The emphasis in this series has been on the broad way that leads to destruction.  It is not only filled with multitudes of lost souls (Matthew 7:13,14), it is also cluttered with many religions that were not planted by God (Matthew 15:13).

 But there is—and has always been—a way that is right.  And it has always been possible for those who are on that way to fall away from it (1 Corinthians 10:12).

 In this lesson, we will study seven elements of the subject of apostasy (“a falling away”).  But while we do so, let us also think seriously about the following things as part of the overall goal to avoid falling away from God:  Let us become aware of God’s feelings about apostasy (He will punish those whom He loves if they fall away).  Let us learn the simplicity of avoiding apostasy (by keeping His commandments).  Let us learn the pattern for recognizing apostasy (from the Bible and such study helps as we are given in the rest of this book).  Let us call people out of apostate and unauthorized religions (In other words, let us “Speak where the Bible speaks, and be silent where the Bible is silent;” go “Back to the Bible;” encourage the “Restoring of New Testament Christianity;” preach that the “Bible only makes Christians only—and the only Christians;” etc.).

 At the end of the lesson, I will ask you if you kept the items in the previous paragraph in mind while learning the seven main points that now come before us.

Ever since Eden, God has made it clear that people can fall away from His favor.

Adam and Eve were given commandments on the very first day.  Those commandments included the warning of the consequences of disobedience (Genesis 2).

Israel was warned throughout the wilderness wanderings that they could forfeit their inheritance through disobedience (Deuteronomy 4).

The church received letter after letter from inspired apostles and prophets with numerous warnings about the possibility of apostasy (Galatians 5:4).

This type of warning also applied to every individual Christian.  In Hebrews 3:12,13, the need to take heed of this danger is stated as clearly as possible. “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.  But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”

Under this heading, I want to note a few things that we can learn about the characteristics of apostasy from five different men in the Bible.

Moses spoke several times during the last month of his life in the book of Deuteronomy.  In these lessons, he taught the second generation about the failure of the previous generation to be faithful to God.  Their failure included the many sins of the forty years in the wilderness, such as unbelief, idolatry, false worship, pride, heeding poor leaders, etc.  He also taught them by way of warning.  They were not to forsake God’s commandments, commit idolatry, fellowship the sinners in the land, fail to teach their children, etc.

Solomon spoke at the dedication of the temple (see 1 Kings 8 and 2 Chronicles 6).  In this long and moving ceremony, he prayed to God about the things that the people might do to arouse His wrath in the future. Several times, he described situations that would result in the need for them to be restored to fellowship with God.  All of these descriptions are much needed today, for they describe how people can apostatize.  Sadly, the people of Israel did the very things he described…

Paul wrote often about the characteristics of falling away.  Most of these writings are to the church, but a very appropriate text for this lesson (and this lectureship) is Romans 1:18-23, where he actually lists the steps that were taken by the Gentile world to move farther and farther away from God into their total idolatry and immorality.  They went so far that He gave them “up” and “over” (vv. 24,26,28).

Peter wrote of the characteristics of the great spiritual tragedy of apostasy in 2 Peter 2.  In four sobering sections, he presented the destiny of false teachers and those who follow them.  The sad reality that there are false teachers who are headed to damnation comes first (vv.1-3).  The fact that God knows the difference between them and the godly is proved with several examples from history (vv.4-11).  A description of those who engage in this fight against God is given in the strongest of disgusting terms (vv.12-19).  And he concludes by describing the apostate ones as being in the worst possible of all spiritual conditions (vv.20-22).

Jesus also used several opportunities to describe those who were fallen from God.  Possibly one of the most needed for religious leaders (and those who follow them) is in Matthew 23.  Note in this description that He exposes more than their teaching!  Their attitudes and manner of living is also corrupt—according to Biblical standards.

Let us sum up this point by considering Gal 6:7,8; “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”

The story of the fall of the people of God under the Old Covenant yields the sad result of a divided people.  The North (Israel) and the South (Judah) fell.  They fell in spite of the warnings, in spite of the lessons they should have learned from one another’s sins.  And they fell in spite of God’s many encouragements to obedience and blessing.

Israel fell first, in 722/21 BC.  They walked in the sins of Jeroboam, who “made Israel to sin.”  Jeroboam was the first king of the north, and at the time that the two groups split (after the death of Solomon), he established a pattern that they followed for about 250 years.  Prophets such as Elijah, Elisha, and Hosea were unable to convince the nation to be faithful to God (although some individuals did obey).  The apostasy became so complete that God chose to use the evil Assyrians to punish them.

Judah fell in stages at the hands of the Babylonians in 606/597/586 BC.  Many prophets warned them, too.  Even during and after the invasion of Babylon, prophets such as Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel described their sins, and the degree to which those sins had affected their relationship with Jehovah.  The end of the historical books of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles also describes the extent of this apostasy.

The New Testament also describes the extent of apostasy with regard to the church, both by actual cases, and by descriptive warnings.  For example, 1 Corinthians presents the kinds of sins that can gain control of a congregation in several places.  They were not speaking the same thing (ch.1), they were childish in attitude (ch.3), they tolerated immorality (chs. 5,6), they abused the pattern for worship (chs. 11-14), and they had those who taught false doctrine about the resurrection (ch.15).  Warnings of future apostasy are also common in the New Testament (see 2 Thessalonians 2, 1 Timothy 4, 2 Timothy 3).

