2 Thessalonians chapter number 2, the part I want to focus on is the first four verses
where the Bible reads,
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering
together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by spirit
nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling
away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalted
himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in
the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
And the title of my sermon tonight is The Great Falling Away.
The Great Falling Away.
I want to focus in on that term that's used partway through verse 3, where he says that
that day shall not come except there come a falling away first.
Now before we get into what that falling away is, let me just explain to you what this passage
is clearly teaching.
It is teaching that the day of Christ will not come until there is first a falling away
and the man of sin is revealed.
The man of sin being the antichrist who will enter into the temple of God.
He will sit there and he will claim to be God.
He will exalt himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped.
He will claim to be God.
He will claim to be the Messiah.
This is stating that those things will happen before the day of Christ.
Now for sake of time, I'm not going to turn with you to the seven times in the New Testament
that the day of Christ is mentioned, but if you look up all of the mentions of the day
of Christ, it becomes very clear to you that this is one and the same with Jesus Christ
coming in the clouds at the rapture.
I'll just give you one quick example.
The Bible says in Philippians chapter 1 that he which hath begun a good work in you will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
You see, there's a work that God is doing in each and every one of us if we're saved
and he that has begun a good work in us will perform that good work in us until the day
of Jesus Christ.
That work that the Holy Spirit performs in us is known as sanctification.
He is drawing us unto himself and he is conforming us to the image of his son.
He is guiding us into all truth.
He is basically helping us to understand scripture and so forth so that we can grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
That work will continue until the day of Christ.
Why?
Because at the day of Christ we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is when we're
caught up in the clouds together with him.
The Bible also talks often about the day of the Lord and again that's associated with
the rapture if you study 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Thessalonians 5.
I'm not going to belabor that point.
It's pretty obvious when you study scripture that the day of Christ is referring to the
rapture and that the day of the Lord and the day of Christ are both happening on the same
day.
He is the Lord Jesus Christ after all.
So it's this one in the self same day.
But the reason I bring that up is that there are a lot of people who teach a false doctrine
known as the pre-tribulation rapture and what these people are teaching is that Jesus Christ
could come back at any moment, that the day of Christ could be today or could be tomorrow.
And this pre-tribulation rapture or this imminent rapture meaning that it could happen today
or tomorrow is a false doctrine because the Bible clearly states that that day will not
come until there come a falling away first and the man of sin be revealed the son of
perdition.
The Bible is crystal clear that the rapture takes place after the tribulation.
That is stated in Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21 and elsewhere in scripture.
So it makes perfect sense that these things would have to happen first.
Now what is it saying about that?
It says don't let anyone deceive you by any means into thinking that the day of Christ
is at hand meaning that it's about to happen at any moment.
He's saying it's not going to come until there come a falling away first and the man of sin
be revealed.
So just to kind of get that out of the way, the actual primary context of the passage,
I want to really delve into what is meant by a falling away.
Now the best way to define a falling away would be to look up other places in scripture
where that term is used.
Falling away, right?
Let's start in Luke chapter 8 verse 13.
So Matthew, Mark, Luke.
If we want to know what it means to fall away, what's a great falling away?
Well let's look at Luke chapter 8 and look where the same exact term is used and see
what it means.
Now if we just look at the two words that make up this phrase, falling and away, falling
means to go down, doesn't it?
It implies that you were at an elevated location but now you have fallen meaning you have gone
down from that.
Now you can't fall from if you've never been there in the first place, right?
You have to be there and then you fall.
Falling away means that you're going away from something that you were once near unto,
that you were once nigh unto.
So a falling away is a removal or departure from something and it's going down.
It's getting worse, not better, right?
Look at Luke chapter 8 verse 13.
This is the parable of the sower.
They on the rock, verse 13 of Luke 8, are they which when they hear receive the word
with joy and these have no root which for a while believe and in time of temptation
fall away.
Now the time of temptation means a time of testing, a time of trial.
We talked about that word this morning in regard to Abraham in Genesis chapter 22.
These are people who do believe on Jesus Christ but in time of temptation they fall
away, alright?
Now what is that saying?
It's saying that they no longer stand where they once stood.
They no longer believe the same things that they once believed.
That's what it means to fall away.
Go if you would to Hebrews chapter number 6.
Hebrews chapter number 6 and we're going to find another example where this term fall
away is used.
Now because this passage in 2 Thessalonians 2, 1 through 4 is so damaging to the pre-tribulation
rapture and it's pretty much impossible to get around it when they're just saying look
the day of Christ is not at hand, X, Y and Z has to happen first, people have grasped
at straws to try to interpret this passage another way and one way that I've heard them
do recently is they'll say well the falling away is the rapture.
Now the colossal problem with that is that things don't fall up, they fall down.
The rapture is when we're caught up together with Christ in the clouds and you know that's
not a falling away but what they do with this is they go back to the Greek and they say
well if you go back to the Greek that word rapture there or not rapture I'm sorry that
word falling away there they say that word falling away there it just means departure
that's all it means if you go back to the Greek.
So it's like a departure up to heaven, it's the rapture.
Beware of any doctrine that makes you go back to the Greek to get that doctrine.
If you can't get that doctrine from reading an English Bible it isn't there.
