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"..And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:7-8)
Jesus indicates in the preceeding passage from Luke, that when He does return to bring judgment that faith will be lacking on the earth. This is consistent with the apostacy that will mark the last of the last days before His return.
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;.." (2 Tim 2:3)
The words translated "falling away" is from the greek word "apostasia" which literally means a "defection from the truth." The Truth is the person of Jesus Christ and His Word which is one. Paul also tells Timothy that "...the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,.." (1 Tim 4:1)
So we are warned of a defection from the truth of God's word. By implication the falling away is within the church of Jesus Christ because you can't fall away from something (in this case the truth of God's word) unless you once possessed it. This is born out in 1 Tim 4:1 where those who are deceived are identified as "those who depart from the faith." The deception will be so complete that some of those that depart from the faith will actually embrace doctrines of Demons.
In 2 Timothy 4:1-4 we find another warning from Paul given to Timothy which underscores this falling away and embracing of false doctrine: "In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction. 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..."
So when Jesus asks the question, "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" He is telling us that at the time of His return there will be a falling away from the true Faith. James tells us that Faith comes by hearing the Word of God: "...Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." (Romans 10:17). This is way Paul exhorts Timothy to: "Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction." (2 Tim 4:1-4)
This is why To His Glory Ministries is including several of what we call "Sermons of Spiritual Preparation" on our Web Site. We need to hear the pure word of God preached from His Word. Pastor Lee Simmons is such a preacher. We encourage you to let the Holy Spirit speak to you through this series of sermons so that you may be built up in the faith and not "fall away".
"..Dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear -hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh." (Jude 1:20-23)
Maranatha!
James 1:22 says, "Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the Word, but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror; and after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like."
Most of us are so familiar with that story, "Snow White". There is the mean, angry step-mother looking in the mirror; and as she looks, she says those famous words certainly expecting the mirror to tell her what she wants to hear. So she says, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" Now there's something about a mirror that's brutally honest. She did not expect to hear what she heard; and when you and I look in a mirror, we find that it's brutally honest. It shows us exactly what we are.
Do you ever wonder why the first thing in the morning when you get up you look in the mirror? Do you do that? I mean, you get up, you kind of stumble into the bathroom, you look, and you say, "Oh my!" Your hair's all over the place and, if you're a guy, you know you need a shave. Maybe you didn't get enough sleep and there are bags under your eyes and you don't look as young as you used to. You look in the mirror and say, "Man, I've got a lot of work to do today!". I mean, the mirror is brutally honest!
Do you ever go to your mirror and say, "How do you adjust this thing?! Something's not right here. I'm going to trade this thing in for a better one because I don't like what I see?" No. A mirror is the exact reflection of us, and it's brutally honest because it shows us as we really are; and that's why we spend so much time before we ever go anywhere to do the best we can with what we have. The very last thing we do before we leave the house is that we take one last look. Sometimes, if we're out with a group of people, and they're looking at us strange, we run to take a look to make sure that everything's ok.
Now here in the book of James chapter 1, there's an illustration of a mirror. It tells us that the Bible is to be our mirror--that when we look in the Word of God, we should see ourselves as we really are and for God to show us what needs to be changed in our lives. You see, the mirror is our standard and the Bible is the standard that God has given to us. How do we know what's right and wrong, what's good and bad, what we should do and what we shouldn't do? What changes need to be made in us? We're not going to find it in the latest magazine. We're not going to find it in the educational systems. We're not going to find it on television and the media. The only way that we really know what the standard is, the way to really examine ourselves and see ourselves as God sees us is in the Word of God. So God gives us a mirror to look at.
Now take your Bible please, and go back to James chapter 1 and notice what he says in verse 22 about this mirror. James 1:22 says, "Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the Word, but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror; and after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like."
Now notice again verse 22. "Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." This word, "listen" is a very interesting word in the Bible. It literally means to listen to a lecture, but not become a disciple. You say, "what does that mean?". Well, in the Greek culture, in the Greek world of which the Bible was written, there were many philosophers all over the place; and they were always looking for disciples. So they would go from place to place, from town to town and they would give a lecture. Students would come, or people would come, to hear the lectures. So there were those who would go to listen to all the lectures, but only a handful who would really become followers or disciples of the philosopher. So James says that's what you need to be. Just don't go there and listen, listen, listen. You have to be a doer of the Word. It says, "don't be deceived".
