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“And ere the Lamp of God went out in the Temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was…” (1 Sam. 3:3)
“Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” (Rev. 2:5) |
Give Christ the glory, for He is the Resurrected Judge, “Who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks” (Rev. 2:1), even as He said, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (2 Cor. 6:16). So John does testify of Christ and say: “I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks One like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle” (Rev. 1:12-13). As it was in Eli’s day when “ere the Lamp of God went out in the Temple of the LORD”, so also we see the NT Lamps of God now called Christ’s candlesticks, and the Lord does solemnly warn the NT Israelites that five out of the seven Churches which are addressed presently stand in a damnable condition. If they fail to obtain the repentance that Christ demands, then God will remove the spiritual Candlestick, and thus, for them: “the lights go out on the road to hell” (Rolfe Barnard). The threat which was spoken to Ephesus, “I…will remove thy candlestick”, is the same castaway, reprobating, deluding, and damning power that was decreed and unleashed upon the OT saints during the days of Eli & Saul, and in subsequent centuries as formerly and exhaustively detailed in our study. When God departed from Israel in the days of Eli, and subsequent generations, it was because His people were falling from saving grace, thus they were denounced to be His people by the enacting sign of God’s absence. Without God’s presence, they were not His people, and if they were not holy and out from among the lost, but rather they were falling away from Him into the lost estate of those who were once-born, then God would leave them and become “as a wayfaring man” (Jer. 14:8). This was therefore, as is quoted in reference, describing a great falling away in the OT times: virginity and purity to adultery, faithfulness to treachery, and so men fell away from God, He Who they were formerly with (Jer. 9:2).
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“A Falling Away” – 2 Thess. 2:3
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“I. A general apostasy, there would come a falling away first, 2Th_2:3. By this apostasy we are not to understand a defection in the state, or from civil government, but in spiritual or religious matters, from sound doctrine, instituted worship and church government, and a holy life. The apostle speaks of some very great apostasy, not only of some converted Jews or Gentiles, but such as should be very general, though gradual, and should give occasion to the revelation of rise of antichrist, that man of sin. This, he says (2Th_2:5), he had told them of when he was with them, with design, no doubt, that they should not take offence nor be stumbled at it. And let us observe that no sooner was Christianity planted and rooted in the world than there began to be a defection in the Christian church. It was so in the Old Testament church; presently after any considerable advance made in religion there followed a defection: soon after the promise there was revolting; for example, soon after men began to call upon the name of the Lord all flesh corrupted their way, - soon after the covenant with Noah the Babel-builders bade defiance to heaven, - soon after the covenant with Abraham his seed degenerated in Egypt, - soon after the Israelites were planted in Canaan, when the first generation was worn off, they forsook God and served Baal, - soon after God's covenant with David his seed revolted, and served other gods, - soon after the return out of captivity there was a general decay of piety, as appears by the story of Ezra and Nehemiah; and therefore it was no strange thing that after the planting of Christianity there should come a falling away.” (Matthew Henry)
There must be “A FALLING AWAY first, and that man of sin be revealed” (2 Thess. 2:3), and then the end shall come, and even Matthew Henry recognizes the historical consistency of this falling away to be upon those who are within the Church! As he said above, “some converted Jews or Gentiles”, but God does not say some but MANY! Do you remember how we have carefully noted the deception of God, its working and names, and now, like those OT saints, and even back in the 1st century, we do see Christians born again into light, made blameless, faultless, holy, sanctified, without blemish and spot, wise, quickened, and revived, and they were being turned back to darkness, blame, fault, unholy and unsanctified behavior, making themselves blemished and spotted by the world, found unwise fools, and finally, they are altogether spiritually dead and in need of revival. As of now, the truth of the matter lieth hard upon us, and we are pressed, yea, we hang down under the pressure of its misery. A long time has passed since the 1st century Church and we have been darkened from the light that shined in virgin purity, but let us note the first beginnings of “the falling away” that lieth hard upon us now, and let us see that it began back then. Pointing to this, Paul said, “the mystery of iniquity doth already work” (2 Thess. 2:7), which means that it was at work already in his day. This is as it is said again by the apostle John in 1 John 4:1, “many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1), and, the “spirit of antichrist whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world” (1 John 4:3). The one man, the anti-Christ, he will come, but before he comes there are many antichrists which will come, as John affirms in 1 John 2:18-19. In comparison to those passages just referenced in the 2nd chapter of 1 John, 1 John 4:4-6 reveals the same context of these assaulting antichrist spirits at work, specifically that their effect shall be upon the saints (the regenerate) resulting in a GREAT FALLING into deception, scattering, and reprobation. Notice the two emboldened parts of the cited verses below. The context clearly shows this falling away happening among those regenerate persons within the Church.
There must be “A FALLING AWAY first, and that man of sin be revealed” (2 Thess. 2:3), and then the end shall come, and even Matthew Henry recognizes the historical consistency of this falling away to be upon those who are within the Church! As he said above, “some converted Jews or Gentiles”, but God does not say some but MANY! Do you remember how we have carefully noted the deception of God, its working and names, and now, like those OT saints, and even back in the 1st century, we do see Christians born again into light, made blameless, faultless, holy, sanctified, without blemish and spot, wise, quickened, and revived, and they were being turned back to darkness, blame, fault, unholy and unsanctified behavior, making themselves blemished and spotted by the world, found unwise fools, and finally, they are altogether spiritually dead and in need of revival. As of now, the truth of the matter lieth hard upon us, and we are pressed, yea, we hang down under the pressure of its misery. A long time has passed since the 1st century Church and we have been darkened from the light that shined in virgin purity, but let us note the first beginnings of “the falling away” that lieth hard upon us now, and let us see that it began back then. Pointing to this, Paul said, “the mystery of iniquity doth already work” (2 Thess. 2:7), which means that it was at work already in his day. This is as it is said again by the apostle John in 1 John 4:1, “many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1), and, the “spirit of antichrist whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world” (1 John 4:3). The one man, the anti-Christ, he will come, but before he comes there are many antichrists which will come, as John affirms in 1 John 2:18-19. In comparison to those passages just referenced in the 2nd chapter of 1 John, 1 John 4:4-6 reveals the same context of these assaulting antichrist spirits at work, specifically that their effect shall be upon the saints (the regenerate) resulting in a GREAT FALLING into deception, scattering, and reprobation. Notice the two emboldened parts of the cited verses below. The context clearly shows this falling away happening among those regenerate persons within the Church.
