welcome we are going to be looking at a disturbing subject the title of these two sessions
is called The Death of Discernment the age of apostasy
is the aspect we're gonna look at in this session we are going to look
at the age of apostasy in our next session we
will look at the antidote for apostasy so whatever you do don't leave this session in any state of depression there is an answer and response to what we'll be
looking at in session one when we consider signs of the end times let me ask you a question which end times theme is
mentioned most in the Bible certainly if you were to go to a Bible book store that
had books on prophecy you might come away with the idea that the Bible
primarily speaks of global disasters thats primarily because
of the references made by Jesus recorded in Matthew 24 some might say the most often referenced end times theme that we
should be looking for is the rise of the global superstate some might say it's the identity of the
Antichrist this ominous character that appears in the end times or even more specifically the
mark of the beast some might refer to what is
called the Magog invasion that which is recorded in Ezekiel 38,39 which is on I believe our
near term prophetic future but there's another theme that
is often overlooked and it is the theme in the end times concerning deception and apostasy now when we consider apostasy as
a sign of the end times we merely need to go to Matthew 24 beginning at verse 11 where Jesus is meeting with his
disciples for a confidential briefing there on the mount of olives and there Matthew records... "Then many false prophets will
rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound,
the love of many will grow cold." we see the apostle Peter
warning Timothy in his final epistle to Timothy he says...
"Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times some will
depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving
spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocracy,
having their own conscience seared with a hot iron," and then of course Paul also writes to the
Thessalonican church 2 Thessalonians 2:3 and says... "Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes
first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself
above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he
sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." in so there we have
the whole end time scenario going right up to the
abomination of desolation is spoken of by Daniel the prophet
but notice the thing that preceeds all of that is the falling away the Greek word is where we get our
English word apostasy takes place first and so that is an indication a precursor to the end times events now in all three of these
references we see an indication that there will be a falling away Jesus recorded in Luke's gospel
says when the son of man returns will he find faith on
the earth that's a rhetorical device that Jesus uses for which the only correct answer is little or none one might even ask at this
point so are we now in the age of apostasy well let's look at some
indicators of decline church attended in England for
example as a percentage of the population in 1970 was 13.3% now it's important that you recognize that these are official statistics from the British government and this number includes
both Protestant and Catholic in 1980 the 1980 census showed that 11.1% of the nation consider themselves as Christian 1990 it was 9.4% attended a church 2000 7.2% and in 2010 5.3% of a nation of some sixty million people attend church and that includes
both Protestant and Catholic so you can see there will be a smaller portion of that
number which are Protestants another disturbing trend is to not
only see that there is a decline in the population of
the churches in England but that the average age
is increasing so that in 2010 the average age was 50 years old what that shows us is that as the population declines it is primarily the young people that are vacating the church the older people are remaining to
keep the numbers up to a degree but the decline is primarily among
young people within the church there are also disturbing indications of
decline in the area of biblical literacy April 13th 2001 prior to Easter in the Portsmouth news I used to
live in Portsmouth England in the Portsmouth news the editor there asked 50 members of the church clergy about their congregations belief so
they weren't asking what they believed they were simply asking what
their congregations believed they reported that 48%
of their congregations did not believe in the physical
resurrection of Jesus and that 60% of them believe
that the spirit of Easter had been lost in favor of bunnies and Easter eggs... now when you
consider the fact that at that time 7.2% of the people in England were attending church 60% of them in the
Portsmouth area believe that the spirit of Easter had been
lost in favor of bunnies and Easter eggs and 48% almost 50% of them did not even believe in
the physical resurrection and so you have an amazingly
disappointing statistic about biblical literacy within
the churches in England now as we examine this decline
not only in England but worldwide we'll look for the causes of this decline and we will look at three primary causes and each of these three primary causes have an historic precedent in the nation of Israel in their history we do so because Romans 15:4
tells us we should do so there we read for whatever things
were written before were written for our learning that we through
patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope and so the benefit at one level of reading
through the entirety of scripture there are many reasons why that is a
benefit but one of the benefits is we can learn from the mistakes and misdeeds of others so as we examine the nation of Israel at the critical points of that
nation we see what were the indicators of spiritual decline so that we can apply that to our understanding of what is going on in the church today and how to respond to it we take a look at Jeremiah
2 beginning in verse 11 Jeremiah was the prophet that presided over the nation of Judah in fact he was the final prophet over the independent state of Judah prior to them being carried away into
captivity by the Babylonians beginning in verse 11 he writes...
