Apostasy

1. Biblical apostasy is defined as a believer or unbeliever who deliberately rejects or distorts the revealed truth of the Word of God. (II Peter 2:1-22; II Timothy 3:1-17, 4:1-4; Jude 1-25)
2. Apostate False Teachers
1. Masked – II Peter 2:1; Jude 4; II Timothy 3:6
2. Motives – II Peter 2:3,14,15,18; Jude 11,16,18
3. Message – II Timothy 3:5; 4:3-4; II Peter 2:2,12,18,19; Jude 4,8,10,16,18
4. Manipulation – II Timothy 3:6,13; II Peter 2:14,18,19; Jude 4, 16
5. Manner of living – II Timothy 3:2-5; II Peter 2:2,12, 13,14,19; Jude 8,16,18
3. The Followers of Apostate Teachers
1. Seduced – II Timothy 3:6, 4:3-4; II Peter 2:2,3,14,18; Jude 12,16
2. Slaves – II Peter 3:19
3. Spoil of you – II Peter 2:3,13
4. Unstable – II Peter 2:14; Jude 12
4. Biblical Illustrations of Apostasy
1. Angels – II Peter 2:4-5; Jude 6; Genesis 6
2. Cain – Jude 11; Genesis 4
3. Balaam – II Peter 2:15-16; Jude 11; Numbers 22
4. Core – Jude 11; Numbers 16
5. Sodom and Gomorrah – II Peter 2:6-8; Jude 7; Genesis 19
5. Proper Response to Apostasy – Jude 20-25
1. Rebound
2. Doctrinal Orientation
3. Filling of the Holy Spirit
4. Personal Love for God
5. Grace Orientation
6. Personal Sense of Destiny
7. Impersonal Love for all Mankind
8. Faith-Rest Technique
9. Occupation with Christ
10. Sharing the Happiness of God

Apostate False Teachers

The apostate false teachers are those that reject or distort the truth of the Word of God for selfish motives. These teachers are called false, which is the Greek word “pseduo.” They represent themselves as true in order to gain entrance into a ministry. Peter says they come in covertly, like a spy would infiltrate an organization. We know these false teachers are unbelievers from certain words in the context, such as destruction. Destruction is the Greek word “apoleia” and it means eternal destruction or eternal separation from God. Some of these unbelieving teachers deny the deity of Christ and deny the saving power of the Gospel.

These false teachers have deliberate motives, which include monetary greed, sensual pleasures, luxurious lifestyles, power, and fame. They actually train themselves in the art of greed and lust. The Bible says that they use fabricated words of flattery with promises of prosperity in order to extort money and material possessions. They are members of the “mutual admiration society,” pretending to admire certain people in order to gain acceptance. They literally make merchandise, the Greek word “emporeuomai,” of the unsuspecting, unstable, spiritually weak believer. (II Peter 2:3,14,15,18; Jude 11,16,18)

They play upon the emotions of the duped believer since they themselves are ruled by their emotions. These false teachers have no substance in their message, they scoff at the truth and will not accept the authority of Biblical doctrine. These unbelievers bring with them into these ministries destructive, self-willed, erroneous opinions that lead to divisions and the formation of sects. It is, of course, impossible for them to bring in accurate doctrinal information from God’s Word, since they are unable to learn truth as unbelievers. These apostates are so arrogant they even reject human authority and speak evil of persons in authority over them in order to carry out their own agenda.