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“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” (1 Jn. 2:15-19)
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than He that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” (1 Jn. 4:1-6) |
Those that go “out from us” (1 John 2:18-19) – the regenerate Church – are those castaways of God which we must cast out through Church judgment (1 Cor. 5:13). For those who are unrepentant of their sin, they are presently in a condition that is “no more worthy to be called [God’s] son” (Lk. 15:19), nor should the man be “called a brother” (1 Cor. 5:11). He should rather be called a “heathen” man or a “publican” (Matt. 18:17), because he is doing the deeds of the heathen instead of the deeds of God. Salvation begun was a saving union to God’s Presence; thus men are “called the children of the Living God” (Rom. 9:26), but salvation lost is being cast away from God’s presence, which then results in an excommunication which casts them away from the local Church (“taken away” [1 Cor. 5:2], “purge out” [1 Cor. 5:7], “put away” [1 Cor. 5:13]) – because God will no longer be their “Father”, nor they His “sons” and “daughters” (2 Cor. 6:18). So also, since they have turned to the flesh and therein become entangled and overcome, they are now judged to be “of the world” and the devil, instead of God, and they can no longer hear, understand, respond to, and obey the saving truth of God (1 John 4:5-6, Matt. 13:15). Take some time with me to look closely at the evidences behind why this is the correct interpretation of 1 John 2:15-19 and 1 John 4:1-6. If we desire to understand the language in 1 John, then we must understand the language of the apostle John’s other book, the Gospel of John, and so we will find the true interpretation by “comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (1 Cor. 2:13).
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“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the Vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” (John 15:1-6)
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The NT doctrine of reprobation is detailed in John 15 by the Testator of the Covenant Himself: Jesus Christ. In verses 1-8, Christ describes the relationship of “the Husbandman” with two different branches which are both in Jesus - as Jesus said - “every branch in Me” (John 15:1). Jesus Christ is, as declared in another place, “The Root and Fatness” which is “Holy” (Rom. 11:16-17). Firstly in John 15, it must be recognized that both branches are in Jesus (the Vine); thus Jesus says, “Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit” (John 15:1), and you can’t be in Jesus while at the same time you are unregenerate. In this parable, Jesus describes the process of how God “taketh away” the fruitless branches and “purgeth” the fruitful branches, and those two branches are two different regenerate Christians who are in Jesus. Desiring that all saints would be a fruitful Christian, Jesus teaches how to be fruitful branches (in Him) instead of the fruitless ones. Reprobation is when the Husbandman “taketh away” your connection to Christ, and thus you are “cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned” (John 15:2, 6). Notice in verse 6 it says that they are “cast forth,” which again references a casting away from Christ when previously they were savingly “engrafted” into Christ (John 15:6, Rom. 11:17, Jas. 1:21). If a man who was in Jesus could not be cast forth from Him, would a doctrinally sound man ever say, like Paul, who, when he was fighting to subdue his flesh at “any means” in which it would arouse itself to snare him, that he fights this exhaustive battle to avoid the danger – “lest… I myself should be a castaway” (1 Cor. 9:27). If a man is cast away, what is he cast away from if he was never with Christ, grafted into Him, under the influences and graces of the Spirit’s indwelling power?
The disciples heard this teaching in John 15 with fearful wondering – wondering how they might be the fruitful branch instead of the reprobate branch. By this teaching, Jesus meant for us to understand the secret to bearing fruit in Him. The Lord teaches the secret of fruitfulness in this very parable so that men might escape being “cast forth” or a “castaway” (John 15:6, 1 Cor. 9:27), and Jesus says, “abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the Vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the Vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing” (John 15:4-5). What must we do to be fruitful (having already been engrafted as a branch in Jesus)? We must abide in Jesus Christ.
Notice that being engrafted into the Vine is different than abiding in the Vine. The single difference between both branches that are in Jesus is that one did abide in Jesus and the other didn’t, but both were engrafted into the Vine already. The engraftment is regeneration, imputed righteousness, and immediate justification (lawfully and spiritually), but abiding in Jesus Christ is maintaining the saving faith that you had from the beginning, enabling the man to be filled with the graces and powers of regeneration for present progressive victory over the world’s damnable forces of sin. When men maintain saving faith in the gospel (that which “ye have heard from the beginning”), they will continue in the Son as an engrafted branch, avoiding the fate of those that discontinue to be in the Son. The discontinuance of being in the Son of God, the Vine, is not only preached in John 15, but with further reference it is preached in 1 John directly after 1 John 2:15-19. Here in 1 John, the apostle warned of the same principle written in John 15 – castaway branches which discontinue to be in the Vine – a principle echoed again in Romans 11:22, rephrasing it to be, “otherwise thou also shalt be cut off” (Rom. 11:22).
