Jesus Said the Posers Will Fall Away.
Jesus Christ came to seek and save the lost, but He knew many would fall away (Matthew 24:10-13). People said they were going to follow the Lord but did not. Today, we call this “apostasy.”
Faith in Christ is important at first, but then it becomes a hobby. Then, people even abandon their hobby and move on to another one.
This early American song reminds us that Christians must remain faithful. It is based on Jesus’ words in Luke 9:62.
No, I’ve never been to Heaven, but I’ve been told
It’s a pretty fair city, and the streets are gold
And the chorus
Keep your hand on that gospel plow, hold right on
Hold on, hold right on
Keep your hand on that gospel plow, hold right on
It is relatively easy to remain faithful to the Lord when life is easy, but it’s a different story when political or economic times get rough.
Apostasy Defined
The term apostasy does not apply to non-believers but only to those who once declared they were following Christ and then fell away. Jesus put it this way in the Matthew passage. He was speaking to his followers:
“Many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:10-13).
That definitely requires a believer to “Keep your hand on that gospel plow, hold right on.” If as believers, we allow our love to “grow cold,” betray each other, or follow false prophets, then our salvation, or at least our rewards, are at risk. According to Scripture, that applies even when you hold to the doctrine of “Eternal Security.”
Apostasy is the renunciation of our faith in Christ. Atheists and other non-believers have never proclaimed faith in Christ, so they cannot abandon it. Such people have a different eternal destiny.
Can a Believer Lose Their Salvation?
Can a believer lose their salvation and end up in hell? My reading of the Bible says, “No, that’s not possible.” The Bible states that redemption is based on the shed blood of Christ and is open to all. Once Christ saves us, we are under his protection. Jesus stands behind the new deal we entered into with him (Hebrews 7:20-22).
Does this mean we are free to continue sinning? The early church asked this question, and the Apostle Paul said, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means!” (See Romans 6:1-4).
The Problem of Predestination
Calvinists have a rather entitled elitist theological idea about predestination, which, simplified, says that an individual making a conscious free-will decision to follow Jesus doesn’t matter much. Since God already knows who is saved and who is not, giving allegiance to Jesus is immaterial.
Yes, God is all-knowing, so he does know who will be saved and who will be lost. But that information is unknowable and irrelevant to humankind. The paramount fact comes from Peter, the man who knew Jesus personally: “[The Lord] is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). The door is wide open to those who will repent of their sins and live a new life in Christ.
The Lord Will Keep His Promise
When we internalize Christ’s sacrifice spiritually— by an act of our will—we become one with him in a mystical, spiritual transaction we call “Union with Christ” (Being “in Christ” – Colossians 1:27). I don’t think the Bible teaches that union can be broken and the sacrifice of Christ undone.
Peter proved that. Jesus predicted that Peter would deny Him three times (an act of apostasy), and Peter did exactly as predicted. Yet, Peter realized his transgression and quickly repented. We have no reason to believe that Peter is in hell today because of his apostasy.
The Apostle John, who also walked with Jesus, said this when writing to Christians: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Can a Believer Forfeit Their Salvation?
All sins can be forgiven at any time except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:30-32 and elsewhere). Can an apostate go so far that he or she invalidates his or her salvation? Yes. Even John Calvin and Jacob Arminius agreed on that.
Apostates have, by an act of their own will, rejected the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit and forfeited their salvation.
Sadly, many so-called Christians have become apostates because they have passively blasphemed the Holy Spirit by failing to acknowledge his power in their lives. They trash the Holy Spirit in their carnality and they have no intention of seeking forgiveness from the holy God they abandoned.
Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is the only way a person can forfeit their faith. There is no other act or thought that will separate a believer from Christ and his Kingdom.
Apostasy Today
How does apostasy happen today when there are so many Bibles and so much sound Bible teaching? It happens for numerous reasons, which we discover in Revelation 2:1-7.
Drifting Away
A few years ago, a Christian friend of mine came to me and reported that he and his wife were divorcing. Sadly, my friend had no biblical reason for the marital acrimony that led to the split. He simply said, “We drifted apart until we lost sight of each other.”
That is the sort of thing that Jesus spoke about in Revelation 2:1-7. He commended the Church of Ephesus for their initial faithfulness but faulted them for “abandoning the love you had at first.” He urged people to repent while they still could and not fall into the decadence of apostasy. However, without awareness and repentance, Christians can drift into apostasy just as some people drift into divorce.
