Environment of Indulgence
Without a doubt this is one of the most personally challenging sermons this Pastor has ever preached.
What is the environment of indulgence you are personally permitting in your life and in your Church to allow evil to enter and remain? How willing are you to accept responsibility for the environment you indulge?
3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many…..
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Jesus here speaks of the time of the end. He answers the question related to the signs of his coming, what they should be.
He begins by highlighting deception.
“Take heed that no man deceive you”.
“Take heed lest any man deceive you” is seen in Mark 13
“Take heed that ye be not deceived” is recorded in Luke 21.
The world shall be full of lies and many, far too many shall be deceived.
It is in this environment that false prophets will arise and shall deceive many.
Some of whom will even make the claim to be the Saviour of the world. A Saviour that clearly presents itself during a time when the world is in such turmoil it will need saving.
Turmoil that, as I presented last week, may very well be blamed on the Jews just as it was when the precursor of AntiChrist, Adolf Hitler came to power.
A blame that will cause the entire world to come against them. Scripture is being fulfilled before our eyes today.
Revelation 13 gives to us knowledge of that ultimate AntiChrist that will come.
He will rule the entire world in that day, he will arise from the people of the earth, be given absolute authority, force all the people of the earth to take his mark, known as The Mark of the Beast, identified with the insignia 666 and imbedded “in the right hand or in their foreheads”.
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Those who love the truth will not be deceived, those who have no love for the truth will be damned through that mark.
9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Such deception, such a false prophet, such a Heretic, THE HERETIC, cannot come out of a world that is filled with truth, but out of a world that has FORSAKEN it.
A world that has rejected the entire concept of truth, will be the world that will embrace the father of lies, Satan himself.
Turn to;
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
This will not come out of nowhere, it will come because those who are charged to be “The ground and pillar of the truth” (the Church) have indulged deception through personal iniquity and a love that has waxed cold.
The net result is that we will create an Environment of Indulgence for the nurture of an AntiChrist.
Matt 24:12
12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
The true question for you today is, how willing are you to accept responsibility for the environment you indulge?
Global Indulgence
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
Well before the world wars, Germany was, in many ways, “The Ground and Pillar of the truth”.
The Protestant Reformation effectively began in Germany on October 31st, 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the doors of Wittenberg Castle Church for all to see his Biblical refutation of the sale of Roman Catholic indulgences and a return to a Biblically based understanding of Christ and the Gospel.
Martin Luther was no longer willing to INDULGE HERESY, and took the responsibility personally.
TRUTH, exploded around the world, revival after revival, beginning in Germany and sweeping in the nations around it as the Word of God, for the first time in over one thousand years, began to be translated into the vulgar tongue of the common man.
Luther is known as the father of the reformation, but he was not the very beginning.
Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam was a Roman Catholic scholar who would certainly have become Pope if he did not write against the papacy.
He too was VEXED with Heresy, and set himself to compile all the ancient texts in what came to be known as the Textus Receptus, the “Received Text”, the text which was common among all the early Churches, the text which underlies your King James Bible (The last Bible which ever held to this text).
It was THIS text which Luther read and was convinced of it as the preserved word of God from the beginning of the Church to that day.
It was this document that inspired the Reformation Revival.
It is often said that Erasmus Laid the egg which Luther hatched.
But he too was not where it began.
A man known as The Morning Star of the Reformation was John Wycliffe, born in 1330 and died in 1384, one hundred years before the birth of Martin Luther.
He began translating the Latin Vulgate into the English tongue that the common man may read the Bible for themselves.
He could NO LONGER INDULGE the Word of God ONLY in the hands of priest who corrupt it and control the populace through that corruption.
The Latin Vulgate by Jerome had many flores in it, but the gospel itself was plain to see.
A group of men who became known as the Lollards (these were simple lay preachers), sent by Wycliffe because they too could not INDULGE the Gospel in Darkness, but would bring it to the light of day for the salvation of souls.
This was the beginning of that reformation.
THE ENVIRONMENT OF THE WORLD CHANGED.
The beginning of the Renaissance is identified as from that period in history (late 14thcentury).