The disciples heard this teaching in John 15 with fearful wondering – wondering how they might be the fruitful branch instead of the reprobate branch. By this teaching, Jesus meant for us to understand the secret to bearing fruit in Him. The Lord teaches the secret of fruitfulness in this very parable so that men might escape being “cast forth” or a “castaway” (John 15:6, 1 Cor. 9:27), and Jesus says, “abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the Vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the Vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing” (John 15:4-5). What must we do to be fruitful (having already been engrafted as a branch in Jesus)? We must abide in Jesus Christ.
Notice that being engrafted into the Vine is different than abiding in the Vine. The single difference between both branches that are in Jesus is that one did abide in Jesus and the other didn’t, but both were engrafted into the Vine already. The engraftment is regeneration, imputed righteousness, and immediate justification (lawfully and spiritually), but abiding in Jesus Christ is maintaining the saving faith that you had from the beginning, enabling the man to be filled with the graces and powers of regeneration for present progressive victory over the world’s damnable forces of sin. When men maintain saving faith in the gospel (that which “ye have heard from the beginning”), they will continue in the Son as an engrafted branch, avoiding the fate of those that discontinue to be in the Son. The discontinuance of being in the Son of God, the Vine, is not only preached in John 15, but with further reference it is preached in 1 John directly after 1 John 2:15-19. Here in 1 John, the apostle warned of the same principle written in John 15 – castaway branches which discontinue to be in the Vine – a principle echoed again in Romans 11:22, rephrasing it to be, “otherwise thou also shalt be cut off” (Rom. 11:22).
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“…continued with us…” – 1 John 2:19
“…continue in the Son…’ – 1 John 2:24 |
1 John is a doctrinally focused commentary about the practice of “abiding”; a term first introduced in John 15. It is written, “If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father” (1 John 2:24, see also John 15:7). The word continue does show the possibility of discontinuing, and the secret of continuing in the Son of God is repeated in the same terms as John 15 – “Let that therefore abide in you” (1 John 2:24). Abiding is an equivalent to the biblical word walk, and he that does not (through faith) walk out the faith of the gospel, which is in the newness of the Spirit, the new man, or the new creation, then he will be reprobated, discontinued, and cast forth from the Son. Those who undergo reprobation will be made manifest when they go “out from us” (that is, the Church assembly), for as long as they had “continued in the Son” and been “of us”, then doubtlessly, the writer proves, “they would no doubt have continued with us,” but if they did not “continue in the Son”, how will they continue in the assembly (1 John 2:19, 24)? Many people presume that this passage (1 John 2:19) means that such individuals at reference were, they say, “NEVER of us,” but this is out of context from the following verse and charges that the apostle does give to the remaining Christians who have not yet left the Church’s companionship. John pled with them to continue to be “of us,” which is, a continuing “in the Son” (1 John 2:24). This is taught in the fifth verse down from verse 19, therefore it must be rightly understood to mean that – a discontinuing with the assembly of the saints (the body of Christ on earth) does happen by a discontinuing with the Son of God in personal salvation, but it cannot mean that these individuals were never of us, which the text does not say, nor could it say this, lest the gospel of John’s secret of abiding is in different principles and consequences than how it is taught the book of 1 John. Surely, when John used the word “abide” in 1 John 2:24, he had in mind what he wrote in John 15, which is the foremost teaching on “abiding” in the whole of the New Testament.
Abiding is the secret of bearing fruit. Being fruitful is a manifestation of saving faith. No matter what the descriptive terms or metaphors, the NT scriptures continually present the same picture from different angles. Fruitfulness is the primary burden of the NT pastors, and to open it up before the people of God, they use a plethora of metaphors. One that is helpful to parallel the teaching, “abiding in the Vine”, is the metaphor using light and darkness, rendering the same burden in different terms – only we must “abide in the light”. Spiritually and lawfully, Christians have been made into light from the darkness (2 Cor. 4:4-6), as formerly addressed, but are they “walking” or abiding in this reality, truth, and spiritual empowerment? Paul writes in Ephesians 5:8, “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.” If they do walk as children of light (walk = abide), then they will, according to Ephesians 5:9-17, bear the “fruit of the Spirit” that is “in all goodness and righteousness and truth”, which is manifest in the holy living men who do not have “fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,” or that is to say, men who are continuing in the Light. In 1 John, the apostle John thoroughly examines the profession of “he that saith he is in the Light” and explains that he is not in the light if he does not walk in the Light; thus the apostle is teaching the means to continue in the Light (1 John 2:9), just as John’s burden was to “continue in the Son” (1 Jn. 2:24). As a second witness, John emphasizes to the reader – to be outside of the Light is to be outside of the umbrella of Christ’s salvific blood. “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:6-7). Do you see the scriptural consistencies building this interpretation? Our confessions of faith must be tried and found pure according to the fruits of our faith. Thus it was written in 1 John, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).
1 John is a trying of spirits and confessions, as formerly noted. Two other confessions are addressed in chapter two: “he that saith, I know Him” and “he that saith he abideth in Him” (1 John 2:4, 6). Those who say they abide must then walk according to the nature, empowerment, and Spirit of their salvation – thus, “He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked” (1 John 2:6, Luke 6:40). This walk (Gal. 5:16) is a keeping of the commandments of God by faith, therefore, “He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4). John says this is perfected love, and “hereby know we that we are in Him” (1 John 2:5). On the final day of Judgment, God will not judge an un-perfected Christian as being “in Him”, though at present (if they are not reprobate) they are still spiritually “in Him”, or lawfully able to be revived again in Him through faith and repentance. Yet if you die having fallen from a state of “perfection” (Heb. 6:1, 1 Cor. 2:6), you will be damned. That is falling from perfection as a Christian (Col. 1:28-29, Eph. 4:12, 2 Cor. 13:9, 11), which is, falling from perfecting works in Christ (Rev. 3:2, Heb. 13:21, 2 Thess. 2:16-17), perfected holiness (2 Cor. 7:1), perfected faith (James 2:21-22, 1 Thess. 3:10), and as John addresses it, a perfected love (1 John 2:5, 4:12, 17). And reader, this must be understood: to fall from perfection is to, at present, incur the just penalties of reprobating and casting-away wrath (2 Cor. 13:5, 9, 11), though God will give a space of time for repentance that you may escape it (Rev. 2:21).
