Many Christians lead precarious spiritual lives and find it difficult to gain victory over temptations, deception, sin and worldliness. Problems of this nature are increasing in the end-time, particularly because of more intensive deception aimed at establishing a spiritual climate which is conducive to the revelation and general acceptance of the Antichrist. In times like these it is of the utmost importance to be fully acquainted with the biblical teaching on sanctification and the filling of the Holy Spirit.
There are definitely stumbling blocks that should be removed before the promise of a Spirit-filled life will become a reality. Specific attention is given to typical end-time problems and situations which may impede the fulfilment of the promise of sanctification.
We should prepare to appear in holiness before Christ as the heavenly Bridegroom. These preparations should be taken now, before His coming, to ensure that we do not find ourselves among those who neglected their responsibility of having enough oil in their lamps, and will consequently remain behind when the trumpet sounds.
The end of the church dispensation is a particularly demanding, disorderly and uncertain period in world history. All people on earth are subjected to the pressure of the current transition to a new world order in which nations will ultimately lose their sovereignty. This transition is precipitated by global problems such as wars and uprisings, terrorism, difficult economic conditions caused by overpopulation, unproductiveness, overspending, unemployment, pollution and the over-exploitation of natural resources, as well as the licentiousness and anarchy which are typical of postmodern societies.
Apart from these factors, evangelical Christians are subjected to various forms of spiritual, moral and ideological pressure aimed at destroying their identity as Bible-believing Christians. It is against this comprehensive attack that the Bible warns us. We must not become part of the problem by compromising with evil; but, through faith in Jesus Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit and prophetic warnings against increased evil in the end-time, we should resolutely run the race that is set before us. Honour your irrevocable commitment to Christ by persevering single-mindedly on the narrow way without deviating from it, nor by yielding to demonic temptations to abandon the race. We are called upon to prevail against evil by not walking in the counsel of the wicked, standing in the way of sinners, or sitting in the seat of mockers (Ps. 1:1).
In this chapter we will review seven distinct aspects of the struggle against Christianity, and we should accept the challenge to be more than conquerors in all seven of these areas. Christians have always had a battle against evil, but in the end-time the struggle intensifies. Together with all the opportunities to work for the Lord, the spiritual war is deepening. The devil offers increased resistance in areas where his interests are threatened. Paul said: “For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries” (1 Cor. 16:9). He guarded against the possibility of being deceived by Satan, and added: “... for we are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Cor. 2:11).
We must be mindful of Satan’s plans which are aimed at making us lose our spiritual direction in life and by robbing us of our motivation to follow and serve the Lord. Evaluate yourself in the following seven areas in which end-time Christianity is involved in a fierce battle:
The new world order is rapidly manifesting in the early stages of this millennium and constitutes one of the biggest threats to evangelical Christianity. The purpose with the new world order is to establish a new, united world in which all people can live together in harmony. Its building blocks are:
· Political globalism aimed at founding a world government that treats all its citizens equally;
· economic globalism which is committed to instituting centralised control over the world economy with a view to eradicating the difference between rich and poor; and
· religious globalism as a spiritual driving force to promote the formation of an alliance of world religions in which all participants should collaborate as equal partners to ensure harmony and world peace.
The idea of a multireligious orientation is completely unacceptable to evangelical Christians. It amounts to treason against the Triune God if the interfaith premise is accepted that all faiths worship the same God. Evangelical Christians do not believe in a universal Creator-God who revealed Himself to some people through Jesus Christ, and to others through Mohammed, Krishna, Buddha or the ancestral spirits. Jesus was not merely one of many mediators between God and man – He is the unique Son of God and nobody can come to the Father except through Him (John 14:6).
Evangelical Christianity, therefore, excludes all other religions while the new world order follows an inclusive approach in terms of which all religions are recognised and associated with one another. This new approach has already been adopted by most countries, and that explains why there are no longer Christian constitutions and public institutions such as Christian education in most countries. Interfaith curricula are offered in which something good is identified in every religion, thereby offering common ground for interfaith dialogue and collaboration.