The Enlightenment period is noted as beginning with Isaac Newton after his printing of Principia Mathematica in 1685, after the printing of the perfect translation of the Bible in the English language in 1611.
TRUTH EXPLODED AROUND THE WORLD
But in the Nation where the reformation began, was also where deception took over.
German Rationalism began to elevate man above God and the Bible, before long the word of God began to be doubted.
Bible Colleges began to INDULGE a doubt in the word of God.
Doubt crept naturally crept into the Church the more the Church folk indulged it.
Just as it did in the garden, the fall of man to “hath God said” was repeated in Germany in the mid 19th century, the mid 1800’s
4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
That time was the pivotal point of apostasy in Europe.
This is when we witnessed the greatest concentration of the turning away from the truth in history.
Soren Kiekegaad exalting subjective experience above the written word, became the father of Existentialism.
It was his doubt that Friedrich Nietzsche took to new individual levels and told the world “God is dead, God remains dead, and we have killed him”.
Charles Darwin dominated a new biological history with his theory of evolution, published as On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life in 1859.
In the Social construct, Karl Marx took hold of Charles Darwins book and applied it to the Social order of life and so wrote Das Kapital for the promotion of the godless Communist system.
The final nail to close the coffin of truth came in England, the place where the Morning Star of the Reformation was born, and where the English Translation of the Bible was published, would begin to be replaced.
The year was 1881, two godless anglican high priests, Brooke Foss Westcott, and Fenton John Antony Hort, would create a novel greek manuscript, never before seen, and place it before the revision committee of the King James Bible, WHO INDULGED IT.
The end result was The Revised Version in England in 1881, which became The American Standard Version of 1901 (exact same book), and the foundation text of a plethora of corrupt versions was INDULGED BY CHRISTIANS THEMSELVES.
Blindly accepting the idea that the pure Word of God no longer exists in any language, least of which the language that the entire world would learn and speak in the last of The Last Days.
Global Indulgence of Deception made the way for that first Antichrist of living memory.
The great War, also known as WW1, left us with the annual memorial of the Anzacs and the phrase Lest We Forget.
Just shy of 21 years later, we had already forgotten, the outbreak of WW2 in September 1939.
Adolf Hitler, did not simply appear out of nowhere, there was an environment of indulgence of deception the world over, a world who championed him as a hero and a saviour for Germany.
Even English Royalty were giving the German salute to Hitler.
Appointed as Chancellor in January 1933, by president Hindenburg, the very next month Hitler employed the excuse of the Reichstag fire in February 1933, to claim “A State of Emergency” and abolished all the constitutional protections of the German people.[1]
Sounding familiar???
The man that deceived both the German people and almost the entire world became the most evil man of modern history.
The question that needs to be asked is HOW?
How does an Antichrist arise?
The simple answer is through an Environment of Indulgence.
Paul wrote; 1 Corinthians 5:6–7
6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
But they WOULD NOT
AND SO, the people of the nation could no longer DISCERN BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL, truth was cast adrift and the people themselves were blown about by every new idea.
The term Zeitgeist is where the book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds, written in 1841 by the poet Charles Mackay, tells of what happens when lies become our refuge.
Church Indulgence
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Two things coincide in this passage;
One is PUBLIC, the rise of MANY false prophets who “shall deceive many”, the other is PERSONAL, the rise of iniquity causing “the love of many to wax cold”.
False prophets are also known as HERETICS, they are individuals who teach ideas that divide AGAINST Christ, AGAINST God and AGAINST truth and AGAINST the Church, the ground and pillar of the truth.
Because INIQUITY will continue to abound, so too will be the GRADUAL increase of false prophets, until there are MANY!
One of them will become ANTICHRIST, and another his FALSE PROPHET.
If they stem from a Church, what was the ENVIRONMENT OF INDULGENCE to permit them to grow?
The question is therefore here laid to this church, HOW MANY False prophets and heretics are you willing to INDULGE?
There ought to be a limit of indulgence.
Last week I gave an example of Heresy and the Heretic.
