The Truth About Apostasy - 1/21/26 - Pastor Charlie Branch

Welcome to the podcast of Meadows

Baptist Church of Walnut Cove, North

Carolina. We're so glad you joined us

today. If you enjoy today's message, be

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with your friends. Now, let's join

Pastor Charlie Branch with a word from

God.

Amen. if you would turn with me to the

book of Jude tonight. The book of Jude,

please. And we'll be back there and uh

just praying where the Lord have us to

be. I think we're going to look through

the entirety of this book. Be honest

with you, I think it's very timely uh

considering the state of our country um

where we're at, all the events that's

taking place. I want to deal with some

of that tonight. Talk about a few things

and ask the Lord to help us give us

wisdom.

The book of Jude. the book of Jude.

A lot of things went on in our country

uh in the last week. Uh some things even

in our state in the last week and uh our

our uh our state's been tore all to

pieces about them boys walking and I

want to say more about that in just a

minute. Uh, but I want to look at these

verses tonight and maybe the Lord give

us some wisdom here out of this text and

uh been praying about what the Lord

would have us to say about these verses.

I'll be honest with you, I love the of

the the love the epistles uh here in in

the New Testament and uh what they deal

with, what they're talking about. I I

love what they have to say. Love Jude. I

love John's epistles. I love Peter's

epistles. and they all deal with the

same thought really and it's relevant to

where we're living at in this day and

time. And I tell you what, we're living

in perilous times.

>> And Paul told Timothy that it would be

this way. And I think, you know, every

preacher in every generation for the

last um I mean two 2,000 years has

probably thought, you know, man, this is

this is just as bad as it can get. Uh

but I'll be honest with you, I don't

know if it's as bad as it can get or

not.

>> I really I I think that it can get a

whole lot worse. And I know, I'll say

this, I know it can get a whole lot

worse because there's coming a day when

the church is removed. Uh that things

are going to get a whole lot worse. And

uh and so I don't think we've seen just

a drop in the bucket. And I'm praying

that God I'm praying even so come

quickly, Lord Jesus. And I'd love for

him to come. And I ain't nothing hold me

in this world. Amen. And I was talking

with a dear sister today and made this

statement. I said, "There just ain't

nothing this life worth hanging on to."

and all the possessions and all the all

the life that you can buy a hold of. It

ain't going to give you any more life in

your life.

>> That's right.

>> It'll all be gone. That's right.

>> And uh I just want to make sure I've

lived what I'm supposed to live for

Jesus. Amen. Jude verse number one. And

we'll begin reading there. Look look at

just a couple more verses tonight. And I

don't endeavor to spend six months in

this little book. I don't want to be

like that. Um but I do want to make sure

that I give you the entirety of what's

here. and uh consider uh each of these

verses appropriately. Verse number one,

the Bible says, "Jude, the servant of

Jesus Christ and brother of James, to

them that are sanctified by God the

Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and

called mercy unto you and peace and love

be multiplied. Beloved, when I gave all

diligence to write unto you the common

of the common salvation, it was needful

for me to write unto you and exhort you

that you should earnestly contend for

the faith which was once delivered unto

the saints. For there are certain men

crept in unawares who were before of old

ordained to this condemnation, ungodly

men, turning the grace of our God into

lasciviousness, and denying the only

Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. I

will therefore put you in remembrance,

though you once knew this, how that the

Lord, having saved the people out of the

land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them

that believe not. Father, I ask you

humbly as we look at these verses

tonight, you'd give us wisdom and

discernment. God, I pray that you will

open our eyes uh that we might behold

wondrous things in thy law. Pray you'd

help us to receive with meekness the

engrafted word. And God, I pray that you

would uh take hold of us tonight and

help us to be obedient, Father, to your

word. Be submissive uh Lord, what you

have to say to us, God. Give us wisdom

and discernment, Lord. Put set a watch

about our lips, God. We'd say nothing,

be displeasing to you, but God, that we

would say everything that would bring

honor and glory to your name. And Lord,

for what you do, we'll give you thanks.

We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. this

text, this portion of the book of Jude

that we've come to tonight, verses four

and five. We dealt uh pretty speedily

with speedily with verses 1 through3

there uh a week ago Sunday night. And uh

there's more I could say about that, but

I didn't have liberty to go back and

reind re uh endeavor to teach that. And

so I want to deal tonight verses four

and five. The Lord helping us. And I

want to look at the subject really of

the book of Jude and is the subject of

apostasy. If you want to title it that,

that's what we're going to be talking

about tonight. Apostasy. Now, apostasy

is not a is not a Bible word, but I'll

tell you this, it is a it is a Bible

doctrine.