Christians who refuse to accept this new approach, and who maintain that only they are right and all other religions are wrong, are branded as fundamentalists who are negative and condemnatory, and therefore a hindrance in the realisation of religious globalism. Young people are intensively subjected to brainwashing of this nature.
One of the consequences of multireligious thinking is that the Bible is no longer taken seriously – neither is Jesus Christ who is the incarnate Word. Such people do not show much interest in preaching on the second coming as that forms part of biblical revelations to which they no longer attach any significance. They would rather consider the views and theories of other faiths, including the virtually extinct Maya Indians of Central America. The Maya’s theory of the end of the world that was expected to occur on December 21, 2012, was even the subject of a Hollywood movie which was everywhere viewed with great interest. The truth of the Bible is increasingly suppressed by multireligious lies.
Evangelical Christians elicit sceptical reactions when they point out that the end of the world will only occur after Christ’s thousand-year reign of peace. Before the millennial kingdom, which will directly follow the second coming of Christ, there will be a seven-year tribulation period accompanied by unprecedented divine judgements, but that will not bring about the end of all life on earth.
More than ever before, the end-time is characterised by a tremendous increase in spiritual deception. Paul says: “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 be turned aside to fables” (2 Tim. 4:3-4). This is a common tendency of our time. In all possible ways, efforts are made to undermine the gospel of Jesus Christ since it stands in the way of the new world order. The following basic aspects of our faith are substantially changed in order to use them as a foundation for false doctrines:
· The image of the God of the Bible is changed to make Him conformable to the universal god of all faiths.
· Jesus Christ is deprived of His uniqueness and Deity, and His image changed to bear likeness to that of the universally acceptable messiah of all faiths.
· The Holy Spirit is reduced to an impersonal supernatural force which empowers people to do signs and wonders and also to receive ecstatic extra-Biblical revelations of God’s will through dreams, visions, audible voices, etc.
· The Bible is reduced to the level of a human book containing many mistakes and contradictions, and which does not apply to all people of all times. It has allegedly been written in terms of a primitive and unscientific worldview and is therefore not regarded as the timeless and exalted Word of God. Because of these perceptions, the Bible is either spiritualised or interpreted historically (preterism) and therefore loses its relevance to postmodern humanity.
· Because of all these factors, the Christian faith is relegated to a position wherein it is equally treated with the other world religions. It ceases to be of unique significance, and due to people’s unbelief it no longer has the power to save. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is only a power of salvation to people who fully believe it (Rom. 1:16). Those who refuse to believe biblical promises are hardening their hearts against the gospel and therefore remain unsaved (Heb. 4:7).
Evangelical Christians should resist this spirit of agnosticism and antichristian reforms, however strong the pressure for change may be. If we change the biblical concept of God, equate Jesus Christ with the idols, no longer honour the Word of God, open up ourselves to the manifestation of foreign spirits, and wilfully embrace the decadent, end-time world order, then we have been led away with the error of false prophets and fell from our own steadfastness in Christ (2 Pet. 2:1-2; 3:17). There are unfortunately many Christians who grow cold in their zeal, falter in their faith and fall short of the grace of God.
Postmodern man of the end-time accepts no rigid rules which restrict his freedom – not in the political, religious or the moral spheres. He insists on the liberty to commit corruption, pay bribes, blackmail people, gamble, drink, engage in extra-marital relations, and also to openly follow a homosexual lifestyle if it suits him. It is ironical that the churches who should have resisted the strong movement towards immorality are themselves often protagonists for greater moral freedom, including the right to chose one’s own sexual orientation.
In 2012, a new Bible was published for gays from which all references to homosexuality were removed. On their website http://queenjamesbible.com/ the editors of the new Bible say: “It was commonly known that King James I was bisexual. Though he did marry a woman, his many gay relationships were so well-known that amongst some of his friends and court, he was known as ‘Queen James.’ It is in his great debt and honour that we name The Queen James Bible so.” It is further emphasised that the word “homosexuality” was first mentioned in an English Bible in 1946, as if to say that this concept was altogether foreign to the Bible in the original languages.