I mean if somebody has to take you to a foreign language to say well here's what the Bible
really means just take it to the bank that's not what it really means because what it says
is what it means it means what it says read it in English and believe it don't sit there
and say well in a foreign language that none of us are fluent in it means just departure
by itself and ergo it's the rapture because it's departing from earth to heaven no way
it's falling away friend speak English.
Don't tell me that you know more with your little Greek English dictionary you haven't
even learned the language you're not even fluent you amateur you dilettante and you
think that you know more than the 54 expert scholars who spent seven years translating
this book and people over the last 400 years have accepted it as the standard in English
for 400 and some years and you're just going to come along and just say well I think it's
just a departure like the rapture don't even come at me with that going back to the Greek
and listen if anybody starts going back to the Greek to make their point just zone out
you know what I mean just speak English but anyway look at Hebrews chapter 6 verse 4 it
says for it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly
gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God
and the powers of the world to come if they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance
seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame
now look in verse 4 it says that these people were once enlightened meaning that they had
understanding of something and then it says that they fell away all right so we can see
Luke chapter 8 we can see Hebrews chapter 6 that the falling away is departing from
a certain knowledge or departing from something that that was believed or something along
those lines now Hebrews chapter 6 is not referring to people who are saved okay what it is referring
to is people who were once enlightened and had tasted of the heavenly gift it's not saying
that these people received the heavenly gift or were actually born again and actually got
saved what it's actually referring to is a person who understands the gospel they hear
the gospel the Holy Spirit is working on their heart and they basically make a final decision
to just reject the gospel and at that point they become reprobate where they've just it's
all clear to them they've been enlightened they've tasted it they're right there and
then they choose to turn away from it or fall away from it and reject it and that person
becomes reprobate that's why it says just a few verses later in verse 8 but that which
beareth thorns and briars referring to the people that we just read about in verses four
through six but that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected which rejected is synonymous
with reprobate and is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned but beloved we are persuaded
better things of you and things that accompany salvation though we thus speak and this is
all introduction this is all going to make sense in a moment but if you would go to first
timothy chapter number four we've looked at a couple scriptures that use the word falling
away right and it's pretty easy to see what it means hey these people believed but then
they fell away in hebrews chapter six they were not believers they're not saved but they
were enlightened and had tasted of the spiritual gift basically they're close to getting saved
they're right there and then they fall away now when i was growing up i was taught hebrews
chapter six at a very young age that was one of the things that my parents taught me my
parents taught me the doctrine of a person becoming a reprobate all right this is a teaching
that i grew up with it was taught from the pulpit and my parents taught it to me they
did not teach me the the reprobate doctrine that is laid out in romans chapter one that
just wasn't really a scripture that they talked much about in those days just because honestly
i i love my parents they gave me a great uh upbringing and they brought me to independent
fundamental baptist churches and they brought me up in the nurture and admonition of the lord i'm
extremely thankful for their discipline for their love for their teaching for their training great
parents all of my siblings and and myself are you know in independent fundamental baptist
churches and so i'm very thankful for that christian home that i grew up in but my in those
days my parents my you know my dad taught me this doctrine but my dad was not a big you know cover
to cover bible reader in those days now thank god these days my dad does read the bible cover to
cover but in those days not so much so most of his doctrine came from his dad taught him and he
you know he got a lot of good teaching in church and everything and he expounded a lot of doctrine
unto us and one thing that he taught i don't think he was super duper familiar with the romans one
passage on reprobates but he taught me this this hebrews chapter six passage on reprobates for sure
so therefore i didn't really associate being a reprobate with being a sodomite in my mind because
i was never taught that i only saw that connection when i started reading the bible for myself when
i was about 16 17 i read it cover to cover i read romans one and i saw that connection but what my
dad did teach me was hebrews chapter six and he said there comes a point when a person hears the
gospel and it's clear to them they understand it and they're right there and they have that choice
and they sort of just make a final decision where they turn away from it and reject it and he said
that person is a reprobate that person will never be saved because they they've been rejected at
that point and he point to hebrews chapter six it is impossible to renew them again into repentance
and my dad gave me many examples of people that he had personally known where this hebrews chapter
six scenario had played out and he listed for me all the stories of people that he had given the
gospel to and and he would give somebody the gospel and bring them to church and they'd maybe
even come to church for a few weeks and they were considering being saved but they weren't sure if
they believed or not and they would come to church with them and he was trying to kind of work on
that person right and working on it watering that seed and then he told me that when that person
rejected the gospel it seemed like that person became worse than they had ever been before
and they became more blasphemous and more wicked and more sinful and my dad pointed out certain
people in his life that he had known and certain people that i knew and he said i believe that that
person is probably a reprobate because he said it's just like in hebrew six where they had
tasted it they were right there and they rejected it and then all of a sudden they were just got
way worse way more wicked way more sinful in fact he pointed out a particular relative in our
extended family and said i believe that he is a reprobate your grandpa went and gave him the
gospel and he rejected it and then he just got way worse after hearing a clear presentation of
the gospel and rejecting it and of course that guy later turned out to be a sodomite surprise
