Transcript: The Prophesied Great Apostasy: Understanding the Warning Signs in Scripture

Music Music What I'm calling this word today, the prophesied great apostasy is now here. And God's word tells us that there is going to be a great falling away in the last days, where there will be many thousands and thousands, possibly millions of professing Christians who will turn their backs on God and succumb to the deceivers, to worldly pleasures, and finally to the new world order, which will eventually demand that all living in these days will be required to sign their life and freedoms over completely to this beast system. This complete takeover will occur and happen during the days that the Bible calls the Great Tribulation. And I believe that this is a subject that weighs heavily upon the hearts of many true believers today who are in the know as to what is happening on the world scene and the signs of the time that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 24 that are leading up to the great apostasy that is unfolding rapidly before our eyes today. Please turn with me. 2 Thessalonians 2.3 The word declares, Let no one deceive or beguile you in any way, for that day will not come, except the apostasy comes first, unless the predicted great falling away of those who have professed to be Christians has come, and the man of lawlessness, of sin, is revealed, who is the son of doom of perdition. Well, unless the predicted great falling away, or better called the apostasy, happens first, the man of lawlessness will not enter upon the scene, thus ushering in the last three and a half years of the great tribulation. Now, in 1 Timothy 4, verse 1, 1 Timothy 4, 1, the scripture backs up what our previous scripture has just declared. And it says, But the Holy Spirit distinctly and expressly declares that in the latter times some will turn away from the faith, giving attention to deluding and seducing spirits and doctrines that demons teach. Through the hypocrisy and pretension of liars whose consciences are seared, they are cauterized. Well, now our question is, how will this prophecy occur? And how will it be possible amongst those who profess to be Christians? And what will it look like? Well, one of the most descriptive scriptures that we come across that will define this apostasy and will answer the question, How will this prophecy occur? And how will it be possible amongst those who profess to be Christians? And what will it look like? Well, in the book of Jude, we will see where he writes about this apostasy. It appears that Jude has the burden to warn against the apostasy. and in this short little book with only one chapter and 25 verses contained in it this man Jude originally planned and he had the intention when he started out in these verses to write concerning the message of the Lord's wonderful salvational truths after we see his short opening prayer He told of his plan to share about this, but then he realized that the Spirit of the Lord was leading him in another direction. Turn with me, please, to Jude 3. Jude 3. You know there's only one chapter here. So we could say Jude chapter 1, verse 3, but, you know, let's just go to it. Jude 3. Beloved, my whole concern was to write to you in regard to our common salvation. Hear that? That's what his whole concern was. But, he says, I found it necessary and was impelled to write you and urgently appeal to exhort you and for you to contend for the faith, which was once and for all handed down to the saints, the faith which is that sum of Christian belief which is delivered, which was delivered verbally to the holy people of God. Verse 4. For certain men have crept in stealthily, gaining entrance secretly by a side door. Their doom was predicted long ago. Ungodly, impious, profane persons who pervert the grace, the spiritual blessing and favor of our God into lawlessness and wantonness and immorality and disown and deny our soul master and Lord Jesus Christ. This is a brief, but it is a hard-hitting epistle written by a man who believed in not allowing the negative influence to destroy God's church. But instead, he springs into action, and he quickly unmasks the false teachers, and he warns against their apostasy. Now Jude appeals to the faithful members, and he reminds them of the apostles' teachings that they ought to hold fast to, and what they originally learned from these men. and more than ever today the church needs to be warned against the great apostasy that is happening at breakneck speed in our day right now evil and wicked apostates have slipped in and are secretly and cleverly slipping in their vile teachings and their perverted doctrines that are undermining the word of God and his righteousness and one of the greatest things that we see within the verses of this powerful little book is the unveiling of the dimensions or the aspect of apostasy and what it looks like in the departure of the faith. When one's departing from the faith, we get a good glimpse of what apostasy looks like, because apostasy is departing from the faith. Now this should be of great interest to us, precious ones. But let's first define apostasy. Apostasy, as I said, is the falling away from the faith. And the nation of Israel was a good example of this when it continually fell into repeated backslidings and God in his mercy would endeavor to call them back time after time after time. But eventually we see that the lot of