However, before 1946 other words were used, e.g. sodomites, which have exactly the same meaning. The first reference to this sin appears in the Torah which was received from the Lord at Sinai in 1312 BC. Leviticus 20:13 says: “If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death.” This form of sexual perversion is contrary to the basic nature of human beings, who were created as males or females, and will therefore always be regarded as an abomination by God. Paul writes to the church in Rome about the evil deeds which are committed by such people:
“For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due” (Rom. 1:26-27). For a further discussion of what the Bible says on gays, see http://apprising.org/2012/12/15/%D1%8F-u-ready-4-the-queen-james-bible/.
An immoral life also has various other distorted characteristics which are typical of the devil and his evil kingdom. Paul refers to immoral acts as “the unfruitful works of darkness” (Eph. 5:11), “the works of the flesh” (Gal. 5:19-21), or merely as “sin” (Heb. 12:1). Evangelical Christians should be able to testify to the fact that the Lord Jesus has saved them from their sin. After that, they are commanded to grow in holiness, which will counter the possibility of again becoming entangled by sin: “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts” (Rom. 6:12).
While sin and licentiousness increase in the end-time, and truth is replaced by lies, we must persevere on the narrow way and never deviate from it. We should stand fast in the liberty by which Christ has made us free and not be entangled again by a yoke of bondage to sin.
Christians are also confronted by a big challenge to remain steadfast in their faith against the strong influence of materialism and secular humanism. The achievements of modern science, and particularly the high level of technological sophistication that has been achieved, enable many people to be successful, become wealthy and to boast in their own abilities.
When wealth increases, a person’s dependence on outside assistance is reduced, including spiritual support, and that leads to a situation in which the successful person becomes the master of his own destiny. In practice he becomes his own god. In his self-reliant position he is not conscious of his spiritual poverty and dependence upon God. The Lord Jesus says the following about such people: “So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing; and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked” (Rev. 3:16-17).
When a person is drawn away by wealth or the desire to be rich, he grows cold towards the Lord and eventually loses his way spiritually. Paul says: “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Tim. 6:9-10).
That doesn’t mean that the believer is encouraged to be economically inactive or academically exempted from excellence. Paul says: “If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat” (2 Thess. 3:10). A Christian should always be hard-working, proving himself as a person with unquestioned integrity, who also cares for other people. However, there are limits to these aspirations: money and the desire for riches should not become an obsession to him, as he would then become a follower of the god of money, the unrighteous Mammon. We cannot serve God and Mammon (Matt. 6:24), and should ensure that our spiritual priorities are always sound. Many Christians become overly materialistic, and that renders them spiritually lukewarm, or even cold, and disinterested in the things of the Lord.
Emotional depression is the opposite of pride and self-esteem. Such people do not trust the Lord, have no confidence in themselves, show no interest in life, distrust everybody, and usually prefer death to life. Their faith is so weakened that they cannot and will not accept the promises of the Bible, and for that reason they are even reluctant to accept the salvation which is freely offered to them. Their difficult circumstances pull them down into a pit of dark thoughts, and their faith has changed into doubt or even utter disbelief.
We are warned against a mental and spiritual disposition of this nature: “But take heed of yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with ... cares of this life, and that day come on you unexpectedly” (Luke 21:34). Believers who do not look forward to the Lord’s return have all reason to be concerned about the sincerity of their relationship with Him. A weak faith and poor spiritual commitment often lead to moral laxity. To such a person the day of Christ’s return may suddenly dawn and find him unprepared for it. The Lord Jesus said that we should watch and pray to be worthy to escape the coming tribulation period and to stand before Him in glory (Luke 21:36). We must not lapse into prayerlessness, unbelief and self-pity as that would be contrary to our obligation to be vigilant and ready for the Lord’s sudden coming to take away His sanctified bride.
The difficult conditions of the last days may induce many Christians to become depressed and to withdraw from their many responsibilities in life. However, they will then become spiritually even weaker instead of stronger. We should fully realise that harder times are lying ahead, and should prepare ourselves to face them without abandoning the struggle, accepting defeat and surrendering ourselves to self-pity. Paul says: “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come” (2 Tim. 3:1). The world will become more evil and the economic situation tougher, while violence, crime, and lawlessness will exponentially increase. We need to be spiritually strong to find our way through the troubled waters of the end-time’s apostatising, and to persevere to the end.