You say, "how can I be deceived if I'm listening to the Word of God?". Well, there are many people today who will go to all the services in the church. They'll listen to Christian radio. They'll have the Bible on cassette. They'll listen, listen, listen, listen and yet, they deceive themselves thinking they're really spiritual. "Oh, I'm always listening to Christian radio. I'm always listening to preaching. Oh, I'm always memorizing verses of Scripture", but no real change inside is taking place.
When I was in Bible school many years ago, there was one young man who was particularly arrogant and cocky and know-it-all. I thought, "boy, that guy really has some work to be done in his life." Later, I heard that when he was in high school, he'd memorized whole books of the Bible for Bible quizzing; and yet, although he had memorized more Scripture than I ever dreamed about memorizing, as I looked at his life, there were some major character flaws. Although he knew the Word, the Word didn't know him.
So the Bible says just don't be a listener. Don't be self deceived thinking that you're so spiritual because you've heard all these things and you know all these things. It's got to change your life. The Word needs to be the mirror we look into to see ourselves as we really are.
Now, in verse 25 of this chapter, we notice how the Word is to work in our life. If you're in the habit of marking your Bible and would care to do so, I want you to notice four key words in this one verse of Scripture, because it tells us how the Word of God needs to work in our life.
We're starting a new series of messages called the Fundamentals of the Faith. No, no. It's not about being a fundamentalist. That's something different--but about the very basics, the very foundations of our faith. What should be the bottom line and at the very bottom line is the foundation of the Word of God. It's the standard. It's how we see ourselves as we are.
"But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it - he will be blessed in what he does." (James 1:25)
In this particular verse of Scripture, James 1:25, there are four different words that speak about the relationship that the Word of God needs to have in our life. First, we have to look at it intently. Second of all, we've got to continue in the Word of God. Continue to do this. Third, not forgetting, remembering what we've heard. And fourth, doing it. Just do it. When we do those things, we will be blessed by the Lord.
Now the first thing it says is to look intently into it. This is another phenomenal word in the Bible. It's only found on one other occasion. That's in John 20:5-11. It's the passage about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you remember the story, early that resurrection morning Peter and John are racing to the tomb. John stops because he's cautious. Peter runs right in and the Bible says that John stopped and he looked in and he gazed intently at the grave clothes. What was John doing? He was examining them very closely. I mean, there was the head piece. It was right in place and there were the linens right in place and he's looking intently. You know, what is all this? Of course, it was the resurrection. It took a little while for the disciples to realize that.
Then Mary comes and she stoops at the tomb and she just spends that time gazing inside contemplating and looking. That's what this phrase means, that you just look and you look, and you look and you look. It's a great, intense look. And God has given us His Word as we are to look into a mirror we don't just glance at ourselves and go on and we miss some certain things about ourselves that we need to take care of. When we look intently, we make sure that every hair is in place and that my dress is ok and now I'm ready to go in the same way. We are to look intently and very closely at the teachings of the Word of God.
Now do you know that you can read or study the Bible the wrong way? Did you ever read the Bible out of duty? Because you had to do it? I knew a young man a number of years ago who went off to Bible and they wanted everybody in this Bible school to have daily devotions and read the Bible every day. So they gave you a little booklet of Sripture readings with a little place where you were supposed to write in the answers to some questions. The dorm supervisor had to read them over every week, so you had to do it. And everybody had to get up at 6:00 in the morning to have their daily devotions.
Well this fellow said that guys would get up in the dorm and they'd be so tired, they didn't want to do it. They were up late the night before. They would go to their desks and they would just read a few verses and write something down. Then they'd put their head on their Bible and sleep until breakfast time. You see, you can do it out of duty.
Many years ago, I was in a church service and the pastor challenged everybody to read the Bible from cover to cover every year. Being a goal oriented person, I just jumped on that and said, " Yes! That's a great thing to do!" and it is good to read the Bible from cover to cover, and yes, we should be doing that; but I thought, "Yes. I'm going to do that." So I began every year to read the Bible through and every year I did it, the better I felt every year cause I could tell people I'd read it through six times and seven times and eight times and nine times. But it was a source of pride, spiritual pride. And you know, in reality, there were many times in the morning I'd get up and read the Scriptures and think, "Well, today's three chapters. Today's four chapters" and I'd read those three or four chapters, but I didn't get anything out of it. You see, I read it out of duty. So I could just do it. Just check it off. I wasn't looking intently into it. Just get it done and I could say I'd done it. Many people approach personal devotions that way. "Well, did that for the day! Time to go on..." That's the wrong way.