Abiding is the secret of bearing fruit. Being fruitful is a manifestation of saving faith. No matter what the descriptive terms or metaphors, the NT scriptures continually present the same picture from different angles. Fruitfulness is the primary burden of the NT pastors, and to open it up before the people of God, they use a plethora of metaphors. One that is helpful to parallel the teaching, “abiding in the Vine”, is the metaphor using light and darkness, rendering the same burden in different terms – only we must “abide in the light”. Spiritually and lawfully, Christians have been made into light from the darkness (2 Cor. 4:4-6), as formerly addressed, but are they “walking” or abiding in this reality, truth, and spiritual empowerment? Paul writes in Ephesians 5:8, “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.” If they do walk as children of light (walk = abide), then they will, according to Ephesians 5:9-17, bear the “fruit of the Spirit” that is “in all goodness and righteousness and truth”, which is manifest in the holy living men who do not have “fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,” or that is to say, men who are continuing in the Light. In 1 John, the apostle John thoroughly examines the profession of “he that saith he is in the Light” and explains that he is not in the light if he does not walk in the Light; thus the apostle is teaching the means to continue in the Light (1 John 2:9), just as John’s burden was to “continue in the Son” (1 Jn. 2:24). As a second witness, John emphasizes to the reader – to be outside of the Light is to be outside of the umbrella of Christ’s salvific blood. “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:6-7). Do you see the scriptural consistencies building this interpretation? Our confessions of faith must be tried and found pure according to the fruits of our faith. Thus it was written in 1 John, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).
1 John is a trying of spirits and confessions, as formerly noted. Two other confessions are addressed in chapter two: “he that saith, I know Him” and “he that saith he abideth in Him” (1 John 2:4, 6). Those who say they abide must then walk according to the nature, empowerment, and Spirit of their salvation – thus, “He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked” (1 John 2:6, Luke 6:40). This walk (Gal. 5:16) is a keeping of the commandments of God by faith, therefore, “He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4). John says this is perfected love, and “hereby know we that we are in Him” (1 John 2:5). On the final day of Judgment, God will not judge an un-perfected Christian as being “in Him”, though at present (if they are not reprobate) they are still spiritually “in Him”, or lawfully able to be revived again in Him through faith and repentance. Yet if you die having fallen from a state of “perfection” (Heb. 6:1, 1 Cor. 2:6), you will be damned. That is falling from perfection as a Christian (Col. 1:28-29, Eph. 4:12, 2 Cor. 13:9, 11), which is, falling from perfecting works in Christ (Rev. 3:2, Heb. 13:21, 2 Thess. 2:16-17), perfected holiness (2 Cor. 7:1), perfected faith (James 2:21-22, 1 Thess. 3:10), and as John addresses it, a perfected love (1 John 2:5, 4:12, 17). And reader, this must be understood: to fall from perfection is to, at present, incur the just penalties of reprobating and casting-away wrath (2 Cor. 13:5, 9, 11), though God will give a space of time for repentance that you may escape it (Rev. 2:21).
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“But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him. He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.” (1 John 2:5-6)
“God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of Judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world. (1 John 4:16-17) |
Are you burdened to, by faith, “continue in the Son, and in the Father,” knowing exactly the grounds, laws, effects, and tests to know if “truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3, 7)? “If we” know these truths, the question remains, are we “walking” in these truths – for many are they which “saith I know him” (1 John 2:4), “saith he abideth in him” (1 John 2:6), and “saith he is in the light,” (1 John 2:9) and yet walk contrary to these professions. “It is the last time” (1 John 2:18), “and the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:17); but do you “abide in Him; that when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming” (1 John 2:28)? Are we worthy to “be called the sons of God” (1 John 3:1) and therefore walking “as He is in the Light” (1 John 1:7), in “the truth” or “of the truth” as He is the Truth (1 John 2:4, 3:19, John 14:6), in “His Word” as He is the Word (1 John 1:10, 2:4, 24, 28, John 1:1), in righteousness “even as He is righteous” (1 John 3:7), in love as “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16), to “lay down our lives for the brethren” even as “He laid down His life for us” (1 John 3:16)? If so, then “the world knoweth us not” as “it knew Him not” (1 John 3:1) and we have a holy “hope” that we may be purified “even as He is pure” (1 John 3:3). We need this “understanding, that we may know Him that is true” (1 John 5:20). We must be sure we are walking in Him in all these specified ways, for “herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:17-18).
Abiding in Christ maintains spiritual fruitfulness, and therefore maintains a saving connection to Christ, which therefore maintains a saving communion in the corporate body of Christ, the Church. If a man discontinues to abide in Christ, then he discontinues being fruitful, and if he discontinues fruitfulness then he will, like as the man’s excommunication in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, discontinue fellowship in the assembly of the saints. However, if the man repents from his sins unto fruitfulness again, a saving (perfection) fruitfulness as described in 2 Corinthians 7:10-11, then the man will be allowed to continue in the midst of the assembly of the saints because, evidently by the fruits, he is back in the presence of the Son of God!