you know because romans one explains that that's where being a reprobate takes you into vile
affections so anyway i'm explaining that for a reason that's going to come into play a little
bit later in the sermon here when it comes to the falling away because hebrew six is a pertinent
passage but look down at your bible in first timothy chapter four verse one the bible reads
now the spirit speaketh expressly and expressly means that the spirit is not being vague on this
subject but being very specific the spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times
some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils
this departure is the same as the falling away departing from the faith is what's being referred
to here we have an english word that we use called apostasy which means to depart from the faith
okay which comes from the greek word so these people want to go back to the greek to deceive
us and say hey if you go back to the greek it's just a departure but what they fail to tell you
is that that greek word is apostasia where we get our english word apostasy and it's only used one
other place in the new testament when it says in acts 2121 and they are informed of thee that
thou teachest all the jews which are among the gentiles to forsake moses saying they ought not
to circumcise their children neither to walk after the customs so in that verse where it says to
forsake moses it's the same greek word as the departure the falling away so what does it mean
to forsake moses it means that once you believed moses followed the teachings of moses now you're
falling away from that isn't that exactly what it meant in all of the english examples that we look
to therefore going back to the greek doesn't give you any new understanding here it's the same thing
it's a falling away it's a departure from the faith okay so what does it mean everybody stay
with the sermon here what does it mean when the bible says that before the day of christ
there is going to be a great falling away what does that mean it means that there's going to be
a great departure from the faith is what that means what did it mean in luke 8 hey they believed
but now they're falling away what did it mean in hebrews chapter 6 they're enlightened they tasted
it they were right there they were close to being safe and then they fell away what does it mean
at first timothy chapter 4 they departed from the faith and notice it says that in the latter
times they'll depart from the faith so this is associated with end times so second thessalonians
too says in the end times before the anti-christ is revealed before the day of christ comes there
will be a great falling away and then here he says that in the latter times there will be a
great departure from the faith these are talking about the same thing they're both the same what
does it mean well let's read the scripture here in first timothy 4 to get a little bit more detail
on this departure from the faith or falling away the bible says in verse 1 now the spirit
speaketh expressly that in the latter time some shall depart from the faith giving heed to
seducing spirits and doctrines of devils speaking lies in hypocrisy having their conscience seared
with a hot iron forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which god hath created to be
received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth for every creature of god is
good and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving for it is sanctified by the word
of god and prayer if thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things thou shalt be a good
minister of jesus christ nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine whereunto
thou hast attained okay so what do we see here he says that the spirit speaketh expressly
that in the latter time some shall depart from the faith giving heed or listening to or following
after seducing spirits these are evil spirits unclean spirits and he says doctrines of devils
now doctrine means teaching so basically he's saying that in the end times people will be
deceived by demonic teaching right the devil will deceive people unclean spirits will deceive people
and those who depart from the faith will give heed unto these doctrines of devils and then he goes
into some specifics now here's the question that people have often asked me and here's the question
that i've often wondered myself you know is the great falling away is that talking about people
who are actually saved being involved in the great falling away or is this just talking about sort of
in general christianity sort of falling away in general well here's the thing about that in order
to fall away you have to be there in the first place would be the first thing i would point out
in order to depart you have to start out at that point of origin in order to leave now
i'm not saying that this is only referring to people that are saved because it's not because
for example in hebrews 6 we had example of unsaved people who were just basically near
unto being saved or at least tasting it or part you know close to it but yet those people fell
away okay so i believe that there is a mixture of people that are saved and people that are
unsaved here because the people here that are speaking lies in hypocrisy having their conscience
seared with a hot iron forbidding to marry commanding to abstain from meats these don't
seem like things that any saved person would would teach these are extreme false doctrines of devils
and seducing spirits but if we look down just a few verses in verse number six what does it say
if thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things thou shalt be a good minister of jesus
christ nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine where unto thou is detained so it is
possible for saved christians to be deceived by these false teachers and false prophets of the end
times so that's why i say it's a mixture of both okay when it talks about a great falling away
what's happening well i believe that what that's referring to is obviously our society even
including the unsaved is just falling away from even christianity in general from even
having any thing to do with the bible and the word of god and christianity they're falling away
and going after these demonic false teachings but then i also believe that there's an element of
actual saved christians who are falling away in the sense that they are being seduced by these
false prophets and they are getting sucked in and listening to the false teachers of our day even
people that are saved are getting sucked in that's why we have to put the brethren in remembrance of
these things that's why we have to teach them sound doctrine so that they don't get deceived
so they're not tossed to and fro listen it's possible for a saved person to get tricked into
serious false doctrine even if they're truly saved they can still if they listen to a lot
of false teaching and get under the influence of some of these seducing spirits and doctrine
they can go down that road now i'll say this i don't believe that a saved christian would
ever go all the way down that road because the bible does talk about how the holy spirit is
within us to guide us into all truth jesus said my sheep hear my voice a stranger will they not