The Bible says that these false teachers live a lifestyle of the “rich and famous,” while turning the grace of God into lasciviousness (a license to sin). They are arrogant souls, in love with themselves, in love with money and love to brag about it. Conceited, unholy, lovers of sensual pleasures, they cannot be appeased. They are rash in their speech, lack self-control, especially over their emotions, and cannot be trusted. With everything they have accumulated they are nevertheless ungrateful and callous to human affection, they do not honor their parents and are haters of anything good. We are commanded to avoid these blasphemers of truth. (II Timothy 3:2-5; II Peter 2:2,12, 13,14,19; Jude 8,16,18)

The Followers of Apostate Teachers

The followers of the apostate teachers are those who allow themselves to be seduced. They are those who reject truth and believe the fabricated lies of the false teachers. Peter tells us that many will follow their evil ways, so it should come as no surprise when these ministers of Satan “pack the pew”. The pivot (remnant according to grace) has always been a small elite group of believers that refuse to compromise accurate Bible teaching. The others that follow after the “about to” ministers (God’s about to do this or that, but never seems to get around to doing it), have become enemies of the Cross of Christ and partakers in satanic activity. They have been enticed by words of flattery, which promise wealth and physical healing from a “fairy god mother” type of god. (II Timothy 3:6, 4:3-4; II Peter 2:2,3,14,18; Jude 12,16)

As a result of being seduced, they become slaves to the idea that God is going to bless them with houses, cars, money, the perfect job, family harmony and healing of the body. Failure to seek truth from the Word of God leaves them with only Human Viewpoint Thinking and its resultant misery and bewilderment. They cannot understand how God can allow them to suffer so much and why He doesn’t wave His “magic wand” and fix all their problems (after all they prayed about it!).

These same duped believers send their hard-earned money to these deceivers in hope that they will receive blessing in return. They become the “shopping mall” for the false teacher, as he calls in any needed revenue for his personal desires. It is often called “seed money,” but only the false teacher gets to harvest the crop. Year after year these poor, ignorant believers send their rent money, car payment money, even their food money for a chance at the “Christian lottery.” It is a sad state of affairs, but no one has an excuse before God for being seduced by false doctrine. If a person wants to know truth, God will provide it for them.

The followers of the apostate teachers fail to take responsibility for their own decisions and actions, entering into the arrogance of self-justification, self-deception and self-absorption. Because of their instability from lack of Bible doctrine in the soul, they are easily lured away into apostasy themselves. Like a fisherman catching a fish, these false teachers entice the weak believer, not only into taking the bait, but paying for it.

Biblical Illustrations of Apostasy

We have five Old Testament illustrations in our passages related to the subject of apostasy. The fallen angels who cohabited with human women in Genesis 6 were an illustration of a deliberate attempt of the ministers of Satan to infiltrate the human race and cut off the line of Christ. If successful, Christ would not have been born and, therefore, no salvation. Of course, God stopped this attempt, but the story is an illustration of apostate beings deliberately distorting truth.

Our next story is about the apostasy of Cain, who is a type of organized religion. Though he acknowledges the existence of God, he rejects the truth from God in favor of his own truth. He thinks that God will recant and accept his offering of human works for salvation, instead of the grace solution represented by a blood sacrifice.

The story of Balaam, which you will recall had a conversation with a donkey, illustrates the apostasy of using the ministry for personal gain. Core (or Korah) illustrates the apostate that denies the authority of God and uses the office of priest without divine authority. Both of these stories paint a lucid picture of the apostasy of our day. Fortune, fame and power!

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah gives us an illustration of the true nature of the apostate false teachers. We have seen from our passages that their preferred lifestyle is a total indulgence of the sin nature. This is what they had in Sodom and Gomorrah… unbridled sensual lust, perversions of all kinds, a complete lack of self-control. Apostasy looks the same in any generation.

Proper Response to Apostasy

The proper response to apostasy is clearly given to us in Jude 20-25. It is interesting that we can find all of the Problem-Solving Devices in these verses:

1. Build up yourselves in doctrine (Rebound and Doctrinal Orientation)
2. Praying by means of the Holy Spirit (The Filling of the Holy Spirit)
3. Guard your love for God (Personal Love for God)
4. Rely upon the grace of Jesus Christ (Grace Orientation)
5. Live in light of eternity (Personal Sense of Destiny)
6. Have compassion for others (Impersonal Love for All Mankind)
7. Exercise your faith (Faith-Rest Technique)
8. Depend on your Savior (Occupation with Christ)
9. Share His exceeding joy (Sharing the Happiness of God)