It is time that men see and understand God’s burden, that Christians prove their faith (2 Cor. 1:23-24, 2:9-10, 3:1-3, 6:3-4, 7:2, 11, 15-16, 8:6-9, 24, 9:8-10, chapter 10, 12:11-12, 12:19-13:4). It is time that regenerate Christians pray for and attain mercies for present-tense abiding in Christ, lest they too are cast away (1 Cor. 9:27) from the Vine of Christ. Such a call for examination was done by Paul when he commanded the Corinthians with the utmost authority, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates” (2 Cor. 13:5). Such men and women that are addressed here by Paul would, by this time, likely be castaways, because when they were fallen, they sinned away their space to repent, and Paul laments the fact that they possibly “have not repented” (2 Cor. 12:21) because they cannot repent (2 Tim. 2:25-26). A man cannot repent if he does lack the virtue of the Vine by a holy, reprobating, severing from Christ when He said, “He taketh away” (John 15:1). Though eternal life was a present possession to them (as seen in 1 John 3:15), it is because Jesus Christ the Vine is that eternal life (1 John 5:11-12), and if a man can discontinue from Jesus Christ, then a man can and does discontinue from eternal life. Eternal life is only in Jesus Christ, and it is your present possession if you are judged by God to be in Him.
Such a man who has sinned himself into reprobation has fallen into a state of death (Rev. 3:1), being unable to recover himself again from it. Thus the man has sinned a sin, but not just any sin. He has sinned a sin which is unto death, meaning, he is outside of the possibilities of intercession (by Christ or Christians in Christ). There are many sins which are not unto death, which, if a man sins, a Christian “shall ask, and [God] shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it” (1 John 5:16). Did you know that, like as God’s people can become His enemies (James 4:4, Heb. 10:27), they can also become sinners when they were formerly saints, and that a man can be temporarily dead (Rev. 3:1), or in darkness (1 John 2:11), but then recovered from it? God says of saints who have fallen into sin: “Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins” (James 5:19-20). Do you want to continue to be alive? Then abide in and walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:24-25, Rom. 8:13).
We have seen the ascended Christ warn His beloved Churches of reprobation, but during His earthly ministry He did exclaim so many warnings to the regenerate Church it is utterly shocking! The parables of Christ in the gospel accounts, which we shall soon cover in detail, reveal what will happen to the company of “the called out ones” (the Christians) when the Lord returns to judge their faith. He will prove them and see if they have enduring faith or not. Why would they need enduring faith? Christ said these fearful words of His returning Judgment – “shall He find faith on the earth” (Lk. 18:7-8)? He was speaking this question in direct reference to the enduring faith and prayers of “His own elect”! Why would Christ ask this soul-searching and terrifying question if He could never lose His elect? Why would He say this if their names could never be blotted out of the Book of Life (Rev. 3:5)?
The scriptures prophesy and forewarn that “in latter times some shall depart from the faith” (1 Tim. 4:1), and you cannot depart from the faith if you have never been in the faith, like as how you cannot depart from God if you have never been with God (Heb. 3:12-13), or like as you cannot fall if you have never risen into standing graces (1 Thess. 3:8). If a man falls away, what does he fall away from, if indeed the man was never saved? Indeed, “perilous times shall come”, which now are, but marvel at this: that this fight that is called “perilous times” had already begun in the NT times! Take note that the perilous times are afflictions from those who are still professors of godliness in Christ, only now they don’t have the gospel Spirit of power in their life, thus they gather for themselves teachers that preach unsound doctrine from the spirit of the world:
Abiding in Christ maintains spiritual fruitfulness, and therefore maintains a saving connection to Christ, which therefore maintains a saving communion in the corporate body of Christ, the Church. If a man discontinues to abide in Christ, then he discontinues being fruitful, and if he discontinues fruitfulness then he will, like as the man’s excommunication in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, discontinue fellowship in the assembly of the saints. However, if the man repents from his sins unto fruitfulness again, a saving (perfection) fruitfulness as described in 2 Corinthians 7:10-11, then the man will be allowed to continue in the midst of the assembly of the saints because, evidently by the fruits, he is back in the presence of the Son of God!
It is time that men see and understand God’s burden, that Christians prove their faith (2 Cor. 1:23-24, 2:9-10, 3:1-3, 6:3-4, 7:2, 11, 15-16, 8:6-9, 24, 9:8-10, chapter 10, 12:11-12, 12:19-13:4). It is time that regenerate Christians pray for and attain mercies for present-tense abiding in Christ, lest they too are cast away (1 Cor. 9:27) from the Vine of Christ. Such a call for examination was done by Paul when he commanded the Corinthians with the utmost authority, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates” (2 Cor. 13:5). Such men and women that are addressed here by Paul would, by this time, likely be castaways, because when they were fallen, they sinned away their space to repent, and Paul laments the fact that they possibly “have not repented” (2 Cor. 12:21) because they cannot repent (2 Tim. 2:25-26). A man cannot repent if he does lack the virtue of the Vine by a holy, reprobating, severing from Christ when He said, “He taketh away” (John 15:1). Though eternal life was a present possession to them (as seen in 1 John 3:15), it is because Jesus Christ the Vine is that eternal life (1 John 5:11-12), and if a man can discontinue from Jesus Christ, then a man can and does discontinue from eternal life. Eternal life is only in Jesus Christ, and it is your present possession if you are judged by God to be in Him.
