okay footsteps of the messiah we're going to continue our study of the church of laodicea we studied this last week so this is part two And we're going to look at some distinctives about the church of apostasy. Again, the time frame, we're looking at AD 1900 to the present day. And some descriptions we see from other scriptures about apostasy that would happen in the last days. And again, apostasy is defined as a departure from the truth that one professed to have. And that's one definition about it being personal for an individual, but it also means a church can be apostate, that they call themselves Christian, but they really are not. Just like the cults, the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses. So you need to separate the two out between apostasy as a verb, as a believer can apostatize and get into false doctrine, versus an apostate church. which means they claim to be Christian, but they're not like the Jehovah Witnesses or the Mormons. So even believers can get into false doctrine and can hold the false doctrine. And that's the warnings in scripture. But some admonitions about apostasy happening in the last days, we see in what, 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul talked about this. He says, now we beseech you, brethren, touching the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto him. to the end that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by epistle, as from us, as that the day of the Lord is just at hand. Let no man beguile you in any wise, for it will not be, except the fallen away, or that's what we're talking about, the apostasy, comes first, and the man of sin is revealed the son of perdition. So it's talking about the day of the Lord, reference to the tribulation, obviously, the tribulation period, the seven year period. And basically Paul is saying there's two things that are going to occur before the great tribulation, and one of which is this great falling away of the church, the apostasy of the church. And so basically before the tribulation is to begin, the apostasy of the church must come first, which makes sense. Thus, the idea is it's inevitable that the church is going to become apostate in the closing days of history. Obviously, he mentions the second thing that's going to happen is the revelation of the man of sin will be being manifest, the Antichrist. The second passage we want to look at is 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1 about the last days of the church. And it says this, but the Spirit says expressively that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. So basically the idea is these seducing spirits introduce apostasy into the minds of people and they go into these false doctrines and fall away. Another passage that Paul talks to Timothy about, it's found in 1 Timothy chapter four. And we look at it in chapter four again in verses one through three, you look at the character of the apostasy. And the character of it is, through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies, branded in their own conscience, as with a hot iron, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from marriage, from meats, which God created to be received with thanksgiving, by them that believe and know the truth. So the idea, the character of this, he's already talked about the source of apostasy being from a demon, or demons, but now, the character of it is, is they speak with hypocrisy, their conscience is insensitive, and they attack the Christian's liberty, which is characterized by the forbidding of marrying and instruction from refraining from eating certain meats. That's legalism they're going to push. They're going to attack, basically, the believer's freedom. So this is going to increase in the last days. And then another passage, 2 Timothy 3.5 says, holding a form of godliness but having denied the power thereof. From these also turn away. So in general, these people who are involved in apostate churches or what not, or apostate themselves, they'll look religious on the outside, they have a form of godliness. But they deny the power. What power are we talking about? The power of the gospel, the power of the cross. They might wear clerical garb, they might have church titles, have pastor in front of their name. So that's a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof, the true power of godliness. And that's the power of the Holy Spirit working in sanctification through the new nature. It's the power of the gospel to change lives. They deny those things. But they look religious. And the other passage that we would look to is 2 Peter 2, verses 1-22. I'm not going to read it, but as a reference, it's a whole entire chapter there. Peter's going to make the point and identify that the motives that these apostate teachers have for doing what they do, of introducing false doctrine, is basically twofold. It's money and sexual immorality. Those are the two reasons of why an individual would go to seminary or Bible college, become a pastor or some type of religious leader, because they want money and they want sexual immorality. That's the basis of what Peter is trying to say in that passage. So, you know, what does it include? What is the characteristics of apostasy? Well, a lot of it's Denials. It's a denial. Destructive denials. So we see in 2 Peter 2 verse 1, but there arose false prophets also among people, as among you also there should be false teachers who shall privately bring in destructive heresies, and there's your term, destructive heresies, denying even a master that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. So the idea is these destructive denials are in the form of heresies. That's what's happened in the apostate church. What's the content of these heresies? Well, he says they deny the master that bought them. In other words, what the content is in their apostate teaching involves a denial of the person and work of the Messiah. They deny some aspect of that. In some of the other New Testament passages, there's some specific aspects of what they deny. They first deny the Trinity. 