follow a stranger will they flee from for they know not the voice of strangers so i don't think
that a truly saved christian is going to go become a hindu is going to go become a buddhist
is going to go become a roman catholic is going to go join the mormon church look if somebody
leaves our church and goes and joins the russian orthodox church i say that person was never saved
and that just happened about a year ago by the way if somebody leaves our church and joins the
roman catholic church which is no different than on any you know substantial point i would say that
person wasn't saved to begin with you know they went out from us because they were not of us
for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that
they might be made manifest that they were not all of us and the bible says my sheep hear my voice
they know not the voice of strangers they know the voice of the shepherd a stranger will they
flee from i believe that it is possible for a christian to go into sin i believe it's possible
for a saved born-again child of god to go back to their old sins of drunkenness fornication
adultery let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall even those who are saved are
not immune from the other to those things because look at men of god in the bible who fell into
those sins who fell into drunkenness fornication adultery and so forth david comes to mind samson
comes to mind all all manner of examples it's possible for a saved born-again child of god
to go into sin it is also possible for a saved born-again child of god to get deceived into
false doctrine because the bible says that if you're a babe in christ you could be tossed to
and fro with every wind of doctrine he said that they with their cunning craftiness whereby they
lie in wait to deceive you he said look if you don't grow up if you don't learn the doctrine
if you don't listen to the pastors and teachers and do your own bible reading and do diligence
to get rooted in the faith you will be tossed to and fro you will be deceived by false teachers
and false prophets but i don't believe that a saved person would ever go all the way to where
they just you know believe a totally different gospel like the mormon church the catholic church
but they could get deceived short of that you know for example i don't i don't believe that
a saved christian who has the holy spirit living inside of them who knows the voice of the shepherd
is going to turn around and then say hey i changed my mind we're saved by works
but i will say this it's possible for a saved child of god to get deceived into something
that waters down the gospel or that clouds up the gospel or that twists the gospel a little bit
where they'll say well it's not works but you do have to turn away from your sins to be saved
i mean it's all by grace through faith don't get me wrong
but you do have to be willing to make some change i'm not saying you have to change your life
because that'd be works but you do have to sort of be willing to change okay and again don't let me
be clear i believe that people who teach a full-blown repent of your sins gospel are not
saved people who sit there and say hey you have to stop drinking you have to stop fornicating
you have to turn from that to be saved that's works that's just work salvation plain and simple
but i do believe it's possible for a saved person to get a little mixed up on that it i've seen
people that were saved that taught it right they got a little bit mixed up in that and then later
they realized that they were wrong and and straightened it out where they got a little
bit goofed up and started saying like well you know you do have to be sorry and turn from it
and or at least want to or what you know and they got goofed up by listening to false teachers on
that subject it happens even to people they're safe when they quit soul winning and when they're
not right with the lord they can get led into that kind of false doctrine they can be deceived
into these type of false teachings another thing they could be deceived into is some of the
specific teachings that we see right here listed for example commanding to abstain from meats i
believe that there are saved born-again christians who get sucked into doctrines that command them
to abstain from meats they could get into vegetarianism veganism or uh kosher type of
an eating in the new testament even people that are saved now the people who are teaching these
false doctrines you know many of them are of course unsaved false prophets but then there are
saved born-again children of god who could come under the influence of these type of teachings
now let me give you some examples of what i see as a great falling away in the day that we live in
and and what do i mean by that when i say a great falling away i mean that even amongst the people
that you would expect to be standing up for the right gospel and for the right doctrine we're
starting to see them change and fall away i'm talking about baptists i'm not talking about some
denomination that's been goofed up for a hundred years or something or for 200 years
i'm talking about even amongst baptists who you would expect to believe that salvation is by faith
alone you would expect to believe that you know in the eternal security of the believer you'd expect
to stand on the king james bible and end the doctrines therein where they're falling away now
because in order to have a great falling away in the end times i believe it would
it would involve believers too it would involve even the light that is in us becoming darkness
and then how great is that darkness but as we look at these specific teachings here there are
a lot of different applications we could make here in first timothy four but i'm gonna uh i'm
gonna also point out one particular false prophet that fits this to a t okay because look what it
says here doctrines of devils verse two speaking lies in hypocrisy having their conscience seared
with a hot iron forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which god has created to be
received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth now the first thing that would
jump into our minds when we hear forbidding to marry the teaching of celibacy celibacy is that
you know the teaching of not being married not having any physical relationship with the opposite
gender that teaching would obviously remind us of the roman catholic church also the commanding
to abstain from meats because they have the meatless friday also the orthodox church which
is just the same as the catholic church is a different branch it's just not roman catholic
the orthodox church commands to abstain from meat two days a week in many cases where they'll skip
meat on thursdays get meat on friday just like the hindus okay where they have certain days of
the week where they don't eat meat the catholics have a certain day of the meat where they skip
meat on friday that's why every restaurant you go to to this day the soup of the day on friday is
clam chowder okay now i like clam chowder so whenever i go to a restaurant and it's friday i
know i can get clam chowder why is the soup of the day always clam chowder on fridays because of
the fact that catholics don't eat meat on friday but they will eat seafood like they'll eat fish
