Leaving Beyond – Grounded In Scripture

Written by: April J. Buchanan

Many men will entice and invite you into their sin, or into the approval and acceptance of their sin, urging you to agree with them in their offense against a holy God. Christian, you will not only be tempted by your own fleshly desires, but often by those you love who ask you to affirm what God hates.

In such moments, your love will be questioned, your loyalty will be challenged, and you will be forced to choose.

Many comfort themselves with delusions, imagining that they can claim salvation for their loved ones while ignoring the clear necessity of repentance and faith and that salvation is the work of God. They attempt to suppress reality, not by submitting to the truth of Scripture, but by reshaping it according to their desires. Where the Gospel is needed, it is often replaced with a powerless message, and reduced to “Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” while sin is left unaddressed and the call to repentance is absent. In this way, consciences are soothed and false converts are made. This has consequences for your own soul, for truth cannot be compromised without consequence.

Likewise, there are those who do not see danger coming from another direction, as some men appear sound in doctrine. Their teaching, when examined, seems faithful, and their lives outwardly appear ordered and upright, yet they fall and when they do it reveals what was hidden.

False teachers lead many astray because they speak what men desire to hear, and Scripture exposes them plainly. Their teaching does not withstand the test of the Word, and when they fall in their private lives it is not surprising because it is the inevitable fruit of error. Yet many in the pews love them and love what they say, and they love the lies they have embraced as truth, so they restore such men to positions for which they were never qualified because they have accumulated for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires as written in 2 Timothy 4:3.

It is not so among those who are governed by the authority of Scripture, for when a man who is truly sound in doctrine falls he is not protected by sentiment nor excused by reputation. He is treated as a fallen brother, he is removed from office, and he is placed under church discipline, while the care of his soul becomes the priority along with the care of his family, the church, and any affected by his sin, and this is love as it is defined by God.

And yet, dear saint, when those you love who remain outside of Christ go so far in their sin as to call it good and invite you to do the same, the matter becomes deeply personal, and they may say that if you do not affirm them then you do not love them.

You must choose in that moment whether you will obey God and love them with the truth, whether you will call sin what God calls it and proclaim the Gospel, or whether you will compromise where God does not.

Love is not defined by affirmation, but love is obedience to God, and it is expressed in truth rather than in the denial of it.

What are you being pressured to call good that God calls evil, and how can you proclaim the Gospel to someone whose conscience you have helped to quiet in their rebellion? If sin is no longer sin, then what gospel remains for you to proclaim? What are you doing to your own soul when you suppress the truth and seek to win them by means you call love but God calls rebellion? You do not want them to walk out of your life, so you quiet their conscience by affirming their sin and seek to win them by pragmatic means that God finds offensive. You seek to bring an enemy in without calling their sin sin and declaring the command of the holy and righteous God that they must repent and believe on the Lord Jesus. You wrestle with this in your mind and your heart is rent. You cannot compromise or distort truth without consequence.

Dear saint, a brother recently recounted a question he asked a dying brother who was a faithful pastor and a fellow pilgrim, and he asked him, “How is it with your soul?”

That question is full of love because it searches without accusation, presses beyond appearances, and reaches into the inner man, calling him to consider his standing before God, and it is not a legal demand but a gracious summons to self-examination as Scripture commands in 2 Corinthians 13:5.

For the faithful saint it stirs praise and turns the heart toward the kindness of God, His providence, His sustaining grace, and His sovereign power at work within, and for the struggling saint it opens the door to speak honestly, to bring hidden burdens into the light, and to find that grace is indeed sufficient.

It is a question that does not condemn but clarifies, and it does not wound without purpose but exposes in order to heal, directing the soul back to the ordinary means of grace, to the Word, to prayer, and to the fellowship of the saints where God strengthens and sustains His people.

Dear saint, do not let men, even those you love, draw you into calling evil good or good evil, and while you may love them, pray for them, and speak truth to them, you must not join them in their rebellion against God because to do so harms your own soul and weakens your testimony of the Gospel before them.

Compromise is never without consequence, and love for the brethren is not mere sentiment but is walking in the truth as written in 3 John 1:4, and it is a concern for their souls which may at times be expressed in something as simple and as profound as asking, “How is it with their soul?”

You need not ask it of every man nor use it carelessly, yet the question itself is full of love and searches the heart, and you must consider whether you are willing to let it search your own.

May it lead you again to the beauty and glory of God in salvation, and may it return your heart to His grace and power at work within you, and where neglect of His appointed means is revealed, may it stir you to return to them faithfully and with joy. And if in any way you have compromised and it is not well with your soul, dear saint, repent and find grace for your soul.