June 3rd 2007
Matthew 24:11-13
(11) And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
(12) And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
(13) But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Watch and be not taken by the love of this world…
As we approach the Tribulation Period, many Christians are being led astray by focusing on the perishable things of this world and as such they are chocking their love for Christ Jesus. We sadly have many Christians setting their affections not on Christ Jesus but the material things of this world.
Jesus Christ gave us a very clear warning that in the last days, the love of many would grow cold. This warning is very imperative that we all watch and take heed that we don’t become part of those who fulfill this scripture. Regardless of who you are spiritually, the Devil is all out attacking Christians, right at the cravings of their hearts.
The Devil is simply giving Christians a fake love, a love for this world and as such killing the love of Christ in the believers. We are to take heed because those who loose their love for Christ and those whose love for Christ grows cold in these last days are not destined for good but have their reward with Satan in Hell.
So, in this article we take a look at how one comes to loose their Love for Christ or how their love for Christ grows cold. Also, what type of love does the Bible speak about, is it Man’s love or Christ’s Love? The Bible is very clear and shows this to us.
We are therefore to be aware of the traps that Satan would set in order to cause us to loose our love for Jesus Christ.
The Rise of False Prophets…
Matthew 24:11-13
(11) And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
(12) And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
(13) But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
- We see that there was a rise of False Prophets…
- They shall deceive many…
- Iniquity shall abound…
- …As a result the love of many shall wax cold…
So, this is a warning that we awake and use scripture to discern what is right from what is wrong so that our faith and spiritual eyes will stay focused on Jesus Christ and not man. Those who continue to feed at the feet of false teachers and prophets risk having their love for Christ grow cold.
The Bible clearly speaks of a time when the love of many will grow cold. This coldness is in context with the rise of false prophets who come to deceive many. Always deception will be accompanied by a coldness and lukewarmness of a Christian. Truth in Christ Jesus will always set us free from satanic bondage and set us on fire for God.
So, it is imperative that Christians today take discernment based on God’s Word very seriously as not doing so will certainly cause one to feed on leavened bread and adulterated word which in turn will cause you to set your spiritual affection after things of this world – idols of this day and age.
Deception in the last days…
Deception will not come upfront as ‘deception’ but rather a cover-up. Many times deception comes with half truth and half lies. The devil will use the half truth as a packaging mechanism to sell his lies to the church. However, we are to reject all false doctrines and expose them as false, having nothing to do with them.
The deception in this day and age is to sell sin, lies, and evil as being ‘okay’ and normal, not just in the world but in the Church too. Remember, it takes little poison in food or a drink to kill you, having a preacher teach 70 per cent truth and 30 percent lies will kill you spiritually. The 30 per cent poison is enough to put you to sleep as they say…in other words to kill you…
Iniquity shall abound…
The Bible identifies the period of time in which iniquity shall abound thus the love of many growing cold. We live in a time when evil abounds… The Lord Jesus Christ was referring to the end time saints and giving us a warning that when we see the rise of false prophets and the abounding of iniquity, then we are to take heed that we don’t get caught up in false doctrines from false prophets and thus participation in the abounding iniquity, leading to a coldness of heart and lack of love for Christ but instead an increase in the love of the world.
If You Love Me, Keep My Commandments…
However, knowing Truth alone is not enough, we must act on that Truth we know; we must be doers of God’s Holy Word.
John 14:15-18
(15) If ye love me, keep my commandments.
(16) And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
(17) Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
(18) I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
The Lord Jesus Christ says that if we love Him we should keep His commandments. So, it is very important to know that loving Jesus Christ in Truth involves us keeping His commandments. It is in this context that The Lord says that “and I will pray to the Father and He shall give you another Comforter that He may abide with you forever…”
The Lord will pray to the Father that we get the comfort of the Holy Spirit but in context of keeping His Word and that means keeping His Doctrine. The Love of many is growing cold today simply because they keep not the Commandments of The Lord. They abide not in the Doctrine of Jesus Christ. Therefore they abide in the false doctrines of false prophets and false teachers filled with the love of this world.
Loving Jesus Christ means obeying Him…
John 14:21-24
(21) He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
(22) Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
(23) Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
(24) He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.
Brethren, The Lord Jesus Christ is very clear that if we truly love Him, then we shall keep His sayings, we shall keep His Word, and we shall keep His commandments. You cannot separate your love for Christ from obeying and Keeping His commandments.
Don’t be deceived by Christians who claim that they Love The Lord yet don’t keep His sayings… Brethren, such Christians don’t love The Lord enough to keep His sayings. They simply like The Lord but Don’t Love Him! As a matter of fact The Lord Jesus Christ says that those who keep not His Commandments are NOT His! Brethren, if we truly belong to The Lord Jesus Christ, then lets keep His sayings and Doctrine.