Such a man who has sinned himself into reprobation has fallen into a state of death (Rev. 3:1), being unable to recover himself again from it. Thus the man has sinned a sin, but not just any sin. He has sinned a sin which is unto death, meaning, he is outside of the possibilities of intercession (by Christ or Christians in Christ). There are many sins which are not unto death, which, if a man sins, a Christian “shall ask, and [God] shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it” (1 John 5:16). Did you know that, like as God’s people can become His enemies (James 4:4, Heb. 10:27), they can also become sinners when they were formerly saints, and that a man can be temporarily dead (Rev. 3:1), or in darkness (1 John 2:11), but then recovered from it? God says of saints who have fallen into sin: “Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins” (James 5:19-20). Do you want to continue to be alive? Then abide in and walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:24-25, Rom. 8:13).
We have seen the ascended Christ warn His beloved Churches of reprobation, but during His earthly ministry He did exclaim so many warnings to the regenerate Church it is utterly shocking! The parables of Christ in the gospel accounts, which we shall soon cover in detail, reveal what will happen to the company of “the called out ones” (the Christians) when the Lord returns to judge their faith. He will prove them and see if they have enduring faith or not. Why would they need enduring faith? Christ said these fearful words of His returning Judgment – “shall He find faith on the earth” (Lk. 18:7-8)? He was speaking this question in direct reference to the enduring faith and prayers of “His own elect”! Why would Christ ask this soul-searching and terrifying question if He could never lose His elect? Why would He say this if their names could never be blotted out of the Book of Life (Rev. 3:5)?
The scriptures prophesy and forewarn that “in latter times some shall depart from the faith” (1 Tim. 4:1), and you cannot depart from the faith if you have never been in the faith, like as how you cannot depart from God if you have never been with God (Heb. 3:12-13), or like as you cannot fall if you have never risen into standing graces (1 Thess. 3:8). If a man falls away, what does he fall away from, if indeed the man was never saved? Indeed, “perilous times shall come”, which now are, but marvel at this: that this fight that is called “perilous times” had already begun in the NT times! Take note that the perilous times are afflictions from those who are still professors of godliness in Christ, only now they don’t have the gospel Spirit of power in their life, thus they gather for themselves teachers that preach unsound doctrine from the spirit of the world:
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“…In the last days perilous times shall come… having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away…the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine…” (2 Tim. 3:1, 5, 4:3)
“They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.” 1 John 4:5 |
So also consider Christ’s description of the great falling away:
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“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for My Name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Matt. 24:9-13
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Let me put this solemn question to you in another way! How can a man’s love for God wax cold if he never had hot love in the Spirit of God? In this very same context Jesus declares that the love, which does “endure to the end”, endures all the persecutions during the great falling away. Endurance is a keeping of love to God in the midst of these times, the great falling away, when circumstances seek to suffocate faith. In these last days, we will be so hard-pressed with persecution and betrayal, namely and the foremost hurtful of all is, the betrayal from regenerate Christians when they do betray other regenerate Christians! This antichrist revolution shall begin within the regenerate Churches, and it also will assail it without! Look carefully at Jesus’ description of the falling away in Matthew 24 cited above. “Then shall many be offended”, Christ says, and He speaks that their offense will cause what? A betrayal of Christian bonds one to another. Among those that once loved one another, even they will then “betray one another and shall hate one another”, so that their love is turning into hatred. The “many” offended are also the same group of persons in description when Christ says the false prophets are arising to “deceive many”, and further, Christ directly references this same company, called the “many”, describing that THEIR LOVE has WAXED COLD, which proves that they once HAD LOVE and then lost it – which means that their love DID NOT ENDURE the FALLING AWAY delusion which assailed those within the Church.
As a further confirmation of these truths, the books of Jude and 2 Peter chapter 2 depict this same fight for the faith against the falling away, describing again that it had already begun at that time, and in addition to this, Acts chapter 20 names these “grievous wolves” (false prophets) to be persons who were saved and then turned away, like as 2 Peter 2:1-3 speaks of “false prophets” “among you” (meaning a part of the regenerate Church), and so again these passages declare that men will arise and “many” of the regenerate Church will be deceived by them! Acts 20 is a farewell sermon from the apostle Paul to the elders of Ephesus. Elders were not merely regenerate Christians but Elders, and therefore we can be doubly sure they were regenerate! And yet Paul said of them, “of your own selves shall men arise” (Acts 20:30)!
As a further confirmation of these truths, the books of Jude and 2 Peter chapter 2 depict this same fight for the faith against the falling away, describing again that it had already begun at that time, and in addition to this, Acts chapter 20 names these “grievous wolves” (false prophets) to be persons who were saved and then turned away, like as 2 Peter 2:1-3 speaks of “false prophets” “among you” (meaning a part of the regenerate Church), and so again these passages declare that men will arise and “many” of the regenerate Church will be deceived by them! Acts 20 is a farewell sermon from the apostle Paul to the elders of Ephesus. Elders were not merely regenerate Christians but Elders, and therefore we can be doubly sure they were regenerate! And yet Paul said of them, “of your own selves shall men arise” (Acts 20:30)!
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“Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.” (Acts 20:28-31)
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Paul was weeping day and night over a falling away which was to come shortly after his departure from Ephesus, and today men can’t even believe saints can fall away, let alone weep over it! The battle was already violently upon the NT saints, and they were, back then, already recognizing the characteristics of the Last Days delusion coming upon them (Jude 17-21). They were urged and charged to be saints that “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints”, but it was because the deluded offenders who were “ordained to this condemnation”, who were chosen as instruments of delusion to bring about the falling away – even these men were at work in subverting-heresies inside of the Church; Jude was stating that they had – “crept in unawares” – attacking the doctrines of the grace of God (Jude 3-4) which they did, at one time, savingly interpret, apply, walk out in, and believe (Jude 5-8)! These men are New Testament examples of those who were “saved”, but after salvation they fell away and then were doomed to be “destroyed”, like as their OT fathers who were “saved” but “afterward destroyed” (Jude 5).