that's why you'll have a lot of you know fish fry on friday or you know fish night or whatever at
the restaurant that's what that hails back to okay and there are still catholics today that practice
it but another false teacher that popped into my mind besides the obvious you know the obvious
thing you'd say is well the roman catholic church it's pretty obvious you could also point to of
course the judaizers judaism with the commanding to abstain from meats aspect there but a guy that
came to my mind was gandhi now gandhi was a major false prophet of the 20th century and he is one
who influences many christians today sadly many christians today i'm talking about independent
fundamental baptists bible believing christians are influenced by gandhi quote gandhi look to
gandhi maybe without even knowing it but gandhi was a teacher of doctrines of devils now the
reason that i say that gandhi fit this bill perfectly let me give you three points on gandhi
number one gandhi was a major hypocrite and this says here that these devilish false teachers of
the end times would speak lies in hypocrisy they would be major hypocrites one point on gandhi
being a hypocrite is that gandhi was supposedly a poster child for non-violence that's what he's
known for right non-violence non-violent uh rebellion against uh you know oppression and so
forth but here's the thing gandhi although he was personally totally non-violent and preached
non-violence he actually wrote pamphlets for the british government encouraging young men to enlist
in the military and go fight in world war one for britain even though well he's totally non-violent
but he'll send you to go fight and die in the wars of britain he wrote a pamphlet during world
war one entitled an appeal for enlistment mr non-violence okay and then in world war two he
offered non-violent moral support to the british war machine how can you offer moral support
to britain and their conquering ambition and their bloody oppressive empire
oh but i'm non-violent though but i'll support their violence and by the way the british empire
murdered so many people assignment they murdered millions of people you know it's so funny because
i thought we knew that in this country don't we have a holiday about that or something
isn't that when we set off fireworks and everything when we got rid of them
but then why'd we turn around and become their buddy and their partner in crime
as they oppress people and and harm people all over the world and murder people they put people
in i was just studying the history of south africa you know they put they put the africana
people in concentration camps in fact i mean they literally they invented the word concentration
the concentration camp i believe comes from concentration camps that the british had in cuba
you know that's where that word even came from the british invented it right so he's supporting
them he's supporting the you know them writing pamphlets and supporting their war effort but
he's non-violent that's a hypocrite not only that but gandhi taught celibacy so is he forbidding to
marry or what he says hey it's better not to get married and he said even if you're married you
said even if you're married you should not have that normal physical relationship with your wife
now that's wicked the bible calls that when you get married and don't have that physical
relationship the bible calls that defrauding your spouse the bible teaches that that is a sin
the bible teaches that we are you know commanded to have that relationship and it's not just to
produce children folks the bible says that we should get married and enjoy our spouse to avoid
fornication also to avoid temptation outside of marriage we should indulge in that relationship
within marriage god wants us to enjoy that he doesn't just ordain it only for procreation
you know you know my wife and i have done it nine times you know right because we have nine kids i
mean what kind of stupidity is that but this hypocrite gandhi preached celibacy and preached
for people to remain single and and that's the best lifestyle and all this right and he got to
a point where he supposedly stopped having any relationship with his own wife because he's
preaching celibacy right well except for this thing where he would have these young 18 year old
women sleep in his bed with him and here's what he told people about why mr celibate mr non-violent
mr hinduism why he had these women in his bed he said oh it's just a test me just to test my my uh
my my willpower you know it reminds me of i saw i saw a picture or a comic online or it was a
photograph it had it was like a dog and he had all these dog treats like stacked on his nose
anybody ever seen that who knows what i'm talking about it's like a dog he had the dog tree and it
said like you know self-control level expert or whatever willpower level expert or whatever because
he had it all stacked up or he's not eating it so gandhi is telling us hey i'm just testing my
willpower by bringing in these young beautiful babes right for a sleepover without clothing on
okay that's gandhi for you that's your big hero and listen let me just give you a rule of thumb
anytime the world elevates someone is a great hero anytime everybody agrees that this guy's
a great hero oh i mean martin luther king jr come on you can all agree on that right i mean gandhi
that's somebody we can all get look whenever the world does that you always know it's a bad person
amen you know whether it's mlk or whether it's gandhi or whatever and by the way both these men
are religious teachers martin luther king is a baptist i got a whole dvd on martin luther king
back there take it off the shelf if you doubt me he was he yeah he was bad gandhi total hypocrite
i mean here he is preaching hey you need to abstain and in fact i'm gonna abstain from my wife
but i'm gonna bring in the teenagers i mean what a freak what a pervert i mean who here believes
that that was just a willpower test and he even admitted that sometimes he failed that test
he admitted that but the people around him covered it up and suppressed that so that it wouldn't come
out till years later after he's already everybody's big wonderful hero and yada yada yada no he wasn't
he was just a tool he was just a wicked person he was a complete hypocrite wasn't he he oh he
he'll command you to abstain from marriage but he's a hypocrite and by the way he did
command to abstain from meat as well he was a total vegetarian in fact he took it even further
and became fruititarian yeah fruititarian i mean you thought vegan was restrictive there's
vegetarian there's vegan and then there's fruititarian okay people who are fruititarian
they don't even eat and different people define it differently but they won't even eat plants
they don't even want to harm plants they'll only eat stuff that grows off of a plant
only if they can eat it without destroying the plant only the fruit of the plant fruititarian
there's people who do it even to this day he lived off a fruititarian diet for like five years
and then he was like dying because his body was not getting the right nutrition so then his
doctor told him you know you're about to die if you don't stop this so then he started drinking
milk you know it does a body good so that that helped him out to at least get some animal products
