[0:00] 2 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, please. And while you're there, get Revelation 3. We'll go to both places to start.
[0:13] We're going to read a few scriptures here and then go back into the Old Testament and take a look at a king. If you've been around church, around Bible-believing church any length of time, you've probably heard the term apostasy.
[0:35] The term apostasy means to fall away. To fall away from what would have been an upright or standing position. In a position where you stood firm, you've retracted or you've fallen back from.
[0:50] It's not just, I changed my mind, but no, it's falling from it. That's what apostasy is. It's the abandonment or renunciation of a belief. But it's almost like becoming something that you once stood against.
[1:03] It's often thought of, apostasy in the church, it's often thought of as a sign of the end times. And this is why we're going to read this verse here. It's the falling away of the church, of God's children collectively falling away into apostasy.
[1:21] Away from a position that they once held firmly. And look at 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse number 3. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first.
[1:37] A falling away is going to come before the day of Christ, which is the day mentioned in verse number 2. That day of Christ is at hand. But don't let anybody deceive you about that thing, because before that happens, there's going to be a falling away first.
[1:53] And that's the term that we use apostasy for. Now come to Revelation chapter 3. And we'll look at this church, Laodicea, the church of the Laodiceans, in verse 14.
[2:06] And I'll read three, four verses here. This church seems to typify, it seems the language and the position they are in, it seems to typify the church of the end times.
[2:21] They're not what they once were. Verse 14 says, And that's the Lord Jesus Christ admonishing them.
[2:36] I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou work cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.
[2:48] Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.
[3:02] Now what I want us to consider about this particular church, which again seems to typify the church today of our age, is that this is a church.
[3:14] The angel of the church of the Laodiceans. Churches don't get started by lazy Christians. And I want to submit to you that this church, the very fact that they're a church, churches get built on people that are sold out.
[3:30] On people that want Jesus Christ, that want the work of God more than anything else. That's how churches get built. Not somebody who's just interested in vacation, and I have need of nothing, everything's good in my life, and I just attend church when it's convenient for me.
[3:45] You don't build a church with people like that. You build a church with people say, preacher, I'm in. I'm in. I'm all in. Whatever you need. Let's do it. I'm here with you. Let's go. Let's do something for God before it's too late.
[3:58] And in this church of Laodicea, there's no doubt in my mind, they were men and women that were on fire for God and sold out, but they fell away from that position, didn't they?
[4:08] Because they have a misconception about themselves. They say, they profess one thing in verse 17, but God says, you're not seeing it the way I see it at all.
[4:20] You're not even close to what you think you are. You are miserable. Miserable Christians. They're wretched Christians. And to build a church, I'm sure that they had something going on before that.
[4:35] I believe they've fallen. It's an evidence or a good indication of apostasy. Now, let's take a look at a king in the Old Testament today. And I want to call this sermon, Ahaz the Apostate.
[4:47] And go to 2 Kings chapter 16. 2 Kings chapter 16. The entirety of this chapter is given to King Ahaz. Ahaz.
[5:03] And Ahaz is a total apostate. And the reason I've introduced this in this light about apostasy is because it's certainly something that we need to guard against and not be a part of, if we can help it, by God's grace.
[5:18] And to do that, we need to be aware of it. We need to be aware of some signs and some evidences of what apostasy looks like. And I think we see a good example of it here in this king and in his reign, King Ahaz, the apostate.
[5:33] Ahaz is a 20-year-old man when he takes the throne. And he has a godly pedigree. But he jumps right into just falling way off and away from the Lord.
[5:44] But he has a godly pedigree that goes back at least 130 years. His father, his grandfather, and great-grandfather going back to, it's Joash, and then Amaziah, and then Azariah, also named Uzziah.
[5:58] And Jotham as well. There's four before him. Over 130 years, these men have served the Lord God of Israel, I should say. And they've done that which was right in the sight of the Lord in that land.
[6:12] They've cleaned the land up. They've worshipped God. They weren't perfect men. But they were godly men. He has a godly heritage. He grew up in a godly area, in a godly way, and then fell away from it.
[6:26] And we're going to see some evidences of his apostasy here in this chapter. So let's look in the very beginning of the chapter and follow along in the first four verses. Ahaz the apostate, 2 Kings 16, verse 1.
[6:40] In the seventeenth year of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord his God, like David his father.
[6:55] But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. Yea, he made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel.