>> And what I mean by doctrine, it's a

truth that's present in the last days.

Literally, every epistle writes about

this subject. And apostasy simply means

this. It means an an abandonment of what

one has professed. a total desertion or

departure from one's faith or religion.

And I'll say it again if you want to

write that down. It's it's it's

Webster's dict it's Webster's definition

of apostasy. It means an abandonment of

what one has professed, a total

desertion or departure a departure from

one's faith or religion. And a verse

that describes this very well is the

book of Hebrews.

Hebrews chapter number three.

Hebrews chapter number three and verse

number 12.

The writer of Hebrews exhorting the

brethren here in verse 12. He says,

"Take heed, brethren, lest there be in

any of you an evil heart of unbelief in

departing from the living God." And so

apostasy is literally it's a departure.

It's a departure from truth. It's a

departure from operating in the fullness

of the word of God. Now, what we believe

tonight as Baptists that our authority

comes from the word of God in that

alone. We have no other foundation to

operate upon.

>> Men can say that they operate in the

spirit of God and that gives them extra

biblical revelation or extra biblical

authority. But we don't believe that

tonight. We know that the spirit of God

and the word of God go hand in hand. The

two complement each other. And so you

cannot have the appropriate Christian

life without a fullness of the spirit of

God and a steady diet of the word of God

in your life. And so when Jude in this

text, of course, we remember that he he

he's exhorting them according to verse

three to earnestly contend for the

faith. And then he's going to give them

the precipice, the reasoning why in

verse number four that they should be

earnestly contending. Listen to what he

says. He says, "For there are certain

men crept in unawares, who were before

of old, ordained to this condemnation,

ungodly men, turning the grace of our

God into lasciviousness, and denying the

only Lord God and our Lord Jesus

Christ." And I want to lay out just five

things by way of introduction. Verse

four, we'll consider the entrance of

apostasy and verse number four. Verse

number five, we'll begin dealing with

the examples of apostasy tonight. And in

verse number four here, he is he's

speaking on the matter of those that

have crept in. Now, this is literal.

Okay, Jude is literally viewing this in

the churches in and I don't know if it's

a singular church. I do know I do

believe that it's more than one church.

Uh by the by the terminology that he

uses here in verse number four. And he

speaks of these men. And what does he

say about them? You note that he

mentions first of all the stealth of

these men. He says, "For there are

certain men crept in unawares." That

word unawares literally means that they

are under the radar. They are not seen.

They are hidden from view. They've crept

in unawares. They were stealth in their

interest. Now, we know tonight that

there's people and there's things that

happen in our life that slip through the

cracks. You've lived any amount of li

any time in this life. You know it's

true in business. You know it's true in

family. And it's definitely true in the

church. Amen. There's things that creep

in. There's people that creep into the

church and they have a form of godliness

but they deny the power thereof. The

Bible tells us from such turn away.

Amen. And it and time reveals those kind

of people. And that's what's happening

in this text. Jude says there's certain

men crept in unawares. He said we didn't

see them when they came in but now we

see. And the truth is tonight it doesn't

take long to find out what somebody

really believes.

>> Amen. And I like what brother Gra says.

I said all the time. He says, "Truth

reveals people and trials reveal

people." And he said, "If you give it

long enough, time by itself will reveal

people." And that's the truth. He's he's

finding out. Jude is saying there's men

that's crept in. They've come in under

the radar. And so, the enemy has slipped

his minions in to the church here. And

then there's not only the stealth here,

but there's the sentence that's

mentioned in verse number four, who were

before of old ordained to this

condemnation. Now, it's already been

spoken that these men would show up, but

it's already been spoken the sentence

upon these men. You see, the Old

Testament reveals even talks about these

type of men that would try to subvert

the gospel of Christ in the last day. We

know that it's it's come with much

affliction. It come with much

opposition. And so, you you say,

"Preacher, what's an example of that?"

that well you think about the gospel

before Jesus had ever even ascended back

into heaven again there was already an

effort being made on part of the

Pharisees to withhold the truth from the

world they were going to they paid off

men to do what to spread a lie that said

the disciples came and took his body out

of the tomb and so there was already a

work that that was being done to subvert

the gospel and that's ultimately what

this work is I'll say more about that in

just a minute but these men have and

sinners. Now, what does it mean that

they were of old ordained to

condemnation? That does not mean that it

was for ordained before the foundation

of the world that God was going to

condemn these men and send them to hell.

