LUKEWARM and APOSTASY
Revelation 3:15-16
‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot.
So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.
12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
13 Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.
Biblically, Apostasy is a willful and deliberate turning away from God. It’s like rejecting the care that we were provided by God with when we first believed. This is when people come to church and sit, then return to anti-Christian habits deliberately. This reminds me of the time Satan was ejected from Heaven because He wanted to receive The Glory that belonged to God. As a result of his rebellion, he was kicked out of Heaven along with a 1/3 of heaven to begin their lives as fallen angels.
I wanted to talk to you about this for 2 reasons. One is that we want to be careful not to become complacent about our Christian walk. I am talking to 3 types of people. Non-Christians, new and seasoned Christians. The second reason is that you may see people profess to be Christian but see their lifestyle reflect the opposite. We want to pray for discernment. Work out your own salvation. We shouldn’t just look at the “results” of person. Even the devil can change into an angel of light for his purposes.
Matthew 7:22-24
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
We benefit from reading the bible on a regular basis.
Let’s look at the book of Hebrews.
Hebrews 6:4
4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age 6 and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
20 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. 22 Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”
6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire, and burned.
1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.
10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other.
1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.
We don’t want to become a Judas…
14 Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests 15 and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So, they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. 16 From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand Him over.
Please click the link below to listen to this episode on the Anchor Podcast:
https://anchor.fm/katim-brown/episodes/Lukewarm-and-Apostasy-e1es123/a-a4rqds3
