The unregenerated world is full of apostasy. This devotional reading looks at what that means and what it means to the world.
Nuggets
- Because sin corrupts us, punishment is needed when we commit it.
- While it is easy to sin, we can work on ways to strengthen ourselves to withstand the temptation.
- Sin will be prevalent in the end times.
The last devotion ran real long, so I broke it into two.
Sin is about breaking God’s laws and commandments. When we do that, we are guilty and should be punished.
Let's Put It into Context
To read devotions in the On the Day of the Lord theme, click the button below.
Devotions in the A World without God series
The foundation of this series is Boston’s sermon The Unregenerate World Described.
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Guilt and Punishment
“For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: ‘The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire’” (II Pet. 2: 20-22 ESV)
Because sin corrupts us, punishment is needed when we commit it.
Pollution of Sin
The world is full of moral corruption. It is hard for disciples to live in it and not be affected.
The King James Version translates verse 20 an interesting way. “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and [Savior] Jesus Christ …” (II Pet. 2: 20 ESV).
A polluted world cannot purify itself. That is where Jesus came into play.
Again, this passage is talking about disciples who are backsliding. “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ …” (II Pet. 2: 20 ESV).
It isn’t taking about worldview non-believers.
It is talking about those who had escaped the corruption. They had made a profession of faith.
Then the unregenerated world sang its siren song and pulled them back.
We’ve escaped the harmful, poisonous things of this world by setting our sights on things above — God’s things.
We can’t believe that one or two bad decisions doesn’t stop us from being a good person. It is more than that.
Adam’s explained it this way. He wrote, “There is no knowledge to do good in corrupted nature and filthiness of the flesh.”
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That is because disciples use a different definition of good than do worldview people. Good is contrasted with evil, not just bad.
Worldview people define good without having God in the definition. Having God in the mix is the only way people can be totally good and not evil.
Backsliding
It is easy to backslide.
Satan makes it easy — way too easy — to backslide. He takes the familiar to twist us around to where he wants us to be. He uses our friends to lead us down the wrong path.
Part of it is our fault. We don’t put on the armor of God (Eph. 6: 11-18). We don’t seek God.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17)
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3)
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16)
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11)
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2)
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11)
Satan makes it so attractive. He knows what can influence us to turn our backs on God.
Satan wears us down. Think about Peter himself. As he spent consistent time with Jesus, he shouldn’t have given into temptation, right?
At the Passover meal, he was all gung-ho in regard to his service for Jesus.
“Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, where are you going?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.’ Peter said to him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.’ Jesus answered, ‘Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times” (Jn. 13: 36-38 ESV).
But that isn’t the case. “Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed” (Jn. 18: 27 ESV).
I bet Peter and the other Apostles were feeling overloaded. There was too much input coming in and had been all week.
It is easier to give into the temptation when our inner world is rocked.
Satan makes it difficult from which to return. We are so mired in the sin that we can’t break free. It overwhelms us.
How big of a deal is it if we backslide? A very big deal!
Smalridge cautions that, when we return to our old sins, they will come roaring back at their former strength. We are going to get the same pleasures out of them.
Smalridge’s The Danger of Relapsing
https://biblehub.com/sermons/auth/smalridge/the_danger_of_relapsing.htm
Each time we return to that sin, we will have less of a chance to ever repent of it again.
Guilt
It is understandable that we feel guilt when we backslide. We have a better understanding that we are guilty. We know exactly where we went wrong and what we should have done.
That increases our stress level.
Our level of hopelessness increases, also. We sometimes begin to question whether we will ever be able to withstand temptation.
What all this is telling me is that we have to endure. “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him” (Jas. 1: 12 ESV).
We must stay strong in our performance of the duties to which God calls us.
Way of Righteousness
Staying strong means we are walking in “… the way of righteousness …” (II Pet. 2: 21 ESV). Only by doing this do we become righteous.
Righteousness doesn’t have to be as confusing as we make it out to be. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3: 16 ESV).
We have no self-righteousness.
The righteousness for which we are striving comes from having Jesus as our Savior. We believe, we get Jesus’ righteousness.
Jesus gives us His righteousness. “And be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Phil. 3: 9 ESV).
We have to turn from our sinful ways and follow God’s ways. That is working out our salvation (Phil. 2: 12) in the present.
Doing that leads us away from apostasy.
Cautions Against
“You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability” (II Pet. 3: 17 ESV)
While it is easy to sin, we can work on ways to strengthen ourselves to withstand the temptation.
Satan is going to be relentless in tempting us. It is easy to give into him. It’s hard to get back to a right relationship with God.
Come on, Chick. Don’t you have any good news?
The good news is that we can take care to ensure we stay within God’s boundaries of repentance and obedience. We can keep watch and keep on guard.
The best news is we don’t have to do that alone. Not only does the Holy Spirit live within us, but Jesus and God do also. “Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him’” (Jn. 14: 23 ESV).
We need to guard our hearts. “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God” (Heb 3: 12 ESV).