right amen animal products into him but yeah fruititarian so that's why he fits this bill
perfectly doesn't he it's like check check hypocrisy check forbidding to marry check
commanding them safe for meats check lies check doctrines of devils check i mean hinduism are you
serious i mean the hindu gods are clearly demonic just just google image hindu god flames pitchforks
a bunch of demons is who they worship literally do it i'm telling you you say well what in the
world are we doing in a baptist church hearing about gandhi what does gandhi have to do with
the falling away oh how about the fact that pretty much every baptist in america has quoted gandhi in
the last 30 days how about this famous quote from gandhi hate the sin love the sinner people think
that's a verse in the bible that's a quote from gandhi another quote from gandhi that they love
to bring up is i would be a christian if it weren't for christians what a hypocrite yeah
i'd be a hindu if it weren't for you and your hypocrisy buddy of course i wouldn't be a hindu
but i'm just saying i mean he's not exactly a poster child for hinduism now is he but oh yeah
you know an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind hmm that sounds familiar martin luther king
from gandhi okay so christians today are actually quoting people like gandhi today but not only
that they're actually embracing many hindu and buddhist philosophies today without even knowing
christians are being influenced by buddhism today buddhist listen buddhism teaches you might just
not know much about buddhism buddhism teaches that basically everything that's negative is bad
hate is always bad fear is always bad anger always bad that's not what the bible teaches
the bible says there's a time to love and there's a time to hate the bible teaches that there's a
righteous anger and there's a sinful anger the bible teaches that there's a righteous fear the
fear of god and then there's an unrighteous fear the fear of man and so in the bible we have
positive and negative there are many negative things but buddhism the mantra is just everything
negative needs to go out no fear no hate no anger you know and i did a sermon several months back
called you know star about star wars in light of the bible because that's what star wars teaches
star wars is basically buddhism that's being taught anger fear hatred these are the path to
the dark side right sorry i didn't practice that so i didn't do it as well as i could have so
the dark side you know oh good luke let the hatred flow through you yes oh yes you know he he's not
even supposed to hate the emperor or whatever darth vader or else then he's on the dark side now
as soon as he's afraid of anything he's on the dark side you know as soon as he gets mad at
anything oh yes the anger yes you know and that but look christians believe this stuff
they believe it more than they believe the bible
it's a falling away from biblical morality biblical principles biblical ideology and following after
these type of role models of the world these doctrines of devils taught by people like gandhi
but not only that we see a great falling away from the king james version of the bible today
that's a major falling away and by the way that falling away involves both saved people
and unsaved people because even a lot of unsaved people in churches they still had a king james
bible and of course the saved have had a king james bible now we're seeing in many cases even
people that are saved are switching to the new king james and getting sucked into these modern
versions obviously the unsaved have made a mass exodus away from the king james and embraced the
niv and these other versions that's a great falling away isn't it i mean if they once held
to the king james bible and now they've discarded it and embraced a modern version that's a falling
away i mean that's definitely not a step up it's a step down it's definitely a departure right
but not only that the gospel of salvation by faith in jesus christ alone people are falling
away from that now even amongst independent fundamental baptists there's confusion about
that now in fact i just literally heard about today today a pastor that i know personally
this is a guy that i went to church with for years okay i mean this is a guy that was
definitely preaching the gospel correctly he definitely stood on salvation by faith alone
he definitely was an avid soul winner there's no question about that my friend and this
pastor just today one who listens to my sermons visited his church and talked to him and of course
he knew me personally and this pastor of an independent fundamental baptist supposedly
soul-winning church said well you know what though i disagree with steven anderson i think
you have to repent of your sins to be saved and he said i'm real disappointed in pastor
jimenez and pastor anderson because they're not teaching repent of your sins for salvation
and i mean this is a guy who we went to the same church with where that was preached against it was
it was very clearly taught that you don't turn over a new leaf to be saved and that's all this
repent of your sins thing is it's turn over a new leaf and thou shalt be saved go through
a 12-step program and thou shalt be saved that is work salvation you don't earn your way into heaven
by getting the sin out of your life you don't earn your way into heaven by showing god you know what
i'm really willing to get rid of it i'm really serious this time that's not how you get saved
you get saved by just accepting a free gift you accept it by getting on your knees and just being
humble and just realizing i'm a sinner i'm condemned but jesus loves me jesus died for me
jesus rose again and just putting your trust in jesus look it's like a little child would trust
in their mom and dad that's why jesus said except you be converted and become as little children
you'll not enter into the kingdom of god but yet these people and these repent of your sins type
of a crowd they'll even balk at children getting saved they'll scoff at children getting oh they're
too young you know you gotta wait until they're at least like a teenager you know before you can
really see that repent of the repentance yeah because it's like what sin do you turn from when
you're five or six you know oh man i grew up rough i was stealing out of the cookie jar
i was taking off my diaper and and you know making a mess with it i mean i was you know
i mean what else do you i mean what wickedness do you oh man you know i was a slave to the bottle
you know the baby bottle that is i mean what in the world so then because there's not some
dramatic life change they'd say oh that's you know they didn't really get it till later
look i got saved when i was six years old praise god i'm glad i didn't get saved when i was seven
or eight i'm glad i got saved when i was six the younger the better
when would you rather have gotten saved six or 16 i'd rather get saved when i was six praise god
you know my friend pastor roger yimenez got saved when he was five oh i just don't think a five-year
old can understand well you know what you're wrong because the gospel is the same as the
because the gospel is simple yeah you're right a five-year-old couldn't understand your complicated