You can read the Scripture just for doctrine or teaching. Maybe you're into the Rapture or certain other things and you think, "Oh, boy! I found a verse here and I found a verse there!" and there's nothing wrong with teaching and doctrine; but if we're only approaching the Bible in an intellectual way, just to find and gain more knowledge, we're reading for the wrong reason. So you can read the Word out of duty. You can read the Word out of doctrine. You can also read out of debate. Maybe you're having a discussion with someone at work or someone in your Bible study group and they're wrong and you're right and you're sure of it. Boy, you're reading through the Word and you're finding some more ammunition. You go, "Woah! I can't wait to get this verse and show them that! I'm gonna' prove them wrong!" So we look at the Word as ammunition to fight somebody else. And we're not getting anything out of it.
In Psalm 1:2 we read of the man who really has a hunger for God and his delight is the law of the Lord. In his law he meditates day and night. So when we look at the Word, we need to approach it as if we were looking into a mirror. "God, what's wrong? What needs to be done in my life? I'm looking at your Word. Now what do You have to say to me?" That's why I like to write in my Bible when I have my time with the Lord-- cause when God zaps me with something I say, "Oh, God, I'm going to ask You to help me with that. Lord, I need some help there." And I'll write it and I'll even date it. I'll claim this verse and I'll claim this date for God to work in my life this way.
You see, if we're going to use the Word as God says, as a mirror, then we need to look at it intently. We need to be constantly looking at it. The Bible says, "sincerely desire the milk of the Word that you may grow thereby". You and I will not grow spiritually, the Bible says, if we're not feeding on spiritual food. So we have to feed on the things of the Word of God. So first of all we have to look intently at it.
Second of all it says to continue to do this. Many of us are like my friend Tim. Many years ago Tim came to know the Lord as his Savior and I just watched him explode in growth. I mean, he had such a hunger for the things of God. When he got up in the morning during his breakfast, he'd be reading the Scripture. At lunchtime, he'd take the Bible, put it in his lunch bucket and when it was lunch, he'd be reading the Bible. He'd get home from work that evening. No tv. He'd read the Bible. He had just such a hunger for the things of the Lord, but as time went on, it got a little colder.
One day my wife and I were over at his and his wife's house. He looked at me and said, "I don't know what happened. I used to have such a hunger for the Bible. I used to spend so much time in the Bible and now I can't even pick it up." He said, "I haven't read it in weeks and it's just one of the hardest things for me to do is to pick up the Bible again." Isn't it easy to get started in things and quit? It's easy to start, but it's hard to finish. You say, "How do you know that?" Well, how many people have started diets and have quit? How about, "I'm going to finally begin to exercise!"? You go around to yard sales and at every house there's a tread mill or there's an exercise bike or a set of weights where people had great intentions, but after a week or two they quit. You see it's easy to get started in doing something right but it's very hard to continue. The Bible says you don't just begin looking, you've got to continue to do it.
Now, why's it so hard? At one time, when we're on fire for God and we really devour the Word, why is it so hard to continue to do it? I believe the answer is because the enemy doesn't want it to happen. I believe he's got his hand right on the book. You say, "Why do you say that?" Well, what weapon did Jesus use to fight the enemy? Of all the spiritual weapons that Jesus Christ had available, when the enemy came at Him three times, every time he said this: "Devil, it is written..." and then He quoted the Word of God.
Now, if the Word of God is that important for us as a weapon, then he wants to keep it out of our hands. The Bible says that of all the armour we have, we have one offensive weapon and that's the sword of the Spirit--the Word of God. I believe that every time we open the Word up and we begin to get into it and we begin to get fed on it, then we are defeating the enemy. So say, "Devil, I'm not going to let you have me in this. I'm not going to let you put me down in this. I am going to continue with what God has asked me to do."
I Peter 2:2 "Sincerely desire the milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby." I need to grow spiritually. God, I need Your Word. I need to look in the mirror so I want to hunger and thirst after righteousness that I might be filled. You see, so many times in life we start, we start, we start. But we stop. The Bible says continue, continue.
It's very interesting that the tense of these words are participles and they mean continuous action. So, you look and you look and you look and you continue and you continue and you continue. You don't forget, you don't forget, you don't forget. You just do it and you do it and you do it and you do it. Because God says through James that we need a mirror. We've got to keep looking.
"Well I looked at myself a month ago! I looked pretty good then!" What would you and I look like if we never looked in a mirror for a month? Not so good, huh? So the Bible says continue in doing it. For some of us, it's been a long time. The Lord's saying, start again. Be faithful again.