the multitudes of thousands who persisted in their pride and rebellion of doing things their own way, we saw their final lot. Now apostasy is defined also as the determined or the willful rejection of Christ and his teachings by a Christian believer. And for that, to back that statement up, we're going to Hebrews 10, verse 26. Hebrews 10, 26. The scripture says, For if we deliberately and willingly sin after once acquiring the knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice to atone for our sins, no further offering to which to look forward to. Verse 27, there is nothing left for us then, but a kind of awful and fearful prospect and expectation of divine judgment and the fury of burning wrath and indignation, which will consume those who put themselves in opposition to God's word. So, by not obeying God's word, we put ourselves in opposition to him. This is a willful and determined rejection of Christ and his teachings. Well, in John 15, verse 22, Jesus says, If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. They would be blameless. But now they have no excuse for their sin. So once the truth has come into our hearing and God's will is made known, there is no excuse for sin that we now commit. God requires obedience from our hearts. And personal accountability for known sin is different from sin that results from ignorance. once you understand what you are doing is wrong in God's eyes and according to his written word then this falls under the category of backsliding and this is what happened to the Israelites in their continued apostasy and backsliding and finally their downfall and then their final doom when we do not obey the truth as we learn it we are actually turning our backs on God and are abandoning our faith, which leads to salvation. Our faith leads us to salvation, precious ones. And the saving faith is found only in God's own Son, Jesus Christ. In 2 Timothy 3.13, Paul warned Timothy that things were going to continually get worse as the church age progressed. And dear church, this is where we are today. And this is my point and objective in this message today. We need to see that we are living in those days that Paul was warning Timothy about and that Jude was warning us of in his day and also Christ, Jesus, was speaking about in Matthew 24. Now, let's pick up this verse 12 of 2 Timothy 3, and that will be verse 12, please. 2 Timothy 3 verse 12 Indeed all who delight in piety and are determined to live a devoted and godly life in Jesus Christ will meet with persecution will be made to suffer because of their religious stand But wicked men and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and leading astray others, and being deceived and led astray themselves. But as for you, continue to hold to the things that you've learned and of which you are convinced, knowing from whom you learn them. So you see here, Paul told Timothy that apostasy would continue to get worse and worse as the church age progressed. and people falling away is due to willful sin and will reach its climax and culmination towards the last part of the first three and a half years of the tribulation when the false prophet arises. Now apostasy began in the foundational years of the church. It began there. It originated there. So let's read in Acts 20, verse 25, and see that origination and what Paul was saying regarding the apostasy. Acts 20, 25. You know, Paul is speaking these words as he was bidding farewell to those whom he loved very much, whom he taught and he nurtured along in the faith. So I think we can appreciate these words in light of that scripture, of these words that he is speaking, and it kind of brings a tear to your eye when you think that this was his farewell, the words that he spoke to his people, and how walking away, how heavy his heart must have been in knowing that he was going to leave them. And, of course, he had the joy of knowing where he was going, but he had to face that. but I'm sure the burden was with the people that he was leaving. And when we read his words, let's keep this in mind, please, as we see his great concern for those that he loved. He says in verse 25, And now observe, I perceive that all of you among whom I have gone in and out, proclaiming the kingdom, will see my face no more. Therefore I testify and protest to you on this our parting day That I am clean and innocent and not responsible for the blood of any of you For I never shrank or kept back or fell short from declaring to you The whole purpose and plan and counsel of God Verse 28 Take care and be on your guard for yourselves And the whole flock over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you bishops and guardians to shepherd and tend to feed and guide the church of the Lord or of God, which he obtained for himself, buying it and saving it for himself with his own blood. Verse 29, I know that after I'm gone, here's his concern. Ferocious wolves will get in among you, not sparing the flock. Verse 30, even from among your own selves, men will come up to the front, who by saying perverse, distorted and corrupt things will endeavor to draw away the disciples after them to their own party. Verse 31. Therefore, always be alert. I can imagine when he spoke these words, the feeling that must have gone with these words, the tears that must have been let with these words. Verse 31. Therefore, always be alert and on your guard, being mindful that for