The Bible gives clear counsel on how to be spiritually sound: “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might ... that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Eph. 6:10-11). That demands that we are cleansed from all sins and evil thoughts by the blood of the Lamb (1 John 1:7). We should also have a new filling with the Holy Spirit to be endued with power from on high. We will only then be spiritually strong and also in a position to assist doubting and faltering believers: “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:1-2).
There are various warnings in the Bible against end-time Christians who become uninvolved with the work of the Lord because of having failed to watch, pray, and serve the Lord as they should. Consequently, they do not only slumber spiritually but also start doing wrong things which cause them to backslide from the Lord.
We read in the parable of the ten virgins that all ten of them represent the kingdom of heaven and that they all went out to meet the bridegroom. Only five of them were wise in the sense that they took extra oil with them. Oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, which is an indication that they have fully surrendered themselves to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The five foolish virgins did have lamps as well as oil, but not enough oil. At midnight their lamps went out. Their foolishness relates to the fact that they were not filled with the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Cor. 3:1-3; Gal. 5:17; Eph. 5:18).
There were two serious problems that were experienced by this group of ten. The fleshly ones were not yet endued with the power of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:8; Luke 24:49), and for that reason they could not do works worthy of repentance. No wonder that the light of their witness dwindled when circumstances became difficult. Furthermore, there was a problem of which all ten of the virgins were guilty, i.e. a reduced expectation on the coming of the bridegroom when he tarried longer than expected. They did not watch and pray, but lapsed into passivity and fell asleep spiritually. Even Spirit-filled children of the Lord can lose their vision, become lax in their commitment, and fail to observe an active expectation on the second coming. They still love the Lord and live for Him, but there are reasons for concern in their spiritual lives.
The danger is that such people who do not entertain an active expectation of the Bridegroom’s sudden coming, are inclined to pursue other objectives and to forget that they must give account of their lives before the judgement seat of Christ. Because of this, they become worldly-minded seekers of their own interests, who backslide from the Lord and become guilty of sinning: “But if that evil servant says in his heart, My master is delaying his coming, and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites” (Matt. 24:48-51).
Are you also one of the sleeping virgins who no longer fix your eyes on Jesus Christ and live close to Him? If so, then you have fallen victim to the spirit of passivity and indifference towards the work of the Lord, and you will certainly suffer loss when the Lord rewards His servants for their labour of faith. We are called upon to be wise virgins whose lives bear witness of Spirit-inspired works: “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods” (Matt. 24:45-47).
One of the big dangers against which Christians should guard in the end-time is compromising with apostates and worldly-minded people. In these postmodern times it is common practice to give full recognition to all faiths, traditions and ideologies, and to openly compromise with them. The result of this approach is a large measure of tolerance towards ideas which are at variance with the Christian faith. Ultimately, all sorts of sin and false religious views are condoned and even adopted. We are warned against compromise of this nature:
“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” (2 Cor. 6:14-18).
We cannot serve two masters, we cannot love God and the world, and we cannot build a bridge between the narrow way and the broad way in an attempt to enjoy the best from two worlds. In fact, we cannot in any way compromise with something which only in the smallest way deviates from the truth of God’s Word. If there are believers who deny certain biblical doctrines, or who practice a compromising form of religion in which for instance the Old Testament Law is mixed with the New Testament message of grace, then we should stay clear of it and have no part in it. Remember that a little leaven leavens the whole lump (1 Cor. 5:6).
How can we keep our way pure? By diligently walking in accordance with God’s Word. We must be able to join the psalmist in saying: “Your Word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You” (Ps. 119:11).
Steadfastly resist any inclination towards compromise as that is inherently part of our commitment towards sanctification. If we wish to be blameless in our spirit, soul and body on the day of Jesus Christ, we should pursue complete sanctification (1 Thess. 5:23-24). Sanctification demands that we should turn away from every form of evil and be cleansed from it by the blood of the Lamb (1 John 1:7). We should also be filled with the Holy Spirit in order to have the power and motivation to proceed serving the Lord under all circumstance (Acts 1:8). That is the secret of wholehearted commitment to the Lord without any compromise.
