Sermon - Deception of Universalism
The Deception of Universalism in the church (30 Jan 2005)
Introduction Reading - John 11:17-44
Last week was the week of prayer for Christian unity; if you were here at our unity service you will have heard me speak strongly for greater unity. (See our web site) But although we strive for unity, I believe the churches, which are striving for, and holding to, the purist and soundest teaching of God�s word, will experience the greater blessing from him. How do we know the truth? We know the truth by rightly interpreting God�s Word. Error occurs when we fail to do this or we do not hold to the total authority of God�s word. Often through history people have found the clear teaching of scripture difficult to grasp, they have then failed to apply faith and have created their own teachings. Thus heresy is born!
Christian unity must not be at the cost of truth! There are, I believe, essential and basic truths of our faith that must not be compromised or laid aside for the sake of unity, and there are other teachings in God�s word, which are not essential enough for us to divide over, for instance the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the supernatural gifts of the Spirit for service in God�s kingdom, or the differing views on the second coming of Christ. I have heard of churches that have broken apart over the detail of how Jesus returns.
What is Universalism? These are two senses in which the word is used with regard to Christian theology.
Firstly, in reference to biblical thought, it frequently denotes the view that the purposes of God are not limited to any one nation or race, but extends worldwide. This view I do not have a problem with.To avoid confusion let me say right away I am in one sense a universalist, in that I do believe Jesus is "...the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" as John the Baptist clearly said, but I believe that he only becomes the one who takes our personal sin away sin away when we repent towards God, believe in Jesus as the Son of God and are baptised in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Although I have a Calvinist background and hold to many of the protestant reformers teachings, I am not one who believes at this stage in what is termed 'limited atonement', that is Christ dying only for the elect of God. Perhaps here I would agree with CH Spurgeon when he said in a sermon, " (Add quote from) "I know there are some who think it necassary to their system of theology... (to) inapplicable to Divine sacrifice" (end quote) 'The Defence of Calivinism' (See this sermon in our sermon series of this web site)
The second is the teaching of universal salvation. Ultimately, universalists say, all will be saved. The early universalists felt that if Christ atoned for all, suffered on the cross to put right the problem of sin for the whole world, then there must be universal salvation. He must therefore save all. They did not, and do not today, accept there is a place called Hell, or if there happens to be one, no one will be sent there.
Universalism has a long history, too long to set out in one short sermon. It has cropped up over and over again throughout the history of the church. In the third century after Christ Origen, a theologian from
If we fail to compare scripture with scripture then passages such as Colossians 1: 19-20 taken in isolation, will lead us to a universalist view of salvation. �For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.� Universalists would defend their view with such texts to the level that even the Devil will be saved. They might also look to Romans 11:32 �For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all�.
The truth is that the Bible teaches what is termed particularism, this means that only those who fulfil certain conditions will be saved from God�s coming judgement. To teach the universalist view, one has to ignore some of the plain teachings of scripture.
The Indispensability of the Cross.
I remember being so concerned by the words a close friend who had sat under the same good teaching as I had over many years, she said, �Well, at the end of the day God is love, and we will all get in to heaven.� That is universalism as expressed again in the 19th Century by a man called Schleiemacher; I wish it were true, but it is not! Universalism picks up on certain scriptures that seem to imply it, but one must compare scripture with scripture as I have said and not take things in isolation.
The teaching, in its early form, rested on the generosity of Christ and his work on the cross having to be effective everywhere and for everyone, whether they wanted it or not! But the Bible teaches us that individually we must all repent, say we are sorry for our disobedience towards God, believe in Christ�s suffering in our place because of our sin. We are to be baptised in the name of Jesus and turn from our sin to be saved, that we might have eternal rightness with God and therefore have eternal life. We must individually receive the assurance and guarantee of our genuine repentance and faith in the form of the presence of Christ in our innermost being through the receiving gift of the Holy Spirit. We see this in such passages as Acts 2: 37-39, �When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" 38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit� Save yourselves from this corrupt generation."