That's not what this means. It means

that the word of God has already spoken

about these men and pointed them out.

You see, what we see in many churches in

this day and time, it's just a it's just

a revelation of what Paul told Timothy,

>> right?

>> In the last days, perilous times would

come. men would be lovers of their own

selves. And all the listings that he

gives, it's already been spoken of who

they are,

>> right?

>> And so it's obvious who they are and

what they are. And they are headed for

condemnation. God doesn't take lightly

to people tampering with his church,

>> right?

>> And so they are headed for condemnation.

They are sentenced. Though they are

stealthy, they are already sinister.

Now, and I want to say this before I go

any further. We can rejoice in that

tonight,

>> right?

>> Because you think about this. Everybody

has tried to make a mess out of the

church.

>> Come on.

>> Their sentence has already been written.

>> You're right.

>> When they make when they when they do

their best, when the enemy has tried to

to rip the church apart and turn us

upside down and inside out, the Bible

already tells us that he has ordained

it. It's already spoken that he is

condemned and those who operate for him.

You know, not only the sin, but note the

sinfulness in verse four. The Bible says

two words there in the middle of that

verse. They are ungodly men. That

literally means that they are completely

and utterly wicked. That's what that

means. That ungodly. It's the they are

the furthest extent of wickedness. Now,

what makes these men wicked is is that

they adhere to the outwardness of

religion, but on the inside there is no

fruit there. There's no faith there. And

so, it makes them wicked because they

fit in, but there's no faith that put

them in.

>> Right? There's people that can fit into

the church. Amen. And I can tell you the

devil can talk a talk better than any of

us can. Amen. They can fit in, but faith

never put them in. Amen. And that's what

happens in a lot of places. And and so

he points out their sinfulness, they're

ungodly. And then not only their

sinfulness that they're ungodly men, but

he points out their substitution. What

is it that makes them ungodly? Notice

verse four. turning the grace of our God

into lasciviousness and denying the only

Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. So

their substitution is is that they are

taking grace and putting in its place

all uh um complete and utter wickedness.

What are we seeing in this day and time?

Well, people are taking the doctrines of

salvation, they're throwing them out,

right?

>> Saying that God accepts you as you are,

come as you are, leave as you are. Amen.

And you'll be fine. Amen. That's the

that's the doctrine that the world

preaches this day and time. And you

know, it it baffles me in this day and

time, we have so many Methodist and and

even Baptist churches now that are

ordaining women preachers and further

more than that, they're ordaining

sodomite preachers

>> in their pull pits. We wonder how is

that possible? Well, it's possible

because they've tooken take the gra took

the grace of God that we operate upon

and they've substituted their wickedness

for it. That's what's happened. And what

this means in this text right here when

it says that they've turned the grace of

God into lasciviousness, no man has any

power to change the grace of God. Aren't

you thankful for that tonight? But that

word turning means an exchange.

Means to take one thing in the place of

another. And so they've taken grace and

pushed it out and said, "We want our

lifestyle. We want our wickedness. We

want our ideologies and our theories

about life." And so they're exchanging

the grace. They're they're they're

throwing away what God has blessed us

with in order that they might receive

the works of their flesh. And notice

it's defined in the end of the verse,

verse four, with their spurning. Look

what the Bible says. They turn the grace

of our God into lasciviousness. So

there's an exchange and then there's an

express denial in verse four. And

denying the only Lord God and our Lord

Jesus Christ. So they're denying first

of all they're denying the Trinity, the

only Lord God. That's God the Father,

God the Son, God the Holy Ghost. So they

deny the Trinity, but they also deny the

truth of the gospel. Look what he says.

Denying the only Lord God and our Lord

Jesus Christ. They're denying him. They

are not receiving. They will not adhere

to the gospel. Now, I'll say this

tonight. Any man or any ministry that

does not adhere to the authority of the

gospel has no authority from God.

>> You're right. Right. And uh I'm thankful

tonight for the setting that we have

here this evening for this reason

because there's a lot of things that's

being said right now. And I don't ever

remember it being said this way in my

younger days, but people now it's been

brought to light. Uh you know, we had

MLK Day here just a few days ago. And

and I've always been taught not by my

family, but just by people that were

around me that he was a good good

God-fearing man and he believed God and

the gospel and all of that. But what

I've come to find is he didn't. You're

right.