The final purpose of our faith should be that, in spite of all the conflict and attacks against us, we should steadfastly continue to serve the Lord, even under the most difficult circumstances. If we wish to prevail, one of the conditions is that we must always examine ourselves to make sure that there is nothing between the Lord and us that can harm or impede our spiritual progress:
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, ... looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God” (Heb. 12:1-2, 15).
Wonderful blessings are in store for the overcomers – i.e. those who do not find themselves among the carnal, despondent and compromising believers: “But hold fast what you have till I come. And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations” (Rev. 2:25-26).
Everyone of us should dedicate ourselves completely to the calling to finish the race in the company of the overcomers. It will be to the glory of the Lord to be found before His throne as a conqueror in the big struggle against the kingdom of darkness, and also as a faithful worker who will not appear before Him empty-handed.
Sanctification and the second coming are so often mentioned together that they are sometimes referred to as twin truths. Paul devoted his letters to the Thessalonians to the subject of the second coming as well as the related demand towards holiness. His prayer for this congregation is: “And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints” (1 Thess. 3:12-13).
On the day when the trumpet sounds and Jesus Christ brings all the deceased saints with Him from heaven (1 Thess. 4:13-17), all of us will together receive glorified bodies and see our holy Saviour from face to face. Through His crucifixion and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus made provision for us to be able to appear before Him holy and without blemish (Eph. 5:25-27).
This deeper work of purifying our hearts and lives is also referred to as “complete sanctification.” It refers to a second blessing after justification: “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23). In our faith, our mind, and also in our conduct among people, we should be blameless in holiness. Nobody must be able to point a finger at us because of deception, pride, greed, or any other form of dishonourable conduct.
Every Christian is called to a life of holiness, victory, and unimpeded service to the Lord. However, much perseverance and commitment are needed before this life will become a reality. Paul says that we should enter into a new phase of obedience in our lives, put down every obstacle and, with perseverance, pursue complete sanctification. In his own life he also yearned for the fulfilment of this promise: “I press towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14). He pursued this exalted, victorious life to embrace it with a commitment to never again return to the precarious existence of the past.
This upward call is nothing less than conformity to Jesus Christ Himself. In the light of Paul’s testimony, as well as the testimonies of many saints throughout the centuries, we should engage in removing stumbling-blocks which stand in our way to fulfil the call towards complete sanctification: “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:1-2).
The stumbling-blocks which should be removed on the way towards our divine calling are described as sin and other unnecessary burdens (Heb. 12:1-2). These things are standing between us and the fulfilment of the promise of sanctification. There are many of the hindrances, or ‘weights’, which pull us down and deprive us of the Christlike life. The specific problem differs from person to person as not all of us have the same weaknesses and inclinations which are exploited by the evil one. The most common stumbling-blocks emanate from fleshliness.
The flesh refers to the old, uncrucified nature of man. As the flesh is inclined to sin and the advancing of own interest, it opposes the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish” (Gal. 5:17). Young converts who have not yet made a complete surrender, find themselves in a situation of being dominated by the flesh, and that will continue for the rest of their lives if they fail to do anything about it.
It often happens that when a person repents and gives his heart to the Lord, he only turns away from certain sins of the past without thoroughly confessing his carnal (fleshly) state and ending its domination. In such cases the flesh remains alive and then seeks more “Christian” and therefore more acceptable ways of getting his own way and building his own image. Such a person still does not have a pure heart, but rather a divided heart in which the Spirit and flesh oppose one another.
The main purpose of the flesh is to make his influence felt, to shun the cross of self-denial, and consistently proceed with the pursuit of own interest. In the process, the flesh lays up stumbling-blocks to avert any progress toward the Spirit-filled life. The following stumbling-blocks commonly occur in people’s lives, and are all indicative of an underlying condition of carnality:
Many people prefer not to be clearly confronted by the demand of rebirth and sanctification, but to rather follow the easy way of securing church membership through rites such as baptism and confirmation. In formalistic churches, the pastor declares members to be saved instead of relying on the Holy Spirit to do so (cf. Rom. 8:16). However, members of such churches only have a form of godliness without the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit (2 Tim. 3:5). To such believers, church membership is the door to heaven, and faithful church attendance the only way to holiness. They are obtrusively devoted to the doctrines of their denomination, and intolerantly opposed to any other teachings. However, this disposition precludes any possibility of true spiritual awakening and subsequent growth to maturity. Their lives are built on a false foundation as they have never been exposed to the full truth on justification and sanctification.
