MAT 24:4Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 5For many will come in my name, claiming, ’I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of birth pains. 9"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
I want to talk to you today about "Apostasy". That’s a big word for what our text talks about in vs 10.......falling away. I believe that apostasy is a major problem in our churches as well as our own spiritual lives today. It is an epidemic with today’s Christians. A lot of Christians have left their first love and turned away from the faith, even to the point of betraying and hating each other, as the Bible states.
I’d like to start out by looking at vs 4 in our text. The very words of Jesus are "watch out that no one deceives you". There are many people being deceived today. The world has penetrated our churches and the truth is being neglected in the name of political correctness and "feel good’ sermons. Preachers are afraid to preach the truth; afraid that it will hurt someones feelings, maybe hurt the amount of tithes, hurt the attendance of the church....after all, we wouldn’t want anyone to feel "guilty" would we?
Going further in our text, we see that that many will come claiming ’I am the Christ’. But that alone isn’t the disturbing part. What IS disturbing is that they will "deceive many". Jesus speaks a lot about being deceived, doesn’t He? That’s because He knew that people are apt to be swayed by the "doctrine de jour", or whatever doctrine is popular at that particular time. The Bible address this in 2 TIM 3:1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. 6They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.
People sure do love themselves these days, don’t they? "I loves me some me!" All the things written about here are true for this day and age. Look at vs 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Now does that sound familiar? Do you see these things more prevalent these days than you have in the past? Vs 5 tells us that they even have a "form of Godliness." What do you think that means?
Churches today are full of these kind of people that reject the truth and the power of Christ. Lovers of pleasure.....how many preachers have we seen get caught giving in to the lusts of the flesh? It is sad to see once great men of God denying the power of Godliness. What about the scourge of Internet porn? I saw a study of ministers that showed an alarming percentage that regularly engage in looking at porn. And we’re talking about ministers here....how bad do you think it is within the general congregation?
Lovers of pleasure......lovers of money. Boy, that’s a hot topic! We all need more money, don’t we? What amazes me is that even the richest people in the world need more money. They can have millions, even billions of dollars, and still they want more. (Gas companies).
People are also boastful and proud too, aren’t they? If you get something new in your life and try to tell someone about it, chances are they will not just be happy for you.....they will tell you about what they have new in their lives! We call it "one-upping" someone. How sad is it that we can’t be truly happy for someone else’s good fortune. When we hear that someone (even someone we love) has had good fortune we tend to say "why couldn’t that have been me instead?
Abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful.....have you seen how kids are acting these days? We always see kids that are abusive and disobedient to their parents, even to the point of attacking them and sometimes even killing them! Most are totally ungrateful. People today "expect" certain things as rights that once were regarded as privileges. Everybody "owes" them something. You don’t have to work hard and make good grades to go to college.....just get a student loan! It’s your "right!" You don’t have to get a job and buy a car.....your parents "owe" it to you to provide one! And it’s your right also to not just have clothes, but designer clothes. Oh, and don’t forget the cell phone.....don’t know how ANY of us ever made it without a cell phone in grade school!
Vs 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God
That pretty much speaks for itself, doesn’t it? This world IS without love and unforgiving. But you are called to a higher standing! All of these things listed here are totally opposite of what we need to be. As followers of Christ, we are to be transformed and to have that power that Paul talks about.....NOT to simply have a "form of Godliness" by attending church and presenting ourselves as Christians...without truly living our lives as examples to this sinful and perverse generation.
Vs 7always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. It’s time for Christians to "acknowledge the truth"!
Back to our original text in MAT, I think we can all agree that we are seeing wars and rumors of wars. Nations are rising against nations, and there are famines and earthquakes everywhere! This world is falling apart, coming to an end. DO NOT BE DECIEVED! Stand fast in the truths that you have learned! 12Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. Don’t let your love for God grow cold...He is the same God that saved you, changed you life, and that loves you and still protects you! Vs 13.....
I want to tell you something.....the Bible says that we don’t know the day nor the hour that Jesus is coming back for His children, but it also says that we can know the season by the changing of the leaves. Vs 14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Do you understand that now, more than ever, with satellites and all the other various forms of communications, the whole world has had an opportunity to hear this gospel? The end is coming, and it is coming soon. EPH 4:12 says we need to "prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15Instead, speaking the truth in love" Don’t be deceived; don’t be infants.
It is an awful world we live in today....but Jesus instructs us to not be scared. These things must come to pass so the full glory of His power will be manifest to this earth. We don’t need to be afraid; we need to be excited about His coming!
1 COR 16:13Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. 14Do everything in love.
