Notes And Quotes For Today
Seven Reasons Why Christians Fail – I
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves, Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you , except ye be reprobates?” 2nd Corinthians 13:5
We live in dangerous times. The danger to compromise truth and come short of complete obedience to the Word of God is ever present. This danger exists to move from Christ -centered ministries to man-centered ministries. There is a significant evidence of the fact that fundamentalism is not what it used to be. Unlike the Apostle Paul who “ turned the world upside down,” (Acts17:6), it seems that the world has turned what we know as Fundamentalism upside down. We seek to admonish, to “ reprove, rebuke, and exhort” God’s remnant in order to shore up the things which remain in these last days. Our goal is to shore up the weak areas and separate ourselves unto God. And in this article we want to deal with seven reasons why Christians fail. There probably would be other reasons too, but we say these are the main reasons of people who make professions of faith in Christ, but some how it does not last, it does not work.
Now, many times true born again believers fail. Nobody is perfect, some get away from the Lord they fall into big sin, and it is not just by accident, there are reasons. We don’t think it is any secret that many people who claimed to be saved fall away from the Lord and get into serious sins and go back to the old ways of life, and the old beliefs (churches if you please). Most fundamental preachers will say the same thing, that the majority of professions of faith don’t last. At least not a life time.
Now, we are not talking about people who get saved and never sin! There isn’t anybody like that! But we are talking about people who may sin and fall down on their face and confess it to the Lord and they get back up, and they get going on! And they get side tracked here and there, and they get right and they get going on! And they have a life time of basic faithfulness to God! But this is pretty obvious; that there are not many like that! We are talking about people like Abraham. He wasn’t sinless after he got saved! He got off the track, and he got back; and went on with God.
Then think of David, “ a man after God’s own heart,” who fall into the sin of adultery and murder. He cried before the LORD, to be restored into fellowship! We find the testimony of many, many others people of God! Somebody said some years ago that, “ the fastest growing church is the church of the backsliders.” we are afraid that is true. There are numbers added to them every day, by Christians who get away from the Lord and from His church!
The following are seven reasons why Christians backslide, fall away and turn from God:
1.False Profession of Faith: Matthew 7:21 which reads, “ not everyone that saith unto me shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many shall say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord have we not prophesized in thy name? In thy name cast out devils, in thy name done wonderful works? Then will I profess unto them I never knew you, depart from ye that work iniquity.” These are the words of Jesus, “ I never knew you,..” and that means “I did not know you in the first place!”
Not every one who claims to be saved, not everyone who prays a prayer are Christians in the first place: truly saved and born again by the Spirit of God. Yes, they have made profession of faith in Christ, and felt they were saved. Sad to say we have seen too many of that kind. How many times we have seen people right in our own church who thought they were saved for years; and then under the conviction of the Holy Spirit through a message preached, they say, “ I need to be saved, I am not born again!”
We have referred to these verses every once in a while, because we have seen people who sit in Bible preaching churches year after year unsaved. Making professions of faith, but there seems to be no life and no fruit. No change in the way they live. Living the same old life, And sooner or later they fall away all together. Friends, we don’t ever want to discourage the person, with the least faith in Jesus Christ. What does it take? It takes the faith of the grain of the mustard seed. But we must make sure that our faith is solely and only in Jesus Christ on what He has done for us on the Cross; His shed blood, and His resurrection. It is not just believing in Jesus, or not agreeing that the Bible is true. We have seen many people like that they agree to the truth of the Bible, but they have not put their faith and truth in the Lord! All they have is the head knowledge. It is as if their Bible reads, “ if thou shalt confess the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy head….” we see this all the time!!
Is there any fruit? Is there any change? , “ are old things passed away…?” Is there any reason for people to believe that you are saved when they see your daily walk? Would there by any reason for them to believe that you are a child of God? We read in 1st John 2:19, “ they went out from us, for they went of us,,…” The Holy Spirit is saying here through John that there were many who came and professed to be Christians, but after a while they went away, they didn’t come come back – they did not repent. John continued and said “had they been of us, they would have no doubt continued with us: but they went out that it might be made manifest that they were not all of us.”
Beloved we want to see everybody saved. We want to help everybody saved, but unsaved church members will do us no good. In fact they bring great harm to the body of Christ. They are not saved because they don’t see things the way God sees them. James 1:21, reads, “ be ye doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves.” There are many who hear the word being preached but they don’t do. They don’t pray; they don’t give; no sacrifice of any kind. They are just in the church. “ hearers of the word and not doers of the word, deceiving their ownselves.”
And we read in Verse 23, “ for if any man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straight way forgeth what manner of man he was.” He sees himself in a mirror, he sees his dirty face and that his hair is messed up and he goes on doing nothing about that!
There are people who hear the truth and receive that with gladness, “ oh wow! I want to be saved; I want to go to heaven,…..” but then after a while they are no more there. We are told in the parables of Matthew 13, and the other gospels about the hearers on Stoney ground; and the thorny hearers; which after a while they say, face hard things; and begin to be offended by and by and they say, “ I don’t believe that!” The Bible says “ by their fruits ye shall know them!”
How many times people have made professions of faith at younger ages; and they found out later that they were not saved; and had to come forward to get saved? Yes, some people fall away because they are not saved in the first place. Now the other six we are going to look in to have to do with people who are saved.
Any time emotion becomes the criteria for conversion,
it is based on a crumbling foundation !!
To be Continued………………………………
From The Peoples Gospel Hour Staff