Even if such a person has truly given his heart to the Lord, he still finds it difficult to gain assurance of salvation since his baptism and church membership are the anchors of his soul, rather than faith in Christ. His lack of sanctification is not blamed on his carnal position but on the fact that he doesn’t attend church regularly enough and don’t make adequate financial contributions. The absence of holiness is, therefore, addressed through human efforts towards an improved life, still oblivious of the need for complete surrender and the mortification of the old, self-centred life. To such a person, sanctification remains an elusive dream. It is tragic that churches and their rituals are often blocking the way between a believer and a life of spiritual fulfilment.
The flesh is not compatible with a life of faith in which one has to fully trust in the completed work of Jesus Christ on the cross. If the “old man” is allowed to survive after repentance he will be looking for ways to make his influence felt in the life of faith. He prefers a form of self-justification before God which is based upon his own efforts and works, and to that end he is strongly inclined towards mixing law and grace.
When a person is deceived into following this way of life, his focus is shifted away from the cross to the law, and that offers the flesh the opportunity to pursue his own form of holiness. He is no longer confronted by the need for complete surrender and mortification on the cross, thereby allowing for the fruit of the Spirit in a sanctified life, but instead practises a deceptive form of sanctification in which the emphasis is placed on own efforts within a legalistic way of life. Such people boast in their impeccable lives in accordance with the law and ever try to observe more laws – also the Sabbath laws. They confine the role of Christ only to forgiveness in cases of contravening the law.
What does Paul say about people whose most important objective is law observance? “You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace” (Gal. 5:4). A life of this nature does not build a person’s spiritual life, but rather undermines and eventually destroys it. When the cross is no longer sufficient to you, you are backsliding from the Lord along the way of self-justification. When the love of God has been poured out into our hearts and we hope fully on the grace which has been brought to us by the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 1:13), we no longer need the law as a guiding principle in our life (Rom. 13:8-10).
During Old Testament times, the law was a tutor to the Messiah – it impelled Israel to trust in Jesus and His cross for salvation and sanctification. In the new dispensation, it is the Holy Spirit who convicts us of sin, regenerates and fills us, guides us into all truth, and presents Christ as the ultimate purpose of our lives. The law cannot save, and much less sanctify us, and therefore we should not build a relationship between believers and the law but between believers and Christ. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin if our lives do not conform to Christ’s image of holiness.
The lives of carnal Christians are always characterised by moral sins because “the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be” (Rom. 8:7). A believer who gives in to his sin nature is acting like an unsaved person (1 Cor. 3:1-3). The following immoral acts are unfortunately characteristic of many believers who have not yet trusted the Lord for complete sanctification: pride, love for the world and worldly entertainment, love for money, wealth and the desire to only have the best always, fraudulent financial transactions, various forms of addiction (e.g. to liquor, tobacco, other drugs and even to food), vindictiveness, lies, unclean thoughts, and adulterous relationships. This list could go on and on as there is no end to what the flesh is lusting after for its own gratification.
Do you grieve the Holy Spirit by making yourself guilty to one or more of these things? Know then, that your heart has not yet been cleansed and filled by the Holy Spirit. He must first gain full control over your life before you will turn away from all the wrong and crooked ways which you are still following: “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16). The Holy Spirit will exalt the Lord Jesus in your life and enable you to become a partaker of His holiness: “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfil its lusts” (Rom. 13:14).
The solution to fleshliness is not human efforts to try and sin less, but a thorough self-examination and the confessing and immediate forsaking of everything which stands between you and the Lord (Prov. 28:13; 1 John 1:9). According to Hebrews 10:19-22, the Lord Jesus is our High Priest who has prepared a way for us through the torn veil into the sanctuary of God, and has cleansed our hearts from an evil conscience. Christ’s crucifixion does not only ensure our salvation but also our sanctification.