>> He did not believe the doctrine uh of

the trend. He did not believe the

doctrine of Jesus Christ, the son of

God. He denied a lot of things about the

faith. And so really uh I mean if

anything, he just had a good word for

the world. That's about all he had. Best

I can figure. You say, "Why are you

saying all that?" Well, I'm saying this

is what apostasy is,

>> right? When we look at those men and we

make them shrines,

>> we make them them statues of history and

say that they were devout in their faith

and in their following of Christ. But

what we find about them is really when

you really dig deep into their life, you

find out they really didn't have any

faith at all. You're

>> right.

>> And this crowd right now that's

supporting, the churches that are

supporting, this is what shocks me. All

right? And I ain't going to hang out

right here very long, but it just

absolutely blows my mind how many

Christian people are supporting these

guys that's been walking across this

country. You're

>> right.

>> Those fellas are as wicked as wicked

gets. You say, "What do you mean they're

Buddhist?" Just go research you some

about Buddhism a little bit and just

just study up on their meditations and

what they believe about the world in

which we live. A Christian has no right

to condone, to celebrate, or

congratulate anything that those men do,

>> right?

>> We we don't we don't adhere to that

stuff. We don't acknowledge their

accomplishments,

>> right?

>> Because it it's not going to bring

peace. We know that.

>> And this is what I'm saying tonight. I'm

You say, "Preacher, well, they're not

apostates." And you're right. They're

not. They've never been a part of what

we are.

>> But the people that are congratulating

them

>> and cheering them on, that's apostasy.

>> That's right. this this ecumenical

ideology that we do not have to be

separated from from denominations that

adhere to this stuff. There's a reason

why we can't fellowship with every

church in the community.

>> Right?

>> You see many churches in this day and

time, they've adopted the mentality and

you see it a lot and and there's guys

that's, you know, that's down through

years past, you know, they'd say, "Well,

that that ecclesiastical separation

thing, we don't we don't really believe

in that." Well, the problem is if you

believe the Bible and the doctrines of

the Bible, you cannot fellowship with

somebody who does not believe the

doctrines of the Bible.

>> If somebody does not believe in the

virgin birth of Jesus,

>> we can't fellowship with them.

>> If somebody does not believe in the

deity of Jesus Christ, we cannot

fellowship with them. If somebody does

not believe that it is the blood of

Jesus Christ that brings salvation and

forgiveness of sins, we cannot

fellowship with them.

If somebody believes that it's all right

for a person to be a homosexual,

>> if a church, a a movement adopts that

mentality, can we fellowship with that?

>> No.

And so there's a there's a time and a

place in our life. I understand, you

know, the the operations of peace. I I

get every bit of that. And and you know,

people talking about, well, we've

congratulated Trump. We've paraded

Trump. No, here's the truth about that.

We know God as the church has been

giving us a space of grace,

>> right?

>> When he got elected,

>> all right? I'm not He's not a saint. We

know that tonight. He's wicked as a

devil. We know that very well.

>> Amen.

>> But here's the truth about it tonight.

Just because the world flocks to these

things, congratulates, celebrates, and

and adheres to this stuff does not mean

that we should.

>> Right?

>> That's apostasy.

>> When we turn away, it's a willful

turning away. It's a departure. See, if

you leave the doctrine, and I I'm trying

to I'm having a hard time getting off my

soap box, Sister Betty. But if you leave

the if you go somewhere else and you and

you try to yoke up with something else,

you know what you have to leave behind?

>> Come on.

>> You have to leave the truth behind,

>> right?

>> So, if you go and hook up with this

crowd and say, "We're going to link arm

in- arm.

>> We got the same goal in mind." There's

no way that's possible. First of all,

>> number two, if you do that, you've left

truth far behind.

>> Right?

>> Truth doesn't move. Don't we know that

tonight? Jesus does not change. Truth

does not move. Light has no fellowship

with

>> Right?

>> That's the truth tonight. And so he

tells us here, he says they're denying

the only Lord God. If they deny the

deity

>> of God the Father, there are men that

crept in. Jude is dealing with these men

presently. See, it's we think about

this. Well, they're outside. They're in

the world. We know that's different. But

the problem is it's in the church.

>> There are men that do not believe that

Jesus Christ IS THE SON OF GOD.

>> In the church, in good churches. There

are men that do not believe THAT MARY

WAS A VIRGIN.

It would surprise you the amount of

people that believe that. You say,

"Preacher, not in the Bible belt, not

where we live."

You'd be shocked.

And the thing is, here's here's here's

the thing about it. It's so silent.

They'll they Satan is so He is so

worried about being effective. If he can

take one man to affect one person for a

lifetime, he'll wait,

>> right?

>> He'll do that. He really will. If he

can, if it takes him using one man for a

lifetime to affect only one other person

for his entire lifetime, he'll do it.