three years I never stopped day or night seriously to admonish and advise and exhort you one by one with tears. As I said before, can we not see the heart of the apostle here? And he warns the Ephesian elders of the coming apostates after his departure. He says, they'll come in among you like ravenous wolves. not sparing any one of you. And if you've ever done any research on wolves, you'll find that wolves stalk their prey. And they'll flush out their prey. They'll stalk it, and they'll use trickery in subduing it. And this is why they say that the wolf is cunning and crafty, because it is sneaky and patient and wily before it springs upon its prey and devours it. Now Satan is likened to the wolf in scripture. The devil and his evil, cruel, and vicious horde are waging a wicked and heinous war against the church of our Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father's children. And Satan is orchestrating an all-out assault on the faith once delivered to the saints according to the scripture, in an effort to advance this great apostasy and steal millions and millions of professing Christians off their path. And now we see that Jude contained a good view of what the aspects or appearances of what apostasy might look like in our day as it did in the time that Paul and Jude warned us about and even dealt with in certain measure as it rose up in their day. But remember, it is in our day that the culmination of this great falling away or great apostasy is prophesied to reach its peak or its pinnacle, and the man of sin, the Antichrist, will then take his place in this prophetic picture. Let's look in Jude 4 and start unfolding what this assault on our faith will look like in its 3D or dimensional magnitude, its size and extent. Jude 4 again says, For certain men have crept in stealthily, gaining entrance secretly by a side door. Their doom was predicted long ago. ungodly, impious, profane persons who pervert the grace and the spiritual blessing and favor of our God into lawlessness and wantonness and immorality and disown and deny our soul master and Lord Jesus Christ. Now, with this one scripture alone, we see these backsliders and God-haters who profess to be followers of Christ, but yet they had not continued to obey and prefer Christ's truths, but had chosen for themselves the path that leads straight to hell, just like Paul warned about in Hebrews 10, and the scripture that we previously read in verse 26, it says, if we go on deliberately and willfully sinning, once acquiring the truth of the knowledge, there's no sacrifice left to atone for, no further offering to which to look forward. There's nothing left for us then, but a kind of awful and fearful prospect and expectation of divine judgment and the fury of burning wrath and indignation which will consume those who put themselves in opposition to God. So in other words, there will be no excuse for sin. You see, one cannot outsmart the great judge on this day as we would stand before him and plead innocence of our sin. Well, Jude 4 shows us what the downfall of this great falling away will characteristically look like. And the men crept in stealthily. This means that they gained entrance through a side door, so to speak. Nobody really noticed when they came in. They fit in like the scripture says the wolves amongst the sheep. And they began to pervert the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ into lawlessness, into lewdness and immorality. And the scripture says that they disowned and denied Jesus Christ their Savior who came to deliver and save them from sin and vileness. So their rejecting him was when they started perverting the grace of God. and they started sinning. Now we see four major characteristics of apostasy in the heart of the guilty sinner who will eventually fall away, many of which will not even realize the magnitude of their sin until they meet their great judge on their day of judgment or should the day of the rapture come before that, they will wonder why they were left behind. So we can see in this verse, the first characteristic of apostasy is one, great contempt for God's authority. And this is the first characteristic of the assault on our faith that the apostates at heart will use. Subtle rejection of God's authority. And the next characteristic, we're finding this all contained within Jude, the characteristic, second one, is rejection of God's grace. Verse 4 said, they pervert the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ into lawlessness, into lewdness and immorality. And the third assault on our faith by the apostates or our apostate hearts would be rejection of God's standards. See, by creating this sinful environment and polluting God's grace, then the righteous standards of God begin to crumble and fall apart. and then sinful and immoral practices seem to be the norm and accepted. We mix the truth with untruths. And so this practice seems to be the norm. Nobody really knows the truth because it's mixed with untruths. Thus enters the rejection of God's righteous, pure and holy standards that he demands for those whom he calls his people. So turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, or better known in our day as unbridled lust, with appetites for sexual perversion of all kinds, from pornography, from fashion where clothing is barely there, where it's plunging in front and it's cut up from the bottom in the back and plays peekaboo