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“let it not be once named among you” (Eph. 5:3)
“taken away from among you” (1 Cor. 5:2) “Put away from among yourselves” (1 Cor. 5:13) “among you that believe” (1Thess. 2:10) “come out from among them” (2 Cor. 6:17) |
Peter is battling against “damnable heresies” from “false teachers among you”, which is the regenerate Church, and they are “privily” brought in (2 Peter 2:1). These false teachers were so effective that “many shall follow their pernicious ways” (2 Peter 2:2), like as Christ said in Matthew 24:9-13, “false prophets… shall deceive many”! It is stated further of these false teachers and their followers, “they speak great swelling words of vanity” and “they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error” (2 Peter 2:18). Now please, let me address the controversies surrounding this passage and make plain the true meaning, by God’s able grace. First, let us read the entire passage which is at hand:
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“For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” (2 Pet. 2:18-22)
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A key to understanding this passage is noting the language of the entire book of 2 Peter. If 2 Peter 2:18-22 is speaking of falling away from salvific grace, then how does 2 Peter term salvation when it is first begun?
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“According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2 Pet. 1:3-4).
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My point to prove here is that, in verse 4 of chapter 1 the gospel promises did regenerate the lost man by “the divine nature”, which in turn did effectually cause the man to be in a condition which was said to be “having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4). Compare the two passages below and see if you can tell anything in common:
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“having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” – 2 Pet. 1:4
“after they have escaped the pollutions of the world…they are again entangled therein, and overcome” – 2 Pet. 2:20 |
In 2 Peter 1:4, those who are partakers of the divine nature have escaped the corruptions of this world through lust, while in 2 Peter 2:20, the individuals that are again entangled in and overcome by sin were once “clean escaped” from (2 Peter 2:18) this error which they are now entangled in, error which is called the pollutions of the world. It is absurd to conclude that those who have “escaped the corruption that is in the world” (2 Pet. 1:4) are a different company of persons from those who have “escaped the pollutions of the world” (2 Pet. 2:20)! The divine nature that caused lost men to escape “the corruption that is in the world” is the same divine nature that caused men to escape “the pollutions of the world”. Corruption and pollution are descriptive of the very same spiritual reality: --> SIN.
Now you may say, “But these people are called a pig and a dog in 2 Peter 2:22!” And since these terms, a pig and a dog, are commonly used to describe lost people, men argue that those persons described in 2 Peter 2:18-22 must have been once-born and lost the entire time. If these men in 2 Peter 2:18-22 are unregenerate, lost, unbelievers, and the intent of the author in calling them a dog and a sow is to reveal this very thing, then ANSWER ME THIS QUESTION: How does a dog vomit and a sow get washed? How can a lost, unregenerate, unbeliever ever vomit and be washed? Look closely at the direct context of what these verbs are describing in the passage…
Now you may say, “But these people are called a pig and a dog in 2 Peter 2:22!” And since these terms, a pig and a dog, are commonly used to describe lost people, men argue that those persons described in 2 Peter 2:18-22 must have been once-born and lost the entire time. If these men in 2 Peter 2:18-22 are unregenerate, lost, unbelievers, and the intent of the author in calling them a dog and a sow is to reveal this very thing, then ANSWER ME THIS QUESTION: How does a dog vomit and a sow get washed? How can a lost, unregenerate, unbeliever ever vomit and be washed? Look closely at the direct context of what these verbs are describing in the passage…
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“But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” (2 Peter 2:22)
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To “vomit” is to repent of sin, and to be “washed” is to be “clean escaped” from the filthiness of sin (2 Peter 2:18, 22)! The man did savingly repent so that he was removed from his sin, like vomit is removed from the body, and the man was savingly washed from the mire of sin until he was “clean” (2 Pet. 2:18) – but how could an unregenerate man ever experience this? How could an unregenerate man vomit and be washed? But if the dog and the sow do describe a regenerate believer who has fallen away from saving grace, then it makes perfect sense why he vomited (savingly repented) and was washed (forgiven clean), and seeing that the man fell away from grace and is lost again, the author points out the brutish stupidity of such a thing, calling the man as dumb as a dog who eats his own vomit that he once threw up and turned away from, and again, the man is as confused as a sow who values the mire above the “washing of regeneration” (Titus 3:5). The horror of the crime which is committed is well displayed by these two animals! It would be a very strange thing to describe an unregenerate man, a lost man, as one who was “clean escaped from them who live in error” (2 Peter 2:18), one who previously “escaped the pollutions of the world”, and then is “AGAIN entangled therein and overcome” (2 Peter 2:20), or a man who had a former state of salvific freedom and then fell into a “latter end” which is worse for him, now, specifically because he had “known the way of righteousness” and then did “turn from the holy commandment” (2 Peter 2:21). All of those things are impossible for unregenerate believers!
