Category: Apostasy
Subject: Apostasy
Personally Perilous Times
In 2 Timothy Paul predicted perilous times that would come in the last days. “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
We need to recognize that these are the times to which Paul refers. Not exclusively this decade or generation, rather the intent of Paul’s reference to “the last days.” In both the Old and New Testaments the phrase is used to refer to the present dispensation, what we might refer to as the Gospel Age. Christ has come and His rule will continue until “He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:25-26). At the end of this era Jesus will come and the final judgment will be visited upon mankind. As Peter put it, “both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10). Truly these are the last days. Continue reading “Personally Perilous Times”
The Significance of a Steadfast Walk
There are many warnings in scripture regarding the consequence of departing from the straight path. It stands to reason that it is both possible and consequential to stray. If not, the warnings are extraneous.
One example is the call to Christian growth found in Peter’s second epistle:
“But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
“Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:5-11).
A simple reading of this text reveals why it is important to live a righteous life. It is not something that you merely should do, but something God’s requires! Consider the bold sections of the text, and their significance:
- If you add these characteristics you will not be barren nor unfruitful. If you don’t add them, you may . So what? Well, Jesus said that unfruitful branches are gathered and thrown “into the fire, and they are burned” (John 15:6).
- You can forget you were cleansed from your sins. To be enlightened but lose what you have brings a need for renewal that is impossible (Hebrews 6:4-6).
- If through adding these characteristics your call and election can be made sure; then not adding them can bring uncertainty. That is why Paul told the Philippians to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).
- Adding these characteristics precludes stumbling, and provides an abundant entrance into heaven. But our names can be blotted out (obliterated, erased) from “the Book of Life” (cf. Revelation 3:5), if we do not overcome. If sins can be erased (Acts 3:19), then our written names can be erased from the Book of Life in the same way.
This is the reason for the warnings. Heed them and live! Ignore them to your own eternal peril!
Sermon: Empty and Swept
A discussion of Matthew 12:43-45 explaining the main purpose of Jesus’ teaching here, and making several applications regarding the need to grow spiritually lest we fall from the faith!
Sermon: But Now After You Have Known God (Galatians 4:8-9)
Jehovah God is knowable through His person and His actions. It is an honor to know Him. Question is, does He know you?
Sermon Powerpoint View and Download:
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Burdens and Loads
There is a text in Galatians 6 that begins in verse two by saying, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Later in the same context, verse five, he said, “For each one shall bear his own load.”
Now it is obvious to anyone who accepts the inspiration of scripture that there must be a difference between a burden and a load. The Holy Spirit does not contradict Himself, and if the two are the same, the thought produced is nonsensical. There are two aspects of the writing that serve to give us the true sense of Paul’s teaching. The first is an understanding of the definitions of the two words. The second and most important is the context, both immediate and remote. Let’s consider. Continue reading “Burdens and Loads”
Continuing in Sin
It is sad that a statement by Paul “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that race may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Romans 6:1-2), should need explanation and defense. And yet, because of error and the current cultural climate, it certainly does.
Paul taught salvation by grace, which just about every religious person believes. He taught that sin precludes any individual being saved by perfect obedience, which just about every religious person accepts as a true statement. Here he taught that continuing to sin after being saved by grace was unacceptable. This truth, which is clearly stated, can’t be accepted by individuals who believe the Calvinistic precept of the Perseverance of the Saints, colloquially known as “Once saved always saved.” Continue reading “Continuing in Sin”
Admonition to Imitation
Any surface reading of the New Testament gives plenty of evidence to refute the Calvinistic doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints. The Calvinistic view ultimately excuses the unrepented failures in the lives of erring Christians. An example of such a refutation can be found in Paul’s writing to the Ephesians. In chapter 5 of the letter, Paul writes to Christians (the audience to which he writes) to be “imitators of God as dear children” (1). This is an admonition, an admonition with consequence as we will quickly see. Continue reading “Admonition to Imitation”
The Ministry of the Prophet Hosea
The beginning of the book of Hosea sets the timeline. He received words from God, “in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel” (Hosea 1:1). This reign of the second Jeroboam is related in 2 Kings 14:23-29. Jeroboam reigned over a nation that was fully steeped in idolatry, which was soon to fall to the mighty nation of Assyria. The people were taken into captivity, and the northern nation was no more. The internal evidence seems to indicate that Hosea’s ministry of prophecy took place only a few decades before the end of the nation in 722 B.C.
It is important to note how God felt toward idolatry. The beginning of the 10 commandments given by God is, “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God…” (Exodus 20:3-5a). Idolatry was considered a great unfaithfulness, a spiritual adultery to God. And yet, for its entire existence, the northern kingdom of Israel consistently practiced the sin. Continue reading “The Ministry of the Prophet Hosea”
The Earth Which Drinks in the Rain
An interesting illustration is used by the writer of Hebrews to describe the danger of a Christian losing his standing with God. Yes, I know that many deny it is a possibility, but both the direct words (Hebrews 6:4-6), and the illustration that follows (6:7-8) clearly teaches it is true.
“For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is being burned.”
Ultimately, the illustration establishes that our continued standing with God is determined by how we respond to the redemptive blessing He has granted to us. We celebrate the fruitful land that brings us sustaining crops. But if the same rain brings only thorns and briers, it is not only not useful, but not accepted. Consider the phrase, “it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is being burned.”
There is hope for the unfaithful. The illustration shows, “near to being cursed,” that God’s judgment for Christians bearing thorns and briers instead of good fruit is not yet certain. It is near, but there is time for repentance, at least until a day comes where the time is ended. “…whose end is being burned.”
The Hebrew writer was hopeful that his warning would bring change and renewal (6:9-12). If so, diligence will bring reward. If not, rejection will be final.
The Patternists: A Lifetime of Faithfulness
Solomon was a wise man. God greatly blessed his reign over Israel. He wrote Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. His advice to his son in the book of Proverbs serves as a guidebook to successfully navigating around the pitfalls of immorality and foolishness.
And yet, in the end, Solomon failed God. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. The Lord had warned him not to intermarry with these foreign women, but he ignored God. The text of 1 Kings 11 records his mistake. “Solomon clung to these in love” (2). “…his wives turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lords, as did his father David” (3b-6).
Continue reading “The Patternists: A Lifetime of Faithfulness”
The Patternists: Wage the Good Warfare
I would like to share a few thoughts regarding Paul’s exhortation to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:18-20:
“This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.”
First, what does it mean for Timothy to wage the good warfare? It is evident that we are at war with Satan. There is the responsibility that each has to fight personally against Satan. This is why we don the armor of God (cf. Ephesians 6), that we may be able, “to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Ephesians 6:13).
Sermon: Philip’s Work in Samaria (Acts 8)
A study of Philip’s ministry among the Samaritans, recorded in Acts 8.
Sermon: What is Fair?
An examination of Ezekiel 18, which give us much insight as to the grievous nature of sin, and how our righteous God deals with both those who pursue sin, and those who pursue righteousness.
The Patternists: Turning Your Heart from God
King Solomon serves as a cautionary tale to all Christians concerning the necessity of staying true to God’s will. Most are aware that Solomon began his reign as King of Israel in a commendable way, as a young man asking God for wisdom, that he might be a capable king. We are told, “And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore”; and “he was wiser than all men” (1 Kings 4:29,31).
Solomon built a temple to the Lord and placed the ark of the Lord in it. At the dedication of the temple, Solomon prayed, saying “Lord God of Israel, there is no God in heaven above or on earth below like You” (1 Kings 8:23).
Continue reading “The Patternists: Turning Your Heart from God”
