The Church Apostasy, Part Two

2 Timothy 3:6-9
P. G. Mathew | Sunday, May 08, 2016
Copyright © 2016, P. G. Mathew
Language [Japanese]

We are continuing our study in 2 Timothy 3:1–9 about church apostasy. In these verses, Paul is warning that a church can become wicked and the exact opposite of what it was originally.

This is what happened to Harvard University, which was founded in 1636 by believers in Jesus Christ as a place for training ministers. Its motto was “Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae” (Truth for Christ and the Church), and its textbook was the Bible. But like many other universities in this country, Harvard has become a place of paganism, where the Scriptures are opposed at every turn.

Sadly, such change can also be true of churches; they can become apostate. In our previous study, we spoke about twenty-one characteristics of apostate Christians as found in 2 Timothy 3:1–5.¹ It is important for all of us to examine ourselves in light of these characteristics and see whether we are apostates or true believers. In this study, we will examine Paul’s warnings in 2 Timothy 3:6–9.

Avoid Apostates

In verse 5, Timothy was told to stay away from wicked, apostate Christians. They were to be put out from the church. Now, in verses 6 through 9, Paul states reasons why true believers should not fellowship with disobedient and excommunicated devil-serving people.

Apostates Are Spiritual Termites

Apostates can be likened to spiritual termites. They worm their way into houses and people’s lives with the purpose of destroying them. Those who have been expelled from God’s holy orthodox church are powered by demons and they spend their time proselytizing others for their evil cause. They target all kinds of people, both those in God’s church as well as those who have already been expelled. They especially go after women of low moral character, to seduce them so that they can take their money. Of such people Jesus said, “They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely” (Luke 20:47).

Paul says these apostates are men robbed of truth, men who think religion is a means of financial gain (1 Tim. 6:5). He writes, “For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain” (Titus 1:10–11).

A true gospel minister preaches, not to make money, but so that his listeners may be eternally saved. Thus, he should not be a lover of money (1 Tim. 3:3; Acts 20:33). Paul writes, “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Tim. 6:9–10).

These wicked men worm their way into certain houses, especially the homes of widows with money, to seduce them with lies and deception. They want to take their money and subjugate them. They also visit homes of married women, especially when their husbands are away. These women they target tend to possess the following characteristics:

1. They are weak-willed, weak-minded, and emotional. They can be widows with money or married women, also with money. These spiritual termites are looking for those who are incontinent, emotional, uncritical, ignorant of sound theology, lovers of sinful pleasure and not lovers of God. They are targeting those who are ignorant of the word of God. They themselves are stupid and they seek others who are stupid. Those who do not pay close attention to the word of God will be a target of such people. As spiritual termites, they want to destroy people, especially naïve women, who like to hear new ideas, like the Athenians did: “All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas” (Acts 17:21). They are gossips. They ask each other: “Have you heard that story? Did you read that book? Did you listen to that program?” They do not like the word of God preached. They are always looking for something new. They want to appear interested in all kinds of knowledge.
2. They are weighted down with truckload of past and present sins. That is the idea in the Greek text. Yet they refuse to repent. Instead, they are on the lookout daily for opportunities to sin.
3. They are continually governed by sinful lusts of various kinds. They are bored with the usual sins, so they invent new and more exciting sins. Paul says, “Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones” (Rom. 1:26). They are like the pagans about whom Peter warned: “For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you” (1 Pet. 4:3–4). They engage in the acts of the sinful nature, as Paul describes: “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:19–21).
4. They are always learning about every kind of religious idea, such as Mormonism, Islam, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Hinduism, New Age ideas, or Christless Christianity. They enjoy watching television evangelists who preach only to deceive the naïve by their gospel of health, wealth, power, pleasure, antinomianism, immorality, and one-way love.
5. They are unstable, credulous, gullible, and always confused. They have foolish heads, dirty minds, and filthy hearts. They have been trapped by the devil. They listen to everyone except true ministers of the gospel. In fact, they hate true ministers and their message of salvation. Of such people Paul writes, “For the time will come when [they] will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths” (2 Tim. 4:3–4). Many of these women eagerly listen to television preachers who tickle their ears with lies while taking their money.