"Has a nation changed its gods, which are not gods? But my
people changed their Glory for what does not profit. Be astonished, O heavens, at
this, and be horribly afraid; Be very desolate," says the LORD. For My
people have committed two evils: They forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns-- broken cisterns that can hold no water." and so here you have this
amazingly powerful word picture the idea of that water being an
essential to quench thirst was something that needed to be acquired on a daily basis and so positioning
yourself near a well or a or a spring was advantageous
and of course that which is a continual
flowing spring will be the cleanest and sweetest of waters and so God equates the truth
that he was giving the nation of Israel and his leadership and guidance as though it was the
fountain of living water constantly and forever flowing
for them to satisfy their thirst but notice how he characterizes the actions of the people of Israel they have forsaken the fountain of living waters and hewn for themselves cisterns now these were holes in the ground
that would collect rainwater and often times they
would go into these large man made caverns and they would try to plaster them so that as the rain was collected the water would remain and of course if you know much about stagnant water over time it becomes putrid the micro organisms make the water first brackish and then
eventually unhealthful and so he equates the effort of the nation of
Israel as forsaking that which is God provided and going after that which is man provided the living waters that burst
forth from the fountain of God or these broken cisterns
notice there's one fountain and many cisterns and they have forsaken the
fountain of living waters and they have embraced
these broken cisterns that can hold no water now what about us today are there broken cisterns that
are being embraced by the church today well one for example is
Darwinian physical science now this is a familiar character
Darwin lived in the 19th century wrote his famous book
on the origin of species and of course Darwin gave modern science really a
type of science which provides declaration over
exploration what I mean is he made some observations made a declaration but did not in subsequent investigations
clarify it nor really test it scientifically of course we see
that in the scientific world today if you go against the theory of evolution in any way shape or form or provide test evidence that would contradict this
theory of Darwin of course your summarily marched out of the
scientific ranks and branded some kind of religious nut case and so really it's
become more of a religion than pure science anymore but it gave the world the sense
that they make a declaration and then they will not examine anything
that would unseat that position what is the result of this
ultimately in the world and its impact upon the church and that is
it is the killing of God the creator you see I don't need divine intervention if I have a naturalistic mechanism by which nothing can become everything
you know they say the Big Bang theory that in the
beginning there was nothing it exploded in became everything there are so many problems
with the evolutionary model not only within the idea that
non life can become life which violates the law of biogenesis which is sacred within the world
of biology you know that if you sterilize something and
contain it in a sterile environment life cannot exist
it cannot come from non life and yet that is the basis of where all life began and then
began through fortunate mistakes mutating to the immense
complexity and balance within the world today and so
we have this sense of the killing of God and sadly many within the church are
promoting this idea of theistic evolution feeling that they want to be
accepted by the world not seen as some sort of religious
bigots and so they somehow try to force fit the concept of God using millions and billions of
years to bring about through accidental circumstances the
complexity that we see before us today it's a fool's
errand to do so in my opinion the second broken cistern embraced and is infiltrated the church
is Freudian Mental Science again Sigmund Freud lived in
the late 19th into the early 20th century and he basically as a
atheist gave the world escape from sin what I mean by that is by declaring everyone to be
a victim of their upbringing he no longer requires the sense
of personal accountability and therefore we see the impact upon individuals in
the church in general as killing God the judge so evolution kills God... the creator secular psychology kills God the judge and sadly the church is one of the primary promoters of secular