1 John 2, verse 22 through 23. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist. Even he that denies the Father and the Son, whoever denies the Son and the same has not the Father. He that confesses the Son has the Father also. So it's a flat-out denial of the Trinity. But then it's also in 1 John 4, verses 2-3, it's a denial of the incarnation. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that confesses not Jesus is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist. Whereof ye have heard that it comes, and now it is in the world already. So the Spirit of Antichrist is already at work, but it's a denial of the Incarnation, a denial of the God-Man. And you see the same is true in 2 John verse 7. A third denial is a denial of the Second Coming. Denial of the whole prophetic scenario attached to the Second Coming. you know, the tribulation, the day of the Lord, the millennial kingdom, the rapture, all that stuff is connected to this. 2 Peter chapter 3 mentions this in verses 3 through 4, knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come with mockery, walking after their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. So they deny not only the personal work of the Messiah, but they deny the Trinity, his deity, the incarnation, by means of the virgin birth, obviously. And they deny the fact that he's coming back physically, and all the prophetic scenario surrounding that. So that's part of the apostasy. And there'll be mockers a part of this apostasy. They'll mock the second coming. They'll mock the whole prophetic scenario. Well, there's other denials, obviously, that we can go on and on. Those are the few that Scriptures give, but there's denials of the sufficiency of Scripture. They start going into experience, determines the meaning of text. They mock you if you don't join their new wave or their new movement. They get into ecumenical movements, kingdom building, whatever you want to call it, that's all there. And we're separate from that. Jude 17, 19 says this, but ye, beloved, remember ye the words which have been spoken before the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. that they said to you, in the last time there shall be walkers walking after their own ungodly lusts. These are they who make separations, sensual, having not the spirit." Notice the word, who make separations. So the idea is that apostasy starts causing divisions in churches. And throughout this age of apostasy, there has been schism after schism, separation after separation, church after church, and denomination after denomination, have basically split over these destructive denials. And that's what's characterized even here in America, the church. The roots of the present day apostasy began in Europe. particularly with German rationalism that came in there where the inerrancy of the scriptures was denied and that developed biblical criticism and the documentary hypothesis started happening there. And as far as the United States is concerned, if you want to put a date to when apostasy started and had a beginning in the United States, You might as well put January 20th, 1891. On that day, Charles Augustus Briggs gave an inaugural address at Union Theological Seminary. This was in New York, obviously. And at that time, Union was a Presbyterian seminary. Trained Presbyterian pulpits, basically. And in that address that he gave, he made six points. and some of which involved destructive heresies. First, there were three great fountains of truth. He said, the Bible, the church, and reason. Did you notice what he added to the Bible? The church and reason. And so thus, you know, reason and the church became equal in authority with the scriptures. The second thing he stated was only some of the Old Testament prophecies were not fulfilled. and that they were reversed in fact. And so that's a huge problem. Third, he questioned the Mosaic authorship of the five books of Moses. Fourth, he questioned the unity of Isaiah. And fifth, he stated that those who died unsaved would have a second chance. And the last point he made, the sixth point, he said that sanctification is not complete at death. So those are problems. He was not the first modernist, but this address was the first public affirmation of modernism in a theological seminary in the United States. Never had happened before. Now, cults had existed beforehand, like the Jehovah Witnesses and the Mormons and Millerites and all that, but this happened in a mainline seminary in the United States at this point in time. Well, charges were brought against him by the New York Presbytery on two occasions in 1891 and 1893 where the charges were dropped. And he did it to preserve the unity of the church. It's always about unity they'll start doing rather than deal with what he actually said. And that's even today, you know, they forget doctrinal distinctives for the sake of unity. We can't do that. Well, then the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church put Briggs on trial in 1893. He was suspended from the Presbyterian Church. And as a result, Briggs became an Episcopalian. And the Union Theological Seminary withdrew from the Presbyterian Church and became independent. However, here's the problem. Although the Union Theological Seminary became independent, they still continued to train ministers for the Presbyterian Church and for their pulpits. So people were still going there and getting trained there and then going into Presbyterian pulpits and then torching those churches with apostasy. Bringing in modernism, bringing in rationalism, German heterocriticism, and tearing up these