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Four Great Dangers
2 Corinthians 11:2-3 Natural men and women,
unsaved, unregenerate professors of religion, sometimes become excited and
zealous about Christ and the gospel of GodŐs free and sovereign grace in him.
In a sense, they often get just as excited about the doctrines of grace as
true believers do, maybe even more so, at least for a while. But after a
while the luster and beauty of grace grows dim in their eyes, the glory of
substitution is lost to them. After a while, the lost religionist gets tired
of the gospel of Christ. He wants something new, something more profound,
something mysterious. Like the children of Israel in the wilderness, the
natural man has no real taste and relish in his soul for the manna of heaven.
He soon longs for the leeks and onions of Egypt. Such
people may or may not openly deny the gospel. But, in time, they get tired of
hearing the sweet message of Christ crucified. They grow weary of hearing
about grace, free, sovereign grace, and nothing but grace. The manna of
heaven tastes stale to them. I have seen this happen so many times that it
frightens me. I am fearful for you who read these lines, just as Paul was for
the Corinthians (2 Cor. 11:2-3). Satan
is a crafty, subtle deceiver. He does not care what the issue is by which men
and women are beguiled, so long as they are beguiled. He does not care what
he gets you to embrace, so long as he gets you to turn away from Christ. When
the fiend of hell turns anyone away from Christ, he has won the day. That
frightens me. There are four dangers to which we are all naturally
susceptible, four snares of Satan by which multitudes have been deceived.
Many men who were once so promising, so encouraging, so impressive have been
turned away from Christ by one of these four satanic snares. Mark them and be
warned. Worldliness
Worldliness
is a very great danger. We are warned to beware of it in the strongest terms
possible (Matt. 13:22; 1 John 2:15-17). The care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches, the love of
the world (its riches, its power, its acceptance, its pleasures), have slain
many in time. Usually, these weeds do their work slowly, but they do it
effectively. Beware, of worldliness! Arminianism
Arminianism
is also a great danger to us, because we are all proud Arminians by
nature. No matter how thoroughly convinced we
are of free grace, our proud, sinful nature still cries up freewill. We all
want to build the altar at which we worship by our own hands (Ex. 20:24-25).
We all want to think that salvation, at least some part of salvation, at
least in some measure, is of our own doing. Arminianism
is a monster with many heads. Every time it raises one of its ugly heads cut
it off quickly. Do not endure for a moment any thought that promotes manŐs
dignity, or any thought that robs God of his glory. — ŇSalvation is
of the Lord!Ó — ŇIt is not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy!Ó Intellectualism
Being
proud, arrogant worms, we all have to face the danger of intellectualism,
too. Satan knows how proud we all are of our puny brains. Because we are so
very proud of our mental abilities, we vainly imagine that by much study and diligent research we can find
out all things. We foolishly imagine that we can by searching find out God! I
have even heard some men boast that they came to know the gospel, not by
divine revelation, but by their own great brilliance and disciplined study! Proud flesh always loves to study and learn Ňsome
new thing.Ó So we give ourselves to
answering one question, then another, and then another. How often
individuals, pastors, churches, and denominations become consumed with the
study of prophecy, creeds, morality, church order, political issues, family
issues, etc. Those who give in to this lust of the flesh soon make the gospel
of Christ a sideline, because there is no end to foolish questions. And when
the gospel of Christ becomes a sideline in any church or ministry, Satan has
won the day (1 Tim. 1:4; 2 Tim. 2:23; Tit. 3:9). Legalism We
also face the constant danger of legalism. It is more difficult for a person
to be weaned from legalism than from any other tendency of human nature. The
spirit of bondage and legality is more frequently and more forcefully dealt
with in the New Testament than any other error. To one degree or another,
worldliness, Arminianism, and intellectualism all have their roots in the
spirit of legality. Legalism is any attempt to bring the people of God
back under the bondage of the law, any doctrine or religious system that
teaches that man can be justified before God by something he does, or makes
sanctification and holiness something a man does for himself, or teaches that
man can put God under obligation to him, that man can, by something he does,
merit GodŐs favor. This
demon of legality must be exposed and eradicated. ŇCast out the bondwoman
and her child.Ó Nothing is more
harmful, or more deadly than this foolish attachment of sinful men to the
law. It promotes pride and self-righteousness. It turns a manŐs eyes away
from Christ to himself. It causes strife and division among GodŐs people,
causing sinful man to think he is something when he is nothing! It destroys
every foundation of true peace and assurance before God. It is in direct
opposition to the plainest statements of Holy Scripture. We who believe on
Christ, we who are saved by the free grace of God in Christ are not under the
law in any sense, to any degree, for any reason. We will not, we must not
allow anyone to bring us under the yoke of bondage to the law. (Rom. 6:15;
7:4; 10:4; Gal. 3:1-3, 13, 24-25; 5:1-4; 6:12-13; Col. 2:16-17; 1 Tim.
1:5-10). There is no room in the house of grace for the whip of the law. |
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