[7:07] And he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places and on the hills and under every green tree. Now where did he get the idea to do those kind of things? Why was his practice earmarked with those sacrifices and offerings, and even with the abominations with his own son?
[7:27] He didn't learn that from his dad, or that would have been him getting passed through the fire, offered to some pagan god. He didn't learn that from his granddad. He learned that somewhere else. And what he should have done as king was followed the heritage that was established before him and the laws that was laid by Moses in the word of God.
[7:49] He had everything he needed to govern this people correctly and to be a pleasure to his creator, his God, and to have the blessings of God on that land. But what Ahaz did was he despised the scriptures, and evidence of his apostasy we see right away is that the scripture was not his authority.
[8:11] He despised the way of the Lord. He despised what was written. To him, that's just old. That's the way I was raised, but that's not the way I'm going to live.
[8:22] That's the way I was brought up. That's the way my dad lived. That's the way his dad lived, but that's not for me. That's old. Those scrolls, come on. Those are old. Why don't you look up at Israel and see what they're doing?
[8:37] Ahaz said, I'm a young man. I'm 20 years old. I'm going to live in the now. I'm going to do things the way people are doing them in the world today. Not that old junk that I've been talking about for years. I've never seen Moses.
[8:48] I've never seen David. I've never seen Solomon. That's old news, and I'm going to do what we're doing today. I'm going to live in today. And he despised the word of God, the scripture, and refused to make that his authority and submit to the word of God.
[9:03] He determined that he wasn't going to live according to the ancient, the old timers, the old fashioned traditions of Israel. That's out of touch. But Ahaz thought, this is life.
[9:14] I'm going to live it in the present, not the past. The scripture, that's the past. So Ahaz looked to the north and saw Israel. And then he looked to the heathen, as we see in verse 3, according to the abominations of the heathen.
[9:29] He even looked to the heathen to determine, this is how things are in the world today, and that's how we're going to do things. Apostasy is evidenced all around us today by watching Christians, by watching the church of God lay down the scriptures as their authority and just brush them aside.
[9:49] Not only have they laid off and got rid of the King James Bible and said, give me another version. Give me something that's more up to date. Get rid of the these and vows because it's so hard to understand. And if you've been around in the last several Wednesday nights, you've got a dose of some stuff about that.
[10:04] And they're lying to you, telling you they took out the archaic words. There's a bunch of liars. Every one of those versions has archaic words in them. Every single one of them. That's a lie, by the way, to say they got rid of them.
[10:17] It's an old book. They're just, little study goes a long way on that thing. And so not just have they gotten rid of the King James Bible and decided they want something that is a little lighter, a little softer, a little watered down, doesn't deal with certain sins like this one does, and changes certain words and alters certain doctrines.
[10:36] And it's a whole mess. But they've also just completely got rid of the book. They decided that this Bible is not the way we're going to have church.
[10:47] It's not going to be the focus. It's not going to be the authority. But rather they've settled for what's going to bring the numbers in the doors. How can we get people in here? And churches, rather than preachers and standing for the authority and proclaiming the word of God, they've become just excellent marketers.
[11:07] Excellent marketers of help. Marketers of positive messages and promoting things. And they've dropped the truth for what people want to hear.
[11:19] For what people will come back to hear next week. For what makes them happy. Churches become big business. The church has fallen away. It's apostasy.
[11:30] And when the scripture is not the authority, then let me ask you something. What is? What authority do you have? What can a man or a woman, for that matter, this day, stand in a pulpit and declare to the people of God to help them with?
[11:43] What can they declare? What can they say that we can all agree to and know for sure that this is right? What authority do you have when you don't have a Bible? Is it yourself?
[11:55] Is it your opinion? And it is nowadays. That's what it's become. If that's okay, then have at it. Apostasy, though.
[12:06] That's what you got. Is it the practice of others like Ahaz's case? He looked not to the word of God, but he looked to, well, what are they doing? It's good for them. What are the heathen doing? I want to see what that's all about.
[12:17] And as they look to the practice of others and start implementing that in their churches, you find out that he, just like people today, have taken a trip to Damascus in the end and made some decisions. And we'll see that in a minute.
[12:30] The scriptures, not the authority. Keep your finger here, but take a peek back at Joshua chapter 1. And I want you to learn a phrase that we can apply to us today when it comes to this thought of going forward with the word of God and decisions to be made.
