Sin is deceptive and deceitful. It can cause us to turn away from the Lord.
In this episode, Brody continues his conversation about Demas and walks through 7 things we must guard against to remain faithful to the end. Demas traded faithfulness to the Lord for a love of the world. Do not forsake the Gospel for what the world offers.
Let’s hold fast, live with a conviction of the Holy Spirit, and stay faithful.
Resources:
Please leave a review on Apple or Spotify to help improve No Sanity Required and help others grow in their faith.
Click here to get our Colossians Bible study.
Sin is deceptive and deceitful. It can cause us to turn away from the Lord.
In this episode, Brody continues his conversation about Demas and walks through 7 things we must guard against to remain faithful to the end. Demas traded faithfulness to the Lord for a love of the world. Do not forsake the Gospel for what the world offers.
Let’s hold fast, live with a conviction of the Holy Spirit, and stay faithful.
Resources:
Please leave a review on Apple or Spotify to help improve No Sanity Required and help others grow in their faith.
Click here to get our Colossians Bible study.
All right, nsr, as we promised yesterday, we are back, so occasionally we'll run episodes back-to-back days. This time it's because there will not be an episode next week. Maddie will be on vacation, maddie and Colt are going to be gone, and also I'll be gone with my family, and so we'll be gone and won't be bringing an nsr episode thought about uh, we've got some that we could load up from the hopper and just and just launch. But we're really trying to do these. I'm wanting to. I'm wanting to keep this pace of sort of in real time. There have been times where we've recorded stuff six to eight weeks out and then we just had stuff ready to go. But I like doing this week to week and addressing real-time issues, and so we're going to keep that going.
Speaker 1:Anyway, we're going to pick up where we left off in yesterday's episode, pick right up, literally, just seamlessly, hopefully, right into that conversation we had yesterday and today, really get into what I think are the biggest causes of apostasy. We looked at demons yesterday. We're going to a few more thoughts on that and then we're going to move into some other things that the scripture teaches and then how we might guard against those things so that we stay firm and hold fast and follow the Lord to the end. We don't shrink back. So I want this to be so helpful for y'all, for me, as I've prepared it, so let's dig into it. Welcome to no Sanity Required.
Speaker 2:Welcome to no Sanity Required from the Ministry of Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters. A podcast about the Bible, culture and stories from around the globe.
Speaker 1:Before we get into today's episode, I did want to give you one sort of announcement. Let's see, let me look. We've got the Respond Women's Conference coming up and I want to see where our numbers are at right now. For that, we're at 430. So, uh, we're at 400. So we're, we're, I don't know now, um, we're way over four 400 people, I think.
Speaker 1:For those adult single, um, adult conferences, not single people, but like the, the conference that is like an individual. It's not, uh, youth groups, student ministry, but like the adult conferences like individual. It's not a youth group, student ministry, but like the adult conferences, like um, be strong, respond to college, uh, the college event that we do. Those are typically individual registrations and so we have a, we have a S. A lot of times we have a smaller capacity because we want to handle that Well, it's just different when you're running adults through and so there's still space for you to get into the sessions. But you would probably call the Snowbird office and see if you've got that April 20th weekend open. Wait, is it the 20th? I'm rambling right now, I know. Yeah, april 20th weekend. So the 19th through the 21st is our spring women's respond weekend and it's going to be awesome. I'm excited about what the ladies have planned, very excited about a skit slash drama that Amy Davis has written. That's, I think, going to be so good. The teaching content the ladies are going to be teaching. I'll actually be preaching on Sunday morning just for a Sunday morning worship service, but the content on Friday and Saturday is going to be so good and if you, if you're interested in it, go to the website, go to SW Outfitters, check it out Also. Um, our new website has dropped, is dropping, um, so check that out also. Um, our new website has dropped, is dropping, um, so check that out. I think, unless I've got my dates wrong, y'all, I think it drops today, um, but it might be next tuesday. Um, I think it's today anyway. Brand new website.
Speaker 1:John reagan and his crew have worked hard, john reagan being his crew. He is the crew primarily when it comes to the website, but he works within that media office Hank Parker, austin, scott. John Reagan got the whole media team between Austin and Chris Fitzpatrick, issa, who runs most of our social media stuff. Chris and Issa do a lot of Instagram stuff that's social media related. We have got an? A team in there. They're crushing it. Really excited with the content they're putting out. But John's worked hard to get the new website up and running and I'm excited for that. So get over there, check it out.