You're

>> right. He doesn't care. Whatever he can

do to subvert the hearer from the truth,

that's what he will do.

>> Amen.

>> And so we have to be watchful. I'll say

this. We must be witness to these truth.

See, the best way, you know this

tonight, you've heard this your entire

life, longer than I've been around. The

best way to know the real thing, the

best way to tell a counterfeit is to

know the real thing. Ain't that right?

>> And so, it very well shows us who the

counterfeits are. Now, notice here, and

I need to move. I spent way too much

time on that. They deny the trinity, the

only Lord God. They deny the truth, our

Lord Jesus Christ, the truth of the

gospel. And John says this is the spirit

of Antichrist. Notice, notice this.

First John 2. Listen to what he says. I

mean, he goes goes to deep extremes to

explain this. Verse 22, verse number 21.

I've not written unto you because you

know not the truth, but because you know

that no lies of the truth. Who is a liar

but he that denth that Jesus is the

Christ? He is Antichrist that denyth the

father and the son. Those that deny who

God is in his person. And those that

deny Jesus Christ, that's Antichrist.

>> Right?

>> That is the spirit of Antichrist. You

say, "Preacher, well, the people in this

world today, they do mention Jesus by

name and they mention God by name." But

here's what you're going to find. that

homosexual crowd, that sodomite crowd

that talks about Jesus and and and and I

hate to do this, but Don Lemon talking

about how Jesus wouldn't have been that

way. He don't know the Jesus that we

know.

>> They don't know anything about Jesus.

And them comparing themselves going into

that church and protesting to Jesus

going in the temple and turning the

tables over. I would surprise I would

not be surprised as every one of them

burnt in hell for that statement.

Not even close to the same thing.

>> They didn't go in there with the right

spirit. Amen. They went in there with a

spirit of antichrist on them. That's

exactly what that was. Let me let me

just say this tonight. When we consider

this thought, okay, this is what lays

everybody else apart.

If you want to know who the fakes are,

you're right.

>> He says in verse number five, I will

therefore put you in remembrance. And

this is what I love about this. Jude

gives us a lesson on preaching right

here. He doesn't say, "All right, verse

number four, he he tells us he tells us

about these certain men and and the

example that he he gives us the entrance

of apostasy in the church, but now he's

going to give us an example." And notice

he doesn't use an example of somebody

that's presently in the church.

>> What's his first example? Notice verse

five. I will therefore put you in

remembrance, though you once knew this,

how that the Lord having saved the

people out of the land of Egypt,

afterward destroyed them that believe

not. So who's he using? He's using

Israel. He's using the ones that they

should be most familiar with as Jews.

And Jude, of course, being a halfbrother

of Jesus, they knew the law. They were

very familiar with the law. Joseph being

their daddy, they knew that. They knew

that that the law. They knew the

penitutes. They knew all of that. And so

they're familiar with the Jews and these

men, those Jews there in Jerusalem that

had been saved, they would be familiar

with this story. What does he say about

it? Well, notice first of all in Israel

out of Egypt, he's talking about their

unbelief. You know, unbelief is the

first form of apostasy.

>> You know where apostasy forms? In the

heart. Amen. That's word forms. Where

does unbelief form? In the heart. Before

an action ever takes place in somebody's

life, before they ever apostasize to the

naked eye, they've already apostasized

in their heart and it's unbelief. Notice

what he says in verse 5. He says, "I

want to put you in remembrance. I want

to remind you what the Bible says."

Amen. That's a good lesson on preaching.

He's going to go back to the word of

God. Though you once knew this, said

you're very well aware of this. How that

the Lord having saved the people out of

the land of Egypt. So there's

deliverance. Now, let me ask you this.

How many people did God save out of the

land of Egypt?

All of them, didn't he? The Jews, every

one of them walked out of there. Now, I

want you to think about this with me.

This deliverance is total. Exodus 13:1

Exodus 13:1

17-22. If that's not in your margin, I

encourage you to put it in there. It's

the text that talks about their

deliverance. They walked out of there.

They walked out of there and then they

walked across the Red Sea. Complete and

total deliverance. What does that

represent to us? Salvation. God

delivered them from bondage. But then

there's not only deliverance in verse 5,

but there's destruction in verse five.

Notice that after he saved the people

out of the land of Egypt. I'm glad he

uses that word. All right? Afterward

destroyed them that believe not. Now, I

want to put this to rest right here.

Okay? Does not mean that when they come

out of Egypt that they lost their

salvation, went to hell. Not what that

means. Okay. It is possible. Here what

I'm fixing to say. It is possible for

somebody who's truly saved to

apostasize.

