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We are in the modern phase of church history that can be referred to as the “Laodicean” period (Revelation 3:14-22), or the “last days” (2 Timothy 3:1-8 & 4:1-3) of the church age upon the earth. Christendom is a name that speaks of all who profess to be followers of Christ, both true and false. It is scripturally called by Jesus, in verse 11 of the Matthew 13 parables, the “Kingdom of Heaven.” In these parables Jesus warns that over time the professing church would suffer a false growth by being filled with many false Christians (Christians in name only).

Why is all this important to you if you never joined a Christian church or professed publicly to be a Christian?

Well, if you met a Christian and said, “If that’s a Christian, I don’t want to be one!”, do not let the hypocrite stand between you and God and coming to the Lord for salvation!

In our day, there are English words whose meanings have suffered misuse and abuse. For example, take the word ‘miracle.’ If everything is a miracle, nothing is. It’s not uncommon for the birth of a baby to be called a miracle. However, the birth of a baby conforms to the laws of biology. Yes, a baby is an awe and wonder. It is also the result of natural process. Now a virgin birth—that’s a miracle! “Hero” is another such misused and abused word that stems from the desire for there to be more heroes.

More problematic is the word “believe.” It has become a substitute word for “think,” which is more often used as an expression that contains doubt. People trying to get to the truth often have to ask, “do you believe” or “do you know.” This general usage of the word “believe” spills into the world of faith and religion.

FAITH as used in the Bible literally means “to trust,” “to believe.”

The “to believe” is the strong form of “to accept as true”! This is made clear in 1 John 5:13, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” The activity of FAITH is not the domain of intellectual prodigies, but a simple TRUST that children and young people can employ (see 1 Corinthians 1:18-31).

It would be well to distinguish the difference between the verb FAITH and the noun FAITH.

As a noun it is seen clearly in that body of doctrine described in Luke 1:1, “Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,” and Jude 3, “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” We are also warned of the peril in the last days concerning [the faith] in 2 Timothy 4:3, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears”.

So then, if people say they have faith yet deny THE faith, their faith is just a vain empty word. If people deny the Holy Scriptures as the word of God, they are denying the very thing that true faith springs from, for we read in Romans 10:17, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” We might take away from this that faith comes by hearing the word of God, which is spiritually true, but in this verse a distinction is made. There are two parts to this verse—how we get HEARING and how we get FAITH. In Mark 7:31-37 we see the miracle of a deaf man made to hear. Jesus said, “be opened” and he could hear.

In everyone’s life the Holy Spirit comes and strives with a person’s soul. You may just think it is your conscience troubling you, when in reality it is the still small voice of the Spirit of God (1 Kings 19:12). The word of God in Isaiah 55:6, gives you this invitation and warning, “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.”

If the Lord Jesus is knocking on your heart’s door, do not turn Him away—receive Him by faith.

You may hear by a Christian friend, a pang of conscience, a gospel tract, a seemingly coincidental circumstance, or at an evangelistic meeting, or a funeral, something that reminds you that someday you must leave this place. Do not put it off like a song says, “I’ll be saved but not tonight.” Hebrews 2:1-3 instructs, “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him.”

The word of God demonstrates the glory of God’s character, the wondrous love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit: LOVE, COMPASSION, FAITHFULNESS, MERCY, GRACE, RIGHTEOUSNESS, WISDOM, TRUTH, GOODNESS.

He has shown Himself worthy of our trust. Call upon Him while He is near. “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore, I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5,6).- MDH

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