churches. And I want you to pay particular attention to this model. That's what happened over all the denominations. They were infiltrated by the seminaries. The seminaries trained the pastors. The pastors went out and messed up the churches and brought apostasy to the churches. That's how they infiltrated. And more and more liberals took pulpits in not only the Presbyterian denominations, but Methodist denominations, Baptist denominations, and more and more churches became liberal. So throughout the first two decades of the 20th century, a posse took over the schools, trains, ministers for the denominational churches. And basically then in an effort to kind of stem the tide in 1910, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church issued five fundamentals of the faith. You've probably heard fundamentalism. Well, it was over doctrine. And the first fundamental was the inspiration of scripture. The second fundamental was that you had to believe in the virgin birth. The third fundamental was the substitutionary atonement of Christ. Fourth was the resurrection of Jesus bodily. And fifth was the miracles of Jesus. And basically you had to believe in those five fundamentals to be a Christian, they said. Because those were denied. And basically those who subscribed to these were labeled fundamentalists. And so this new word was coined. And so those who denied the fundamentals were called modernists or liberals. And that started this whole movement in the United States. If you go into the decade of the 20s, it was characterized by this great modernist fundamentalist battles and many attempts to fight modernism from within the church. But toward the end of the decade, it became apparent that modernists were firmly in control of both the denominational and church positions. And so this led to basically the separatist movements in the 1930s. As the fundamentalists pulled out of these denominations, either by starting new denominations or forming independent churches, basically, you know, it started happening. It started having these separations, which is exactly what the Apostle Paul said would happen, or Jude said would happen, is separations would start happening. And it happened to the Presbyterians, it happens to the Baptists. And then by the 1940s, to the present day, a movement came in called the Ecumenical Movement. So in 1948, the World Council of Churches was organized on two principles. First, the unity of all churches on the basis of liberal tenets. And second, the unity of all religions. That's the Ecumenical Movement. The ecumenical movement, basically, I would term her the Whore of Babylon. It's a one world religion type of mentality. And to bring all the faiths under one. In 1950, the old Federal Council of Churches was reorganized into the National Council of Churches. Again, attempting to unify all the churches in the United States with liberal tenants. So basically what's happened, consequently, the visible church today that you see is primarily apostate. Now again, it doesn't mean that every church is apostate. It doesn't mean that. There's a remnant of churches out there that are doing well and doing good. But on the whole, in general, the majority of churches have went apostate. They're liberal. They don't believe in the inerrancy of scripture. And so it's happened. Well, in most recent times, a whole new phase has entered apostasy now. The old phase was characterized by destructive denials. This new phase affirms the biblical fundamentals of the faith. But here's the subtlety. They have made a paradigm shift in that the Bible is no longer the final authority in determining divine truth. experience they have now put on the level of the Bible that makes everything equally valid. Based on experience. So what they're attacking is the sufficiency of the scriptures. They won't deny the scriptures. They deny the sufficiency of scriptures. That you have to have an experience. You have to have spiritual experiences, whatever that is. And so basically, in actual practice, the experience takes priority over the Scriptures. And basically, if the Bible contradicts the practice, then the practice is justified as being a new move of the Spirit, basically. And therefore, what the text of Scripture actually says can be contradicted by new experience. So this is a far more spiritual way of denying the truth of God and therefore far, far more deceptive. A lot of people fall for this. Like the Jesus Calling book and contemplative prayer and walking a prayer labyrinth and stuff like that. as the old apostasy was marked by verbal destructive denials, this new apostasy is marked by practical destructive denials. So this has led to many strange and diverse doctrines, causing many truly to be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, and resulting in total spiritual instability with people. Again, like I say, they may affirm the authority inspiration of scripture. But it is only their experience that determines the meaning of the text in a particular. In particular or. Truth in general. And basically, this new apostasy has produced the same fruit as the old apostasy. Nothing different. They mock those who won't join them in their new wave or new movement of the Spirit. And they've caused schisms, both dividing churches and families. So, the same results have happened. So, nothing new under the sun. The practical point for all of us is this, the Bible must be the final and only authority on all matters both in faith and what we believe and practice in our actions and our experiences. It is sufficient for everything. Unfortunately, what has happened in recent years is that this new experience or phenomenon breaks out in some part of the church and then people simply try to find verses to justify the activity rather than being willing to admit that the experience, no matter how wonderful or