“Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle,” 2 Thessalonians 2:15.
(A message preached In Newtownabbey Free Presbyterian Church, Tuesday night, October 17th, 2017)
Jude was pressed in his soul to warn of the infiltration of the ranks of the Apostolic Church by those he called ‘creepers’! “There are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ,” Jude 1:4.
Jude makes very plain the character and the objective of these men.
1. They are ‘ungodly’, ordained of old to condemnation.
2. They are intent on altering the Bible’s definition of God’s grace. From holiness and purity to ‘lasciviousness’ or ‘wanton filthiness’!
3. They determined on promoting a refusal and rejection of God the Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
An example of such a spirit was seen at Calvary. “But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you,” Acts 3:14.
That which was evident in the 1st century amongst the people of God continues today, indeed is stronger than ever it was.
The Ecumenical Movement within the professing Christian Churches is but the League of Creepers and Infiltrators of which Jude spoke in his day. Infiltrators will ever change their appearance in order to advance their scheme. The robes of Ecumenism are one of today’s disguises of these ancient enemies of God and Truth.
I say ONE of the disguises for there are many. During W. W. II, the number of spies at work on both sides of the conflict were legion! They attained the highest positions in the ranks of the enemy and served the cause they espoused by advancing lies and misinformation.
So it is today. Ecumenism is a fountain of falsehood, duplicity and misinformation. It is a chief source of deceit amongst unsuspecting Protestants regarding what the Bible teaches and what is the character and objectives of the leading opponent of Bible truth, the Church of Rome.
From its inception, the embodiment of Ecumenism, the WCC, made its objective clear.
* The goal of the World Council was plainly stated at its convening Assembly in August 1948. Former General Secretary of the WCC, W.A. Visser ‘t Hooft, stated the sentiments of the ecumenists gathered for that historic occasion:
“Our name indicates our weakness and our shame before God, for there can be and there is finally only one Church of Christ on earth. Our plurality is a deep anomaly. But our name indicates also that we are aware of that situation, that we do not accept it passively, THAT WE WOULD MOVE FORWARD TOWARDS THE MANIFESTATION OF THE ONE HOLY CHURCH” (The Genesis and Formation of the World Council of Churches, P. 66).
* In 1948 a Lutheran delegate stated that the purpose of the World Council of Churches was to reverse the Reformation.
* “The Common Declaration by Pope Paul VI and the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Michael Ramsey”, In which they said that their meeting “marks a new stage in the development of fraternal relations, based upon Christian charity, and of sincere efforts to remove the causes of conflict and to re-establish unity.” (1966).
* Oct. 6, 2016. VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis and Anglican Primate Archbishop Justin Welby have signed a joint-declaration emphasising that while topics such as homosexuality and the ordination of women still constitute points of division, they are committed to working together in their pursuit of full unity.
The WCC and its associated churches has been pursuing that purpose ever since 1948 and that with much success amongst its member churches.
* A statement, posted in July 2017, indicates that.
The World Communion of Reformed Churches has formally joined an ecumenical statement with Roman Catholics, Lutherans and Methodists aiming to overcome divisions between Protestants and Roman Catholics from the time of the Protestant Reformation.
“Today is a historic day,” said Jerry Pillay, president of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC), at a ceremony on 5 July in the eastern German town of Wittenburg, where Martin Luther lived and worked. “The documents we are signing today are significant and symbolic of the road we are to travel.”
At the service there were prayers of repentance and lamentation for past divisions and wrongs, and commitments to work for unity and justice.
“We commit ourselves to redouble our common efforts to embody our unity, together resisting the forces of injustice and exclusion,” said Rev. Dr Martin Junge, LWF general secretary.”
What a work of God the Reformation was and how hard the devil and his agents are working to overthrow it! Our text teaches us the very opposite to that which the Ecumenists are engaged in.
I. ECUMENISM IS ALL ABOUT SHIFTING YOUR POSITION, LETTING GO AND SEEKING OUT COMMON GROUND WITH ERROR, WHILE OUR TEXT COMMANDS US TO STAND FIRM!
“Therefore, brethren, stand fast.”
1. It is clear that the Thessalonians were under pressure. “That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us,” 2 Thessalonians 2:2.
This was the case with all the early church. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord,” 1 Cor 15:58. “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong,” 1 Cor 16:13.
Ecumenism is all about ‘moving, shifting’ altering.” To be a Christian then and NOW requires immovability, courage and strength!
2. The pressure was always to turn them back to darkness. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage,” Galatians 5:1.
3. Such a standing fast often requires separation from disobedient Christians. “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them,” Romans 16:17.
“Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us,” 2 Thessalonians 3:6.
“And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed,” 2 Thessalonians 3:14.
This is a repeated command from Christ!
II. WHAT WE ARE TO HOLD ON TO IS THE VERY THING ECUMENISM WOULD HAVE PROTESTANTS CAST AWAY
“Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught.”
1. Christians are at the end of a chain of transmission which begins with our Heavenly Father. “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass,” Rev 1:1. We are required to hold that which came to us from God, through the Saviour and by the mouth and pen of His inspired servants.
2. We must never forget that the Bible is the religion of the Protestant. It was said of arch-ecumenist Michael Ramsey that “he was thoroughly Anglican.” His theology was (1) “based on the scriptures”, (2) the church’s “tradition”, and (3) “reason and conscience”. That simply means the Bible was not enough but what it stated was subject to the scrutiny of “church tradition” and “reason and conscience”. The ‘Ecumenist’ believes he can overrule the Bible!
The Westminster Confession of Faith declares that the Bible is our ONLY rule of faith and practice, chapters 1 and 31. That was the position of the Reformers and it is that of the orthodox Bible Believer today.
3. It is that tenet that the Ecumenists would undermine. Founded on the ROCK of Holy Scripture we cannot be moved. “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus,” 2 Timothy 1:13.
III. PAUL CLARIFIES JUST WHAT HE MEANS BY TRADITIONS WITH THE WORDS ‘WHICH YE HAVE BEEN TAUGHT, WHETHER BY WORD, OR OUR EPISTLE’
1. The word tradition carries the meaning of ‘being delivered’. In this case is not that which has been delivered and added to by one superstitious generation to another. No, it refers to that which was given of God and transmitted to believers by direct preaching or by epistle.
2. We today, do not have access to the preaching of the apostles but we have preserved for us by God, the inspired epistles they wrote and the record of the chief aspects of their ministry. There we have “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints,” Jude 1:3. They are God’s inspired record of New Testament doctrine. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,” 2 Timothy 3:16.
Everything outside the Holy Scriptures, no matter what man may say of it, is to be rejected by believers.
3. It is by clinging to God’s Book that we may frustrate the Ecumenists and continue to promote and advance the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Cling to the Bible, though all else be taken;
Lose not its precepts, so precious and pure;
Souls that are sleeping its tidings awaken;
Life from the dead in its promises sure.
Cling to the Bible!
Cling to the Bible!
Cling to the Bible—
Our Lamp and our Guide!
Cling to the Bible! This jewel and treasure
Brings life eternal, and saves fallen man;
Surely its value no mortal can measure:
Seek for its blessing, O soul, while you can!
Lamp for the feet that in byways have wandered,
Guide for the youth that would otherwise fall;
Hope for the sinner whose life has been squandered,
Staff for the aged, and best book of all.
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
8th November, 2024