When the Holy Spirit endues us with power from on high, we are convicted of everything that still stands between us and the Lord, and He leads us back to the cross to be cleansed from all sin by the blood of the Lamb. If we are faithful to surrender ourselves like this, the Holy Spirit will gain full control over our lives and will, unhindered by the flesh, be able to guide us into all truth.
Fleshly Christians are convicted of their sin by the Holy Spirit, but they are often not prepared to part from those sins. In this way they grieve the Holy Spirit and resist His ministry in their lives (Eph. 4:30).
It is common practice among fleshly Christians to be self-centred, to always talk about themselves and their own achievements, and to seek full recognition for their work. They want to be highly regarded in their churches and in society and that is the reason they hesitate to take a stand which may offend others, or to talk about people’s sins and thereby embarrass them. They would rather compromise and refrain from exhorting wayward believers.
However, the Lord Jesus seriously admonished His disciples not to seek the praise of men, because the gospel of salvation is of such a nature that it will be rejected by the world and also by unsaved church members who only have a form of godliness. A true disciple of Jesus should be prepared to suffer persecution and to be rejected by the world (Luke 6:22-26; John 15:19-20). A carnal believer cannot endure this kind of treatment as he feels deeply hurt and offended if people do not praise him for what he has done. There is clearly a price to be paid if we wish to completely surrender ourselves to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
A carnal believer is not under the full control of the Holy Spirit, and therefore cannot claim that he is guided into the whole truth. Such a person still listens to various other voices – also those of the false prophets – and easily falls away from the truth. The Lord Jesus often warned His disciples against deception (Matt. 24:4-5, 11, 24), but church history throughout the centuries underscores the tragic fact that carnal believers often heeded the ill-conceived advice of false teachers.
The Galatians were warned that false teachers would sow confusion by distorting the gospel of Christ (Gal.1:6-8). The same warning was addressed to the Ephesians (Acts 20:29-30). The Corinthians were also warned against demonic deception aimed at perverting the gospel by means of false presentations of Jesus (2 Cor. 11:3-4). All these things happen under the direct influence of the devil who comes as an angel of light, as well as false prophets who equally pretend to have noble objectives (2 Cor. 11:13-15).
The Bible warns us that deception of this nature will become a common phenomenon in the end-time: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1). Paul said that there will be many teachers who will turn their ears away from the truth and openly proclaim unbiblical fables (2 Tim. 4:2-4).
Carnal believers are spiritually immature, do not have well developed discernment (Heb. 5:12-14; Eph. 4:14), and therefore find it difficult to remain standing against the strong tide of false doctrine. Seek after the filling of the Holy Spirit, study the Bible under His guidance, and turn your back on anything that is at variance with it.
Two of the inevitable consequences of false teachings are doubt and unbelief. People who adhere to wrong doctrines are becoming followers of men – that is the way in which all cults are formed. When the victims of these movements had enough of strange manifestations such as falling and laughing in the spirit, had been deceived by false, unfulfilled prophecies, dreams and visions for extended periods of time, gave large sums of money to greedy preachers and prophets, and had more than enough of toiling and doubting after being declared saved by presumptuous preachers, then many of them turn away from religion altogether and also reject biblical truths along with the deception that was imposed upon them by the cults.
The disciples of Jesus also doubted on certain occasions and were described as people of little faith, but they realised their problem and prayed to the Lord: “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5; cf. Matt. 8:26). When people’s faith starts faltering they should have a time of reflection during which they search their hearts as well as the Scriptures, and again surrender themselves to the Lord.
One of the characteristics of fleshly Christians is that they are not vigilant enough against the temptations and attacks of the Evil One – neither are they strongly committed to prayer: “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26:41). A fleshly Christian relies more on his own abilities than on the power of the Holy Spirit, and that is precisely the reason why he so often fails in his efforts to prevail over temptations. He is attacked when he least expects it and easily succumbs.
People in this frame of mind do not offer timely resistance against sin, and usually wait until it is too late before taking a stand against evil. However, a Spirit-filled person is immediately alerted against wrong thoughts and intentions, thus enabling him to avoid problems before yielding to evil suggestions.
