“... to express criticism is terribly wrong. If you venture to criticize or to say that certain teaching is wrong you are dismissed as a contentious person. It is said that your spirit is not Christian any longer, you have become narrow; you are claiming that you alone are right. You must not do that! Who can define truth? One person sees it in this way but another sees it in that! No matter! We are all concerned about the same thing! So you must not criticize and you must not say about any teaching that it is wrong. If a man really is doing his best and trying to uplift himself and humanity, what right have you to say that he is wrong? Truth eludes definition. So your critical faculty must be stifled and you must allow anyone to believe what he likes, as long as he aims at doing good...”
“‘...Believe not every spirit’ says the New Testament, ‘but test the spirits whether they are of God’ (1
The New Testament itself is quite clear about all these things. The truth can be defined, it can be stated in propositions. That is what we find in the [pastoral] epistles. It teaches clearly that you must therefore say that any other teaching is wrong and you must condemn it. The New Testament argues; the New Testament is polemical. The Apostle Paul uses very strong language. He says that some people ‘believe a lie,’ that there are ‘false teachers,’ and he warns people to flee from them. He says, “Though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached, let him be accursed’ (Galatians 1:8). He did not write that to people in the world outside the church, he was referring to false teachers in the church. Yet if you say such things today, if you even repeat them, you are ‘contentious,’ you are ‘narrow,’ you are ‘negative,’ you think that ‘you alone are right,’ you are ‘opinionated’ and ‘intolerant.’
Is it surprising that the Christian church is as she is at the present time?”
Such wrote Dr. Lloyd-Jones in 1977.
Sadly, it is not surprising to me. The Church, I think (from my minuscule view)has let much of the world in rather than remaining Holy and seperate unto God. The Bible condems false teachers and false doctrine. When the world and error enters the church, truth becomes blurred and people believe and follow false teachers and false gospels' rather than the truth. I have heard it said that a man who is tolerant is a man of few convictions. I believe as Christians we need to agree that people have differing opinions and be willing to interact and discuss them but at the same time be strongly opposed to those things that God opposes. God calls us to be perfect and holy. God is intolerant towards sin and error! God does not 'wink' at us ,so to speak, and let 'small' sins pass Him by. God abhors sin and so should we! We are in a war, we must stand and fight! What a horrific thought to believe in "a gospel" only to stand before God and find out you have believed a lie thinking it was the truth. Glory be to God alone for giving us the truth that we may be saved! Let us search the scriptures diligently in order to dicern truth from error, to see if we are in the faith (1 Cor 13:5). Thanks Paul for the Lloyd-Jones quote and for your thoughts :-) I always enjoy your blog musings, keep fighting sin and preaching the truth brother! Any thoughts,comments anyone...
ReplyDeleteI heard a quote by Spurgeon today and thought it may be of some encouragment. In a sermon entitled "war!,war!,war!" preached on May 1,1859(sermon #250),
ReplyDeleteSpurgeon states:
"We must fight the Lords battles against this giant error, whichever shape it takes; and so must we do with every error that pollutes the church. Slay it utterly; let none escape. “Fight the Lord’s battles.” Even though it be an error that is in an Evangelical Church, yet must we smite it. I love all those who love the Lord Jesus Christ, but, nevertheless, I cannot have any truce any treaty with divers errors that have crept into the church, nor would I have you regard them with complacency. We are one in Christ; let us be friends with one another; but let us never be friends with one another’s error. If I be wrong, rebuke me sternly; I can bear it, and bear it cheerfully and if ye be wrong, expect the like measure from me, and neither peace nor parley with your mistakes. Let us all be true to one another, and true to Christ; and as soon as we perceive an error, though it be but as the shadow of one, let us root it out and drive it from us, lest it plague the whole body, and put leprosy into the entire fabric of the church. No peace with sin. no peace with falsehood. War, war, war without deliberation: war for ever with error and deceit!"
Amen!! Fight the good fight!
My husband and I just watched a video put out by John MacArthur entitled "Does the Truth Matter Anymore?" A friend of mine bought it at a garage sale for 10 cents! That says something right there! It was excellent in showing how the modern church has been moving towards pragmatism and away from Biblical preaching.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Lloyd-Jones quote!