“And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.” (1 John 5:19) But not people, right, people are generally good hearted, good natured caring individuals.
There are consequences for our actions in this world, there are consequences for our inactions in the spiritual realm, good has always been equated with righteousness by the world, but there are no good people going to heaven, only those saved by the grace of God through Jesus Christ. We are to hate evil because the Lord hates evil, (Prov. 8:13) all those “good” people out there, they are wicked people, the Lord hates wickedness (Psalm 45:7) so, by default, what the “church,” if you will, has attempted to teach us is that we are to hate the sin, but love the sinner.
You will not find that in the Word of God, the unsaved are wicked, evil people, they are our neighbors, and we are commanded to love them. How? By being polite and kind, or by pointing out their sin?
Here is where Satan has won, by proposing this false doctrine of purported love, he has diminished the righteousness that men of God are to have, and so those who stand for Christ against sin are now not only ostracized by the world, but by the majority of those sitting in the pews. We are not to tolerate sin, we are to hate it, and that love that we are to show to our neighbors is to be an action, not an emotion. We show people that are not saved the error of their ways in love, by words, not by being their friend first.
The church, to use the word very loosely here, has determined that they will have a perpetual log in their eyes, (Matt. 7:3) that the recognition of sin, especially with words to the sinner, is judgmental, and that we have no right to even mention it to their faces. The idea has become so prevalent in our age that those who are attempting to live for the Lord fully are not welcomed in most churches today, they are far too adamant, they are seen as contentious, and in many cases, they are regarded as “holier than thou” individuals whose one main concern is pointing out the faults of others. Instead, they have determined the best course of action is to begin a relationship with the sinner, and then slowly, ever subtlety, begin to hopefully convict them.
You will not find that anywhere in the Scriptures either. Many will misinterpret what I have said here as a “hammer” approach, in their mind they see me and others that understand what has been written here, as ones that virtually run up to people and start yelling at them that they are blatant sinners on their way to hell, overtly rude, not representing of the love of Christ, but totalitarian in the knowledge that they are better than others, hence the judgmentalism. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Think on this, which shows more love, to tell them that Jesus loves them, or to tell them that the wrath of God is abiding on them because they are sinners. Both are truth, both are necessary, you can lead no one to Christ who is not aware that they are a sinner, they must repent of their sins, and if they do not realize that they are a sinner, they will not see or know of the sins that they have.
There is the crux of the whole issue, there is the basis for the church falling into the “Jesus is only love” mentality, for the permanent log, for the judgmental accusations. They want people to like them first, that is what being a friend first means, it is the first steps to friendship, they want the world to like them. “Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.” (Luke 6:22)
You want to know one of the main reasons for the apostacy, it was just spelled out for you here.
Men of God are not looking to become friends with the world, they are attempting to bring a lost world to Christ, they will be friendly when they do so, but they are not going to be friends with the wicked people that the wrath of God is abiding on, they are unrepentant sinners, they are our neighbors, we are to love them, and we do that by speaking the truth to them. It is the sinner who is committing the sin, it is the unrepentant sinner that the Lord God will judge, not the sin.