statement of faith you're confusing well it's by faith but yeah you have to repent of your sins
but repentance is just a willingness and you know five-year-olds like what
but if you explain to a five-year-old say you know what you've sinned and you show them verses they
can understand that they've done wrong i you know they can understand that they've sinned
and if you explain to them that jesus died on the cross for their sins they can understand that
they can understand the bodily resurrection and then they can understand that you know what if
you want to go to heaven he's gonna he's gonna be the guy who gets you in you gotta you gotta rely
on him you gotta trust him okay why because a child is constantly relying on people
they're relying on their mom and dad they're relying on brothers and sisters so to tell them
hey you have to trust in the lord jesus as your savior it's not by you doing good things or
earning it you just have to believe in jesus kids can understand that now i'm not saying that every
five-year-old can understand that i'm not saying every six-year-old can understand that some
children are more precocious than others some children could understand that at a very young
age some children might need to be a little bit older and i've frequently talked to a six or
seven-year-old child and i walked away saying you know what i don't think this child's old enough
i don't think this child understands the gospel i don't think that they're you know ready yet
to get saved but there are plenty of five six-year-olds that are ready to be saved
and so we should be preaching and talking to our children even at a young age but this repent of
your sins crowd they scoff at children being saved when they understand the gospel is a childlike
faith it's simple the simplicity in christ there are some things in the bible that are complicated
salvation is not one of them because if salvation were a complicated doctrine like say end times
bible prophecy which is pretty complicated if salvation were a complicated doctrine then it
would be exclusive only to the very intelligent i believe that a person with down syndrome can
understand the gospel and be saved i believe that a small child can understand the gospel and be
saved praise the lord for the simplicity of the gospel of christ it's real simple folks how
complicated is it to receive a gift how complicated is it to realize i'm not working for this i'm not
paying for this this was purchased by someone else jesus died for me and he paid for it with his blood
but today we are seeing a departure from a simple believe on jesus to be saved
that's being labeled easy believism and then they're going into this other
complicated you know hard repentism instead of the easy believism they go into the difficult
complicated repentism that's a departure my friend if the independent fundamental baptists
were saying that salvation is by faith now they're saying you have to stop sinning or be willing to
stop sinning or turn from your sins that's a departure and again let me be frank those who
are hardcore saying you have to turn from your sins strongly i don't even believe those people
are saved in the first place but i do believe that saved people sometimes take a few steps down
that road and get a little bit goofed up get a little mixed up that's why i call it repentance
spectrum disorder when they teach this doctrine you know the autism spectrum disorder you know
because you have a spectrum over here is is where we stand childlike faith in the gospel just
putting all your trust in jesus to be saved over here is the hardcore you have to do a 180 i mean
you have to stop the sin in your life you have to change there better be a dramatic change blah blah
blah you know but in between there's a lot of gray area why because the truth is black and white
the lie is a gray area so i do believe that people that are over here on the spectrum are often saved
people who are being deceived by false prophets like ray comfort or whoever who come in and teach
this stuff and then over here you know closer to the extreme side you just have unsaved false
teachers at that point so it is a spectrum it's a repentance spectrum disorder okay it's a disease
it's a spiritual disease okay and it's and it's it's it's a falling away it's a departure so go to
first timothy chapter four and i'll wrap this up so what i'm saying in this sermon to put it all
together is that the bible teaches us in second thessalonians 2 1 through 4 that before the day
of christ there's going to be a great falling away what that means is that people are going
to depart from the faith what that means is that people are going to go from having the right bible
to the wrong bible the right doctrine to the wrong doctrine the right salvation to a muddied
salvation i believe that the great falling away involves both saved people who believe in christ
becoming confused becoming backslidden and liberal and i also believe that it involves
unsaved people who are basically people who were somewhat christian not saved but they were
somewhat biblical or christian in their culture and lifestyle and philosophy just going all the
way into doctrines of devils and then seducing the saved how does this falling away manifest in 2016
we don't know if we're in the very end yet this this could be many decades in the future that
the very end comes but i believe that we can see the signs that we're approaching that time
do we have a great falling away happening right now even if it's not the great falling away
we definitely have a great falling away happen happening when we have christians now quoting
gandhi and buddha whether they got it straight from buddha or whether they got it from star wars
or whether they got it from some liberal christian church where the pastor's reading you know
gandhi in his office okay either way christians are quoting gandhi every day now
however they got there is there a great falling away going on absolutely when the judaizers have
infiltrated the churches and corrupted the doctrine is there a great falling away going on
absolutely when we see the king james being replaced for the first time in 400 years
with all these false versions over the last few decades is there a great falling away happening
well you better believe it when even the independent fundamental baptists that we grew up
with that taught us salvation by faith alone are now getting into this repent of your sins
salvation and and by the way these people that are getting into this it's because they're toning
down the soul winning they're slowing down on someone see when you stay red hot on soul winning
when you and by the way soul winning in phoenix arizona red hot's a pretty good adjective to
describe it it's hot out there but listen when you're out there
on a weekly basis and you're knocking on people's doors and you have the holy spirit inside you and
you have the bible in your hand and you're taking people down that roman's road and showing people
how to be saved you're never going to get messed up on the gospel like that you'll never get
them as why because you're filled with the spirit why because you're preaching the word of god
why because you love people and you win souls to christ and if you do those things you're not going
to fall into this junk it's when people start slowing down on soul winning what's the great