Why is Peter giving this advice and warning if we are all going to be saved anyway or given a second chance after death? We must not entertain a false hope but know beyond doubt that we are forgiven and that Christ is in us! We must have personal faith! Universalism is a deadly delusion and one that must be avoided at all cost.
There is Bondage to Sin and Freedom only through Sacrifice.
In an article by one Harold Brown in a 1988 Christian magazine, Brown writes, �Modern universalism as found in Christian circles is the offspring of a mismatch between biblical concepts of salvation and the goodness of God on the one hand, and humanistic ideas about the goodness of humanity and the triviality of sin and evil on the other.�
Modern universalism sets aside the seriousness of sin and any bondage to sin that mankind needs to be set free from. In some circles it has moved from teaching that Christ died for all so all are saved in the end, to uncertainty about the authority of the Bible and the uniqueness of Christianity, linked to unrealistic ideas that basically people are good at heart and that it would be a shame if anyone went to Hell.
The bible teaches that all of us are in the power of sin, disobedience to God. Jesus said that �everyone who sins is a slave to sin.� John 8:34. The Bible teaches clearly that humanity is not just in the power of sin, but also in the power of death and Satan. The Bible�s teaching in Romans chapter 6 and 7 is about our slavery under sin and deaths power, and our freedom through the work of Christ on the cross. The apostle Paul writes, �But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.�
Derek Prime, in his book �Bible Answers�, summarises for us what sin is when he writes, �Sin is essentially rebellion against God. Arising from the corruption of the human heart, it is the cause of our separation from God, and the reason for our deserving God�s wrath. Sin is our greatest problem.�
The strong teaching of the Bible is that there is slavery to sin and death and each individual has to do something to be set free. What particular obedience does God desire? The apostle John tells us in his first letter what God wants of us, �And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.� I John 3. One of the characteristics of slavery is that a slave lacks the power and resources to legally obtain freedom. The price of freedom had to paid by someone else! Jesus paid the price for us at the cross! He legally set us free and it becomes a reality for us only when we personally trust in him.
The Bible indicates that sin is not forgiven unless there is a sacrifice, the shedding of blood to justly cover the cost of mans sin, sin must be punished and everyone must be punished for their sin, unless someone else takes that punishment for them, and that would have to be someone who is sinless and acceptable to God as the sacrifice! Hebrews 9:22 says,��without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.� The Bible also says in the same letter �But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone� Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.� Jesus was the perfect sacrifice!
My view and understanding is that Jesus died for all, atoned for all, he paid the price of our sin and made it possible for us to approach God and enter into his blessings now and hereafter. What Jesus did on the cross is the heart of the Christian faith. Other Christian teachings are very important, but we must never minimise the centrality of the atonement!
Universalism conflicts with fundamental Christianity as taught by Jesus. Jesus states clearly that he is the exclusive way to God, �No- one comes to Father except through me.� John 14:6. Is Jesus saying everyone will get to the Father in the end and it will be through me; that would be the universalist view, or is he indicating that if any of us are going to get back into a relationship with God, it will have to be through personal faith in him. I believe the latter. I also see this text, and other similar texts of scripture, as a warning that a search for God through any other medium is futile!
I could go on with the argument as the Bible talks of only those who personally put their faith in Christ as being saved from God�s ultimate judgement on sin. John�s gospel in particular is full of verses clearly indicating that everlasting life is based on personal belief in Jesus Christ. In the story of the raising of Lazarus the words of Jesus are like a trumpet sounding loud and clear, �he that believes in me will live, even though he dies�� He is pointing to salvation only by personal trust in him!
Jesus himself indicated Hell as being a real place when he told the story in Luke 16 of the rich man and Lazarus. He went on to speak of the separation on judgement day of the sheep from the goats, the believers from the unbelievers. There is also the strong teaching of a future judgement day, strong enough to even warn Christians about, and that is found in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 and 10:12.