Then it goes on to say, "not forgetting what he has heard". I find it very interesting that in the Scripture we're told so many times to forget. "There's one thing I do," the apostle Paul said in Phillipians 3:13 "forgetting the things that are behind and pressing forward to the things that are ahead." Did you ever notice how the enemy flip- flops things around? See the Bible says to forget the past. We forget the glory of our past as well as the gloom of our past. We're just to put it behind us and to press ahead. The Bible says forget the past. Press on to the future. But here the Bible says something not to forget. Don't forget all of what you've read, all of what you've heard, all of what you've studied. And what happens is, we forget what we've learned, but we remember the past. See everything God tells us to do the right way, the enemy flips around and many of us spend our time not forgetting the past, but forgetting what God tells us in the mirror of His Word.
Oftentimes, when it comes to the Scriptures, we have selective hearing. We only hear certain parts. We only hear the parts we want to hear. We ignore the parts we don't want to hear. It's kind of like the typical husband. You know, guys, it's like we're sitting there reading the paper and our wife says, "Honey, would you take out the trash?". "Honey, would you come help me with this?" and we don't hear a thing; but then we hear "dinner's ready!". Boom, we're at the table just like that! Right? We're selective about what we want to hear. Oftentimes, we approach the Scriptures the same way. You see, for many of us, when the Bible speaks about serving the Lord we say, "oh that's wonderful. Yes, I want to serve God." You say, "I want to be involved in service to Him" and it's very important. The Bible tells about serving the Lord; but you see, the Bible says that not only is it important to do what God wants us to do. What we are is also important. You see, our being is as important as our doing. God working inside in our heart and our character is as important at serving the Lord.
In fact, if we have a flaw in our character, our service will come tumbling down. Over and over we've watched people who've been known not only nationally but around the world. I mean, they were doers. They were serving. But because there was a flaw inside the whole thing came crumbling down. So, it's easy to do the things that we get the strokes for--the things we get the affirmation for. "Oh, well you're doing this;" and "you're gifted in this" and "you're doing that" and we can focus on those parts of the Word of God, but miss the character in the fruit that God wants to develop in our life.
When God begins speaking about character, things that people don't see on the surface, and when we look in the mirror and He says, " I want to deal with this and this and this," we have to look at all of it. Not forgetting any of it. Not just being selective and taking the things that we like to hear.
You see, some people approach the Scripture like a cafeteria. "Oh boy, this is good. Man, what a nice meal here! Whew, prophecy! Yes, I'll take all that! Oh, I'm loved! Yes, I'll take all that! God's going to forgive me my sins! I'll take all that!"
"I don't think I'll take that, that deals with my temper. You know, that's my nationality anyway. So I can't help that." No, we take it all. Right? Whatever God says.
So, we're to look intently. We're not to quit. We're to continue in the standard, God's Word. We're not to forget it but to continue to go looking in it. Why does the Bible repeat itself so many times? To help us to remember. Isn't that a good way to learn? Repetition, repetition. Why does the Bible say 26 times "love one another"? --for us to get the point and not to forget that we need to love one another!
The last thing it says is "but doing it". Just not hearing, just not looking, just not knowing, "but doing it". The King James version says to be a doer. It reminds me of the Nike commercial. You know, all those athletes are out there and they're playing basketball, or they're doing track, or doing this sport or that sport. You can see all that happening and then it says, "just do it". That's what God's saying here. (Way before the commercial.) "Just do it!" We're to be doers whether you like it or not. Whether you want to or not. Whether you say it's hard or not. God just says be a doer of the Word of God. Whatever he says, do.
We look in the mirror and we see things and say, "Oh Lord, this is hard!" But He says, "just do it!"
"Well, I don't know about this!"
And He says, "JUST DO IT!"
Of course, we don't do it on our own because we can't; but the Holy Spirit is there to help us and to give us power to have victory in our lives. He says, "just do it".
Now we can stop the text right here and say, "whew! Lord, that's a tough one. I've not really been in your Word like I should be. I'm really not looking like I should be and I'm not where I should be." We could be convicted right now, but the text goes on.
It says, just to make sure, if you haven't gotten the point, here's what this all means: in verse 26 "if anyone considers himself to be religious, to be spiritual, and yet does not keep a rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless." You look at yourself and you say, "Oh I'm not going to worry about what I say. You know, that's a different thing." The Bible says it's empty. It's worthless.