[12:50] Joshua chapter 1. When he was about to enter the land, he was instructed a few things. And let's read verses 8 and 9 in the book of Joshua.
[13:07] Moses is dead. God is instructing now his new leader. He says in verse 7, Well, look at that, the scripture.
[13:20] To all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded thee. Here's the phrase. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left. But what if I don't like what it says?
[13:32] Don't you turn from it. But what if I don't understand it? You stay in it and study it. You read that book. It shall not depart. Verse 8. Well, let me finish the verse. Turn not from the right hand nor to the left, that thou mayest prosper with us wherever thou goest.
[13:44] This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
[13:58] It's repeated in the Bible about that thought of not turning to the right hand nor to the left. That's what Joshua was instructed to do. Not to turn from the scriptures, but the apostate doesn't want the scriptures.
[14:11] He doesn't want to submit to the scriptures. He turns to the heathen. He turns to the idolatrous nation of Israel, to some other God's people, but they're doing it differently, and he wants a piece of that.
[14:26] And church, the mind of God is still found in his book, and the will of God is still found in his book, the way of righteousness. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left.
[14:36] King Ahaz, the apostate, evidence of his apostasy was that word of scripture. It was not his authority. Now look back at that chapter 16 again in 2 Kings.
[14:47] I want you to see something else in verses 5 and 6, some more evidence of his apostasy, how he fell away, and some evidence in his reign. In 2 Kings 16, I'll read verses 5 and 6.
[14:59] Then Rezan, king of Syria, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to war. And they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him.
[15:10] At that time, Rezan, king of Syria, recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from Elath, and the Syrians came to Elath and dwelt there unto this day. You know, when the enemies attacked the king, he didn't lose his throne, but you know what he did do?
[15:26] He gave up some ground, didn't he? He lost a town there, but that's not all. It gets way worse than that. I want you to keep your place, but turn to another account of this same thing, to 2 Chronicles chapter 28.
[15:41] And here's another rendition of his reign, and of just how bad it was. It was more than just a town that they took from him.
[15:52] What he lost in his reign was unprecedented. 2 Chronicles 28, and we'll begin in verse 5.
[16:08] You can see the very first verse. We're talking about Ahaz, 20 years old when he began to reign. Verse 5 says, Wherefore the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria, and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude of them captives, and brought them to Damascus.
[16:23] And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter. For Pekah, the son of Ramaliah, slew in Judah, and 120,000 in one day, which were all valiant men, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers.
[16:37] And Zechariah, the mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maaseah. That's not right. Maaseah. The king's son, and Azrakam, the governor of the house, and Elkanah, that was next to the king, and the children of Israel, carried away captives of their brethren, 200,000 women, sons and daughters, and took away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria.
[17:02] Now fast forward through this chapter, come to verse 16, and see that it was more than just that. At that time did King Ahaz send unto the kings of Assyria to help him.
[17:13] For again the Edomites had come and smitten Judah. Now that's attacking from the southeast. The Edomites are coming up, and smitten Judah and carried away captives.
[17:23] The Philistines also, Philistines are on the southeast, or west. So he's getting from the southeast and southwest, attacking him. The Philistines had invaded the cities of the low country and on the south of Judah and had taken Beth Shemesh.
[17:36] And there's a list of villages. It wasn't just the one, but here's a list of them. That gives us one, two, three, four, five, six more villages that they came and dwelt there.
[17:47] Verse 19 says, And the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz, king of Israel, he made Judah naked and transgressed sore against the Lord. Now coming back to our chapter in 2 Kings 16, evidence of this apostate king is that he gave up ground.
[18:06] He gave up ground. It was territory. It was cities that his fathers, all the way back to King David, had fought for with their lives. Men hazarding their lives for the God of Israel.
[18:19] God giving them this great deliverance and subduing the land around them. The entire region was subdued to Israel. And yet this king here, just in his wicked reign, in his apostasy, just gives up ground.
[18:33] It wasn't only land that he lost, but he lost people. His own people, carried away captive to the heathen and to the ungodly.
[18:46] These people should have lived in his kingdom in peace. They should have raised their families in the synagogue. They should have raised their families pilgrimaging to Jerusalem at certain feast days and seeing the highness of God's system for the Jews and seeing the holy men of God in their priestly apparel and the sacrifices and the smoke going up and seeing that with their eyes and knowing we serve a holy God.
