Worldly Unregenerate Church — E.A. Johnston

The Worldly Church’s False Hope

A worldly, unregenerate church would be comprised of members who are baptized but unconverted. They rest their hope of heaven on a good opinion of themselves and on their track record of serving in their church.

Religious Hypocrisy and Self-Righteousness

Proverbs 30, 12 describes such religious hypocrites. There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes and yet is not washed from their filthiness. The lost religious person will be quick to judge himself better than those around him, like the Pharisee placed himself much higher than the publican.

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. The lost religious hypocrite will say he loves Jesus with his lips but his life will deny him.

Materialism and Love of the World

The unregenerate church member will pride themselves for tithing to their church but will refuse to make any real sacrificial financial gift to the kingdom of God. And their bank account and investment portfolio possesses their affections.

You will never find the unregenerate church member out on his own in public sharing the gospel because they have no concern for the lost even though they are lost themselves. They have no witness to the world for they are of the world.

Self-Centered Religion Without Spiritual Discernment

Their prayer life never rises above their own selfish petitions as they seek more of God's blessings for them and their family. Although they enjoy talking religion and mixing it with politics, they are often afield if spiritual matters are brought to their discussion.

They have no spiritual discernment for they know their Bible but they don't know the God of the Bible. They couldn't pick Jesus out of a lineup if they tried because he never knew them. So how on earth can they experientially know him?

Religious Appearance Without Spiritual Power

The worldly unregenerate church likes to boast and brag about what they have and what they have done in the name of religion. But when they speak they have no power, they have no authority, they are just a religious face man speaking of a God in heaven they know nothing about.

Their sermons will be full of amusing stories and funny jokes with a little God thrown in. The worldly unregenerate church member has never come under Holy Spirit conviction. They have never been awakened to their lost condition.

They are strangers to repentance and strangers to a work of grace upon the heart by the Spirit of God in regeneration. They are mere formalists wrapped in the grave clothes of self-righteousness and legalism.

Shallow Worship and the Absence of Burdened Prayer

They talk much about the love of God but show little love toward others. Their worship is shallow and centered around themselves. Their preaching is mechanical and professional. They are materialistic and self-sufficient.

Their church sends an icy blast to a parish and world of the hell bound. They know nothing of burdened, broken, intercessory prayer. They are baptized and religious but lost and without Christ. They are not born from above nor washed in the blood.

The Man-Centered Gospel and Easy Believism

They are the product of the man-centered modern gospel which is easy believism and their hope for heaven is but a hole in the wall.