supernatural or miraculous it felt, was simply not of God. And they won't admit that. Most of these proponents defend the practice, not on the basis of scripture, but on the basis of their own experience, like in the charismatic movement, of being slain in the spirit, or laughing in the spirit, you know, whatever. Whatever it is, it's always experience above scripture. And basically the most common evidence is that it makes them feel happy and joyful. Though this is not taking into account that any kind of emotional release of this nature will make one feel better. Even unbelievers can have the same experience, is the idea. So furthermore, Satan would not be a good deceiver if he made one feel badly, would he? Satan can give people joyful and happy experiences, and doing so would be in his best interest if that, rather than the word of God, that this experience becomes the final authority for determining spiritual truth. It's a very clever deception. If you read Isaiah chapter 8, verse 16, 19 through 20, it says this it says bind up the testimony seal the law among my disciples and when they shall say to you seek unto them that have that have familiar spirits and unto the wizards that chirp and that mutter should not a people seek their unto their God on behalf of the living should they seek unto the dead to the law and to the testimony If they speak not according to this word, surely there is no mourning for them." The idea in that passage is this, one of the motives of the book of Isaiah is the contrast between the remnant Jews who believe and the non-remnant Jews who do not believe. And in verse 16, one crucial difference between the two groups is the place of scripture in their lives. The law is the law of Moses that Isaiah is referring to, and the testimony is the words of the prophets. So basically what Isaiah is saying is what distinguishes the remnant is that they believe that which Moses and the prophets declared. That is the foundation of their faith, and this is also their authority. The non-remnant the unbelievers rejects the scriptures as the final authority and seeks to make God more real in their experience by going toward idolatry and looking at gods and goddesses that they could see, feel, touch, create a more visual picture while they worship. So you see in verse 19, Isaiah issues a warning. They are not to go after counterfeit spirits and teachers that chirp and that mutter. In other words, Isaiah is warning people not to pursue supernatural things that cause them to make strange sounds of chirping and muttering. For while these experiences might come from the supernatural, not all that comes out of the supernatural is of God. Indeed, those who go after these that chirp and mutter could well come out with great testimonies of experiencing the supernatural and feeling joy and feeling great. But Isaiah would not accept any of that as a valid testimony, is his point. The only valid testimony is what he declares in verse 20, to the law and to the testimony. So in other words, back to the law and the prophets, back to the scriptures as the only final authority. And the closing phrase should not be missed, if they should speak not according to this word, surely there is no mourning for them. Isaiah makes it quite clear, regardless of the supernatural experiences others may have, it does not align with a written word of God. that was already present Isaiah's day, so there's simply no morning light for them. So if you look at another passage in Isaiah chapter 29 verses 9 through 14, Isaiah is going to introduce how people become spiritually blind. and therefore they stagger in their spiritual blindness. He says this in Isaiah 29, 9-14, Carry ye in wonder, take your pleasure, and be blind. They are drunken, but not with wine. They stagger, but not with strong drink. For Yahweh has poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, the prophets, and your heads, the seers, has He covered. And all vision is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray you. And he says, I cannot, for it is sealed. And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray you. And he says, I am not learned. And the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near to me, and with their mouth and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught them. Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder, and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. The idea that he's trying to say is that people have become spiritually blind and are groping in spiritual darkness, having no spiritual sight to see is the idea. And Isaiah is pointing out that this has all happened because of divine judgment and is not merely an accident or coincidental. What has happened is that they have refused to follow Isaiah's earlier admonishment in chapter 8, verse 20. They have now been confirmed in their spiritual darkness and therefore they have fallen into a deep spiritual sleep so that now they have no capacity to understand the prophets. As a result, all the prophecies of Isaiah and the prophets that have come before him have become to the populace as a book that is sealed, is the idea. When they are presented to someone who is learned, Although he had he has had the capacity and training to understand these things because he chose to pursue which is that which chirp and mutter even for the learned one. The prophecies have become like a sealed book. They can no longer understand. Insofar as understanding spiritual truth, he has become like one who is not trained or learned and the trained and learned one has the same incapacity and inability to understand God's word as one who is untrained and unlearned. However, it is then made clear that outwardly these people appear both religious and spiritual. They do continue drawing unto God with their mouths. And they do honor God