“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. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.” (2 Peter 2:1,2)
The church is blood bought. The saints of God are holiness unto the Lord. We are not our own, nor do we have any right to ourselves. Our Redeemer has set us free from sin and death and we now have the privilege and duty to offer our bodies to God as living sacrifices. To continue to live for our own pleasure, instead of the pleasure of God; to fail to reckon who we belong to, and who has the right to do with us anything He chooses, is to deny the Lord who bought us.
In this day of self-expression, self-fulfillment and self-actualization the body has become the battleground.
In this day of self-expression, self-fulfillment and self-actualization the body has become the battleground. The abortion crowd screams that women have the right to do with their bodies whatever they choose. The homosexual rights crowd declares that two consenting adults have the right to pursue their pleasure in any way they choose. The “I got to be me” crowd has decided that their bodies will become a walking billboard of self-expression as they pierce, puncture, brand and tattoo whatever part of them they choose. And demon spirits rejoice as men proudly wear their “signs.”
Why does the church have laryngitis in such a day? Where are the Jeremiahs, the Ezekiels, the John the Baptists? While the enemy is spoiling the camp and making off with our children, we are worried about what the militant atheists, the muslim fanatics, and the liberal faction is doing to our country.
Church, we have more to fear from those who are in our midst, false teachers who “deny the Lord who bought them” and teach others to do the same, than we have to fear from any wicked unbeliever. The church becomes more irrelevant and despised by the day as it becomes more indistinguishable from the world it follows.
If we are to be holy, we must be different from the spirit of the world.
Every true revival is a revival of holiness. The church does not become holy, as much as remind herself that she is holy. Christ shed His blood to redeem us unto Himself. We are now His. We have been set apart for His glory and pleasure. Our knowing who we are in Christ should fix our identity as the “love-slaves” of our God. When an unholy world cries, “Be yourself!” we cry, “I will be like Jesus!” When they tell us to liberate ourselves from every imposition of another’s mind, and follow our own heart; we will declare that we wear the yoke of our Lord, and will follow His heart and defer to His mind on any matter. If we are to be holy, we must be different from the spirit of the world. We must come out from among them and be separate in our attitude toward how to live life.
The truly “damnable heresy” of this last day is that which denies the Lord His rightful place in the lives of His redeemed saints. Many are following this Christ denying path, even while they profess to know Him. The antichrist has not yet appeared, but his spirit is among us. If we cannot deny his spirit in this day, how will we deny him when he arrives? The choice is before us. Who will you deny – the good Shepherd, who laid down His life to make you His own, or the thief who comes to steal, kill, and destroy?