Sermon Central
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You Will Never Fall
Contributed by Rev. Mario Gonzalez on Oct 25, 2010 (message contributor)
Summary: God often mercifully uses us, and then we somehow feel that it is some sort of blanket approval of all the foolishness we observe in ourselves alongside the supposed “anointing.”
You Will Never Fall
By Rev. Mario Gonzalez
I. Scripture Reading: 2 Peter 1:3-4, 10
“3. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and
godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own
glory and goodness (KJV: virtue (arête; are-tay) meaning: power
or excellence). 4. Through these (His glory and power) he has
given us his very great and precious promises, so that through
them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the
corruption in the world caused by evil desires…10. Therefore, my
brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election
sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall…” (NIV)
II. Text
As of late I have been drawn to apocalyptic scriptures such as Matthew 24,
where Jesus himself speaks of his own return. He speaks of a time of
unparalleled suffering and the appearances of many “false” Christs that will
apparently be performing seemingly convincing lying miracles and wonders
deceiving many. He says,
Matt. 24:24
24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great
signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible. 25
See, I have told you ahead of time.
Following this passage, he speaks of his return when he says,
30 “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all
the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming
on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. 31 And he will
send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect
from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. 32 “Now
learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its
leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you
see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 I tell
you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these
things have happened.
Considering the fact that most theologians consider the fig tree referenced here
to represent the formation of national Israel in 1948, it would stand to reason
that the return of our Lord is much sooner than many of us might imagine.
Notwithstanding, at the end of this incredibly important passage, Jesus says in
Matt. 24:35,
“35. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass
away.” (KJV)
People change. God doesnʼt. James, the brother of Jesus, tells us,
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down
from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow
of turning.
George Barna did some interesting research a few years ago that essentially
found that there was no substantive difference between self-professed
believers and unbelievers when it came to believing that there is an absolute
truth. A majority of people in the survey professed to believe in Christ, yet did
not believe that there was an absolute standard of truth against which other
things could be judged. As such, the group considered all things “relative to
experience,” and as such, subject to personal interpretation.
Remember, weʼre talking about “the church” here.
Like unbelievers, professed Christians followed their carnal consciences and
felt that they weʼre absolutely in the right when doing so. The problem with this
thinking, of course, is that the Bible reveals to us that our consciences are
jacked up.
The apostle Paul had a few things to say about our consciences to both of his
spiritual sons Titus and Timothy. To Titus, he says,
“15. To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and
do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and
consciences are corrupted. 16. They claim to know God, but by
their actions, they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and
unfit for doing anything good.” (NIV)
He goes on to warn Timothy,
1 Tim 4:1-2
“1. The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith
and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2. Such
teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have
been seared (branded) as with a hot iron.” (NIV)
The scary part of all of this, which we canʼt afford to overlook, is that in both
instances mentioned by Paul to his two protégés, the individuals involved
believe that they are Christians!!! So what can we conclude? We can conclude that, as Christians, our consciences are no guide. Itʼs either Godʼs word or nothing. His word is true, all else is relative. My opinion, your opinion, what the person next to you thinks, everyone of us needs to be subject to Godʼs authority. This, of course, is the problem.