falling away i don't know maybe it's all the independent baptist churches around phoenix
that have scaled back their soul winning from once a week to once a month maybe they're part
of a falling away when they're going soul winning twice a month instead of every week
and instead of soul winning now it's visitation now where they don't even preach the gospel but
they just follow up on people hey you haven't been in church in a while where you been that's
not soul winning that won't keep you straight on the gospel that won't get anybody out of hell
and then these churches because they're getting lazy because they are scaling back soul winning
here's what they end up doing corrupting the doctrine to make a doctrine of convenience
to justify it because you say whoa buddy what's the deal why are you only going soul winning once
a month now when you used to go every week instead of just saying i'm lazy i'm backslidden
here's what they say well you know that's soul winning that's only doesn't really work anyway
that's soul winning's a bunch of easy believism that's soul winning i mean you don't really see
these people change you don't really see them all get to church and get baptized i don't know if
soul winning is really legit that's what they say my friend because they to justify themselves and
justify themselves and here's the thing they even start believing it because they
they become a forgetful hearer of the word because they're not being a doer of the work
is what's going on is there a great falling away happening amongst our fellow independent
fundamental baptist movement i'd say so i'd say we can see it happening sadly
is there a great falling away in america amongst christians is there a great falling away from
soul-winning look i'm not trying to scale back soul-winning i want to ramp up soul-winning i'm
trying to find i'm trying to find another place to do a soul-winning marathon another soul-winning
push i'm looking for somebody who wants to start another soul-winning time i mean we got soul
winning times on monday wednesday we got them on saturday sunday hey who wants to start one
on tuesday who wants to start one on a thursday come see me after the service i mean look let's
do more not less so here's the moral of the story at the end of the chapter the chapter
starts out with the you know the departing from the faith look at verse 13 we'll finish up with
this till i come give attendance to reading to exhortation and to doctrine you know that's how
we're going to prevent getting sucked into this dumb stuff by reading the bible by exhortation
which is preaching and by doctrine right not shallow preaching but doctrinal preaching
neglect not the gift that is in thee which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on of the
hands of the presbytery presbytery means elders meditate upon these things give thyself holy to
them that thy profiting may appear to all take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine continue
in them for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee look if you want
to be spared the the deception and the falling away and the apostasy you need to focus on reading
the bible getting under good preaching and teaching and continuing in these things taking
heat unto yourself and it says and unto the doctrine for in doing this thou shalt both save
thyself and them that hear thee what's interesting about that is that if i go out soul wedding and
preach the gospel of jesus christ to someone i can get that person literally saved as far as get
them on their way to heaven if they'll believe on jesus right but actually you know what i'm also
doing i'm also keeping myself right you notice that because he said you know if you take heat
unto yourself and unto the doctrine doctrine is teaching others you'll both save yourself and
them here he's not saying save yourself like get yourself into heaven he's saying save yourself
from being one of these idiots that falls away save yourself from screwing up
and so he's saying look when you go out soul winning it's not just good for the people you're
talking to and we know it's good for them why because they're getting the gospel they're getting
saved but it's good for you too it keeps you straight it keeps you right on the gospel
because look you show me a guy who's goofed up on his gospel and i'll show you a guy who's not a
faithful soul winner you know that's why i even tell people people are like hey how do i find a
church i tell them find a soul-winning church i say go on that website military get saved where
they list six thousand some independent fundamental baptist church and king james and i say use the
control f feature on the computer soul just type in the word soul s-o-u-l go straight to the ones
that mention soul winning why because i always tell people if a church has soul winning the vast
majority of the time they're preaching the right gospel if you find that word soul winning
not necessarily just an outreach i'm saying like soul winning if it says soul winning the vast
majority of the time that church has the right gospel now if they're soul winning once a month
i you know they're probably starting to fade away but if they got soul winning on tuesday and soul
winning on saturday and soul winning on wednesday you know and they got the bus ministry and all
that stuff you know you can pretty much bet that that church probably preaching the right gospel
why because they're both saving themselves and them that hear them both
they're staying on the right doctrine by doing the work it's when you get lazy and and start to
get off of soul winning that your doctrine fades let's not be a part of the great falling away folks
it consists of saved people the great falling away it's saved it's safe this is what the great
falling away is you say put it in a nutshell for me pastor here's the great falling away
here's the great falling away saved people following unsaved people who are teaching doctrines
of devils and getting sucked in by them that's the great falling away that's what i believe the
scripture is teaching let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer father we thank you so much lord
for the simplicity of the gospel i thank you that i was born in a christian home and that i was able
to get the gospel at age six and be saved lord i thank you for my mom and dad who loved me and
disciplined me and taught me and and sometimes sometimes they drove hours and hours to get me
to a soul-winning church or a bible believing church lord i appreciate that and lord i i pray
that those who were not as fortunate those who who were raised in a in an ungodly home or a
non-christian home lord i pray that those people would receive the gospel and that they would serve
you and love you lord and that they would do great things for you as well lord i pray that
you'd use all of us in this church whether we came from a a christian background or whether
we came from a uh a rough background or an ungodly background or not christian lord
please just use all of us lord help all of us to stay faithful faithful to you faithful to
sound doctrine faithful to soul-winning and help us not to get influenced by these
these end times doctrines of devils and uh in jesus name we pray amen