Day 56: Secret Men – Part 2

Scriptural Nuggets Daily Devotion

Jude 4 – For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

2 Peter 2:1 – But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.

In the first century, the destructive elements brought into the church by “secret men” were based in two things:

1. They were turning the grace of God into license for immorality, and
2. They were denying that Jesus Christ is the only way

Denying Jesus

During our son’s high school graduation, a prayer was prayed to someone called, “Creator”.  The scope of the prayer could very easily include everyone from Jesus to the spirit wind of the Mojave desert.  It was a brief moment of acknowledgement that something or someone bigger than us is out there, but since we aren’t sure, will pray to the “unknown god” – Acts 17:23 

There is a reason that the Bible gets very specific to say things like,

• “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” – Romans 10:13
• “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” – Acts 4:12
• 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. – Acts 2:8
• It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. – Acts 4:10
• But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. – 1 Corinthians 6:11
• Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. – Philippians 2:9-11

It is the oldest attack against the church, “Don’t preach or speak in the name of Jesus” (Acts 4:18)

There is only one way, one truth, one life. There is only one gate to God and it goes through the cross of Jesus Christ.  If we believe the Bible, then there is no other way.  If we discount everything the Bible says about salvation and the hope we have in Christ, then we can just pray to the unknown creator and hope it all works out in the end.