with the onlooker, thus exciting their sensual passions and arouse their beast-like nature that has not been subdued by the word of God in a personal effort to hate it and fight against it. So today the grace of God and the church concerning the subject of fashion falls under the third assault and is undermining of our faith in Christ And you see, this manner of dress in the church does not only affect women and girls, but it is also a great sin amongst men and boys. the clothing for both is tight and it exposes every bump and bulge and is heinous and outrageous and raunchy and abominable in God's eyes because it does not represent or manifest the modesty and purity he requires of those he calls by name to mirror his character and image to the world so this ungodly practice in fashion apparel in the church today has been accepted as perfectly normal and acceptable by leadership and in fact many of these professing leaders are some of the guiltiest in setting the example of this way of dress and exciting the lust and perversion in their memberships the soul is the seat of the senses and it is the seat of desires and affections and appetites and passion. And without conforming to God's holy standards and rejecting his grace and his authority and his standards, then what rules is the lower nature of man, which is called the beast or animal nature, which will be acted out in the unbridled lust and the sensual pleasures you see God hated this so much that he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for this very thing and please understand this practice and acceptance of it is a breakdown of taking God's grace lightly and profanes it now the last or the fourth characteristic of what this apostasy or assault on our faith will look like in its 3D or dimensional magnitude is called the rejection of God's true church. Please notice that I said it is a rejection of God's true church. Let's turn to Isaiah 5 verse 18. Isaiah 5 verse 18. Woe to those who draw calamity with cords of iniquity and falsehood. Who bring punishment to themselves with a cart rope of wickedness. Verse 19. Who say, let the Holy One make haste and speed his prophesied vengeance that we may see it. And let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come that we may know it. Verse 20. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil. Who put darkness for light and light for darkness. who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent and shrewd in their own sight. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil. You see, rejection of God's true church is where sin is not being denounced. Instead, it's being tolerated and accepted because they say, We should preach the message of God's love and not offend people with the sin issue. So sin in the church is the very issue and the reason everything else is being perverted and twisted and profane, especially in the areas of morality and true doctrine. And the apostates prefer erroneous and false doctrines, which is evil rather than upright course of conduct that God requires for those who are called by his name. And scripture says they put darkness for light. And this is figurative for preaching and teaching air and teaching doctrine and the criminal ways of living. Light is figurative for a doctrine and a way of living that is upright, that's humble, it's honest, pure and sincere and full of knowledge and God's unadulterated word. So again, the last or the fourth characteristic of what this apostasy or assault on our faith will look like in its 3D, I call it, or dimensional magnitude is called the rejection of God's true church. So altogether, we have a picture of the characteristics according to Jude as to what will set up this great falling away or apostasy to take place in our day, which will be the culmination finally at the end of the age or time as we know it. They are, again, rebellion against God's authority. Second, rebellion against God's grace. Rebellion, third, against God's holy standards. And finally, the fourth is rebellion against God's true church. Now this great falling away or apostasy will happen, as I said before, the Antichrist steps into his place and ushers in the last half of the three and a half years of the Great Tribulation. People will reject God when they reject his truth in Scripture and begin to follow false teachings, no matter how harmless or innocent they might appear to be. it's still rejecting and rebelling against God's true church and it's rebelling against his grace it's rebelling against his holy standards and it is rejecting his authority and once a professing Christian sinks into heresy they will eventually fall deeply into the apostasy that follows and it's like a big snowball that begins at the top of the mountain Once that snowball ends up at the bottom, it is a huge landslide that causes sure death. So heresy is the cause, but apostasy is the effect of the great falling away. It is a crime in the church today, because most Christians cannot tell the difference between God's truth and heresy. and I've said it before that this great falling away is not an event that will take place at one time or will suddenly spring into existence and manifest itself but it will occur slowly and very slowly I like to use the analogy of the frog that sits in cold water and once you light the fire beneath that frog the water heats up and then slowly, and the frog makes no attempt to jump