Balance Is The Key Of Life (Part 4)

Wednesday, Apr. 22, 2009 Posted: 11:43:12PM HKT

Now, what will happen to you as a believer if you're fed with a constant diet of such unbalanced doctrine? You will erroneously believe that...

- you have no need to confess your sins;

- the 10 Commandments cause you to lose your freedom in Christ;

- sin will never break your fellowship with God;
your sins are actually somehow drawing you closer to God;

- your prayers would still be heard and answered even if you persist in sin;

- holiness is instantaneous, transferable and "impartable" from one person to another;

- the Holy Spirit doesn't bring further conviction of sins once you are saved;

- faith is merely just believing, no repentance or self-denial is needed;

- by just believing alone, all your bad habits will effortlessly disappear;

- the moment you are born again, you have no more fleshly nature;

- there is no need for practical, continual sanctification now that you are already positionally complete and perfect in Christ.

The problem with all the above is the danger of embracing an unbalanced belief system devoid of personal responsibility, true repentance and genuine sanctification. The latter is the goal of the Christian life. God wants His people constantly moving toward the goal of complete holiness.

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thess. 5:23)

The goal is clear —entire sanctification; and that goal is to be fulfilled at the coming of Jesus Christ. To teach otherwise is to do the body of Christ a greatest disservice.

Now, besides all these, there are many other dubious teachings in circulation that we don't even have the time to look into:

- Jesus didn't have real human blood since He was born of a virgin (which dismisses the genuine humanity of Christ).

- You can't accept everything you read in the books of James and John as their revelations may not be as complete as Pauls in his epistles.

- The spiritual truths in Old Testament books like Psalms and Isaiah are no longer applicable or relevant to us in the new covenant.

- Paul's concept of grace advocates that if you have an illicit affair with a prostitute, there is no need to confess that sin before God and ask for His forgiveness. What happens when you feed on a steady diet of all these questionable teachings? You will start living an undisciplined, irresponsible and ungodly life. Attitudes will begin to change for the worse. Spiritual pride and arrogance will seep into your mindset and your entire Christian outlook would become unbalanced.

CHRIST'S CHURCH MUST STAND FOR THE TRUTH

How can you avoid error and stand firm in the truth of God's Word? Dr. Larry Keefauver, the editor of Ministries Today, writes that we must consistently follow this checklist of Christian accountability:

- Guard your heart with all diligence, listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit who will guide you in all truth (Jn. 16:5-15; Prov. 4).

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The Rev Dr Kong Hee
The Christian Post (Singapore) Guest Columnist