with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him. What makes their hearts far from God is whatever they fear they have of the Lord is based upon man-made doctrines, commandments, and traditions rather than which God Himself has said and taught in the Scriptures. Thus today, the validity of a movement is based on the external. It's based on the verbal pronouncements, such as praise the Lord, or praise Jesus, or some similar sounding phrase that is consistently repeated. What the Bible-based observer must realize is that this is merely a formula, much like those who recite mantras in Eastern religions. Simply verbalizing the name of Jesus over and over again does not by itself prove anything. In fact, it fits the verse quite well. And with their mouth and with their lips they do honor me, but they have removed their heart far from me. Their heart is far from God in reality for the same reason. They have learned to fear God on the basis of man-made and man-made induced experiences, rather than on the basis of the Word of God. They are following the new man-made doctrines and repeat phrases that they have been trained to repeat, believing that this repetition is what makes them spiritual. So as a result, more time is spent seeking further experiences than on actual study of the Word of God in its own context. The result is a further judgment where both wisdom and understanding begin to perish. More and more people, as people seek deeper and deeper experiences, spend less and less time actually in disciplined study of the Word of God. And they reach a point where they begin to totally lack understanding of the Word of God. While they regularly do God talk or Jesus speak, They begin to deal with the concrete details of the Word of God. When they begin to deal with the concrete details of the Word of God, they are at a total loss. The more experiential they become, the less they understand of the Word of God. Scriptures emphasize that the final authority must be the Scriptures, the written Word of God, and not anyone else's experiences. The response of some of these people, they'll say this, isn't this manifestation of the supernatural, the evidence of the work of God, isn't this not found in scripture? Aren't signs and wonders evidence of the work of God, even if specific signs and wonders are not found in scripture? Here again, the answer is a decisive no. As the following two scriptures again show, first in Matthew 7, 22 through 23, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? And by your name cast out demons. And by your name do many mighty works. And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you worker of iniquity. One should notice that these false teachers were able to do in the name of the counterfeit Jesus. They were able to do a lot of things. They did it in Jesus' name, and they did it quite frequently. They were able to do mighty works, cast out demons, prophesy, all kinds of things. These are miracles of healing and other signs and wonders. Yet in that day, Jesus is going to tell them, I never knew you. So here again, one has all the ingredients of some of these things that are happening in this new wave of apostasy. The name of Jesus is heavily used in almost a ritual mantra style. All kinds of signs and lying wonders are claimed to occur. And yet, by themselves, these things do not prove anything, because Satan can duplicate things. Here again, it is important to get back to the written word of God as the final criterion, and the final source of authority, the final foundation for all matters of faith and practice. You can see this example of this in 2 Corinthians 11 3-4 and 13-15. Paul says this, But I fear lest by any means, as a serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity and purity that is toward Christ. For if he that comes preaches another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or if ye receive another spirit, which you did not receive, or another gospel which ye did not accept, ye do well to bear with him. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for even Satan fashions himself into an angel of light. It is no great thing, therefore, if his ministers also fashion themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works. So in this passage, Paul is emphasizing the fact that just as Satan was able to deceive Eve, even the believers in the Corinth church can also be deceived by Satan, perhaps not directly by him, but certainly by Satan's ministers. It should be kept in mind that the Corinth Church was highly involved in sensationalism, signs and wonders, and experiential. Because the Corinth Church based so much about its life on experience in the supernatural, that is what opened it up for false teachers and deception. Paul labels three things by the word, another, another Jesus, another gospel, another spirit. The Greek, however, has two different words here, both of which mean another, but they carry a slightly different shade of meaning. The first term means another kind of the same kind. The second term means another of a different kind. Rendering verse four a bit more literal from the Greek, it would read as follows. For if he that comes preaches another Jesus of the same kind, whom we did not preach, or if ye receive another spirit of a different kind, which ye did not receive, or another gospel of a different kind, which ye did not accept, ye do well to avoid them." What Paul is saying is that the gospel being presented is another gospel, or a different kind, and the source is another spirit of a different kind. However, the Jesus being presented is another Jesus of the same kind. A Jesus that sounds like and seems like Jesus of the New Testament, but is carefully disguised counterfeit. It should be noted that the name being used to foster the work of deception is the name of Jesus. It is a counterfeit