The Danger and Reality of Apostasy God Makes Wonderfully Reassuring Promises to Those Who Are Saved Gods greatest desire for man is that he might be saved John 316 1 Tim 24 2 Pet 39 ID: 659965
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Slide1
Lesson 21
:
The Danger and Reality of ApostasySlide2
The Danger and Reality of Apostasy
God Makes Wonderfully
Reassuring Promises
to Those Who Are Saved.
God’s greatest desire for man is that he might be saved (John 3:16; 1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9).
When one is saved from his sins, he enters into a new and special relationship with God, which God longs might persist until the end of time (John 14:1-6; Rev. 21-22).
To those who have been saved, God makes numerous precious promises.
There
is nothing that God wants more than for His children to spend eternity with Him.
But, are these promises that God gives to His children
conditional
?Slide3
The Danger and Reality of Apostasy
A Person Is Saved Only By the Grace of God, But God’s Grace Is
Conditional
.
The Bible clearly teaches that man is saved from his sins by the grace of God (Eph. 2:1-9; Rom. 3:23-24; 5:15; Tit. 2:11; 3:4-5).
The
Bible clearly teaches that man, once saved, continues to be saved by the grace of God.
Consider
this: If an alien sinner fails to meet God’s conditions for salvation, he cannot be saved from his sins.
Likewise
: Would it not make sense that if a Christian, once saved, fails to
continue to meet
God’s conditions for continued salvation, such a Christian cannot
continue to be saved
from his sins? That is the question to be considered and answered in this lesson.
Many
Protestant denominations have been influenced by Calvinism and teach the doctrine of “Perseverance of the Saints.”
The
Scriptural evidence concludes quite clearly:
Apostasy
is
possible
!Slide4
The Danger and Reality of Apostasy
The Bible
Emphatically Teaches
That One Can Fall Away from God and Lose His Salvation!
Perhaps the most vivid passage on falling away is in
2 Peter 2
.
The
book of Galatians, as a whole, teaches that one can fall away, especially
5:1-4
.
The
book of Hebrews, as a whole, teaches that one can fall away, especially
6:4-6
.
The
book of James, a very practical book about Christian living, ends with a very clear teaching about the possibility of apostasy in
5:19-20
.
Jesus
’
Parable of the Soils
teaches that those who are saved can be lost (Luke 8:4-15).
Jesus
’ teaching about the
vine and the branches
shows the saved can be lost (Jn. 15:1-8).Slide5
The Danger and Reality of Apostasy
The Bible
Repeatedly Warns
That One Can Fall Away from God and Lose His Salvation!
It is obvious from the preceding point that the teachings of the Bible about apostasy
are
warnings in themselves.
Paul
warns, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12).
Hebrews
warns, “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God” (Heb. 3:12).
Peter
warns, “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble” (2 Pet. 1:10).
Warning
after warning is issued to God’s people to alert them to the danger of apostasy!Slide6
The Danger and Reality of Apostasy
The Bible Gives
Numerous Examples
of Those Who Did Fall Away and Lose Their Salvation!
Those things written in Scripture are for “our learning” (Rom. 15:4).
The
example of apostasy used repeatedly in the Bible is that of the
Israelite nation
itself.
Judas
, one of the
apostles…
A Christian in
Corinth…
Hymenaeus
and
Alexander…
Hymenaeus
and
Philetus
…
Ananias and
Sapphira
…
Simon
the
sorcerer…
The congregation in
Ephesus…
The congregation in
Pergamos
…
The congregation in
Sardis…
The congregation in
Laodicea…
The apostle
Paul
himself…Slide7
The Danger and Reality of Apostasy
The Bible
Vividly Predicted
That Some Would Fall Away and Lose Their Salvation!
God not only said that one could fall away, He expressly said that some would fall away.
In writing about the assurance of the return of Christ, the inspired apostle affirmed that Christ’s return would not happen “unless
the falling away
comes first” (2 Thess. 2:3).
When
speaking with the elders from Ephesus, Paul warned them that, after his departure, “…savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock” (Acts 20:29).
He then predicted, “Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to
draw away
the disciples after themselves” (20:30).
In
Paul’s letters to his fellow evangelist, Timothy, he foretold of
future apostasy
.Slide8
The Danger and Reality of Apostasy
The Bible Offers
Various Causes
of Christians Falling Away and Losing Their Salvation!
The devil
is ever busy, looking for ways and opportunities to turn Christians away from their faith and back to a life of sinful, worldly living.
Some
Christians fall away because
of:
a
lack of
faith.
the
deceitfulness of
sin.lusts and pride.persecution.cares, riches & pleasures of life.the love of money.the hardships of life.the deceitfulness of riches.false teachers/teaching.they fail to love the truth.they fail to grow as they should.they are mistreated by their brethren.they do not develop relationships in the church.
they
do not count the cost.
they do not prioritize the assembly.
they underestimate the devil.
they conform themselves to the world.
they love the praise of men.
they revert back to their old ways.
they revert back to an old religion.
they revert back to old friends.Slide9
The Danger and Reality of Apostasy
The Bible Clearly Depicts
the Condition and Future
of Those Who Have Fallen Away!
The Bible portrays
the condition
of one who has fallen away in a very dreadful way.
The
Bible portrays
the future
of one who has fallen away in a very dreadful way.
Why
would God describe the condition and future of an apostate in such detail and with such reiteration?Slide10
The Danger and Reality of Apostasy
The Bible Lovingly Details How One Who Has Fallen Away
Can Return and Be Saved
!
One who has fallen away has wandered from God, rejected God’s ways, turned to his own way and is subject to the eternal punishment of God’s justice.
Yet
, God’s love still longs for His wayward child to return to Him and be saved. What an amazing love!
As
God has conditions (a law of pardon) for alien sinner’s to be saved, God has
conditions
(a second law of pardon) for those who have fallen away to be saved. God wants to pardon His lost children, but there are conditions
(
Acts 8:22)!
First, a wayward Christian must
REPENT!Second, a wayward Christian must PRAY!Third, a wayward Christian must CONFESS!Slide11
The Danger and Reality of Apostasy
The Bible Unmistakably Portrays Falling Away As a Danger for
Every Christian to Avoid
!
God wants us to make sure that we “take heed lest [we] fall” (1 Cor. 10:12).
God
wants us to “be even more diligent to make [our] call and election sure” (2 Pet. 1:10).
God
wants us to make sure our names are in the Book of Life (Luke 10:20).Slide12
The Danger and Reality of Apostasy
Conclusion
God makes numerous precious promises to His children, such as:
Christians
have been given great assurance by God. Apostasy is not necessary or inevitable.
But
, Scripture plainly teaches that God’s promises are conditional.
God’s
Word repeatedly teaches and warns that a child of God can fall away and be lost.
Scripture makes it very clear that there are eternal consequences for Christians who turn from the truth and are again entangled in the affairs of the world.
If a saved person could not fall away, then thousands of verses would be meaningless.
Although a Christian may wander from the truth, God longs for him to return to Him and provides a path of pardon for His lost child to come home.
God’s Word provides clear instructions for remaining faithful and avoiding apostasy.