out because the water's gradually heating up. But before long, the water is in a rapid boil and the frog is churning around and around and being boiled to death and didn't even know or suspect his fate. And this is how Christians are when they are being duped by false teachings. they are fed this perverted doctrine little at a time until the apostasy takes a firm hold on the little faith that they had. And if their faith and hope in Christ would have a solid and was foundationally strong they would have discerned the holy from the profane or the light from the darkness as our scripture has stated it. so when the apostasy has taken hold you could not convince that victim what they are believing is a lie and it's erroneous you couldn't convince them of it because by this time Satan has entrenched his lies so deep within their soul and their minds that they will defend it hook, line and sinker and they will character assassinate you they will avoid you like the plague They'll call you religious and they'll tell you, ah, you're just old-fashioned. You see, the great falling away will be so progressive, where now the major movements will have affected the teachings within the church and the intensity will get to a point where it's so layered, layer, layer, layer after layer, so deeply that the false teaching will gain control in all denominations and sectors within the church. And what I'm speaking of is happening already, precious church. The perversion of the truth is so great within the church as I speak to you right now. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. and these apostate teachers distort and confuse and mingle the distinctions of right and wrong and mingle it so millions and millions in the church today are living in absolute opposition to God's commands and his mandates that he deems necessary and right and just for those who are saved by his son's grace by his death, his burial and resurrection And not only are millions and millions of professing Christians living in opposition to God's divine law and precepts, but they condemn and argue against it because they do not practice it themselves. They run it down. And they run down those who do adhere and teach and insist that this is right and just according to God's holy standards and his all-powerful authority. You see, precious ones, God's virtue is that his honor and his integrity, his excellence, his purity and morality is highly esteemed in his eyes and should be in ours too. It is sweet and pleasurable to those who have grown to know and appreciate them. It is not bittersweet, but it is sweet. it is not burdensome but it is true freedom but the bittersweet will be the true bitterness in the end this will bring wailing and gnashing of teeth as the Bible says as those are thrown into the lake of fire because they rebelled against God's authority they rebelled against God's grace they rebelled against his holy standards and against God's true church finally the apostates in our day even though they are guilty of their gross idolatry their gross air and opinions of their own judgment they still value themselves highly in their own eyes as being valuable to lead and to teach God's word and to make judgments about it and reproof those who condemn their actions and their doctrines and illicit and improper and immoral behavior These are wise in their own eyes They are proud but we know that God resists the proud Now, some of the historical examples of apostasy that had slipped in amongst believers that Jude mentions are found in verse 5 and 6. And we need to look at these. We need to understand these. Jude said the nation of Israel's apostasy was due to bottom line was unbelief. And we have about four major examples of apostasy. And these examples are found in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. That would be our first example of gross apostasy. The historical examples of hypostasy would be the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Jude 7 declares, So you see these lusts consume the sodomites, the homosexual, with fire and vengeance from the mouth, the hand of God. And now these people are suffering the wrath of the eternal fire of hell. And the warning for us is to heed and not to imitate their sins, lest you suffer the same punishment that overtakes them or overtook them. You see, God is the same holy, just, and pure being that he was, and he is now, because God never changes. And these people did not stand in awe of him and praise him and thank him for what he did and made possible for them to inherit eternal life as they were instructed to do. Praise him, thank him, stand in awe and reverence him. The second major example of apostasy is sexual immorality. Proverbs 28, verse 2 declares, When there is moral rod within a nation, its government topples easily. But with honest, sensible leaders, there is stability. Jesus said in Mark 7, verse 20, He said what comes out of a man is what makes him unclean and renders him unhallowed or unholy. Verse 21. For from within, that is, out of the hearts of men, come base and wicked thoughts, sexual immorality, stealing, murder, and adultery. So we see that it is what is unclean in a man or a woman's thought life that defiles him or her. And the expression of one's thoughts and feelings is conduct, which demonstrates itself in impure, lustful, sensual advances, vile acts that lead to adultery, to fornication, and sexual