Jesus, but it is carefully disguised counterfeit so that one who does not judge by the word of God is very easily deceived. Paul makes it clear that those who have propagated another Jesus are false apostles. However, that is not the way they appear because they fashion themselves to sound like real ministers of the Messiah. By doing so, they are reflecting their true Lord, which is Satan, who is an angel of this darkness, and who fashions himself to appear as an angel of light. Paul says that this should not be surprising, for if Satan will fashion himself to appear as an angel of light, certainly his own ministers will fashion themselves to appear as ministers of righteousness. But in the end, they will receive this judgment. Again, Satan would not be very successful in his work of deception, especially with believers, if his ministers were clearly, without question, out in far left field. To carry out the work of deception, they must certainly focus on the name of Jesus and not some other name. otherwise you wouldn't believe in them. But the mere usage of the name Jesus even in the context of words like praise or glory etc. does not and should not authenticate anyone's ministry. Here again the final authority must be the scriptures and not experience signs and wonders, unusual activities or strange noises. The strange phenomenon that has infiltrated the church should not have surprised people who are truly into the Word of God. For in 1st Timothy 4.1 Paul declared, but the Spirit says expressly in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith or fall from that way from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. There is, of course, biblical doctrine, but here Paul is talking about the fact that Satan has his own system of doctrine referred to as doctrine of demons. Those who become enamored with the doctrine of demons end up giving heed to seducing spirits. What are these doctrines of demons? They are such doctrines that find no basis in the written word of God. They are only based on teachers claiming to have special divine revelation from God that they make people accept this new truth. Those who involve themselves in such doctrines of demons end up being seduced by demonic spirits. Again, there are those who will come and defend these actions based upon how happy and good and joyful they feel, assuming that such good feelings must be from the Lord. But all this shows is that they have indeed been seduced by demons. And again, Satan would not be very successful in his program of deception if his strategy was to make people feel bad. That is not going to attract much of an audience. What will attract an audience is people who can do things to make one feel good, even if the feeling is nothing more than an emotional release. But if that feeling can be ascribed to a supernatural work of God, the recipient has been deceived. The Bible itself has given a major admonition by which one must judge all that claims to be from the Lord. In 1 Corinthians 4, 6 says, Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sake, that in us you might learn not to go beyond these things which are written, that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other. So again, it should be emphasized that Paul is saying to this church, which has a strong tendency towards sensationalism and experience. The focus on the experiential only showed they were not spiritual, but really carnal is the idea. Paul must especially admonish a church of this nature not to go beyond things which are written. That which is written, of course, is the Holy Scriptures. For any new manifestation or phenomenon, they must go back and test it by the Word of God. For if something that goes beyond that which is written, then it must be rejected out of hand. It is sufficient to know that if it is not in Scripture, then they have gone beyond what is written, and therefore it is already evident that this thing is not of God. What happens to those who do go beyond that which is written? Well, Paul declares that they become puffed up for the one another against the other. They develop spiritual pride that is evident when they go around claiming to be able to judge the Word of God by their experience. Another scripture that must be dealt with in this discussion of apostasy is 2 Timothy 3, 12-4, verse 4. Yea, and all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and impostors shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you abide in these things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing of whom you have learned of them. And that from a babe you have known the sacred writings which were able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness. That the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work. I charge you in the sight of God and of Christ Jesus. who should judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing in his kingdom preach the word to be urgent in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but have itching ears, will heap up themselves teachers after their own lusts, and will turn away their ears from the truth and turn aside unto fables. This simple message is largely ignored by the modern movements in apostasy today. That those who seek to live godly lives will suffer persecution, he states, and the truth is that the health and wealth gospel are not signs of divine favor. Having your health and having money is not a sign of divine favor or spirituality. Rather, it's being persecuted for your faith that is a sign of a truly godly person. Paul then issues a warning that as time goes on there will be more and more false teachers who are truly impostors and will go around deceiving others, many of whom will be deceived themselves. They may well believe that they are God's anointed and keep repeating to their critics that they're God's anointed. Don't