psychology constantly trying to somehow integrate just like with Theistic evolution trying to integrate popular secular psychology into what the scriptures would say concerning the soul the third that has infiltrated influence the church really came
out of the late 19th into the 20th century referred to as biblical higher criticism this idea that truth is something that can be established by committee in through
the intellect of man what it gave the world and also
the church is that of spiritual self doubt the result of it is really
giving everyone a sense of the absence of personal
discernment in other words we really can't know anything for
sure so therefore we really can't understand what is true and sadly those within the
church that promote this idea biblical higher criticism promotes
their own self criticism and erodes the confidence that
individuals would otherwise have in the Bible so we've examined the first
cause which is that of broken cisterns we will now look at the
second cause which we have a precedent within the
nation of Israel which I refer to as alliances of weakness if we look at Hosea 7 beginning in verse 8 we read... "Ephraim has mixed
himself among the peoples; Ephriam is a cake unturned. Aliens have devoured his strength, but he does not know it;
Yes, gray hairs are here and there on him, yet he does not know it." now as we look at this we need
to first understand that Hosea was a prophet that presided over a time in the nation of northern Israel
this is after the division of the northern and southern
tribes into two separate nations Hosea is presiding at a time when
there was great physical prosperity and yet there
was great spiritual apostasy he says to them... "Ephraim has
mixed himself among the peoples..." the word Ephraim means "doubly fruitful" and surely economically within
society they were doubly fruitful yet his complaint to them is
they have... "mixed themselves among the people" now what
is he referring to here he is not calling for ethnic
purity here at this point but he's warning against something which was given as a warning
to the nation of Israel from their inception from the time that Moses led
them out of Egypt and brought them to the edge of the promised
land he warned them that when they came into the
land they needed to be careful not to make alliances with
the inhabitants there they were to drive them out and so the warning here is
against infiltration integration and the influence of evil there's probably no greater example of the infiltration and
integration and influence of evil driving an individual away from
the truth of God than that of King Solomon himself in 1 Kings 11 we read... "But King
Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of
Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites,
Sidonians, the Hittites-- and from the nations of whom the LORD had said to the
children of Israel, "You shall not intermarry with them,
nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods." Solomon clung to these in love. And he had seven hundred wives,
princesses, and three hundred concubines; and 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."
what a sad epitaph that is for a man to whom God gave more
wisdom than any other or any before or after Solomon the wisdom of
Solomon we're all benefactors of the wisdom God brought
in him and through him and yet in the latter stages of his life it was through the alliances of these foreign nations that turned his own heart
away from God chilling within the church today
we see a similar type of an alliance of weakness we have of course what is
referred to as the world wide ecumenical movement and it of
course has many different definitions and applications we have course see the mainline
denominational churches trying to gather the free churches the home Bible studies that have sprouted independently and they are trying to draw them back under the oversight and control of the denominational churches of course the reformation
churches those that historically come out of
the reformation they are trying to gather together the the denominational type churches and of course the Roman Catholic Church is trying to gather together
the reformation churches and on top of all of that we have globalism itself is trying to gather all religions you see it's not simply as it were
one fish after another it's a whole chain of events
which ultimately leads to worldwide ecumenical movement which is driving all religions into some type of common ground we have course have seen in
recent years a number of religious leaders who otherwise should have not a lot in common and they don't even
necessarily refer to the same God let alone understandings of their god and yet they seem to share in this ecumenical movement a sense of commonality we read from this article
written in April 1988 which was called earth conference one sharing a vision for our planet we read within the back cover they came