[19:14] But they didn't get that at all. You know what they got instead of being around God's word and God's ways and the righteousness and the truth? They got heathen, women, daughters, sons, raised in the world, taken from God's land and moved to live in the world.
[19:32] It's because of the sin and the apostasy of this king that sent them off to live in the world and never to return. Boy, doesn't that sound like families in the church. When apostasy gets in the church or in the lives of believers, it's evidenced by them just giving up ground.
[19:49] They still have church. Well, they still attend sometimes, but they've lost some things, haven't they? There's some battles that were waged in the past against the enemies of the Lord, but they gave up that ground.
[20:03] You know, it takes time. It takes real time and fight and effort for the word of God to work in lives and to bear fruit in their life. It just doesn't happen. It takes time.
[20:15] And a church needs to remain sound in its doctrine and its truth and stay standing for what's right so that people can get their lives right and then fruit can come unto God in another generation and can grow.
[20:29] But when a church falls away, what hope do the people have? What hope do they have at all? It takes time of the ground being broken up and sowing and the watering and the work that must be done in the hearts of men.
[20:43] But when the word of God is no longer the authority or is emphasized, it doesn't take long for things to slip. And it doesn't take long for doctrines to change or disappear completely.
[20:56] It doesn't take long for a church that stood for truth to just become just a place of worship and praise and that's about it. I talked with a preacher that's up in Castaic this week and he was telling me that he went with his family to Maui and when they got there, he said they were all standing in line at this resort or someplace that they were standing and he looked over and he saw this guy that looked familiar to him and he's like, who is that?
[21:26] And he couldn't put his finger on it and it clicked. He's like, that's Rick Warren. That's the guy of the purpose-driven life that years ago, Saddleback Church pastor and if you're familiar with all of that, he's like, that's Rick Warren.
[21:40] And he said, he's like, so I went up to him and I just introduced myself and didn't want to bug him because I could say, I know you're on vacation with your family and I'm on vacation with my family and he says, but can I just ask you one question?
[21:53] I'm not going to argue with you or debate things with you but he said, years ago, he said, I just saw recently that your church ordained three women and preachers. And he said, 30 years ago you never would have done that but you did now.
[22:05] He says, what's the deal with that? Could you tell me why? And he said that Rick Warren kind of leaned down toward him and with kind of squinty eyes like he's going to give him some deep truth. He said, brother, times have changed.
[22:19] And he said, oh, okay, okay. That's his position, huh? Maybe times have changed but has the word of God changed? Has he declared some things about that particular thing in here?
[22:34] So if the word of God hasn't changed, times have changed, which one do we go with? It's pretty obvious. It's evidence of apostasy, giving up ground.
[22:47] The authority is not the word of God anymore so fall away. Fall away all day. Back in 2 Kings 16, let's look at verses 7 and 8. Here's something else. We see more evidence of his apostasy.
[22:59] In verse 7, so Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son. He's doing this because he's getting beat down from Syria and from Israel coming against him so he wants help.
[23:15] He reaches out to somebody he shouldn't. I am thy servant and thy son. Not true. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria and out of the hand of the king of Israel which rise up against me. So Ahaz, verse 8, took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the king's house and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria.
[23:37] What is he doing? Here's something else. Another evidence of his apostasy is he gives away something that belongs to God. That silver and gold was dedicated to God.
[23:50] It wasn't even his to give away even if he's the king. He has no right to that. That was given by the people as an offering to the Lord their Jehovah God in submission and in love to him consecrated as holy unto the Lord in the house of the Lord.
[24:08] It's hallowed stuff. And he says, hey, go in there and give him the gold and silver. Let's use that as a present. Let's give that as a gift. That stuff is not currency. And it's not to be reckoned as a valuable that belongs to the king.
[24:22] It belongs to God. It's not the priest. It's God's. It was dedicated to the Lord for the service and work of the ministry in the temple. Yet this king, this apostate king, just gives away something that belongs to God.
[24:40] That's nothing short of blasphemy, profaning that which is holy, giving it as a gift to a heathen king. So he cared, he shows you how much he cared for the temple of God and the God of the temple to take the silver and the gold out of God's house and just treat it like it's the same as the silver and gold that he owned and possessed in his house.
[25:04] And just put them all together and send it up there and it shows you how much he cared for the God that put him on that throne. And that brings me to say that apostasy is evidenced in churches and in people's lives when they give away something that is belonging to God.