Like Peter and like the Ephesians in Revelation, we can make rash decisions that look like apostasy. Do we drift into perdition by denying the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, or do we immediately examine our souls and repent? The Lord always honors our repentance.
Confused Theology
In this same Revelation passage, Jesus also commends the Ephesian church for their resistance to false teaching. The Lord said he was pleased they “tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.” Nevertheless, false or confused theology has led many into apostasy.
How can Christians identify this kind of flawed theology? Here are three questions to ask of any teaching, even from those deemed reliable by others.
QUESTION 1: What is the source of the teaching?
Christians realize the Bible is our source of spiritual information. We know that when humans start writing books, like the Book of Mormon or Dianetics, they are trying to lead others into apostasy.
Even Christians who adhere to the Bible can be led astray by the notes that are so commonly added to Bibles today. Deuteronomy 4:2 says, “Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.”
Revelation 22:18-19 says, “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City….”
That’s strong language. Yet, adding to the Word of God with notes by some favored teacher violates this injunction. Looking to the writer of the notes for understanding, rather than to the Holy Spirit (John 14:26), could easily be a shortcut to apostasy.
QUESTION 2: What is the content of the teaching?
Reliable content honors the Lord and His plan for humanity. The Apostle Peter speaks strongly against those who go against that standard. In 2 Peter 1:1 he says,
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.”
They bring destruction upon themselves with their apostasy and spiritual destruction on those who “follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute” (v.2).
How can believers trust the truth? Some may find this difficult in these days of TV preachers, Bibles with notes, and an abundance of biblical commentaries telling you what you should think. But there is a biblical approach. In Acts 17:11, Luke tells us about the believers in the town of Berea who, “examined the Scriptures every day.”
In 1 Corinthians 2:13, Paul may have revealed their methodology. He said believers should test truth by reading the Word and allow the Holy Spirit to inform their understanding: “This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.”
This notion of “spiritual realities” brings us to our final point about avoiding apostasy. That is, living the Christian life is the ultimate proof of our commitment to the Lord.
QUESTION 3: What is the result of the teaching?
Godly teaching results in Godly behavior. Godly behavior is the most important indicator that a person remains “in Christ” and has not slid off the precipice into the depths of apostasy.
No, I am not talking about proving you are not an apostate by doing good works. A spiritual person transcends that. Godly behavior includes your “upward” spiritual life, exercising your will to remain in a spiritual frame of mind that is focused on Christ.
Godly behavior includes an “inward” spiritual life which includes respecting your spiritual disciplines of prayer, Bible meditation, and caring for your mental and physical health.
Godly behavior includes an “outward” spiritual life. We often equate this with “good works,” but it is far more than that. If we are “in Christ,” we help others the most when we are kind to them, not when we debate with them. An attitude of kindness usually leads to acts of kindness, and that pleases the Lord (Matthew 10:42).
Many ingredients go into an apple pie. But it is a taste delight when there are measured ingredients, proper baking time, and love in the heart of the person making it. The same can be said of living a life when Christ is in you.
Outright Renunciation
The third was to fall away into apostasy is by renunciation of Christ. Sadly, we are seeing a lot of that from Christian leaders. For example, Paul Maxwell, a well-known Calvinist writer and professor at both Moody Bible Institute and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, recently declared, “I’m just not a Christian anymore, and it feels really good. I’m really happy.”
That is the face of apostasy. Not only that a person openly renounces Jesus Christ, but claims at the same time they are “really happy” about it. Many would say that Satan has deceived Paul Maxwell and others like him and that the Scriptures ring true about the spiritual battle in which we are all engaged (Ephesians 6:12).
Apostates may have never been followers of Christ in the first place. It is fair to conclude they were posers and pretenders planted by the Evil One to bring spiritual destruction to others. We must be vigilant against such people.
Holding On
In 1 Timothy 4:1-2 Paul says,
The Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron…
That is the apostasy we see today and is yet to come with greater force in the future. It is our responsibility and desire as followers of Christ to “Keep our hand on that gospel plow, hold right on” and resist the apostasy of our times in all its forms by remaining “in Christ” and in His Word.
Sources cited: Unless otherwise noted, Bible quotations are from the English Standard Version (ESV).