It's possible. You say, "How is that?"

Well, they fall away from the truth.

>> You say, "Preacher, what are you trying

to say?" Well, let me ask you, who all

come out of Egypt?

Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Caleb, and the 12

tribes and their children. They all came

out of Egypt. Now, there's three classes

of people that you have right there in

that text. You've got those that came

out of Egypt. You know what happened to

them? They got to go into Canaan land,

>> right?

>> How many went in?

Caleb and Joshua.

So, out of two. All right. Two out of

all those millions of Israelites, two

get to go in. Moses and Aaron. Let me

ask you, do you think Moses and Aaron

were saved?

>> Doubtless. Right. But what happened to

them? They didn't get to go in, did

they?

>> I'm going to say more about that in a

minute. But then amidst all of that, all

right, there's a mixed multitude that's

present. I'll say more about this in a

minute. Much of that crowd's lost. What

is it Paul said? He said, he said all of

them are, he said, all of them are

Israel. They're not all Israel. What he

meant by that is was he said just

because they're they're Abraham's seed

don't mean they're his seed in the

faith. Amen. He's the father of the

faith. He's the father of Isaac's

children, Ishmael's children. But that

does not mean that they all went to

heaven. Amen.

>> Just because they were a Jew. Now, I

want to point out a few truths here. So,

the implications here in this text is

that among those multitudes were Moses,

Aaron, Joshua, Caleb, and all the rest

of Israel. Joshua and Caleb go in. Moses

and Aaron were saved doubtless, but

there were also those who weren't.

Numbers 11 and verse number four

mentions the mixed multitude. So, Caleb

and Joshua go in. Why do they go in?

because of belief.

What is it? God commanded them and they

believed God. And you know what? Because

of that, God was faithful to them and

granted them to go in in spite of

everybody else. All right? So, they were

able to go in because of belief. But you

I want you to think about this. Moses

and Aaron die in the wilderness. Why did

they die in the wilderness? Because of

unbelief.

Say more about that in a minute. And

then the multitude 20 years old and up

died in the wilderness. Why did they

die? Because of unbelief.

Now, I'm going to give you scripture for

all this in just a minute. But what's

the difference? As great a man as Moses

was, wouldn't we agree that Moses is the

pinnacle of godliness in the Old

Testament?

>> He didn't get to go in. Why did he not

go in? Unbelief.

See, here's what separates the men's

from men from the boys in these in this

in this thing we call the Christian

life. How far are you willing to go to

believe God?

>> You're right.

>> And what are you willing to stop at

>> and say, "I'm not going to believe that,

and this as far as I'm going."

>> Now, notice this. You consider here the

implications of verse number five. And

I'm butchering this. I've got so much I

want to say and I ain't got enough time

to say it. But notice the imagery here.

I want to say this again. They were all

delivered from Egypt appearingly. They

that means that they were saved. All

right. Apparently, they were also all

brought through the Red Sea. That Red

Sea is an image of the baptism means

they were separated.

Just stay with me. I'm going somewhere.

They were saved. They separated. And

notice this. In the wilderness, what did

they eat,

man?

They were all sustained,

>> right?

>> God kept them. What does that man

represent? Represent the word of God. He

sustained them. But isn't it interesting

but that all except two of them died in

the wilderness. And Jude compares in

verse number five, he compares that

instance to apostasy.

Now, here's what I believe tonight based

on verse number five. Now, I may be

totally off on this, but this is what I

believe the Lord showed me on this.

Okay? Apostasy is when you've got a

unregenerate group of people and then

you've got an unrevived group of people

and they're all together in unbelief.

And because of that unbelief, God said,

"Every one of you is going to die."

Notice this. All right? You see, all

except two of these men died in the

wilderness. And and Jude labels this as

an apostate. And I remind you, it's an

inspiration of the Holy Ghost. He says

this, this is a turning away, a a

turning over. And what did it start

from? Well, it started from a group of

10 guys. It started earlier than that,

but we I'm going to use these 10 guys

for the illustration. Okay. All except

two men died in the wilderness, and one

event led the nation to apostasize, and

it was because of one thing, and it's

discouragement.

Notice, notice book of Numbers 13. Turn

here with me. All right, we're going to

use our Bibles for just a minute.

Numbers chapter 13.

Numbers 13 · chapter mention

Numbers 13 verse 31.

