Sermon Tone Analysis

THE APOSTASY FROM TRUE RELIGION - I

 

Songs: 110, Beauties of Truth

       203, Building for Eternity

       188,

 

Scripture Reading: 2 Thessalonians 2

 

Prayer:

 

    Eternal God, to Thee be the glory, the majesty, the eternity of days.

O Lord, grant us to love Thee with all our heart, with all our mind, and with all our soul, and our neighbor for Thy sake; that the grace of brotherly love may dwell in us, and all envy, harshness, and ill will die out; and fill our hearts with feelings of love, kindness and compassion, so that constantly rejoicing in the happiness and good success of others, we may follow Thee, who art Thyself the epitome of true and perfect love.

Most gracious God, send out Thy light and Thy truth, let them lead us into the paths of peace and righteousness; deliver us from dullness of spirit, and any mood of depression that prevails over us.

Cleanse the thoughts of our minds and purge the meditations of our hearts that they may be acceptable in Thy sight.

Forgive us, O God, for the good that we have left undone, and for the evil that we have done.

Father, we thank Thee for Thy Word which foreshows the trend that men of the world would follow, that dissatisfied with the simplicity of the teaching of Thy Word, men would turn the truth into a lie, would formulate creeds and theories of their own which would be nothing more than fables.

We appreciate Thy goodness in forewarning us of this turn of events.

Thou hast identified for us the sinister power by which this shameful work would be accomplished, and warned us against being deceived by their vain pronouncements.

This ruthless power would wear out Thy saints, and cast Thy truth to the ground, and would practice and prosper.

Thanks to Thee for the vivid picture of the man of sin that should speak in Thy name, shamefully declaring himself to be God.

Thanks to Thee for pre-informing us of his existence and his long tenure of activity.

That sinister power was beginning to work in Apostolic days, and will still be active when Thy dear Son returns to earth, who will destroy him with the brightness of His coming.

We also rejoice that we have been informed in advance of the dawn of a better day, of a time when Rome with all her errors will no longer hold the minds of men in abject darkness, and we thank Thee that for us that day has dawned, and the true light now shines.

And now that we have the light help us to walk by it, cleansing from our lives every dark shadow, letting our light so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify Thee in the day of visitation.

Fill us, we pray, with Thy spirit, that we may have power to do far greater things than lie in our own abilities.

Relate our lives, O God, unto making this a better world, to the establishment of life and peace.

This we ask in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.

THE APOSTASY FROM TRUE RELIGION - I

 

How God Revealed Himself to Men

 

 

 

    "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son."

With these words the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews pictures the happy arrangement that had prevailed from the time of Adam, when God first began working with mankind, to his own day.

Under this plan members of the human family desirous of living the higher life were informed of the pattern for that life.

During these years ordinary humans enjoyed direct contact with the divine mind through the ministration of angels, and by knowledge transmitted through the medium of Holy Spirit power.

Angels appeared direct to Abraham.

Moses the great Emancipator was permitted to hear the voice of the angel speaking from the burning bush.

The commandments and ordinances given on Mt.

Sinai as the governing law for the Children of Israel in the Wilderness, were given by angels, hence bore the mark of divine authority.

They were the revealed will of God for that day and time.

The Prophets of Israel bore special messages from God, and they were always forthright and authoritative.

The formula was, "The word of the Lord came to" so-and-so.

There were intervals when no new truths were revealed in this way, and under those circumstances the people were confined to the record of what already had been given, much the same as we are today.

One such instance is recorded in the time of Eli, "The word of the Lord was precious in those days: there was no open vision" (1 Sam.

3:1).

It was God's purpose that earth's inhabitants should be informed about what He has in store for them, that they should know His will and be conscious of the blessings to attend obedience and the curses that will accompany disobedience.

It was revealed that "ignorance" alienates from the life of God, but "happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding" (Eph.

4:18, Prov.

3:13).

The Israelites were enjoined to diligently teach the law of God to their children: "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes (Deut.

6:6-8).

As the people were listening to Jesus preach, He told them to "Search the Scriptures," and Paul said to his son in the faith, Timothy, "But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation" (2 Tim.

3:14-15).

When God spake through His Son Jesus, the people living at that time enjoyed the rarest opportunity.

Jesus not only taught them of the perfect law of God but also showed them the example of a flawless life.

To one living during these fruitful years, it could easily appear that acquaintance with the Divine plan and knowledge of God's saving Truth was a condition that could be normally expected, and that as long as people were living on earth, some among them would possess this knowledge and choose to serve the Eternal God and loyally live up to His superior laws.