[25:20] When they treat it like it's just their own or just like the stuff that they own and possess. What belongs to God? I know something that belongs to God. In Acts chapter 20 the church belongs to God.
[25:31] The Bible says that he purchased the church with his own blood. The Bible says he gave himself for us that he might redeem us. That's buying us, paying for us from all iniquity.
[25:43] The church belongs to God. And if the church belongs to God and if it's the body of Christ as we studied in Sunday school then doesn't he have the right to determine how it operates?
[25:54] Doesn't he have the right to determine its goals and its functions and its boundaries and its purpose? Or is that up to us to decide? Or do we get to just do what we feel we like?
[26:06] Or do we submit to the word of God and seek his approval? Yet apostates they just constantly push the limits on what God allows to what they like.
[26:17] They push the limits and they end up altering the course that the church God has the body of Christ on and to and to just let's build another building. Let's put up another monument.
[26:30] Let's make this about a man. If you haven't been around it oh boy it's around it's around America it's international how the church that belongs to God has fallen away and started worshiping men.
[26:46] There's a there's a a five point alliterated outline that I learned in Bible school that describes it starts with a man and that is God calls a man to preach and gifts that man in a ministry to do something a man builds a ministry that's the second thing there's a ministry and as the ministry begins moving it's called a movement it turns into something going on it catches the ears of people all over and other churches and other things and they start to imitate it and they start to follow that man and his ministry it becomes a movement and then it fourthly becomes a machine to where it's not really the man or the ministry so much as now it's this operation and as this operation goes and just starts building itself and feeding itself internally it just becomes self enclosed and it's build buildings build things it becomes this big campus and operation that's not what it started out to be and then the last thing is the last M is it becomes a monument
[27:49] God's gone the Lord's not working there like he was at the beginning with that man it's become all about that man everybody worships that man he hands it over to his son something like that and that seems to be the five fold steps to apostasy in the body of Christ in the church something that's to belong to God is just given away or taken by a man that it doesn't belong to in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 the Bible says that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which you have of God and ye are not your own for ye are bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's your body belongs to God your spirit belongs to God and if that's the case doesn't he have the right to decide how you use it and how much of it you show off and how you present it does he not have the right to declare to you what you can and can't put inside of it or do you have the right to do that do you decide what's right for you a sign of apostasy is when Christians fall away they slip on things that they once stood for because they wanted nothing else but to please the God that gave his life for them and over time they start to reclaim their life
[29:11] God says he wants you to present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service after time Christians start to slip and crawl back down off of that altar and say I'm not so sure that I'm going to give all of this anymore and they retract things things that belong to God and I need to finish up so let's get into 2 Kings 16 again and get to verse 10 in this chapter the king of Assyria ends up agreeing and really he according to another chapter he really didn't help him he kind of turned on him but the king of Assyria hearkens to him and he goes and fights for him and verse 10 says then King Ahaz went to Damascus and he met him he met Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria and watch this in verse 10 and saw an altar that was at Damascus and King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest the fashion of the altar and the pattern of it according to all the workmanship thereof and Uriah the priest built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus so Uriah the priest made it against
[30:30] King Ahaz came from Damascus when the king was come from Damascus and the king saw the altar the king approached to the altar and offered thereon and he burned his burnt offering and his meat offering and poured his drink offering and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings upon the altar it kind of sounds like what Moses told him to do kind of but in verse 14 he brought also the brazen altar which was before the Lord that's where it's supposed to be from the forefront of the house from between the altar and the house of the Lord and put it on the north side of the altar he completely just got it out of the way for his new altar that he made and in verse 15 King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest saying upon the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the evening meat offering and the king's burnt sacrifice and his meat offering and the burnt offerings of all the people of the land and their meat offering and their drink offerings and sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt offerings and all the blood of the sacrifice and the brazen altar shall be for me to inquire by we'll get that out of the way though that's not what we're going to offer by isn't that something there's a few more things he did through here that I won't continue on reading but what did he do here another thing in 2nd Chronicles 29 about this king it says that he shut up the doors of the house of the Lord he shut up the doors the temple close the doors we don't have any need for that place anymore we're not going in there we're going to offer on this great altar that I've built