Therefore 2 Peter 2:18-22, like the other passages, does reveal the ongoing battle against a falling away that was already in progress before Peter’s death. Christ preached FIVE PARABLES of the same burden! It was prophesied at the conception of the Old Covenant that there would be a great falling away (Lev. 26:44), and so Christ prophesied of this horrifying fall and delusion which He shall send upon the earth, like things to what had been done by the God of deceptions in the OT (Jer. 4:10), yet this time unto worldwide unity amongst unholy, darkened, godless, men. Sinners are made ready for the coming of the antichrist while Christians are made ready for the coming of Christ. The prince of darkness is coming for his “children of the night” (1 Thess. 5), the “sons of Belial” (2 Cor. 6), the “workers of iniquity” (Matt. 7:22), for they all do the deeds of their father, the devil, but Christ is coming for His “children of the day” (1 Thess. 5), the “sons of God” (Php. 2:15, 2 Cor. 6:18), and those who work righteousness as a fulfillment of their gospel call, who therefore “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness” (Eph. 5:11).
Oh! How “many” Christians are being turned to darkness, carnality, and blame, living unworthy of their calling! Even all the same characteristics of the OT deception of God are working in the NT time period, and how much more now?! Christians who are born again into light, made blameless, faultless, holy, sanctified, without blemish and spot, wise, quickened, and revived, even they are FALLING AWAY, being turned back to darkness, blame, fault, unholy and unsanctified behavior, making themselves blemished and spotted by the world, made into unwise fools, and finally, into dead men in need of revival! They are spiritual babies! Spiritual drunkards! But will you understand that when a person does this, then their childhood under God does discontinue? God will no longer call them His sons or daughters, because they do not behave like His sons or daughters.
Could it be that, as Moses prophesied of apostasy to OT regenerate Israelites, so Christ prophesied of apostasy to NT regenerate Israelites? How many centuries did pass by that were filled with apostasy and chaos, and how increasingly did the apostasy grow, until finally, that great END came in the Israelite captivity and dispersion? Likewise, how many centuries of like chaos and apostasy can we see in extrabiblical Church history since the purity of the 1st century Church? How rarely have we seen faithful men arise, moved by the Holy Ghost, ushering in moves of God that lastingly revived souls? And consider this, that these were not mere revivals, merely moving of God, but moves of saving grace, and however many fell back asleep into an un-revived, un-quickened spiritual condition – all of these men were eternally lost. Now can we conclude that today, as we dwell in the dark eve of the Antichrist, that we are further along in “the last days” than when the 1st century began the dispensation which was called “the last days”? Therefore we can suspect that these days are like “the Days of Noah”, days when 8 souls were saved in a world full of people, so we should not be counting the thousands but rather that which can be numbered with our two hands – quite possibly, thus are the days in which we approach! When Jesus Christ comes, “shall He find faith on the earth” (Lk. 18:8)? Don’t answer God with words, dear reader! Rend your heart and get on your face! Read this verse and do likewise – “He putteth his mouth in the dust: if so be there may be hope” (Lam. 3:29).
Therefore 2 Peter 2:18-22, like the other passages, does reveal the ongoing battle against a falling away that was already in progress before Peter’s death. Christ preached FIVE PARABLES of the same burden! It was prophesied at the conception of the Old Covenant that there would be a great falling away (Lev. 26:44), and so Christ prophesied of this horrifying fall and delusion which He shall send upon the earth, like things to what had been done by the God of deceptions in the OT (Jer. 4:10), yet this time unto worldwide unity amongst unholy, darkened, godless, men. Sinners are made ready for the coming of the antichrist while Christians are made ready for the coming of Christ. The prince of darkness is coming for his “children of the night” (1 Thess. 5), the “sons of Belial” (2 Cor. 6), the “workers of iniquity” (Matt. 7:22), for they all do the deeds of their father, the devil, but Christ is coming for His “children of the day” (1 Thess. 5), the “sons of God” (Php. 2:15, 2 Cor. 6:18), and those who work righteousness as a fulfillment of their gospel call, who therefore “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness” (Eph. 5:11).
Oh! How “many” Christians are being turned to darkness, carnality, and blame, living unworthy of their calling! Even all the same characteristics of the OT deception of God are working in the NT time period, and how much more now?! Christians who are born again into light, made blameless, faultless, holy, sanctified, without blemish and spot, wise, quickened, and revived, even they are FALLING AWAY, being turned back to darkness, blame, fault, unholy and unsanctified behavior, making themselves blemished and spotted by the world, made into unwise fools, and finally, into dead men in need of revival! They are spiritual babies! Spiritual drunkards! But will you understand that when a person does this, then their childhood under God does discontinue? God will no longer call them His sons or daughters, because they do not behave like His sons or daughters.
Could it be that, as Moses prophesied of apostasy to OT regenerate Israelites, so Christ prophesied of apostasy to NT regenerate Israelites? How many centuries did pass by that were filled with apostasy and chaos, and how increasingly did the apostasy grow, until finally, that great END came in the Israelite captivity and dispersion? Likewise, how many centuries of like chaos and apostasy can we see in extrabiblical Church history since the purity of the 1st century Church? How rarely have we seen faithful men arise, moved by the Holy Ghost, ushering in moves of God that lastingly revived souls? And consider this, that these were not mere revivals, merely moving of God, but moves of saving grace, and however many fell back asleep into an un-revived, un-quickened spiritual condition – all of these men were eternally lost. Now can we conclude that today, as we dwell in the dark eve of the Antichrist, that we are further along in “the last days” than when the 1st century began the dispensation which was called “the last days”? Therefore we can suspect that these days are like “the Days of Noah”, days when 8 souls were saved in a world full of people, so we should not be counting the thousands but rather that which can be numbered with our two hands – quite possibly, thus are the days in which we approach! When Jesus Christ comes, “shall He find faith on the earth” (Lk. 18:8)? Don’t answer God with words, dear reader! Rend your heart and get on your face! Read this verse and do likewise – “He putteth his mouth in the dust: if so be there may be hope” (Lam. 3:29).