I made it clear that believing in heresy will have a level of indulgence in this Church because all of us have been deceived at some point in our walk.
But the moment the person shifts from believing to defending, whether it be by writing or voice, they shift from deceived to deceiver, from holding heresy to becoming a heretic, and they will be removed from this Church.
As far as the Pastor is concerned, the heretic is NEVER to be indulged after he is warned.
10 A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;
Writes Paul to Titus, a pastor in Titus 3:10
But this is not the norm in most Churches, most indulge the heretics unwilling to call them out.
I was speaking to a former deacon of another church a couple of weeks ago, he was telling me how so many churches simply will not deal with heretics, they wont remove wolves from their congregations, yet they are full on with not eating with sinners.
They are more than happy to judge a new Christian in his sin, happy to kick them out of the Church rather than minister to them, yet happy to harbour a heretic!
My experience has been the same.
Pastors more than willing to allow a wolf to sit among the congregation, just waiting to devour the most naive of Christian to his cause.
The Environment of Indulgence for heresy is well and truly alive in the vast majority of todays Churches.
King David wrote, Psalm 119:104
104 Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.
Because Christians today will not read or believe God’s “precepts”, they indulge “every false way”.
Turn to Acts 20 and read the major warning Paul gives the Church.
28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.
Tears, tears had overcome Paul of the evil that he knew would enter into the Church, .
Pleading that the Church would NOT indulge the wolves that would enter in.
They would arise “also of your own selves” he writes.
They will speak “perverse things”, and the Biblical ignorance of congregations permit the “perverse things” to be spoken.
This is related to perverse DOCTRINES beloved, not crude words, it is PERVERSE DOCTRINES that “draw away disciples after them” (v30)?
YOU are the Church beloved, how many false teachers and heretics are you willing to INDULGE?
Jude refers to them this way;
12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
The Bible is progressive in its timeline, from Genesis (the beginning) to Revelation (the end), “in the last days perilous times will come” wrote Paul of the Church, Jesus said “many false prophets shall arise and deceive many”.
If we are a Biblical Church, it stands to reason that we will identify the MANY.
The Blind Church of Laodicea will not.
It thinks it is “rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knows not that it is wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked”.
If we are a Biblical Church with eyes open and discernment picquet, WE WILL SEEmany false prophets and heretics;
The only question is how many will we INDULGE?
In my life as a Christian, I have dealt personally with 11 heretics and false teachers.
3 before I became a Pastor and 8 since being a pastor.
WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO NAME THEM?
………………!
(HEART BREAKING TO THINK OF HOW MUCH OF AN ENVIRONMENT OF INDULGENCE WE ARE TRULY WILLING TO PROVIDE, WHEN WE ARE UNWILLING TO CALL EVIL, EVIL AND WARN OTHERS)
Think it not strange to name the names beloved, “mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine”.
The names of many heretics are forever recorded in the scriptures, Alexander the coppersmith, Hymenaeus, Philetus, Diotrephes to name a few.
We are commanded to “Mark them” in Romans 16:17-18, that others may be warned, just as we would warn our own Children and the parents of other children.
You heard me say that I dealt with 3 heretics while JUST a member of another Church and that may surprise you. It should not!
I (like King David), love the word of the Lord and I hate every false way.
My desire was to protect the integrity of the Church and the Truth of it, and as a member of the Church, my FIRST responsibility was to DEFEND HER, not the wolf!
I saw the Church back then as my family, I was not its Pastor, but I was its BROTHER, and like all brothers who love their sisters, I was going to defend her integrity.
Will you defend the Church, or will you DEFEND and INDULGE the wolves which will come in?
They will increase, that is an absolute certainty, will you see them? Identify them? Indulge them?
False prophets do not just appear, they are INDULGED.
Personal Indulgence
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
PERSONAL INDULGENCE.
Can I ask you how much you love Jesus Christ?
Certain it is that most of you would say something like, “with all my heart”.
Are you willing to indulge sinning brethren so you don’t hurt their feelings.
37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
If I may ask again, How much do you truly love Jesus?