When the Holy Spirit is not blocked by a carnal disposition in our lives, He will continue to minister to us and also instil in us a strong expectation on Christ’s second coming (John 16:13). He came to the earth to gather a bridal congregation for Jesus Christ. We are daily prepared to appear before the Lord Jesus at the end of our lives. After a person has been born again, he is also sanctified and enabled to do works which are worthy of repentance (Matt. 3:8). These works are not human efforts to please God but the fruit of the Holy Spirit in the life of a fully surrendered believer, and are described as the fabric of his wedding garment: “And to her [the bride] it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints” (Rev. 19:8; cf. Eph. 5:25-27).
The foolish virgins in Matthew 25:1-13 depict fleshly believers who maintain a very low standard by wrongly assuming that they are ready for the coming of the Bridegroom. They do have lamps that were initially burning but they don’t have extra oil with them. The extra oil refers to the filling of the Holy Spirit, which is neglected by many Christians. That is the reason why they run dry spiritually, don’t have a wedding garment, and fall asleep when they should have watched and prayed.
Many of these fleshly believers will only discover their shortcoming after the rapture when it will be too late to prepare for the Bridegroom’s secret coming. They will still be able to restore their broken relationship with the Lord, but will have to pass through the tribulation period and consequently have to pay an expensive price for their fleshliness. They allow the uncrucified flesh to block and choke them spiritually, and thus deprive them of a life of victory.
Those who only rely on their own wisdom are always in conflict with the Bible. They refuse to accept the fact that in the end-time the world increasingly deteriorates as it heads towards the great tribulation. Instead of this scenario they engage in human efforts to reform the world spiritually and morally and to promote great revivals by way of transformation rallies, thereby establishing their own Utopia.
These are exactly the same arguments which the Antichrist will also use to unite and transform the world. He will say: “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent; also I have removed the boundaries of the people, and have robbed their treasuries; so I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man” (Isa. 10:13).
The wisdom of God is completely different to that of man. His Holy Spirit instils in us the conviction that the world is deteriorating to the point where the Antichrist will gain control over it in the tribulation period. During this time, God will also judge the sinners as part of the process to remove wickedness from the earth. Our command is to watch and pray to be worthy to escape the coming tribulation and to stand before the Son of Man (Luke 21:36).
It is only the Holy Spirit who can give us the correct understanding of God’s Word, and also enables us to react to it in an appropriate way: “For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God” (1 Cor. 2:10). Without Him we will be completely wrong in our evaluation of the world, entertain an erroneous future expectation, and also keep ourselves busy with irrelevant activities.
Are you filled with the Holy Spirit and do you serve the Lord in the power of the Spirit, or is your religion confined to persuasive words of human wisdom which only leads to fleshly efforts to please God? (1 Cor. 2:4). Everything which emerges from man’s natural insights and abilities will be consumed like wood, hay and straw before the judgement seat of Christ. Even if such a person has a testimony of salvation, his fleshy religious acts will be rejected and he will stand before the Lord empty-handed: “If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire” (1 Cor. 3:15). Rewards will only be given for works which have been done under the guidance and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The only way to a successful spiritual life is to surrender the flesh with all its manifestations to be crucified, thereby cleansing our hearts and lives completely from its influence. Only then, the Spirit of God will be able to fill us and guide us into all truth. This is the first and major problem which should be addressed when we surrender ourselves to the Lord to be sanctified. Paul admonished a Christian congregation, “that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:22-24).
We cannot fully put on the new life in Christ before we have made a complete surrender to put off and crucify the old life (cf. Col. 3:8-10). The stumbling-blocks in the way of sanctification must be removed. If we fail to do that, we will confine ourselves to an extended nursery school of fleshliness and spiritual immaturity (1 Cor. 3:1-3).
Are you experiencing the life of victory, or is the Spirit of God still resisted and even quenched by long-established stumbling-blocks in your life? (cf. 1 Thess. 5:19). The solution to this problem is complete sanctification as a further work of grace in our lives: “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23). Only the Lord can cleanse our hearts, on condition that we are prepared to put off the stumbling-blocks of carnality in our lives.