Because they are trapped by the devil, these women are incapable of repentance and belief in the gospel. They are reprobates, vessels of wrath, prepared for destruction. They cannot be saved by knowing the truth because they cannot believe the truth. They cannot repent by hearing the gospel. They cannot live holy lives through their knowledge of the truth (Titus 1:1).

Like apostate men, these women are slaves of sin. They daily sink deeper into the mud of the pleasures of sin. Like wicked men, these women are like the clay vessels that we read about in 2 Timothy 2:20. They are full of filth.

As Eve was deceived by the devil, so these women are deceived by apostate men who preach lies and are energized by demon powers. Paul writes, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron” (1 Tim. 4:1–2). He also says, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:4). Every religious charlatan has preyed on such foolish, pleasure-loving, apostate women in every age.

The Trap of the Megachurch

Today, apostate men with wrong theology need not sneak into the houses of sin-laden women to take them captive. These women can be taken captive through watching television, and they give their money to the television preachers. They can also go to megachurches, where they are seduced and taken captive by lies of psychology and flattery.

Almost all megachurches refuse to preach the apostolic doctrine that saves sinners through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Instead, these churches have become seeker-friendly, ministering to people’s felt needs. They exist to entertain, not to save souls, so they tell stories. They do not demand that people repent, believe the gospel, and live holy lives.

Megachurch ministers preach a different Jesus, a different gospel, and a different spirit. Paul describes such ministers: “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve” (2 Cor. 11:13–15). He warned the Ephesian elders about such preachers: “I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:29–30).

What is the end of such preachers? Paul writes, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!” (Gal. 1:6–9).

Jannes and Jambres Ministry

These apostate men who seduce weak-willed women by preaching a different gospel that sends them to hell, are like the demon-controlled Egyptian sorcerers, Jannes and Jambres. Their names do not appear in the Old Testament, but they are named in the Targum of Jonathan of Exodus 7:11. They opposed Moses by their occultic practices and secret knowledge of sorceries (see Exod. 7, 8, 9). God exposed their falsehood and punished them.

The New Testament also speaks about sorcerers who were punished. Simon Magus wanted to buy the Holy Spirit. But Peter told him, “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!” (Acts 8:20). In other words, Peter was telling Simon to go to hell. In Acts 13, we read about Elymas the sorcerer, whose name was Bar-Jesus (son of Jesus). He was demon-controlled. Paul said, “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the light of the sun.” Then we read, “Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand” (Acts 13:10–11). There were also seven sons of Sceva. In Acts 19 we read, “Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were [casting out evil spirits]. One day the evil spirit answered them, ‘Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?’ Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding” (Acts 19:14–16).

Eternal punishment is awaiting all wicked perverters of the gospel, although they may temporarily make a lot of money and live in big mansions. (PGM) They work their wonders through occultic, demonic powers. But God will punish them, in due time.

That is why it matters what kind of church we attend. We must go to a church where the gospel is preached. Any minister who refuses to preach the true gospel of the holy Scriptures, who refuses to preach Jesus Christ crucified and risen, is a liar and an agent of Satan. He is doing the work of Jannes and Jambres by opposing the truth that saves. He is opposing Christ and Christ’s true ministers by preaching devilish antinomianism.

But Jesus will punish all false ministers, even as Jannes and Jambres were punished. All apostates will be punished. For example, Judas was an apostle but he loved money more than Jesus, so he sold Jesus. The devil entered him and he betrayed Jesus. Then he went out, killed himself, and went to hell.

The fate of Judas awaits all false, antinomian ministers who seduce people, especially gullible women. Such men have corrupted minds. Of them Paul writes, “Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done” (Rom. 1:28). Paul also says, “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death [eternal death], but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God.” The essence of sin, as Professor John Murray, said is enmity toward God as well as God’s people, God’s word, God’s truth, and God’s ethics. “It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God” (Rom. 8:5–8). These people have no ability to please God because they are not born of God, even though they pretend they are.

Such men may sign unbiblical statements of appeasement, such as, “Loving God and Neighbor Together: A Christian Response to a Common Word between Us and You.”² Dr. John R. W. Stott signed this along with a number of evangelicals, although it is a statement of appeasement between Christians and Muslims. The essential idea is that we all serve the same Allah. Those evangelicals who signed are confused, to say the least. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). How can a believer in Christ sign such a statement?