Here's a basic issue. Look in Proverbs and what does it talk about? Controlling the tongue. Jesus spoke about it in the New Testament and James says, in case you haven't gotten it yet, here's one particular thing! Here's one particular area to really demonstrate whether you're looking in the mirror of the Word. Are you letting God change you in this area? He says this: religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this--be a great preacher, great evangelist, great teacher, great soul-winner, great singer. Hah! It doesn't say that! Anything wrong with those things? Absolutely not. But he brings it very practically and says this, pure religious spirituality: to look after orphans and widows in their distress, to look after those who are hurting, those who need love, those who need help and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world--that's character. Ouch!
James says, you really want to know what I'm saying here about looking at the word of God and looking in the mirror and looking intently and being a doer of the Word? Here are just a couple examples of what I'm talking about. You see, the problem is that so often we get affirmation and we get our strokes by the things that people see about us. Is there anything wrong with serving? We need to serve. But it's about all of us, about our total being as we look at ourselves as God wants us to through the mirror of His Word.
Now I want you to turn to one more passage in Matthew 7 to see what the Lord says about this. Matthew 7: the most important thing is doing the will of God. And even though we might do spectacular things, awesome things, apart from God's will, they're meaningless. Matthew 7:21--"not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. But only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." Verse 22--"Many will say to me on that day Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me you evildoers." The most important thing is doing the will of God whether it's visiting a widow, whether it's keeping ourselves from being polluted, whether it's bridling our tongue, God says do it. It's the only standard we have. It's really the only truth that we will ever have about who we really are and what God is asking us to do to conform us into the image of His Son.
So we have to ask ourselves, if we look in the mirror of James 1:25, "Am I looking intently in God's Word?" "Am I in it on a daily basis looking for what God needs to say to me?" "Am I continuing?" Some of us got great starts, but we got cold. We need to restart and say, "God I need to begin again to be in Your Word." "Am I remembering what God is asking me to do? Lord, this is a character flaw, this is a weakness, this is an area. God, I need You, by Your Holy Spirit, to help me with this, to work on this, to work on that."
We're saying, God whatever it is, you say to do it. No matter how hard, no matter what the consequence, God, You're saying do it. So as we look at the Word of God we have to say, "Mirror, mirror on the wall. What are you really saying to me after all?"
Let's pray: Lord, your Word is a light and a lamp. Lord, you have given us your standard. You say it's the perfect law of liberty, that we are liberated through it and that it is perfect. There are no errors. Father, maybe to others we look like we're the superstars and yet, Lord, as we look at the mirror of your Word, we see Lord that there are areas that we have not let you work on or cared to work on. So we pray, Father, that you would help us to see ourselves as you see us as we look in your Word and that we will be conformed to the image of your Son. Lord, here we are wholly available. We'll be at your altar, Father, for you to do your work in our hearts. We ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
You know, the very first thing that the Scripture tells us is that you must be born again. That's not some decision of some church or some group of people somewhere. Jesus said it: unless a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom of heaven. Just as we have a physical birth, we need a spiritual rebirth. If you're reading this, that's what God's Word has to say. If you've not received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior to come into your life, to change your life, you can become a different person with your sins forgiven and with the Lord in your life. If that's you, I invite you to accept Christ today.
The Bible tells us, that as many as received Him (Jesus), He gave them the right to become children of God, even those who believe on His name.
So I am going to pray a prayer of invitation to receive Jesus into your life. It is not like saying an "our Father" or like reading a prayer card, it is not the words that are significant but what it means. You are going to ask Jesus to save you from your sins, to come into your heart, to be the master of your life and to take you to heaven when you die. So if you are not sure of your salvation today, and the desire of your heart is for Jesus Christ to come into your life to be your Lord and Savior, make this your prayer.
Dear Lord, I am a sinner. I confess my sins to you and right now ask you to forgive my every sin. I invite you right now into my life, to be my Lord and my Savior. Thank you for coming into my life. May never be the same again. Make me a new person in Jesus Christ for I thank you in Jesus name. Amen.
Father we thank you. We thank you for the body and blood of Jesus and as we come around your table, help us to come with a heart cleansed by the blood of Christ, with an attitude of gratefulness and a desire to walk in the holiness you have called us to. We thank you and praise you in Jesus name.
If you have prayed this prayer, please let us know by EMAIL or by correspondence. It would be a real blessing to us. And if you would like a cassette tape of this message, please send $3.00 to cover costs to: Faith Chapel 4113 West Seneca Turnpike, Syr N.Y. 13215 (315) 469-5555
Send Pastor Lee Email:
simmons777@aol.com
Maranatha
"Watch and pray, therefore, that you would be counted worthy to escape the judgment that is coming upon the earth and be able to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke 21:36).
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