perversions of all kinds. So this is saying that it really renders the soul of the individual polluted and offensive in God's sight. Now the third major example of apostasy is religious perversion. And Jude calls it, in verse 11, running riotously in the way of Cain, and have abandoned themselves for the sake of personal gain. So this is saying that they're haters of their brothers and sisters in Christ. They're murderers of their own souls because of their false doctrine, which leads to the corruption and the destruction of millions and millions of souls that God has prepared for his kingdom. So these evidence disobedience and rebellion and are proud, corrupt, and wicked. They hate true religion, which is the true doctrine of Christ. They become more favored by the millions of disobedient and end up having a spirit of hatred for the true saints of God, which will eventually lead to murder in the last days. I'm giving you only highlights here in these. I'm giving you a highlight overall today in the prophesied great apostasy is now here. It's only a highlight. now the third major example of apostasy recognized is by financial greed financial greed and this is the way of Balaam according to what Judas stated you see Balaam he was one in scripture who had a curious mixture of good and evil he was evil to the core and was greedily interested only in financial gain we could say just like Judas Iscariot was as he betrayed his lord with 30 pieces of silver and a kiss today the church is full of this financial greed and gain in every form and fashion and way and we have seen videos on YouTube where men in well-known churches are seen running across the altar in their church where people have answered the call to come and give money for which they would in return be promised great rewards in much money coming back to them. It was horrible to watch. People were running up to the altar and throwing cash on the altar while the pastors were running back and forth over the money screaming, money cometh, money cometh, money, money, money, money. And a stadium, probably over 5,000 people that were supposedly there to be worshipping that day and they were screaming back the same words only in a chant, swinging their arms in unison while they were captured in this form of evil doing. They were just mesmerized by it. They were captured by it. and the only ones to get rich are those who are running after their money and leading them these people they're the only ones getting rich they're running after these people's money and leading them into idolatry and eventually into the lake of fire and this is called running greedily after the heir of Balaam and the scripture shows clearly that they will all perish unless they repent And finally, the fourth major example of apostasy is recognized in the rejection of divine authority. And this is called the way of Korah. Apostate Korah led the rebellion against Moses and Aaron. Korah was jealous that Aaron held the position of the high priest. And also that Moses held the highest position in leading God's people at that time. You see, greed for power and position is the downfall and the ruin of many in the church today. And we see this over and over in church splits and denominations that have existed and multiplied over the generation of time. And now, in this word today, we have seen four major characteristics of the assault on our faith that will be at the helm of apostasy and reiterating. These are rejection of God's authority, rejection of God's grace, rejection of God's holy standards, rejection of God's true church. And also, we have seen four major examples of apostasy, and they are, again, the example of Sodom and Gomorrah, which showed the perversion of homosexuality and its lifestyle. and we saw secondly the example of sexual immorality and the downfall of a nation which in Proverbs 28 declares where there is moral rot within a nation its government topples easily but with honest sensible leaders there is stability we see also the third major example of apostasy is recognized by financial greed and this is called the way of Balaam And the fourth major example of apostasy is recognized by the rejection of divine authority, and this is known as the way of Korah. well now since the subject of apostasy and the great falling away is so important in the prophetic timetable and falls at the end of the age which we know we are living in at this time right now I believe we need to have a second part teaching and see how we are as I said in the last days where these examples and characteristics of apostasy are at a full-blown reality and manifestation in our day and our time. Matthew 24, verse 35 declares, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. So we who love the Lord must stand for pure, unadulterated word of God. We must love God's word and we must love his authority, his grace, his holy standards, and also and finally, we must love his true church. After all, dear ones, this is the reason that God the Father had sent his son Jesus Christ to this earth. He sent him to die for her. Finally, in closing, read with me, please, Ephesians 5, verse 25. Ephesians 5, 25. God loved the church, and he gave himself up for her, so that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the word, and that he might present the church to himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and faultless. Hallelujah, hallelujah and amen.