We Need a Revival!

1 Corinthians 5:1-2 ESV

“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.”

Sexual immorality is rampant in our society, most certainly. But the sad reality of it all is that it is rampant in the gatherings of the church (or in what is falsely being called “church”). And this is way beyond a singular man having his father’s wife. But this is about men with men and women with women sexually, and all sorts of mixtures of sexes and sexual identities. 

But it isn’t just that. It is that, according to statistics, as much as 75% of “Christian” men and as much as 35% or more of “Christian” pastors are regularly engaged in the viewing of sexually explicit pictures and videos and movies. And women and children are now addicted to such images as these, too, and this is on the increase. And what is the church doing about it? Largely nothing! But why are they doing largely nothing? 

Well, for one, many of them are the ones engaged in sexual idolatry themselves, and so they won’t do anything. And number two, it is because the gospel of our salvation has been so diluted that it leaves room for the “believers” to continue in deliberate and habitual sin while claiming “who I am in Christ” in order to alleviate guilt, and while claiming heaven as guaranteed them when they die regardless of how they live. For sin has been made acceptable in this diluted gospel.

I mean I hear it from people all the time. It is very easy to pick up on immediately when they start talking about how they fail all the time, and then how they move from that to talking about God’s grace, and how none of us are saved by our own works. And it progresses. And yes, we are saved by God’s grace, through God-given faith in Jesus Christ, and this is not of ourselves. But let’s look at God’s grace for a moment here:

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” Titus 2:11-14 ESV

And then let’s look at Ephesians 2:8-10:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

So, yes, we are not saved by our own fleshly works. We can never be good enough in our flesh to earn or to deserve our salvation. But works are not absent of the life of the believer in Jesus. It is just that they are the works of God which he prepared in advance that we should walk in them, if we are indeed his by God-given faith in him. For our faith is not of ourselves or of our own choosing, but it comes from God and is gifted to us by God, and it means to be persuaded by God, too, as to his righteousness and holiness.

And God’s grace to us is not just a get-out-of-jail-free-card. It is deliverance from our lives of slavery to sin, and it is empowerment of God to now live godly and holy lives, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness, in the power and wisdom and strength of our Lord. And if we choose to continue in deliberate and habitual sin, and we choose not to walk in obedience to our Lord, in his righteousness, then we don’t have salvation from sin, and we don’t have eternal life with God.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

So, do you want to know why our nations are in the mess that they are in? It is because so much of “the church” today is no longer behaving like the body of Christ in complete servitude to our Lord Jesus, but they are easily putting up with these false gospels of men who are giving them the freedom to continue in their habitual sins without conscience and without guilt, but still with the promise of heaven when they leave this earth. And this should not be!! And so they have emasculated themselves!

So, what does that look like? It means they have made themselves spiritually weaker and less effective by accepting a diluted gospel which gives them the liberty to continue in deliberate and habitual and gross sin against God and against other humans, even against those who they are supposed to love and to protect. But it isn’t just that. It is that they are still promising them that they are forgiven all their sins, even future sins, and that God can no longer see when they sin, and so heaven is still their home.

And so we have a large body of people professing faith in Jesus Christ who are making excuses for why they are continuing in deliberate and habitual sin and who are condoning their sins under the guise of God’s grace. But are we perfect people? No! We won’t be absolutely perfect until we are in heaven with our Lord and we are no longer in these flesh bodies. But lack of perfection is never to be used as an excuse for deliberate and habitual sin.

Now I said the church was largely doing nothing about the sexual immorality running rampant in the church. But if they do anything at all, it is usually to form support groups, mainly for men, for those who are sexual addicts, where they try to help them overcome their addiction, largely with psychological philosophy, and largely without the use of the Scriptures in their gatherings. And from what I have heard of these groups, many men never are delivered fully from their addiction, and some of these gatherings end up just being times to commiserate with each other.

Now, I am not saying that these support groups never help anyone, but that they are largely not handled in a biblical manner, and it appears that the men are being given support even though they are the sexual offenders, while those who they are sinning against aren’t always being given support, and perhaps are treated shamefully and harshly by church authorities, or else they are being ignored or silenced. And I know some of this from personal experience, but also by reading the stories of others.

So, what’s the bottom line here? It is that the gospel of our salvation is being so diluted that it is making room for these kinds of sins to run rampant in the gatherings of what is called “church.” And it is that the church is largely emasculated spiritually and is no longer operating as the body of Christ is Scripturally to operate. And it is that so many of our “leaders” are worldly and ungodly men who are so bound in sin themselves that they are not leading their people to genuine salvation and to genuine walks of obedience to the Lord, in walks of holiness and righteousness.

So, we need a revival! And only God can bring that about, in reality!

Full Release  

An Original Work / April 15, 2012

Walking daily with my Savior 

brings me joy.

Loving Father; precious Jesus; 

He’s my Savior and my Lord.

Gently leads me; follow Him.

I’ve invited Him within.

Now abiding in His presence, 

oh, what peace.

From my self-life 

He has brought me,

By His mercy, full release.

Hope and comfort, 

peace and safety Jesus brings

When I daily bow before Him;

Obey freely; do His will.

Follow Him where’er He leads.

Listen to Him; His words heed.

Now obeying his words fully, 

oh, what love

That He gives me 

through salvation,

By His Spirit, from above. 

Loving Father; precious Jesus, 

He’s my friend.

With my Savior, by His Spirit, 

I will endure to the end.

Share the gospel, tell what’s true.

Witness daily; His will do.

Tell the world of how their Savior 

bled and died.

On a cruel cross He suffered 

So that we might be alive. 

https://vimeo.com/115169203