from around the world from parliament senates assemblies from
temples and churches and mosques it was the first time
that spiritual leaders and parliamentary leaders had come
together to confront the threats of environmental
crisis nuclear war famine and disease you see one of the things that
you will notice within the world wide ecumenical movement is that if they can create some
type of common cause and ground upon which we can all agree then in the first instance we
can drive into the same congregation people who
are otherwise opposed but of course it doesn't stay
there in globalism this is globalism trying to
swallow everybody together we see in Assisi Italy
here's an article that was written in January 24th 2002 and it's concerning Assisi Italy it says representative included
Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Shintoists, Sikhs,
Jianists, tribal religions, Confucianism, Zoroastrianism, Catholics, Baptists, Lutherans, Quakers,
Mennonites and Orthodox Christians and of course this gathering was orchestrated by the Roman Catholic Church gathering together the religions as it were under its wings and so we see globalism
trying to gather all world religions and world leaders
we see the Roman Catholic Church trying to gather together the spurious types or the
other types of Christian fellowships and so you see this
happening all around the world you also see the sense within
the church and religion itself of what I call pragmatic political positioning here we see the pope embracing Islam kissing the quran we see him embracing Yasser Arafat an anti Israel terrorist here's a picture of the arch bishop of the church of England as he embraces Yasser Arafat
receiving an award from him you see the world is trying to embrace the church and the
church is trying to embrace the world and trying to be swallowed up
to the lowest common denominator so not only are we looking at
the broken cisterns the places where the church has turned to
having turned away from the fountain of living waters we have not only looked at the
alliances of weakness but now number three we're going to look
at the third cause for this decline and it is sheep without shepherds the historical parallel here
we'll take from Hosea 4 for in verse 6 again Hosea prophesying
over the northern tribes of Israel he says... "My people are destroyed
for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also
reject you from being priest for Me; Because you are forgotten the
law of your God, I will also forget your children." it's a chilling
thought... horrifying thought Jeremiah in chapter 23 writes... Woe to the shepherds
who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!" says the LORD. Therefore thus says the
LORD God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: "You have scattered My flock,
driven them away, and not attended to them.
Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your
doings," says the LORD." again Jeremiah 50:6 "My
people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray; They have turned them
away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill; They have forgotten their resting place. you know when I see this
historical pattern gone before us and spoken of by both Hosea during the time of apostasy in
the northern nation of Israel and then later as Jeremiah is prophesying
over the nation of Judah in both instances notice the one
that is being held accountable as the sheep are being
scattered it is the shepherds that are being called to task
and they will be the ones that will be judged I find it interesting because after the resurrection
of Jesus Christ and he meets Peter you remember the conversation where he
asks him three questions and three times he asked Peter Peter do you love me Peter says yes Lord and Jesus says to him feed my sheep you know that is an awesome responsibility but that's why we are told Paul in fact tells us that we should not all seek to be a master for they will
seek they will receive the greater condemnation you see false teachers were
predicted by Jesus Christ that there would be false
teachers that would come in Matthew 24 there and over the city of Jerusalem there
on the mount of olives he begins his Olivet discourse by saying Jesus answered and said to them
take heed that no one deceive you for many will come in my name saying I am the Christ
and will deceive many notice many will come and say I am the Christ
now they are not going to necessarily use the word Christ
the word Christ is Christos in the Greek
Mashiach in Hebrew it means the anointed one they will come and say
I am the anointed one and notice what they will do they will deceive many false teachers are predicted by Paul in Acts 20 Paul was meeting
with the Ephesian elders beginning in Acts 20:26 we read...