A statement of the full extent of apostasy is found in 2 Chronicles 36:16; “But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.”

Of Israel, God is said to have given them a king in His anger, and taken Him away in His wrath (Hosea 13:11).

Of Judah, note the description of how God allowed the people to be treated during the beginning of their 70-year captivity (2 Chronicles 36).  In Jeremiah 25, the Lord described His feelings about them in terms of His wrath and the fact that the captivity was just—just what they deserved!

In the New Testament book of Hebrews, we are given some of the most severe warnings about the consequences of apostasy that can be found in the whole Bible (see Hebrews 3:7-19; 5:11-6:20; 10:19-39; 12:4-17).

In eternity, the true extent of apostasy will be felt by all of those who fell away from God and never came back in repentance.  What could be worse than this? Matthew 25:31-46 shows that people can be guilty of apostasy for things that are not thought of as being all that important.  The lesson is obvious—NOW is the time for us to learn what is important!

Hebrews 12:29 says, “For our God is a consuming fire.”

Old Testament examples of falling away from God are certainly preserved so that the true people of God today can be warned by them.  In 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Paul uses some of these familiar stories to help the church at Corinth to see the need to change all of the many things that they were doing wrong.  This kind of passage justifies the idea that we should look to all other examples of sin in the Old Testament in order to learn the seriousness of sin—particularly as it applies to the lesson at hand.  Christians must learn about the reality of apostasy!  But it is far better for us to learn from these tragic examples than it is to learn by experience!  Experience is not the best teacher in such things, my brethren.  The Bible is the best teacher!

New Testament writings also have a great deal of information for our learning. Study, for example, the seven letters to the churches in Asia (Revelation 2,3).  Note the many positive and negative statements that were meant to help them to correct problems and avoid sin—and also note that all seven of these churches ceased to exist later on.  At some point, a generation arose in each town that failed to learn from that which is written.

Religious history since the close of the New Testament is full of stories of apostasy and its fruits.  Many of the religions that exist today are not technically “apostate,” since one cannot apostatize until he has first obeyed God.  But all of the religions that exist today (except the faithful churches of Christ) exist as testimony to the power that Satan has to work through those who are guilty of apostasy from God’s way.  Denominationalism, world religions, fallen congregations among us, and individual Christians who are not walking in the “highway of holiness” (Isaiah 35), are daily reminders to those who know the word of God—reminders of the need to learn from these things that we simply must “keep on keeping on.”

1 Corinthians 10:11,12 says, “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.  Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

In the Bible, there is another tragic story of a man who just did not get the point that he had left God’s way in apostasy.  He was King Saul.  In 1 Samuel 15, he received God’s orders regarding the Amalekites, and proceeded to disobey those very simple commands.  But he did not view it as disobedience—apostasy.  He even claimed that he had actually obeyed God!  Verse 13 says, “And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.” As the story progresses, Saul did at least admit his sin.  But today, and ever since, many men have done things that are as opposite to God’s commands as that which Saul did—and have not had the integrity to even acknowledge it!  It is no wonder that God is just when He punishes us for falling away (as He punished Saul).

Another denial of apostasy is in the Calvinistic doctrine of the “impossibility of apostasy.”  In light of all of the lessons in this series—and the scriptures that serve as the foundation for these lessons—how could anyone affirm the doctrine of “once-saved; always-saved”?

Current religious thought is so steeped in the idea that no religious idea is really wrong (except for Satanism, a few cults, and the churches of Christ!), that it is very fitting for us to claim that people of this generation have decided to tell religious lies and that they have believed them (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12).

Today, as much as any time in my own memory, we are living among millions (if not billions) of people who are doing no more and no less than that “which is right in their own eyes” (Judges 17:6; 21:25).

Jehovah desires that all who have fallen away, and all who could fall away, will seek Him and His ways.  There is no other answer to apostasy than the way of God (Matthew 6:33; Jeremiah 6:16; Deuteronomy 4:29).

He commands that all who have forsaken Him repent of their apostasy (see the letters to the seven churches of Asia in Revelation 2,3; also note Joel 2:12-14).

He demands that His people see the need to come out from among those who sin—and refuse to fellowship all forms of evil (2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1; 2 John 9-11).

He teaches in His word that apostasy can be prevented by teaching, accepting, following, and teaching the next generation to do the same with regard to His holy word (2 Timothy 2:2; Matthew 28:18-20).

As we conclude, I want to go back to the introduction.  I said that we would ask whether or not we kept our minds on these four things as we studied.  Did you do it?  Did you concentrate on—

1. God’s feelings about apostasy?
2. The simplicity of avoiding it by keeping His commandments?
3. The pattern for recognizing apostasy?
4. The call of God’s word to come out of it?

God only has one authorized religion today.  It is the church of Christ, purchased with His blood.  There are thousands of religions in the world at this very moment.  Two religions would be one too many—so let us be busy tearing them down through evangelism and faithful living (Jeremiah 1:10; 2 Timothy 4:2).  Let us be as aggressive in answering the Lord’s prayer as the first century church was (John 17:20,21; Colossians 1:23).