touch God's anointed, they'll say. But the fact remains they have become deceivers and they've deceived themselves. So what is it that will protect Timothy from being deceived by all these false teachers? Well, Paul answers the question. Timothy is encouraged to continue in what he's learned and what he has learned that since he was a child, he has been trained in the sacred writings and in the scriptures. Notice the same emphasis is found in 1 Corinthians chapter 4, the sacred writings. There are two things that will keep Timothy from being deceived, Paul says. His knowledge of the sacred writings and his continuing to abide in the sacred writings. The word abide has a basic meaning of to make your home with. He has to make his home in the sacred writings. His focus is not to be on any personal experiences, no matter how supernatural they may be. His focus should not be on signs and wonders that can lead to deception, but he must abide in the Word of God. What Peter said in 2 Peter 1, 20-21, Paul says in verse 16, that the Scriptures are the inspired Word of God and therefore are profitable in all areas. Just how profitable are the written Scriptures? Paul answers the question, saying the Scriptures can make man, the man of God, to be completing himself. while also making him furnished completely in every good work. With this verse's teaching, you can't miss this. The scriptures are sufficient to make one thoroughly complete. The written scriptures are able to thoroughly complete one and furnish one for every work that one needs to do. One can become spiritual and mature in the faith through the scriptures alone. However, this will take the discipline of studying the Word of God, spending hours, days, weeks, and years of a lifetime to comprehend more and more of the Word of God. But in this technological age, people have become lazy, and therefore seek an instant breakfast approach to spirituality, sometimes even feeling they have become a god themselves. According to this passage, such experience will not lead to spirituality, but instead will lead to being deceived, and then continue to deceive others as well. Because Timothy is knowledgeable of the Scriptures, because the Scriptures are able to thoroughly furnish him in every good work, Paul then admonishes Timothy to go ahead and do the work of ministry. reproving, rebuking, exhorting, teaching. But this teaching is not to be done by any divine revelation outside of scripture. Rather, this is to be done by the written word of God. Paul then declares what will happen in the latter days. And unfortunately, what Paul described has indeed happened. Paul states in the latter days that believers will no longer be able to endure sound doctrine. What sound doctrine is he talking about? Well, it's in contrast to the doctrine of demons. which are doctrines based upon experience and supernatural, which go beyond what is written. Sound doctrine is that which is based upon and comes from the sacred writings. Indeed, we are living in a day when the majority of believers in our church simply cannot endure sound doctrine. In the place of expository teaching of the Word, they are indeed Christian amusement parks and Christian talk shows that carry little if any doctrinal substance. A speaker who causes people to become hysterical or act like animals or fall down can fill up entire stadiums with thousands and thousands of people who eventually will be asked to empty their pocketbooks for the offering. But one who comes to expound the word of God to impart an understanding of scriptures and sound doctrine will draw a relatively tiny audience. Indeed, the time and day have arrived when men cannot endure sound doctrine. How will they try to meet the spiritual needs? Paul goes on to explain, they will heap up themselves teachers after their own lusts. In other words, they will pursue teachers who will tell them what they want to hear and not what they really need to hear. Being persecuted for godly living is not something believers want to hear about. They will pursue teachers who promise them supernatural experiences. They will pursue teachers who will promise them health and wealth by merely using a formula. Teachers who promise them materialism and the spiritually wrapped package are the only ones they will pursue. But they will strongly avoid having to sit through an in-depth teaching of the Word of God. Indeed, that day has finally arrived. Most mega-churches today were not built up through expository teaching, but through entertainment. Church programs are based on what people want, not what they need. And Paul tells us the result of not enduring sound doctrine, pursuing false teachers. First, they will turn their ears from the truth, and second, they will turn aside to fables. Fables are teachings and doctrines outside of Scripture. As seen earlier, Peter said he would not follow cunningly devised fables, because he was teaching and preaching was based on the Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit. The reason Timothy will not be swept aside by following fables is because he is basing his entire life teaching and ministry on the scriptures. Those who go beyond these things which are written will end up following fables. And again, fables are teachings not found in scripture and therefore either originate with man or in the demonic realm and thereby become doctrines of demons. Fables are the false postulations of experiences and actions that are found nowhere in scripture. So with that being said, we'll end there and next week we will look at the responsibilities of believers who face apostasy. What do you do when you have apostasy in your church? What do you do when the leadership is apostate? What do you do with someone that comes to your door preaching a different gospel? We'll talk about those things because Scripture deals with that.