"Therefore I testify to you this day that I am
innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare
to you the whole counsel of God. Therefore take heed to yourself
and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made
you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He
purchased with His own blood. for I know this, that after my
departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
Also from among yourselves men will rise up,
speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves." shocking really when you consider that Paul having spent more than
three years with that church at Ephesus now has to go
back and not only warn them that there would be wolves
that would come and pray upon the flock that's the obvious attacks but that there would also be men
who would rise up from among themselves and that their
objective would be not to feed the flock and to drive them closer to Jesus and lead them into green pastures but rather to make
disciples after themselves Paul warned Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:13 "But evil men and impostors
will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." there you see the cycle
of deception that will continually grow worse and worse
Paul tells Timothy Peter was also one who predicted
false teachers in the end times 2 Peter 2 we read... "But there were also false
prophets among the people, even as there will be false
teachers among you, who will secretly bring
in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow
their destructive ways, because of whom the way of
truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will
exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their
judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber." so in the same way in which Jeremiah predicted that these shepherds
that led Israel as sheep away from the word of God and the counsel of God so too Peter is predicting that
as those false prophets led the people away and they
experience judgment so too there will be false
teachers that will arise and they will use
covetousness to exploit them they will use of the greed of the people to draw them to their own words
and it's a strange feedback cycle that
they will be involved in where their covetousness will
draw them in and keep them in and make them dependent upon the teachings of a false teacher now what are the characteristics
of these false teachers well the half brother of Jesus Jude does
an amazing job in his little epistle in verse 3 he tells us what
his original reason for writing which we never get to he says... "Beloved while I was
very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation,
I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend
earnestly for the faith which was once for all
delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in
unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this
condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Likewise also these dreamers
defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. These are spots in your love feasts,
while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves.
They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, forming
up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserve the
blackness of darkness forever. These are grumblers, complainers,
walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling
words, flattering people to gain advantage. But you, beloved, remember the
words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord
Jesus Christ: how they told you that there would be
mockers in the last time who would walk according to
their own ungodly lusts. These are sensual persons,
who cause divisions, not having the spirit." now what is disturbing about this these characteristics that Jude
lays out before us here is he begins by saying that
these are not people who are a threat from without the
church or outside the church these are those who have crept in notice unknowingly remember Paul warned the
Ephesian elders that there would be wolves that would come and try to ravage the sheep
that's the obvious threat but they were also be those who
would rise up from among them who would seek to make disciples
after themselves here Jude expands that to show
us what kind of people these are there people who God says
actually are mocking God they come in the name of Jesus Christ
but they are actually mocking Jesus Christ because
they are not carrying the pure gospel of Jesus Christ you see deception is the
vehicle by which ultimately Satan can lead a person
to a state of apostasy in 2 Thessalonians 2:9 we read... "The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of
Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all
unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not
receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will
send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, and that they may be condemned who
did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." notice
how often the senses of an individual is the vehicle through whom deception is able to reside and prosper the idea that they are sensual
the idea that they have pleasure in unrighteousness the sense that they are led
about how they feel concerning something rather than the stability of an unchanging Word of God notice what takes place here they practice deception and that deception leads them to
a state of apostasy even to the performing of signs and
wonders oh I've had so many people come to me and say
have you seen such and such you know it's a mighty work of
God what's going on over there and of course they'll want to tell you of all the the
amazing signs and wonders and of course what's important
for us to recognize is signs and wonders even in scripture
are something that are not something that are only done
by true believers of God we see Moses and Aaron
standing before pharaoh and his magicians also practiced signs and wonders they were also able to
duplicate some of the miracles and signs and wonders that
were brought before them as Aaron and Moses were there and thus we also have even the
New Testament references to individuals Simon for example an individual who we are told when Philip the
evangelist one who previously waited tables in Jerusalem went
