Apostates

Apostasy will abound in the latter days.

• Matthew 24:12 HCSB Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold.
• 2 Thessalonians 2:3 HCSB Don't let anyone deceive you in any way. For that day will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction.
• 1 Timothy 4:1-3 HCSB Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the latter times some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared. They forbid marriage and demand abstinence from foods that God created to be received with gratitude by those who believe and know the truth.

Sometimes a person chooses apostasy because they love the world and materialism more than they love God.

• 2 Timothy 4:10 HCSB for Demas has deserted me, because he loved this present world, and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.
• Matthew 6:24 HCSB "No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and of money.

Sometimes a person becomes apostate out of a fear of persecution. Note that the Master said in Luke 8 that a person who reveals himself in the end to be apostate was not “rooted”.

• Matthew 24:9-12 HCSB "Then they will hand you over for persecution, and they will kill you. You will be hated by all nations because of My name. Then many will take offense, betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold.
• Luke 8:13 HCSB And the seeds on the rock are those who, when they hear, welcome the word with joy. Having no root, these believe for a while and depart in a time of testing.

Apostate people will try to lead other astray. They want us to worship other things than God as He presents Himself. They will avoid attending a church where the truth is spoken plainly. They will deliberately sin, even after receiving knowledge of the truth. Note that according to Hebrews 3:12, an apostate person is an unbeliever.

• Deuteronomy 13:13 HCSB that wicked men have sprung up among you, led the inhabitants of their city astray, and said, 'Let us go and worship other gods,' which you have not known
• Matthew 24:24 HCSB False messiahs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
• Hebrews 3:12 HCSB Watch out, brothers, so that there won't be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that departs from the living God.
• Hebrews 10:25-26 HCSB not staying away from our meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. For if we deliberately sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

God will actively punish apostates. He will stretch His hand against them. He will cut them off. There is no sacrifice that can atone for apostasy because it rejects Christ’s preeminence. Such a person faces the vengeance of an angry God. They are doomed to the darkness of hell.

• Zephaniah 1:4-6 HCSB I will stretch out My hand against Judah and against all the residents of Jerusalem. I will cut off from this place every vestige of Baal, the names of the pagan priests along with the priests; those who bow in worship on the rooftops to the heavenly host; those who bow and pledge loyalty to the LORD but also pledge loyalty to Milcom; and those who turn back from following the LORD, who do not seek the LORD or inquire of Him.
• Hebrews 10:25-31, 39 HCSB not staying away from our meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. For if we deliberately sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries. If anyone disregards Moses' law, he dies without mercy, based on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think one will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God, regarded as profane the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know the One who has said, Vengeance belongs to Me, I will repay, and again, The Lord will judge His people. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!... But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and obtain life.
• 2 Peter 2:17, 20-22 HCSB These people are springs without water, mists driven by a whirlwind. The gloom of darkness has been reserved for them…For if, having escaped the world's impurity through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in these things and defeated, the last state is worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb: A dog returns to its own vomit, and, "a sow, after washing itself, wallows in the mud."

An apostate person cannot be restored. They have rejected the Holy Spirit’s message and thus rejected all hope.

• Hebrews 6:4-8 HCSB For it is impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, became companions with the Holy Spirit, tasted God's good word and the powers of the coming age, and who have fallen away, because, to their own harm, they are recrucifying the Son of God and holding Him up to contempt. For ground that has drunk the rain that has often fallen on it, and that produces vegetation useful to those it is cultivated for, receives a blessing from God. But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and about to be cursed, and will be burned at the end.

We must be cautious that we do not harden our hearts. A hardened heart always comes as a result of prideful rebellion. It comes when we say “I know the Bible says that but…”

• Ephesians 4:30 HCSB And don't grieve God's Holy Spirit, who sealed you for the day of redemption.
• Hebrews 3:7-8, 12 HCSB Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the desert… Watch out, brothers, so that there won't be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that departs from the living God.
• 2 Peter 3:17 HCSB Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard, so that you are not led away by the error of the immoral and fall from your own stability.

However, true believers will not become apostate. Even though God may allow us to go through terrible times, His Spirit will enable us to maintain our faith in our Father’s love. If we draw back, we will suffer our Father’s displeasure, but we will not lose our status as His children.

• Psalms 44:17-26 HCSB All this has happened to us, but we have not forgotten You or betrayed Your covenant. Our hearts have not turned back; our steps have not strayed from Your path. But You have crushed us in a haunt of jackals and have covered us with deepest darkness. If we had forgotten the name of our God and spread out our hands to a foreign god, wouldn't God have found this out, since He knows the secrets of the heart? Because of You we are slain all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered. Wake up, LORD! Why are You sleeping? Get up! Don't reject us forever! Why do You hide Yourself and forget our affliction and oppression? For we have sunk down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground. Rise up! Help us! Redeem us because of Your faithful love.
• Hebrews 6:4-10 HCSB For it is impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, became companions with the Holy Spirit, tasted God's good word and the powers of the coming age, and who have fallen away, because, to their own harm, they are re-crucifying the Son of God and holding Him up to contempt. For ground that has drunk the rain that has often fallen on it, and that produces vegetation useful to those it is cultivated for, receives a blessing from God. But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and about to be cursed, and will be burned at the end. Even though we are speaking this way, dear friends, in your case we are confident of the better things connected with salvation. For God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you showed for His name when you served the saints--and you continue to serve them.
• Hebrews 10:36-39 HCSB For you need endurance, so that after you have done God's will, you may receive what was promised. For in yet a very little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. But My righteous one will live by faith; and if he draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and obtain life.

A person who becomes apostate never belonged to Christ. Those who receive an anointing from the Holy Spirit have received the requisite knowledge and are sealed against the possibility of apostasy.

• 1 John 2:19-20 HCSB They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.
• 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 HCSB Now the One who confirms us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, is God; He has also sealed us and given us the Spirit as a down payment in our hearts.
• Ephesians 1:13 HCSB In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation--in Him when you believed--were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.
• Ephesians 4:30 HCSB And don't grieve God's Holy Spirit, who sealed you for the day of redemption.