[31:56] I really like it it really caught my eye when I was up there in Damascus and I thought man that's neat this one we have is old they've been burning on that thing forever and I think this one is where we're going to go now and what did king do what's evidence of his apostasy here is the fourth thing and finally he replaced holy worship with heathen worship he saw an altar in verse 10 he saw that he already has one he already has an altar that God prescribed that he used this brazen altar this was this is in the word of God exactly the dimensions of the altar and how you approach it and what to do and offer upon it but he saw one that he liked better and he decided to move God's altar out of the way replace it with something different but he's still sacrificing I mean a lot of sacrifices right so it's okay he's still worshiping God does that sound familiar we're still sacrificing and worshiping God so God's okay with it why are you judging me we're worshiping
[33:02] God I love him Jesus so why are you judging me about how I do it it doesn't have to be that brazen altar why can't it be something new why can't I show God how much I love him by doing something new is God okay with it or not that's the question we know from the passage we know he's wrong he's an apostate king he had instructions on how God is to be approached and worshipped and he pushed it all out of the way and said the heathen up there are doing it this way and I like that better so I'm going to offer God that his apostasy is evidenced in replacing holy worship with heathen worshipped and for years and years now the whole generation is going through this and going on and it's getting worse because now a generation is in church sort of and that's all they've ever known is heathen worship for years now the church has been going to
[34:03] Damascus and seeing how the heathen have worshipped their gods of power and money and sex they worship all uncleanness and they like it and they bring it back into the house of God they enjoy it so much they bring the pattern of heathen worship into God's house and now they pattern their stage and their music and their lights looks like a concert doesn't look like a church service anymore somebody's been spending time in Damascus they've brought that atmosphere into the house of God and decided God should be okay with this I'm still worshipping him who are you to judge me they've fallen into apostasy they've fallen away because they care so little about the word of God like King A has if they can be entertained if they can have the lights and have the action and just show up to church and be an observer that satisfies them no pressure to do anything no pushing me to clean up my life or change but I can go put my time in at church and just observe the singing and observe the show and observe and hear just something positive that will make me feel pretty good about myself if we could resurrect preachers of the past preachers that stood in pulpits their pulpits that have been removed and replaced with a stool if we could resurrect some of those preachers of the past they would never believe it just like if we could resurrect
[35:38] Jotham and Ahaziah and Joash and they'd never believe what their son or grandson was doing in the house of God or in the court until they saw it with their eyes why if we could resurrect those preachers of the past they wouldn't believe it either if we told them that they're not preaching on hell anymore they're not talking about sin and judgment anymore in the pulpits no they're just sitting on a stool and there's no Bible it's an iPad that's all they have anymore and there's no altar for people to pray they used to call it the sinner's bench there's none of that it's just a stage it's a stage and there's no prayer room in the back anymore the men would say why not we need to pray they said well we gotta store our equipment the music equipment for the stage and things have changed and the church has fallen away and there's no hell being preached there's no judgment no longer do they spit and rave in their pulpits but they just smile and wave just a big smile a cheesy grin for God's people to come and nod at they don't condemn and rebuke sin from their pulpits they just encourage just want to encourage you this morning and uplift you are you feeling down
[37:02] I'm not gonna go too far with this because I'll start to hate myself but they're not fiery preachers anymore they're funny preachers and they're not even preachers they're pretenders is what they are they're imitators of what God's people really want heathen worship heathen worship they are entertained from Netflix their television all week long from YouTube to everything the world has to offer they entertain and get their fill of it they come to church they don't want to be convicted they don't want judgment from God they don't want truth they just want to be entertained again they've fallen away they replaced holy worship with heathen worship this king here also we saw that he approached in verse 12 the king approached to the altar and offered thereon that is not his job that is far outside his scope of authority that's for the priest to do the consecrated priest called of
[38:05] God to approach and offer his daddy got in trouble doing that if you read it in second chronicles his daddy Uzziah went in and offered incense inside the house of the Lord and the Lord smote him with leprosy but this guy just decided he's going to do what he wants that kind of apostasy of disregarding the word of God and feeling like I have the authority to do whatever I want whenever I want the way I want to do it it reminds me of some things that are going on today that I've already mentioned it reminds me of women that have decided that they want to be in the ministry even in the pastor it they've decided that there's verses against it in the Bible but I want to do it anyway Ahaz had scripture that you're to do it this way but he said just put that out of the push that off to the side and let's do it the way they're doing it in Damascus and now we've got women that are pastors being ordained into the ministry saying get that old altar out of my way
