Sunday
9:30 am. Sunday School
10:30 am. Worship Service  6:00 pm. Evening Service

Wednesday                    7:00 pm. Prayer and Bible Study

By Russ Atmore

It is lamentable that Christians are so deficient in a basic understanding of doctrine. It is not that this is to be only found in churches of various denominations, but sadly within the ranks of evangelical churches. It is further to be lamented that within conservative orthodox evangelical churches this seems to be the prevailing custom. The great and glorious doctrines of the Sovereignty of God, of the depravity of man, of the glorious redemptive work of Jesus Christ for His people, of regeneration by the Holy Spirit, of Christian holiness, and so on, to mention a few, are not even comprehended by the average churchgoer.

This failure is to be found in the incredible lack of biblical knowledge relating to even the most basic of Bible doctrine. Simple Bible reading is viewed as a chore, and memorization of Scripture, as just plain demanding too much. This, however, is not the view that God has of such things. It is amazing that university educated people of this century cannot understand Paul’s letter to the Romans, and yet first century Christian were largely made up of slaves who found life in Christ.

The problem is that Christians just do not take the Bible seriously enough. The ramifications of this are monumental, and have a profound influence on how their Christians lives are subsequently lived. Life will either be shallow from a biblical viewpoint, or those claiming to be Christians are actually devoid of life in Christ, and therefore, are under great delusion. Christians who attend any church should be aware of these dangers. As one who ministers the Word of God every Lord’s Day, I do not assume that all my hearers are in Christ. I would be delinquent in my counsel from the pulpit if I merely assumed that viewpoint. It is well known that in all the congregations of God’s people there are wolves who masquerade as believers

Matt.7: 15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

Acts 20: 28,29 “ Be on guard for yourselves, and for all the flock….I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.”

Behind these words of Jesus and Paul lies the strongest motivation for every Christian to first of all make sure that they are saved, and then that they are actually continuing in the faith. Jonathan Edwards said that love and the pursuit of holiness is the enduring mark of the true Christian1. The genuine believer is hungry for holiness. He or she is marked by humility and gravity. All gracious affections (love, humility, holiness, etc), are broken-hearted affections because repentance is life-long for the Christian. Those who lack these affections have no reverential fear for God, they are too familiar with God in worship, bold, forward, noisy and more taken up with all the things of the world, that they then bring into the church. The church has become the place where common business matters and the trifles of life are discussed openly and without due consideration for God. Let us pay heed to these things as becomes the people of God.

Rejoicing in the Bible is not the opposite of holy fear but is intertwined and linked with it. Becoming a holy Christian will mean giving up those past-times that have held your affections for so long. It will be no easy road to travel, but Jesus assures us of His help.

Matthew 11: 28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

I am convinced that if ever God is going to do a work among us, and pour out His Spirit upon us in revival, then we need to be ready. To be ready, means that we will give ourselves to the Word of God, to holiness of life, to the church, and most importantly to our Lord. This will entail some work on our part – our reading skills will need to improve, our memorization skills will need to improve, our pursuit for God will have to be driven by our passion for His Word.

Attendance to these simple truths will start us on the road to a deeper walk with God, and our church will become known for holiness of life. Are you up to the challenge? Should you choose otherwise, you may need to re-examine your spiritual condition in the sight of God to see whether you are truly and genuinely a Christian. As James has written;

James 1: 22 “But prove yourselves doers of the Word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”