Turn to Titus 3
This is a personal, pastoral letter to a brother in the Lord.
9 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. 10 A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; 11 Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.
The heretick is a subverted sinner who condemns himself, one who is to be rejected after the first and second admonition or warning.
Beloved, we are never to remove an individual from any fellowship without warning, yes even hereticks.
They are to be encouraged in the Word and to be seen if there is any sincerity in them toward the truth.
The warning must be CLEAR, not vague. Why should the warning be clear beloved? So the individual can be properly held accountable before God.
Paul not only states this to the pastor, but also to the body of Christ individually and as a whole;
17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.
How much do you love the Lord is still the question here. Will you indulge those who cause divisions or will you avoid them?
6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.
If your love has not waxed cold and iniquity does not abound in you, you will have the love for the Lord and his word to trust him enough to “withdraw from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us”.
Beloved, you have a level of Personal Indulgence before the Lord to give consideration to. Yes, at times this also must be obeyed corporately, we have such in our constitution that is the responsibility on ALL MEMBERS when the Church makes a separation decision.
This is not forced on any, but if such cannot be consciously followed they are to quietly resign from the membership.
All Independent Baptist Churches have such a clause. The reason is simple, “a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” (Gal 5:9 & 1 Cor 5:6)
14 And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. 15 Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.
Notice the simplicity of the commands beloved, there are demands but there can also be limitations to those demands. Nevertheless, your willingness to create an environment of indulgence to those who will not obey the word of God will have consequences.
Paul writes of the perilous times of the last of the Last Days and attends to a list of subversive behaviours in 2 Tim 3, some of which must be discerned;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
3 If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; 4 He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, 5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
Do not bless the heretic beloved.
Much of this is the personal admonition to separate and not indulge divisive errors.
Beloved, I know and appreciate that in these last days with so much going on in the world, all we want to do is sing songs, enjoy each others company, laugh and make light of things so we can just get through.
But notice please that much of the commands here relate directly to the last of the Last Days.
There is a fascinating feature about the Bible itself beloved, it is a feature that you will only notice when you read the Bible through regularly, an incredible feature that will truly blow your mind when you understand its significance.
The Bible itself is its own timeline!
Genesis to Revelation not only shows the beginning to the end, but as we get closer to the end, the last books of the Bible have greater evident or practical relevance, in other words, we can see practically the things spoken of in the later books than those earlier.
2 Tim 3 respecting the Perilous Times of the Church is truly NOW. It has meaning and relevance TODAY.
Consider the last books such as
1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
This is an incredible chapter, look at verse 14 to 19
14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: 15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16 But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet. 17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. 18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
Ok, let me close
Of all that I have preached today this is the sum.
The deception of the last of the last days is one where you personally will be contributing to or removing from, and it all depends upon what you are willing to indulge respecting deception.
If you practise or accept the sowing of discord within a Church, you are aiding and abetting the last days deception and you will give an account.
If you rebuke the discordant brother or sister in the hope of repentance, or separate from those who reject your correction, walking contrary to the faith, you will help to hinder the deception at work in the world, and receive blessing from the Lord for your love and faithfulness.
How many wars might have been averted if men Loved God more than they did men?
How many atrocities might never have occurred if men had a greater regard and respect for the PRECEPTS of God than they did for the OPINIONS of men?
How much pain might be avoided if we honoured and Love Jesus more than we do our own flesh and blood?
Loving them enough to REBUKE AND CORRECT THEM, that perhaps they may also find eternal life!
20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
Did you know that Jesus is fully aware of all the sins you have ever committed and perhaps now are committing? Did you know that he knew all of this BEFORE he took on the cross to die and pay the penalty for you?
Do you know that your willingness to trust that he did this for you personally, will absolve you of all of your sins, wash you clean and clothe you with his own righteousness.
It is his blood that was spilt on that day 2000 years ago that still forgives sinners today, and changes their forever.
Will you trust him?
Will you commit your life to him?
Will you give up trying to be good enough, surrender completely and let the goodness of God save you?
Pray
{$NOTE_LABEL} https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-reichstag-fire
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