Numbers 13:31

Numbers 13 verse 31. The Bible says,

Numbers 13:31

"But the men that went up with him,"

that's speaking of Caleb and Joshua,

"the men that went up with him said, "We

be not able to go up against the people,

for they are stronger than we." And they

brought up an evil report of the land

that they had searched unto the children

of Israel, saying, "The land through

which we have gone to search it is a

land that eateth up the inhabitants

thereof, and all the people that we saw

in it are men of a great stature. And

there we saw the giants, the sons of

Anoch, which come of the giants, and we

were in our own sight as grasshoppers,

and so we were in their sight. And so 10

of these spies, you know, there were 12

that were sent over. 10 of them had an

evil report. And what did they do? They

come back and tell the entire nation,

"All right, we're not going to be able

to do it.

There's no way that we can take the

land. It's physically impossible. the

land is going to bring destruction to us

and our families. We cannot go in. But

Moses and Joshua or Joshua and Caleb had

a different report, didn't they? They

said, "It's a it's a fruitful land. It's

a land that flowth with milk and honey

that God cares for. We be more than able

to take it." That's what they said. And

what happens because of that one event?

The entire nation, chapter 14, Numbers,

you can turn there and read it. They all

began to weep because 10 of them had an

evil report and only two of them had a

good report.

Let me ask you something. What's the

church world look like today?

>> Right.

>> I don't know that the majority is 10 and

two.

I tell you this what I'm finding. The

majority of people say it's it's done.

It's done. So here's what happens. Okay,

here's what happens. Because of the

discouragement, they decide not to go

in. God tells them Numbers 14, you can

read it. Numbers chapter 14 and verse

Numbers 14 · chapter mention

number 23, verse number 29 and verse

number 30. You'll find out that the

congregation was prohibited from seeing

the land. They were not able to go into

that land of Canaan of course

representing the land of victorious

living. And so they were not able to go

in. They were prohibited from seeing the

land. Then also the agents, the 10 men

with an evil report, they died by a

plague immediately. Numbers 14 verse

number 37.

They died immediately by plague. Why is

that? Why did the children of Israel not

get to see the land?

Unbelief. Why did those men die by

plague? Unbelief.

What happens later on? They're in the

wilderness. All of them is not going to

get to see the land. Remind you this.

Moses at this point in time is still

able to go in. Numbers 14. Moses and

Aaron are still going to be able to go

in. What happens because of it? Numbers

20. They're murmuring again.

I don't know what y'all got. There's

about 25 people in here coughing. I

think it's the devil. Amen.

>> I'm not trying to pull anybody out.

Don't Don't fall out with me. I'm I'm

sorry. Forgive me for that.

Numbers 20. All right. Numbers 20. Moses

gets angry. What happens? God told him,

"Speak to the rock." What does he do? He

smites the rock. What happens? Water

comes out. God says, "Moses, you and

Aaron, you're not going to get to go

in."

>> Why did they Why did they not get to go

in? Unbelief. Now, I want to ask you

something. All right. All of those men

died in the wilderness, never making it

to the place where God wanted them to

be. And really, according to what Jude

says, they had apostasized.

Why is that the case? because there was

a group of men that had crept in.

Numbers chapter 11 verse number four.

Numbers 11 · chapter mention

You read it and the Bible calls them a

mixed multitude. And what this mixed

multitude does is spend their entire

life in Israel subverting the children

of Israel from faith.

>> Right?

>> Here's what happens. You've got a number

of people who are lost. You've got a

number of people who are saved. You even

got leadership who are being led by the

Lord. And every single one of them

doesn't get to go in because of the

discouragement of a mixed multitude.

>> Good.

>> So, what do you have in this day and

time? Well, allow me to draw the

parallel for just a minute. We've got a

world that's controlled by Satan and

he's sending his minions into the church

by the droves.

>> Amen.

>> Good churches are being turned upside

down all over the place because of

people that are coming in and causing a

mess.

>> And here's the thing about it. Good

churches are getting few and more few

and more few and more few and so he just

has less targets. Right?

>> Okay.

>> And so what's happening? The influx of

the world into the church is causing the

church to be defiled. That leadership it

that's trying to lead the church in the

right direction, but there's people out

there subverting the hearer. And so

you've got a congregation that's

disgruntled with the man of God.

>> The man of God gets angry.

>> What happens? the man of God, the

church, and those people all die in

apostasy. You're

>> right.

>> Verse five of Jude afterward destroyed

them that believe not.

Now, you know tonight that some of their

deaths were very bad. Those 10 men, God

smoteed them with a plague. Done. the

rest of them just had to live the rest

of their life in misery knowing they

were never going to make it. And the

fact that their death was the only thing

keeping the rest of their kids from

going into the land. Wouldn't that have

been miserable?

