Will He Find Faith

“And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: (Luke 18:7-9)

These are very hard times that we are living in right now. There is so much confusion and anger, and our lives seem to have turned upside down in many ways. There is definitely a spirit of darkness out there and as we approach winter here in the Northern Hemisphere it will only make things worse as we cannot spend as much time outside. Yesterday we had a Communion service at my church, with a small group of people attending. It was only the second small group service there as they are trying to see how they can have small services (under 50 people) following the rules for COVID. I must say it was a very special service as most of us had not seen each other or worshipped in a group since the beginning of March as the churches were closed. It was very moving and some had tears in their eyes, myself included. It made me think this is what it will be like when we all see each other together in the Kingdom, rejoicing and praising God. The minister said that although we can do many things online God made us to be with others. He said that Adam should not be alone and created Eve to be with him. There is definitely something about saying the Lord’s Prayer together and hearing the other voices worshipping God with the verses leading up to the Communion. It is very powerful.

Unfortunately most of us do not always have a chance to fellowship together with other believers. This is largely because so many churches are being closed, especially the good ones. We are left to try and meet in whatever ways we can. It does not help that the number of true Christian believers is falling as well. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”(2Tim. 4:3-4). It is bad enough that so many people are secular and do not want to know anything about God but many evangelical Christians are also turning away from believing that the Scriptures are the true Word of God. “Since 2014, Lifeway Research and Ligonier Ministries have partnered every two years to conduct the survey to measure the theological awareness and doctrinal fidelity of adult Americans within and outside the church. Among U.S. adult respondents to the mid-March survey, 52% overall agreed that “Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God,” while 30% of evangelicals responded agreeably. The 2020 survey results also revealed a decrease in evangelical support of the Biblical doctrine of justification. In the 2018 survey, 91% strongly agreed that “God counts a person as righteous not because of one’s works, but only because one’s faith in Jesus Christ.” This year, that portion dropped to 84%.”(https://harbingersdaily.com)

So where does that leave us today? If Jesus were to return today would he find true faith in Him or would He find a lukewarm faith and say I never knew you. “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:” (Matt. 7:22-24). We must build our house upon the true solid Rock of Jesus Christ. He is a firm foundation that never falls. We may not always be able to worship together and may have to go into our closets for a short time, which in some ways it feels like we are already doing to some degree, but Jesus is always there with us. Continue to praise and worship Him as He deserves. Other people will see the difference between us and the darkness in the world and hopefully recognize that they need to come to Him as well. The time is short and hopefully soon the veil will be lifted from our people that they may see the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.

“O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built. Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee. For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low. And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations.” (Isa. 25:1-7). Then we can all rejoice and worship together in the wonderful and saving faith of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.