to Samaria there was this man Simon who is there who previously astonished the people we are told because he produced signs and wonders so the people said of him this is the mighty power of God you see don't be fooled in isolation to the Word of God
what the works of God are we need to make sure that we understand that the works of God need to be
in harmony with the Word of God and that is in fact how we
test the things of the spirit Paul writing in 2 Timothy 4
beginning in verse 3 says... "For the time will
come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to
their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their
ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables." you see that sense of the
sensuality aspect of apostasy well I feel this or I feel that
you need to appreciate the fact that our feelings are more often the source of deception in our life than a safeguard to leading
us to truth in fact it was Jeremiah that says the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked who can know it and so we need to be careful in
this area that we don't allow ourselves to be led about by this sense of our own feelings and here we see this prophecy
of Paul where he says there will come a time when
they will not endure sound doctrine they just can't stand it anymore in fact what they really want is
something that makes them happy something that makes them
excited and not something that necessary leads them to
the foot of the cross leads them to the narrow gate takes them down the narrow way where they see the sense of self
sacrifice of Jesus when he had potential disciples approach him he says if any man come after me let him deny
himself take up his cross and follow me you see there's a
sense of sacrifice associated with real discipleship and the problem within many
churches today is they seem to be more interested in gaining in numbers so they are looking for conversions but nowhere in scripture are we told to make conversions we
are told to make disciples therein we have the
difference we need to see that people are being discipled
ultimately by Jesus Christ and growing into the
grace and knowledge of Him not some religious theme or idea
or passing spiritual manifestation when Paul was writing to the
Corinthian church in his second epistle there in 2 Corinthians 11 I believe he does a very nice job of
summarizing some of the doctrines that are prevalent within those who have integrated the body of Christ and influenced it there in 2 Corinthians 11:3 we read... "But I fear, lest somehow, as
the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from
the simplicity that is in Christ." For if he who comes preaches
another Jesus whom we did not preach, or if you receive
a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you
have not accepted-- you may well put up with it!" you see there I think he
identifies the three main areas of what elsewhere Paul refers
to is the doctrines of demons there are many people who
would use the name of Jesus with great affection but the Jesus they are referring to is not the biblical Jesus of the Bible and so just because a person
says I love Jesus I worship Jesus I read about Jesus
I love to hear about Jesus you need to appreciate that
there are many who use the name Jesus in a religious context
who are not referring to the Jesus of the Bible here we are told that they not only will hear another gospel or hear another Jesus rather but they'll receive another
spirit you know we're told to test the spirits to see if they are of God we're to test all things hold
fast to that which is true and it almost seems in some circles there if you begin to ask questions about the manifestation of
spiritual things especially in what is supposed to be a Christian
gathering you're looked at as someone quenching the spirit well here we're told that we need to be careful because there can be a different spirit and certainly we see
throughout scripture many incidences where there is a
different spirit at work which can produce lying signs and wonders and of course a different gospel the gospel of Jesus Christ is very specific it's very plain and it's very simple and yet there are many who stray from it and they present a different gospel now at this point I want to address something
that is a natural question at this point perhaps residing in your mind so who are these apostates are
they Christians who have fallen away who are they well let me try to address that
and I will give you my opinion and please take it as
that that it is my opinion as to what I think these apostates who they are and and how they operate within the
congregation and gathering of the church and we see the example from a parable given by Jesus Christ the parable is recorded in Matthew 13 beginning in verse 24 where we read... "Another parable
He put forth to them saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a
man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy
came and sewed tares among the wheat and went his way. but when the grain had sprouted
and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the
servant of the owner came and said to him, 'Sir,
did you not so good seed in your field? how then does it have tares?' and he said to them,
'An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, 'Do you want us then to go and
gather them up?' But he said, 'No, lest while you gather up the tares
you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until harvest, and at the time of harvest
I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the
tares and bind them in bundles to burn them,
but gather the wheat into my barn." now as we look at that in the context of what we've
read concerning the infiltration of the church
that is warned of by Jesus by Paul by Peter and Jude we cannot help but see the
parallel between this parable and the warnings given us that these are like the tares that are
sown in by the enemy a tare is a wheat like plant but
does not produce the fruit of wheat Jesus in John 15 made it clear that He is the vine we are the branches if we abide in him and his word
abides in us we will produce fruit it's a natural by product
of what we and who we are connected to here Jesus uses an example
of some infiltration that coexists with the wheat
and also notice in this passage that this infiltration comes by when the ones who are responsible
for the field are asleep and sadly I believe that there are many who are in places of
