes a mockery of God’s call to holiness.
One commenter on a Facebook post of mine was quick to point out that by preaching a message of repentance I was placing conditions on grace and rebuked me for saying grace is often overexaggerated at the expense of repentance. He went on to elaborate that repentance is simply a change of mind, particularly regarding the choice to follow Jesus. He proclaimed “GRACE IS FOR EVERYONE!” He then followed up with the statement, “It’s easy to pick on the sins of the flesh. Everyone does that!” and accused me of being pharisaical.
My post on Facebook was to promote my book The Gospel Truth that addresses the shortcomings of progressive Christianity and grace theology (among others) that quite frankly do over exaggerate grace at the expense of repentance. We are not saved by repentance, we are saved by grace through faith. Yet without repentance our faith is meaningless. Faith without deeds is dead (James 2:14-26). Genuine faith is repentant faith and produces good works that are evidence that it is a real, saving faith and not a useless, fruitless, dead faith. Faith and repentance are two sides of the same coin.
This interaction on social media not only demonstrates the moral degradation of society and the tolerance of sin but it is also indicative of the false teachings and false gospels circulating today. Both of these patterns are signs that we live in a very important time in human history. These along with the frequency of wars, drought and famine, earthquakes and even climate change all indicate that the world is burdened under the weight of sin.
Just Like In The Days Of Noah
Jesus warned in Matthew 24 that these signs would precede his return. He also said that the pattern of their frequency would resemble labor pains as in child birth (Matthew 24:8). Jesus said, “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase in wickedness, the love of most would grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:10-13).
Matthew 24:36-39 warns, “No one knows the day or the hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”
For context it is incumbent upon us to investigate Genesis 6:5-6 to see what society was like just before the flood. “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that He had made man on the earth, and His heart was filled with pain.” There are many similarities here to today’s society and current cultural attitudes.
Prophecy Is Being Fulfilled Here And Now
Civilization’s indifference to human life today through the acts of war, murder and abortion alone far exceed anything previously experienced in human history. When these evils are combined with the sexual perversion that is prevalent in this day and age it is easy to conclude that sin has become today’s norm. Just like in the days of Noah. And society today is unrepentant regarding sin.
In fact, sin is celebrated through gay pride parades, hedonism and materialism. Sports celebrities and movie stars are worshipped as gods along with the wealthy elite. These personalities dominate the news and our collective imaginations and are seen as the epitome of the human experience. Society for the most part has rejected God.
If these attributes of humanity grieved God at the time of Noah they also grieve God now. And because of that, justice is coming. The apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the church at Ephesus about proper conduct and in the fourth chapter, verse 30 he said, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” He was writing to believers admonishing them to refrain from sin.
We must ask ourselves if God approves of the continued indulgence in sin while Christians proclaim refuge under grace. Jesus said, “And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” (Matthew 12:31-32).
Many people that identify as Christians make God out to be a liar by the way they live, and the way they perceive His word. They proclaim grace in the afternoon yet indulge their sinful desires in the evening. Others claim the Bible is simply allegoric, that the flood never happened and that Noah was not a historical person. In doing so they call Jesus untruthful for speaking about him. And some claim that God did not create the world in six days and that evolution is true. In doing so they make Moses out to be a liar (Exodus 20:11) and mock God in the process, again throwing Jesus under the bus because He testified regarding Noah (John 5:46).
Sin dominates our world today. It is at the very center of society’s attitudes and values. We live in a culture preoccupied with self. Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:1-5, “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.”
Biblical Christianity Is Unpopular While Popular Christianity Is Unbiblical
It is unpopular to write about these things today as people clamour to listen to “feel good” messages about grace and only grace and living your best life now. Interestingly enough, Paul covered that in 2 Timothy 4:3-4. “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”
Anyone proclaiming a message of repentance is quickly labeled as preaching salvation by works by many of today’s so called Christians. But they fail to acknowledge that salvation by works is an impossibility. We are saved by grace but not everyone is saved. Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21). And Paul tells us in Galatians 6:7, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”
No one can earn their way into heaven. We are saved by grace and not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9) but grace is only extended to those whose faith is sincere. And sincere faith is evidenced by works (James 4:4). Is that unfair? Paul answers in Romans 9:14-15: “What shall we say then? Is God unjust? Not at all! For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.'”
Just as in the days of Noah, justice is coming. That civilization witnessed a ship being built on dry land and failed to act accordingly. Today we can see the metaphorical storm clouds on the horizon and we have been warned about the signs. Christ’s return is near and this time he will come as a conqueror to deliver justice, just as at the time of Noah. John the Baptist went ahead of Jesus making straight the path for the Lord and there are many (myself included) sounding the alarm today. This is a wake up call!
God has been so patient with humanity, waiting and holding back his judgement, not wanting anyone to perish but all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). He has extended His grace for two thousand years but He won’t wait forever and He will come suddenly…. Just as He did in the days of Noah.