Yet the revelations made by these very holy men through whom God was speaking, revealed that the trend would actually be the reverse.

A time was to arrive when man's inborn perversity and rebellion against Divine Authority would impel him to depart from divine guidance and seek to pattern religion after his own liking and apostatize from the true teachings of God Almighty.

The Bible foreshows this universal departure from the true religion in a number of different ways.

The apostle Paul speaks explicitly about this apostasy in 2 Tim.

4:1-4: "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables."

The language used here is emphatic.

Sometime after Paul's day an era should arrive when men would not endure sound doctrine but after their own lusts, should heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, or teachers to tickle their own fancies, and these teachers would turn people away from the Truth and turn them to fables, or, as translated by Dr. Moffatt, "they would give up listening to the truth and turn to myths."

Paul speaks again of this apostasy in his farewell address to the elders of the church at Ephesus.

Let us read Acts 20:29-30, "For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them."

Men would arise who, not satisfied with the simplicity of the apostolic teachings, should choose to fashion religion after their own liking, and depart from the faith of Jesus Christ.

The same Apostle, in his second epistle to the Thessalonians, forewarned again of this corruption of true religion by sinister forces, and revealed that the process had already begun.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 speaks of the second advent of the Messiah, an event which at that time was still at a distance.

A long period of years was to separate Paul's time of writing from Christ's personal return to earth, and during this time, some spectacular events must take place: "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God" (2 Thess.

2:3-4).

Later on we shall identify this power carrying out this shameful program.

Verse 2 Thess.

1:7 reads.

"For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work: only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way" (R. S. V.).

In Matthew 25 Jesus makes a very broad statement about the universal turning away from the truth to fables.

Beginning at the first of the chapter he differentiates between the careless and the alert among those who have entered His service, by listing them as wise and foolish virgins.

In this parable, Jesus reveals something more--a coming apostasy when no one on earth would be living the true religion.

He, the Bridegroom, was to be absent for a period of time.

He was going to heaven where he would be seated at the Father`s right hand.

During some part of this absence, all would slumber and sleep.

Now, in a sound sleep, one is totally oblivious to what is going on about him.

He knows absolutely nothing.

He cannot reason, make decisions, or act upon decisions made.

He is powerless to accomplish anything, and that is a fitting example of the condition of God's true Church during the long night of the apostasy.

Let us repeat: during the absence of the bridegroom, all were to slumber and sleep.

Among the religious systems who give partial credence to the idea of a general apostasy, most are inclined to ignore the divine forecast that this apostasy should be total--that all would slumber and sleep, claiming that during the entire period of the dark, medieval age, God had living witnesses upon earth.

Some even go so far as to make the claim that the titular heads of their particular church body form a direct succession of the apostles from Christ's day to the present time.

However, this position is unscriptural.

In 1 Cor.

4:9 Paul wrote, "For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last," or, "last apostles," as it reads in the margin.

The Douay Version reads, "For I think that God has set forth us apostles, the last."

And the phraseology of Rev. 21:14 should come as a shock to those who believe in a succession of apostles, showing as it does, that away down at the return of Christ from Heaven and the establishment of the new order upon earth, in the wall of the heavenly Jerusalem, there will be the names of only twelve apostles of the Lamb.

No place here for a succession.

Other Biblical forecasts picture this complete falling away from the truth either directly or in figurative language.

The Prophet Isaiah, depicting the situation that shall prevail when God's saving knowledge begins to be broadcast to all mankind at Christ's second coming, has this to say: "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people" (Isa.

60:1-2).

The masses of mankind will be in darkness regarding true religion.

The Prophet Jeremiah describes the reaction of the people at this same time with the following words: ". . . the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit" (Jer.

16:19)--the apostasy had been complete.

In figurative language the Prophet Joel (Joel 1:1) forecasts that a sinister power would arise and destroy the food crops.

He would lay God's vine waste, inflicting such damage that it would be completely dead, its branches bleached white.

Joel 1:12 is revealing: "The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; . . .

even all the trees of the field are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men."

Always the fruits of righteousness create joy, a joy which cannot be dimmed, because the consciousness that our works are pleasing to God brings the assurance of an abundant future life regardless of present tribulation.

When all effort to bear good fruits ceased, when the goal of moral perfection no longer challenged the will of man, when the reward of eternal life no longer captured his desire, thrilled his imagination, and influenced his life, then God withdrew.

No living water fell from heaven, the rivers of life ceased to flow, the pastures dried up, drought overcame the land.

Religious and Secular History Record This Apostasy

 

    It is assuring to note the agreement between the Scriptural forecast and history.