Defined

 The Word makes it clear that the enemy’s intent is not to befriend you but to destroy you. Since that’s one of the most brutal truths the contemporary church is unwilling to accept, it must be repeated often and with conviction. The devil doesn’t like you! He doesn’t think you’re cute, witty, bubbly, intelligent, engaging, or entertaining. By the same token, he doesn’t believe you are rugged, masculine, classically handsome, well-built, charming, dashing, or chivalrous. It may have gotten lost in translation along the way, but striving against sin and flirting with it doesn’t mean the same thing.

It is because we don’t believe that sin kills that we’re so willing to blur the lines and shamelessly flirt with it. It is because we refuse to acknowledge the truth of Scripture when it lays out what the devil wants and how ruthless he is in his quest to get it. It’s not because God hasn’t warned us that so many are becoming ensnared in the enemy’s web; it’s because they didn’t heed His warning.

That most churches today avoid talking about sin, repentance, sanctification, and holiness as you would shaking hands with a leper doesn’t help matters. We avoid these topics because we think it will alienate people, then wake up to discover that by not addressing them, our churches are bleeding members like stab victims. Those who are there for the entertainment will find that the entertainment grows stale after a season. How often can you sit through a hacky version of a rock concert before it becomes tedious and repetitive?

Because we’ve given in to the notion that people won’t come to church unless we entertain them, those who come expecting to be fed, feeling the spiritual hunger rumble deep inside their gut, leave just as empty as when they came in, eventually seeking nourishment elsewhere. You can’t entertain the hell out of people, no matter how good sister Jean is on the banjo.

Romans 10:17, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

If the word of God is not preached, then it is not heard. If it is not heard, faith cannot come. If faith cannot come, we will perpetually conform to this world, never knowing the transformative power of God over our lives, hearts, and minds. If you were the devil, which would you target? If your goal was that men remain in a perpetual state of conformity to the ways and will of the world, would you not attempt to either silence the preaching of the Word of God or water it down to the point that it no longer resembles it?

At the risk of ruffling some feathers, striving against sin is not works salvation. Resisting the devil is not works salvation. If you were of that opinion, consider your feathers fully ruffled. I get that we’ve all become petulant children ready to strike out at anyone who upsets us, but before you do, it’s the Book telling you to do these things, not I. I’m just the messenger. I’m just the Uber Eats schmuck that delivers the burned pizza. I didn’t burn the pizza, don’t get angry with me. It’s not like I have an oven in my trunk for just such an occasion.

Hebrews 12:4, “You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.”

James 4:7-8, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

If you’re drowning in quicksand and you reach for the arm that’s reaching for you, that’s not works salvation; that’s not wanting to die. I don’t care how daft you are; when you’re dying, you know you’re dying. The sad reality is that some people just want to die, and others don’t quite grasp what it all entails. If the only thing that happens is that the lights go out, then that’s not so bad, is it? See how clever, now nefarious, how subtle the plans and schemes of the enemy? If he were to admit the truth and confirm eternity and the lake of fire where the worm never sleeps, do you think perhaps some people would be more judicious about the choices they make?

There are times when Jesus reaches out, and people, in their stubbornness, refuse to lift a finger, sinking ever deeper into the abyss of darkness and despair. God commands all men everywhere to repent. That’s a big tent, yet, many refuse to obey, to surrender, to humble themselves in the sight of the Lord, and repent before His throne.

Acts 17:30-31, “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

Whether submitting to God, resisting the devil, drawing near to God, cleansing our hands, or purifying our hearts, these are all actions required of us as individuals.

We have two choices here: either we take a sharpie and blot out these verses and many like them, including Jesus, telling both the woman caught in adultery and the bed-ridden man who’d been sick for thirty-eight years to go and sin no more, or we can accept that as with everything else nowadays, we’ve reformulated salvation to be palatable to the modern Christian.

If it’s cauliflower, can you still call it rice? If it’s not salvific, can you still call it salvation? More questions than answers, but questions are a good start when honestly desiring clarification.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.