There are those in the visible Church in our day who teach that for those in Christ there are no restrictions on behavior. They say, “All things are permissible.” Really? This sounds more like a pandering to those who cannot repent because they are not regenerate but who still demand to be called Christians.

7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. 10 So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith. Galatians 6:7-10 (NASB) 

Repentance is not a large part of the paradigm that is the 21^st Century version of the visible Church. The current trend to build Mega-Churches has as one of its main tenets that the prevailing culture within which the church resides must determine the content of the Gospel. In order to attract the largest possible number of people to be part of these churches absolutely no emphasis is placed on living a life of repentance by the professing Christian. Instead, the way “church is done” is to bring the world into it, to not be threatening in any way to those who have no desire to abandon their flesh oriented lifestyles.

Several years ago, or so, I posted a piece I wrote about the fear of God. I was “corrected” vociferously by many who stated, “The Christian has no need to fear God!” Is this true? I contend that antinomianism has accomplished the goal its author intended. The result is that we hear preachers, pastors, church leaders, and their apologists pushing conformity to “the big lie,” which is that, “one can sin with impunity, and that there are no consequences for sin.”

The acceptance of this lie by a large percentage of professing Christians in our day is the natural consequence of the culture within which we now live. This is a day of relativism, pluralism, and supposed open-mindedness. However, the nature of genuine Christianity is that we are absolutists, particularists, and adherents to God’s standard of right and wrong and truth and error. Those not delivered from this present darkness will view us as closed-minded, judgmental, and narrow. This reasoning is the product of the corrupt foundation upon which their value system is based. These “worldlings” are also the ones who have believed the big lie while still clinging to their professions of faith.

Paul, in his agricultural analogy of sowing and reaping from Galatians 6:7-10 (above), applied metamorphically to the moral and spiritual realm, is presenting a universal truism. There are consequences to our disobedience of God’s commands. If people live immorally then they are sowing immoral seeds, which yield crops of corruption. This principle is taught throughout God’s Word (cf. Job 4:8; Proverbs 1:31-33; Hosea 8:7; 10:12). This truism or law is a form of God’s wrath.

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. Romans 1:18-19 (NASB) 

The regenerate Christian must still contend with the flesh day by day in the battle to walk upright, moral lives. The Christian must still do battle against sin, however, there will no longer be a contentment with it being there for those who are truly in Christ. There will be a hatred of it and a deep desire to find the source of their drives to indulge the flesh in order to kill it. Also, the genuine Christian knows that with each deliberate sin they are participating in the very thing that nailed his or her Saviour to the Cross. This motivation is part of the regenerate nature. However, as we saw above, there are those in the visible Church in our day who teach that for those in Christ there are no restrictions on behavior. They say, “All things are permissible.” Really? This sounds more like a pandering to those who cannot repent because they are not regenerate but who still demand to be called Christians.

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