The Bible also speaks much of the elect, the chosen of God! Jesus spoke of the gathering of the elect by the angels on judgement day. (Mark 13:27) The strong suggestion is therefore that not all will be saved!
All this is denied as universalism takes from the Bible what it wants, calling it truth, and throws away the rest as untrue!
The very Bible that universalism gets it�s teaching from, casts aside the other parts of the Bible that refute it! How can anyone hold to a teaching from a book when other teachings in that same book are disregarded?
To be fair, there is an indication in the Bible that if we die having no knowledge of Christ, we will be judged by what we have done in the light of the knowledge of God we have received, for instance creation and our own God given consciences. (Romans 1:19-20 & 2:14-16) But that does not apply to us today, or anyone who has heard the message of the gospel even once! There is no second chance to believe after death taught in the Bible! In Revelation 20:15 we read that if our name is not found written in the book of life, we will be thrown into the lake of fire along with Death and Hell.
Final Thoughts
Through what the Bible teaches we can see we have something far better than any other religion. Christianity is unique! Forgiveness, restoration into friendship with God, fullness of life beginning now that will go on forever with a conscious awareness of being in the presence of God with new bodies; we have power to live this life as free men and women in a freedom over evil such as no other faith offers; we have the knowledge of God within us that can be tangibly felt; we have the knowledge that we are being prepared to reign and rule with Christ in a new age to come, a new world and a new universe, and there is more, far more! For no one has fully grasped yet what God has prepared for those who have faith in Christ Jesus! But these are not things that automatically come to us through Christ�s death on the cross, they come to us by personal faith and trust in him, and that itself is a gift of God to anyone who asks!
We will not all get into heaven, or more importantly, populate the new world to come, unless we personally believe in Jesus, are baptised and endeavour to live in holiness of life for him. (True faith is seen in the works of obedience that follow it as indicated by the letter of James in the Bible.) Heaven on the new earth waits for the men and women of faith in Jesus, Hell waits for all those who will not believe, and it is eternal. As long as God exists, Heaven and Hell will exist! And God weeps over those who reject his Son and daily continue to fill Hell with their souls.
Universalism leads to separation from God for all eternity because it denies the fact that we need to each personally put our trust in Christ and his work on the cross in this life. Only personal faith in Christ leads to eternal security in God the Father�s love.
The Danger of Universalism
The danger of universalism is not just that it can lead us into a false hope of salvation, it can also lead us to accept that all religions lead to the same God, that we are all going up the same mountain to reach the same God but from different directions and therefore there is nothing wrong with unity based on a shared spiritual journey with other faiths and having multi-faith services of worship. I have personally avoided multi-faith services when I have been asked to attend them in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Christianity is not compatible with other faiths. Other faiths are following either a non-existent god, or are being deceived and led away from the truth by Satan. These faiths are a deception and a lie because Satan is the father of lies. This is the great deception of the final age of mankind before Jesus returns, that all roads lead to the true God. Do not believe it, they don�t lead to the same God! �Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life and no man comes to Father except through him.� How much longer we will be able to freely say this in our nation is debateable, but we must love the people of other faiths, love them and witness to them that they might find the wonders of knowing Jesus Christ.
On what, or whom, do we rest our hope of acceptance by God when we meet him? I rest in a personal faith in Christ as my Saviour, that he alone paid the price of my forgiveness and acceptance on the cross. It�s a faith God has given me as a gift, which has been confirmed by the inner witness of his Spirit living in me giving me assurance of the Father�s love for me. I have been baptised into Jesus through the waters of Baptism, which he commands all who put their trust in him to undertake. On Jesus Christ and on Jesus Christ alone, I put my hope for everlasting friendship with the one true God and creator of all things seen and unseen! Have you put your trust in him?
Jesus said to Martha, �I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?�
Avoid the teaching of universalism at all cost!
30/1/05
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