A note of caution: we can’t interpret this to mean that salvation and righteousness come through belief only. We can believe that Jesus is real but neither have we truly repented nor are we living in obedience to Him.
We can’t squeak into salvation on the lowest commitment on our part. We have to fully submit out lives, opinions, wishes — everything — to God.
Talmage made a good point. He wrote, “You have a right to aspire to the very highest style of Christian character.”
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We do this by seeking God.
Shall Abound in Later Days
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth” (I Tim. 4: 1-3 ESV)
Sin will be prevalent in the end times.
Well, this discussion fits in well with our On the Day of the Lord theme. It is talking about end times.
The One that told Paul this was the Holy Spirit. That is logical.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (II Tim. 3: 16-17 ESV).
Since the Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity and doesn’t say anything that God doesn’t tell Him to say, He would know. “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (Jn. 16: 13 ESV).
The sad part is that the Holy Spirit says that some in the Church will fall away in the end times. They will be fooled by the teaching of the evil spirits.
How will they be fooled? Satan will add just enough truth in with his lies to trip us up. He did this with Eve.
Satan knew full well that God didn’t say any tree. God said a specific tree.
But Satan has his own agenda and twists the truth to fit his purposes.
Paul makes no bones about the source of the falling away. It comes from Satan. He is going to keep pushing the conflict of good and evil in our faces in order to force us off the Sanctification Road.
That is what Satan does so well.
But it isn’t just Satan we are going to have to worry about. He will have help — “through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared” (I Tim. 4: 2 ESV).
The Holy Spirit isn’t our conscience. He shows us right from wrong. Our conscience is our decision as to what we think is right and wrong. It is our ability to choose.
It comes down to our choosing which side on which we are going to be a soldier.
The worldview is quick to point out that silence is acceptance. The same applies to God.
We have to consciously choose to follow God, or we remain condemned.
But this reads like it is more than that, doesn’t it? It smacks of indulgence rather than indifference. We know the right way, but we choose differently.
That is apostasy.
Making the Connections #1
Jamieson had an interesting discussion of what it means when disciples turn out to engage in secret apostasy to Christ. He said that, because we are departing from purity, we are actually committing the unpardonable sin.
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Well, that stands to reason. When we turn our backs on God and our faith, we are renouncing our profession of faith.
Making the Connections #2
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world — the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life — is not from the Father but is from the world” (I Jn. 2: 15-16 ESV).
I have to process what what Melvill told us. We aren’t going to not love the world. We are still going to be attached to it. It will still influence us.
How does that mesh with I John 2: 15-16?
We are going to be in the world. I don’t think God is talking about us loving the beauty of His creation.
God’s Word tell us to love our brothers and sisters in Christ (I Pet. 4: 8, Rom. 12: 10) as well as our enemies (Mt. 5: 44, Lk. 6: 35). It tells us to be sober minded and not put undue emphasis on things of this world.
So, we can enjoy money and what it brings, including fame. We can value our honor.
What does God’s Word condemn? Loving it above anything else.
Instead, we have to set our sights on things above. “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col. 3: 1-2 ESV).
We have to prioritize God above this world. Our love must first and foremost be Him.
Melville took it a step farther. He wrote, “There may be weariness, there may be dissatisfaction, there may be even disgust with the vanities of earth, but nevertheless these vanities will occupy the heart, unless displaced by the realities of heaven.”
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It isn’t just hating the things of this world. It is about seeking God.
Seeking God is how we don’t fall into apostasy. It is how we guard our hearts.
Making the Connections #3
Our renunciation of our profession of faith is detrimental to us. We will spend eternity in hell.
It is also disturbing to those with whom we are serving. Even a powerhouse like Paul was devastated with Demas’ turn.
Paul knew that he could rely on Jesus to keep watch over his ministry. I am sure He was advocating to His Father that Paul receive that peace that passes all understanding.
We will fall when we try to rely on ourselves. That also happens when we try to serve two masters.
Making the Connections #4
We hear the saying that we are the only Bible that some ever read, and we slough it off. Maybe we think that people have other ways they are getting God’s message than us.
Maybe we just don’t want that responsibility.
You know, it really doesn’t matter if we are the only source of the gospel for them or not. We have to be showing them the truth, the way, and the life.
We have to be pointing them to Jesus.
If we, as disciples, are not truly pointing them to Jesus because we have compromised with the world, we are one of the ones who have fallen away.
That isn’t going to end well.
How Do We Apply This?
- Don’t lose our thankfulness to God.
- Be remorseful for our sin.
- Avoid hypocrisy.
- Be on guard for Satan’s temptations.
- Work hard not to lose our love for Christ.
- Strengthen our faith by practicing the moral duties to which God calls us.
- Obey God by performing those duties.
- Honor God in all things.
- Prefer the disciple’s life to that of the world.
- Avoid sinful activities.
- Strengthen our decisions to follow God.
- Watch all of our actions.
- Consistently perform our duties to God.
- Pray fervently.
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Father God. We want to turn away from any and all sin. We want to turn to You. Help us be strong when Satan comes against us to turn us from You. Amen.
What do you think?
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