leadership occupying pulpits and lecterns and in the role
of teachers who are asleep concerning the infiltration of
tares that is doctrine that is bad and the people who bring them in
and they are asleep and so they come in and they begin
to dwell together now notice what Jesus says let them dwell
together I'll sort in out in the end now what do we know
about these apostates well again Matthew 7 the sermon on the
mount beginning in verse 21 Jesus addresses in a very startling sort of a
way what I believe is going to be his response to the cohabitation
of apostates among real believers in Matthew 7:21 he says... "Not everyone
who says to Me, "Lord, Lord," shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who
does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day,
"Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name,
cast out demons in Your name, done many wonders in your name?" And then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from
Me, you who practice lawlessness!" so we're talking about people
who name the name of Jesus Christ they say Lord Lord these are those who make a
profession of faith but don't have a possession of faith in Luke 13 beginning in verse 24 again Jesus says... "Strive to enter
through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to
enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has
risen up and shut the door, you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, "Lord, Lord, open for us," and He will answer
and say to you, "I do not know you, where are you from," then you will begin to cry,
"We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets." But he will say, "I tell you I do
not know you, where are you from. Depart from Me,
all you workers of iniquity." now in both Matthew 7 and Luke 13 we see an identification of what I believe are the apostates they are those like the tares
among the wheat that coexist creating influence within the church notice... they did not "enter through
the narrow gate" of course Jesus recorded in John says that He is the door to the sheepfold and that no man can enter in unless they go by Him He also says I am the way the
truth and the life no man comes to the Father except through Me and so He's the narrow gate so notice who these people are who are
making these statements they are those who have not entered
through the narrow gate yet they cry "Lord, Lord" their claim "We ate and drank in your
presence, and You taught in our streets" in other words they heard the truth elsewhere notice in
Matthew's gospel they make claims of doing miracles in His name
yet notice how Christ responds to them in both Matthew 7 and Luke 13
"I tell you I do not know you" Matthew He says I never knew you so these are not believers who are born again who fallen away in my opinion I believe they are those who have adopted the idea of integration infiltration and influence in the church they are members of church organizations but they are not members of the
body of Christ and they reside like the tares
among the wheat now what is the fruit of apostasy well again Paul tells Timothy
beginning in chapter 3:1 "But know this in the last
days perilous times will come:" let's pause there for a moment when we consider end times themes the idea of perilous times you know we think of global disasters we think of global war the one world government the Antichrist but notice what Paul what Paul lists as being
associated with perilous times he doesn't mention any of those things he simply says... "For men will be
lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving
slanders without self-contro, brutal despises 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! For of this sort are those
to creep in the households and make captives of gullible
women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge
of the truth." wow what an amazing warning Paul gives Timothy but notice the attributes of these people they are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God there are those that have a form
of godliness that's why I think the parable in Matthew 13 the parable of the wheat and the tares is so appropriate to describe
that type of infiltration and influence within the congregation
of the church that we see as an indicator of end times influence
the apostasy they have a form of godliness
but deny its power and what are we told to do
concerning those people from such people turn away for what do they do they creep into houses and they make captives here of
gullible women loaded down with sins led away with various lusts
always learning but never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth what a chilling thought but I hope you can understand
that the purpose of this first study is to give us an
understanding that I believe that the Bible speaks more in terms of our prophetic horizon more about apostasy in the
church as something that we should look... and be aware of as an indication of the end
times than any of the other we should be focused on them we
should understand all the other aspects of and attributes associated with those other prophetic themes but this is the one that actually affects the operation of the
church within the world today the age of apostasy now in our next session we'll look at the antidote for apostasy and so I don't want you to leave here with a sense of depression
thinking oh my goodness you know I don't even know if
I want to be in fellowship with anybody because I might be linking up with with someone who is who is got some doctrine
that is off or whatever hold on wait until you hear part two and put the two together
and so we'll look at so what is the antidote
how can we be prepared to appropriately respond to that which is promised will be influential in the church during the last days
let's close with prayer Father we thank you for your Word and
we are grateful for the admonition that we receive from it thankful for the fact Lord that
you don't leave us as children in darkness but we are called to
be children of the light and there by Lord we follow the
lamp that is for us your word which is a light into our
pathway Lord we thank you for it know that we are safe within the confines of following your word being
lead and empowered by your spirit for its in the name of your Son
we pray all of these things Amen