[39:06] I've been to Damascus they do it different there and we're going to do things differently from now on I remember I'm sure I told you this before but I was I for anger and entertainment purposes only I was watching Joyce Meyer I think I was actually like at the dentist or somewhere like that I don't know where it was but she was on she's preaching if you don't know who she is she's been around for quite a while this woman preacher and she's she's pacing herself back and forth in her high heels on the stage and she's saying she caught my attention because she said people ask me all the time and they tell me from the scripture that I'm a woman I'm not supposed to be in the preaching and I'm not supposed to be a pastor and I'm not supposed to be usurping authority over that she gave the scriptures and when I heard her say that it caught my ear I thought yeah so you know what you're doing is against the word of God and she goes but they ask me why do I do it and I say I'll tell you why I do what I do because my bible says
[40:07] I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me and the place just started clapping and praising the Lord and that stinking rebellious wicked woman defying the word of God and the spirit of God and everything that's righteous and right and telling and abusing taking a verse that she says I want it this way and I'll just erase the rest of it because I have this one shame on her she's going to give an account to the Lord Jesus Christ for that if she's born again this kind of apostasy reminds me of that stuff that's going on today it reminds me also of believers that love to get together in their small groups instead of attending church or instead of having a pastor preach from the word of God in the pulpit they just like to meet at the house and have coffee and donuts and sit in a circle and that way everybody can share their feelings about how they feel that what this verse means to me and in doing that they don't have an authority that they submit to but rather they want their opinion to matter everybody gets to speak and you can't be divisive so you have to just tone down anything that could be divisive you have to just make sure everybody gets a turn to lead the group in worship and everybody goes home happy it's apostasy and how far
[41:28] Christianity has fallen away into apostasy and I said at the beginning this is something we need to be guarded against and to do that you need to be made aware of it in Jeremiah chapter 6 the Bible says thus saith the Lord stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where is the good way and walk therein and ye shall find rest for your souls but they said we will not walk therein that's the church today they refuse the scripture they're not coming back either it is a sign of the end times but what we can do and should do is stand is remain standing standing it's the Christian position standing on the word of God and the King James Bible as our authority and refusing to give up ground staying faithful to our calling to our separation from the world to being a peculiar people at all costs to continue to stand and to glorify our God this morning church let's resolve we're not budging we're going to commit to God that we're in this until it's over it might get ugly you remember back in Daniel chapter 3
[42:46] Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego you remember how everybody was standing at one time until the music played and then there was only three guys standing and what did they do exactly nothing they just stayed standing it was everybody else that fell down and worshipped so what I want of us and of you just stay standing you believe this book you read this book you want to walk in it you want to do what's right stay standing don't change so that church starts doing that we're not going there so that church switches their mode and their methods of worship we're not doing that I'm not against technology I mean that's what the blue tape is up there playing around with some screens maybe and some sizes there's nothing wrong with technology as long as it doesn't turn into some heathen worship not intending to do that at all I want to stand I don't want to fall into apostasy but it's evident all around us the church is going and they're going fast and like we read in Revelation they don't even know it because they say they're rich increased with goods have need of nothing and they don't even know how poor they are how blind they are
[43:57] Father this morning I pray that you'll bless the message and the words that were spoken the word of God and the example we've seen I pray Lord that you'd help us to stand Lord open our eyes help us to see it for what it is drive us to the word of God rebuke us when we want entertainment more than we want your word Lord help us to get some guts help us to be different we take courage in knowing that not just old fashioned ways but the old paths that you talk we take courage in just knowing that we haven't changed from the truth and from the word of God Lord instill it in our hearts to stand to not fall away we know the end's coming we trust your son's coming to get us soon so Lord we pray you'd give us strength you'd tell us to stand in the power of God that we'd be strong in the Lord and the power of his might so Lord may you encourage your children to do that this morning to make a commitment to continue with you until they die or until you call us all home
[45:11] Father we love you this morning I pray the Bible Baptist Church will be standing when you come back that we wouldn't bend that you wouldn't allow me in my heart and mind to see the heathen to see the numbers to see other ministries and think we need to do it that way God I pray you'll lead me in righteousness and help me to understand and obey your spirit thank you for this church and for those that are here this morning I pray God that you'll take these words and make it apply to us where we are in Christ's name I ask Amen let's