I have of recent been visiting some Pastors and Churches here in Uganda and found out that most Christians are not up to keeping The Lord’s Commands. They pick and choose what they want to believe in and reject all sayings of Jesus Christ that call to carry our cross and follow Him. Many Christians simply want messages that will have them get material prosperity in the world. Brethren, this is clear deception and one which is currently causing the love of many to wax cold.
The Rich Young Ruler and His love for the world…
Luke 18:18-25
(18) And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
(19) And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.
(20) Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
(21) And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.
(22) Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
(23) And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.
(24) And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
(25) For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
From the above scripture we see that this Young Rich Ruler loved his riches more than he loved The Lord. Though he obeyed some of The Lord’s Commandments, he became very sorrowful when it came to forsaking the love of this world and love for riches in this world. Many Christians today are likened to the Young Rich Ruler who loved his wealth more than The Lord.
Love for the world and the things of the world are the greatest cause of love growing cold among Christians today. Many false Church doctrines are engineered toward making Christians conform to this world and love the things of this world.
The Prosperity Doctrine, Dominionism Doctrine, Doctrine of Balaam, Jezebel Doctrine, are set up to conform Christians to the Love of this world. As Christians living in these last days, we must watch out for this. If your love for Christ is growing cold, then certainly there must be an increase for the love of the things in this world and disobeying The Lord’s Commands.
The Greatest Commandment…
Matthew 22:35-40
(35) Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
(36) Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
(37) Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
(38) This is the first and great commandment.
(39) And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
(40) On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
The Greatest commandment that Jesus Christ spoke about in this verse above talks about our Total Love for Jesus Christ and then love for our neighbor. It is interesting to note that we don’t love our neighbor with our own fleshy love that is so limited and selfish.
However, when we love The Lord with all our total love then being filled with The Love of Christ we can truly love our neighbor. The Love spoken about here involves our obedience to Christ and our keeping of His Commandments, for those who love Jesus Christ keep His sayings and obey His commandments.
This is the Love that the Devil hates and wants to destroy in our lives by enticing us with the Love of this world. Brethren, we are to watch against this and make sure that we are not being enticed from obeying The Lord’s Commands.
You Abide in His Love If You Keep His Commands…
John 15:9-10
(9) As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
(10) If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
Jesus Christ is clearer here when He says that if we keep His commandments, we abide in His love. Brethren, don’t believe in those who lie and deceive that Once Saved You are Always Saved regardless of how you live. If you really love Jesus Christ then you are going to keep His sayings and obey His commandments.
Many today are ashamed of the Words of Jesus Christ, they are ashamed of the cross, they are ashamed of words of Christ that call for death to self and enduring shame and suffering for His Name.
I know Pastors and Church leaders who don’t want to hear anything message they deem ‘negative’… They don’t want to hear any message that speaks about suffering for Christ…all they want is messages that speak about getting rich, church growth and having dominion over this world.
Brethren, this we are to watch out for, the devil will use the love of this world and the things of this world to kill the love and obedience for Christ in the undiscerning believer.
Be Grounded in The Love Of Christ Jesus, in His Doctrine…
Ephesians 3:17-19
(17) That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
(18) May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
(19) And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
We are to be grounded in The Love of Christ, with Christ dwelling in our hearts fully, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. The love of Jesus Christ involves our keeping of His sayings, sayings being His teachings and Doctrine, and also obeying His sayings and Teachings. This love of Christ that fills our hearts then overflows in obedience to Christ to love our neighbors as we do ourselves…
2 Timothy 1:13
(13) Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
We are to hold fast to the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ, the sound Doctrine of Jesus Christ, this is what will keep our hearts from growing cold.
Love towards Jesus Christ and All Saints…
Philemon 1:5
(5) Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints;
We see here again a similar pattern in which Paul speaks about the love and faith first towards our Lord Jesus Christ and to all saints, or for that matter to our neighbor. So, the more we relate deeper to Jesus Christ and get grounded in Him, in His word, then certainly we shall love the brethren and our neighbor…
This love for Jesus Christ involves fully obeying His commandments, and this is what will keep us from growing cold.
On a side note, some Christians claim that they are on fire for God because they shout and scream a lot in prayer meetings and when preaching. Yes, one could be totally charismatic in their preaching but their love for Christ Jesus is all dead cold.
Simply being a ‘preaching machine’ or an eloquent preacher does not mean one is on fire for God. For most part, it is the opposite; such folks tend to be cold hearted towards the commandments of Jesus Christ and love for the saints, only seeking accolades and vain glories from man.