Another statement of appeasement is called “Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium.”³ This was signed by J. I. Packer and a number of prominent evangelicals. I encourage you to read these documents for yourselves. By signing, these men turned their backs on Luther and Calvin and all the other Reformers. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says that we ought to go to Smithfield in England where Reformed believers were burned to death by the Roman Catholic church.⁴Sacramentalism and sacerdotalism are opposed to Jesus Christ.

Friends, we ought to fellowship with all Christians, but only based on truth. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. . . . Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (John 14:6; 17:17). We do not worry about whether a person is Baptist, Presbyterian, Reformed, or Orthodox. As long as that person subscribes to the absolute authority of the Scripture, we can have true fellowship.

They Are Corrupt and Rejected

False ministers and apostate men and women are rejected by God as far as their faith is concerned. They are lovers of themselves and lovers of pleasure. They have only a form of godliness without the inner reality. They are deceivers, religious charlatans. Those who reject the truth and God’s power will embrace the lie and the devil’s power. About them the Bible says, “To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable,⁵ disobedient and unfit for doing anything good” (Titus 1:15–16).

A Word of Encouragement

Paul concludes his warning with a word of encouragement. The devil, his demons, and his human agents will not succeed in the long run. The antinomian preachers and their truth-hating, pleasure-loving followers will face the fate of Jannes and Jambres (vv. 8–9).

Christ Jesus, God’s eternal Son, by his life, death, and resurrection, defeated all his enemies. So we read, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Heb. 2:14–15).

Hell is awaiting the devil, his angels, and his human followers. We read, “Then [Jesus] will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels’” (Matt. 25:41). We also read, “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. . . . If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:10, 15).

Have you trusted in Jesus Christ alone for your eternal salvation? Jesus himself said, “The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations” (Luke 24:46–47). Christ died for our sins and was raised up for our justification (Rom. 4:25).

What must you do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, and your household. There is no other way of salvation.

The Marks of a True Church

We have been speaking about apostate churches. Let me exhort you again to attend only a church with the four marks of a true church.

What are these marks? The first and most important mark is the preaching of the gospel, the apostolic doctrine.⁶ Paul spoke about this to Timothy: “From infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Tim. 3:15–4:2).

The second mark is the valid administration of the two biblically mandated sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. A true church baptizes believers, those who confess Jesus Christ as Lord, but it refuses to believe in baptismal regeneration. It is a lie that baptism can regenerate a person or that it can infuse grace into the water, or is responsible for miracles. And the second biblical sacrament is the Lord’s Supper, Christ’s holy supper for his holy people.

The third mark is discipline. Does the church teach, rebuke, correct, and if necessary, excommunicate people until they repent? Although many churches do not practice this, it is a mark of a true church.

The fourth mark is Christian family life. The entire epistle of First John speaks about this. John repeats the phrase, “Love one another,” because he is speaking about God’s family. There is no discrimination in the family of God. If our brothers or sisters do not have food and clothing, we must give some to them. John the Baptist said, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same” (Luke 3:11). This should all be done without any discrimination because we are all members of God’s family. So we are to show love by laying down our lives for one another in God’s holy family (1 John 3:16–17).

As we said before, the apostates will be eternally condemned. But true members of Christ’s holy church will hear from the mouth of the Lord of the church these blessed words on the last day when we see him: “Come, you who are blessed of my Father, take your inheritance prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matt. 25:34). Ours is the inheritance of eternal life (Matt. 25:46). Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). May God help us to repent of our sins, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and be saved.

¹ http://www.gracevalley.org/sermon/the-church-apostasy-part-one/

² http://www.acommonword.com/loving-god-and-neighbor-together-a-christian-response-to-a-common-word-between-us-and-you/

³ http://www.firstthings.com/article/1994/05/evangelicals–catholics-together-the-christian-mission-in-the-third-millennium-2

⁴ D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Roman Catholicism (London: Evangelical Press, n.d.), 14–15.

⁵Bdeluktos means “excrement.” It is a very strong word in the Greek language.

⁶ Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 1: Of the Holy Scripture.