All of their children wandering around.

Man, I wish we could go in. Won't you

hurry up and die? I know that ain't the

way it was, but you know what I'm

saying. How miserable that must have

been for them to just wait around to die

so their children could go on and and

possess what they refuse to believe in.

And see, you know what happens in that

text? Because they omitted to do God's

will. Later on in Numbers 14, they

decide, "All right, we've sinned against

the Lord. Now we're going to go in." And

what does Moses say? What are you doing?

You can't go in now. And so their sin of

omission led them to sin a sin of

commission. And when they tried to go

in, God smoteed them.

>> You're right.

>> They died. What I'm saying is apostasy.

It has its root in lost people. But

here's what happened. saved people fall

victim to it. You're

>> right.

>> What you're going to find out in this

chapter, you can read in the book of

Peter, Lot was a victim of apostasy.

He allowed the world, Peter said, to vex

his righteous soul

>> with her unrighteous deeds.

And so, what's the truth about this? All

right. Moses and Aaron because of their

disobedience did not get to enter into

the land. Numbers 20:12 and 13.

Numbers 20:12

Deuteronomy:es

132-37. Go back and read that in your

own time. Here's the truth about

apostasy tonight. Apostasy

brings death.

>> All but two men went into the land of

Canaan

because the rest of the nation fell

victim to apostasy.

And the reason why preachers say we're

living in the days of apostasy

is because our churches, our good

churches are not apostasizing

themselves, but we're falling victim.

That's right.

>> To the ones that are.

And this is what I would say from the

heart of a pastor.

Watch, watch your family. Watch your

children. Cuz verse four, he says, "For

there are certain men crypt in

unawares." Be careful what you let your

ear listen to.

>> If somebody's feeding you a bunch of

garbage, a man, you turn it off. Don't

use your ear for a trash can.

>> That's right.

>> If it don't line up with that book right

there, you just mark it off. You ain't

got time to listen to that. There's

enough bad influences in this world that

we have to listen to because of our jobs

and everything else. You don't have to

bend your ear to somebody who is not

going to speak the truth at the house of

God. Amen. I'm just being honest with

you, okay? And here's what's going to

have to happen. Verse five, he said he

destroyed them that believe not. He

destroyed them because they believed

not.

Unbelief brings apostasy and apostasy

brings death. So be careful when the

preacher preaches something and you say,

"Well, I just don't believe that."

>> Amen.

>> Unbelief brings apostasy.

Apostasy will

every time bring death. You say, "Well,

preacher, it ain't going to bring

physical death in my life immediately."

You're right. It might not. But I'll

tell you this, it'll bring death to your

life in Christ.

>> You're right.

>> Because the moment you say, "I I just I

don't believe that. I don't see it that

way. I don't believe that." You know

what you've done? You've cut yourself

off spiritually.

>> You're right.

>> God will be merciful to you. I'm going

to tell you, apostasy is a short road to

a very deep ditch.

It is. You've heard it said, "There's

ditches on both sides of the road." And

there is and apostasy is the route to

get you there.

>> Both sides.

Legalism and liberalism. Amen. We better

tread lightly. Amen. I hope that helps

you tonight. We'll look again on next

week concerning that subject. Deal with

the angels. I'm not looking forward to

that, but we'll get there. Amen. Father,

thank you for this time. Thank you for

allowing us to study your word. God,

help us to see what we Lord, help us to

mark in this world. God, I know our our

friends and our families, Lord, many of

us, they're just flocking to this stuff.

Whatever looks good, whatever feels

good. Lord, help us to be different,

be set apart,

not just not just bank on everything

comes down the pipe. Lord, help us to

just take your word and live it and be

Christians and love you and serve you.

Be what you want us to be. God, help us

to identify the wolves. Help me as a

pastor, Lord, to identify the wolves,

Father, Lord, before they get the sheep.

Lord, I pray you'd help us in these

days. Keep us from falling away and keep

us in your will. And we'll thank you for

what you do because we ask it in Jesus

name. Amen.

>> I love each

>> Thank you for joining our service today.

We'd love it if you join us in person

the next time you are able at Meadows

Baptist Church. Our physical address is

2988

Stewart Road in Walnut Cove, North

Carolina. Our service times are Sunday

school at 10:00 a.m., Sunday morning

worship at 11:00 a.m., Sunday evening

worship at 6:00 p.m., and Wednesday

evening Bible study at 7:00 p.m. For

more information, visit us at

meadowsbaptisturch.com.

Thanks again for tuning in.