Love for the world is enmity with God…
James 4:4-6
(4) Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
(5) Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
(6) But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
James warns us against love for the world. This is total enmity with God. So, if one does not love Christ Jesus, then they certainly are in love with the world and the things of this world. The devil will try as much as possible to entice undiscerning Christians into this kind of love…the love for the world, which is friendship with the world.
Brethren, this is what we are to watch out for, in our jobs, homes, children, friends, etc there is always a pull towards loving the world and being a friend of the world, so we don’t offend them. Brethren, flee from such worldly love, this type of love is worldly and deadly, only causing you to grow cold hearted towards The Lord.
God’s Love in us perfected when we keep His Commands…
1 John 2:3-6
(3) And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
(4) He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
(5) But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
(6) He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
We are warned and exhorted again that if we say that we know Jesus Christ and don’t keep His commandments, then we are liars and truth is not in us. However, if we keep His word then is the Love of God perfected in us…
Brethren, if you have read this article this far, you are sure now that our love for Christ Jesus requires us to obey His commandments and also keep His sayings…and this is what will keep us unstained from the world and on fire for Jesus Christ.
Love not the world, neither the things of the world…
1 John 2:15-17
(15) Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
(16) For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
(17) And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
We are not to love the world, neither the things in the world, the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and pride of life are not of the Father. Such love is sensual and leads to hell. Such worldly love is what has captured the hearts of many Christians today making their love for Christ grow cold and finally leading to apostasy.
We are to watch against this worldly love daily and examine ourselves daily according to God’s word to see if we are still in the faith…the True Love of Christ.
The Holy Spirit Abides with those Who Keep His Commands…
1 John 3:23-24
(23) And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
(24) And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
When we keep His commands and doctrines, no matter how hard they seem to be or sound, then we dwell in Him and as such know that His Spirit abides in us. I have heard of preachers claiming that they live in a “Holy Spirit Generation” but they are very disobedient to the commands of The Lord. They forget that The Holy Spirit is The Spirit of Truth and will abide with those who obey and keep the commandments of Jesus Christ.
This is love that we walk after His commandments…
2 John 1:3-6
(3) Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
(4) I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.
(5) And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
(6) And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
It pleases The Lord that we walk in Truth and Love, certainly John is speaking about The Love of Christ here that leads us in obedience to His commands and keeping His sayings or doctrines. This is love that we walk after His commandments. The love of the world will always lead us to walk against the commands of Jesus Christ…as such causing our love of Jesus Christ to grow cold…
Many Deceivers have entered the world, they love not Christ…
2 John 1:7-11
(7) For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
(8) Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
(9) Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
(10) If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
(11) For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
John finally warns the saints that deceivers have already entered this world and confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh…they reject the authority of Jesus Christ in the life of the believer today.
They reject the notion that Christ Jesus abides in us if we abide in Him and obey His commandments. These lairs abide not in the doctrine of Christ and therefore they have not the Love of Christ in them because Christ abides not in them… Their hearts have grown cold towards The Lord and are filled with love of this world.
We are to stay away from such. Many Pastors and Christians today abide not in the Doctrine of Christ and as such have become enemies of Christ Jesus. Brethren, we ought not to walk along their path that leads to destruction…
Thou Has Left thy First Love…Repent!!!
Revelation 2:4-5
(4) Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
(5) Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
Finally Brethren, many claim to be part of the Remnant Church and movement, they properly discern false brethren, and false prophets, yet, they have lost their first love for Christ Jesus. Brethren, we are to examine ourselves daily with God’s Holy Word to see if we still stand in the faith.
Many claim to be true Christians but are slowly loosing their first love for Jesus Christ. The world is slowly eating at their souls. They are being taken by the love of the world, lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and pride of life. Brethren, this is what is causing many to have their love grow cold.
The Church at Ephesus was had lost their first love yet continued to do the works of The Lord, they continued in discernment and other good ministry deeds yet they were getting cold hearted.
How can it be that one serves The Lord yet they are cold hearted? Yes, brethren, it can happen, that is why many will come to The Lord and say, Lord we cast out devils in your name, we did miracles in your name, yet The Lord will tell them to get out of His presence and that He never knew them because they were workers of iniquity.
Brethren, this sounds harsh and terrifying and yes, it should. We are to workout our salvation with both fear and trembling before The Lord. So, simply calling your self a remnant Christian and with a good discernment ministry will not be of help eternally to you if you loose your first love and cease obeying the commandments of The Lord and keeping His Doctrine and sayings. Brethren, lets watch that we loose not our first love for Jesus Christ.
In Christ Jesus
Kato Mivule
Uganda, Africa