Speaker 1:Look at the Respond Conference Ladies, we'd love for you to come. There should still be some availability, a little bit of room to get folks in. I think we'll book that thing to about 500 people and then we have, like I know we have 60 ladies from our church coming, but they'll only be here for the sessions and so it ends up being probably between six and 700 people in in in house. Um, yeah, it might be something that that, even though it's last minute you could, you could get over here and and be a part of would love for you to do that and an awesome time of fellowship just time in the word time and worship. It's going to be a great weekend. All right, without any more delay, I want to get into our conversation where we're going to pick up where we left off yesterday.
Speaker 1:So yesterday introduced you to our boy, our guy Demas. Demas, in review, was a guy who was a co-worker. He was part of Paul's missionary team. This was like alpha team. This was an ODA team for gospel movement, church planting in the Roman Empire, first century. I mean these guys planted churches in the major epicenters of culture, philosophy, education, corinth, thessalonica, rome, ephesus. They were. They were on the cutting edge. They were in Athens at one point and this dude was on the team. I mean, like if you're a pastor or youth pastor listening to this and you're, you're discouraged because of kids that have turned away.
Speaker 1:Man, the Apostle Paul, whose team was made up of St Luke I say St Luke because I've been listening to some RC Sproul and he'll say turn in your Bible to the Gospel of St Mark, st Luke, but Luke, dr Luke, barnabas, john, mark, timothy these dudes were gunslingers, man, they were OGs of church planting and missions work and that was the team that this guy, demas, was a part of and it said that he had abandoned Paul in Paul's greatest time of need. He left him out of a love for this present world and it's a good warning to us that none of us are above that. There's another couple of names mentioned um, in Paul's letter to Timothy. Paul mentioned this in the last episode. Paul call some people out. Now he is not scared, um to to name names and I don't know that it's a some. I don't want to use that as a justification to start naming people's names and calling people out publicly.
Speaker 1:Paul definitely had a different authority and he's under the inspiration of Holy spirit. He's writing scripture. But, um, first, timothy, one 18,. Timothy, my son, I'm giving you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies previously made about you so that, by recalling them, you may fight the good fight. So this is an admonition to Timothy. He's like I'm going to, I'm going to remind you of some things that you would recall so that you might fight, fight well, fight the good fight. Might fight, fight well, fight the good fight, having faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and have shipwrecked the faith. So he says I want you to live with a good conscience Once you have faith, but there are those who have rejected it and have shipwrecked the faith. Among them are hominous and Alexander, whom I have delivered to Satan so they may be taught not to blaspheme.
Speaker 1:Um, I think what, what is being described here, what it most often looks like, is reasoning against the conviction of the Holy Spirit. I bring up hominous and Alexander in in this conversation about deconstruction because and here's why what these dudes are doing is they've? They're? They're pushing against the demands of faith. They're making allowances for things that God would not have me to believe or act on. How many? What they're doing is they're rejecting a good conscience. How do we, how do I know that? Where do I get that? Well, having faith and a good conscience.
Speaker 1:So Paul is saying to Timothy you know his, his young mentee, the guy that he's you know he's, he's, he's training and raising up. He's like you have to live with a clear and good conscience, which would mean for the believer. Paul also writes my conscience is clear, but that's not what gives me vindication. It's the Lord that judges me. What brings me vindication and innocence and clarity of conscience is the conviction of the Holy Spirit. So Paul's telling Timothy live with the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:Some have rejected that and in doing that they've rejected their conscience. They've rejected the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Typically, what causes this is an underwhelming study and meditation on the scripture and an overwhelming volume of the world's entertainment, politics, definitions of justice or goodness. So the world begins to control and inform Christian doctrine and biblical teaching rather than what I learn in scripture and how my mind is saturated with scripture being the filter, the doctrinally faithful filter through which everything else passes. So, in other words, how many days? And Alexander versus Timothy policy and a Timothy. Let the Holy spirit convict you and guide you with that conviction. Let your decisions be guided by this conviction. Let your doctrine be guided by the conviction of the Holy spirit. And then he gives these examples of guys that have done the opposite. These guys rejected the conscience and conviction of the Holy Spirit and he's warning against that. And what I'm saying today is that this is right in step. So Demas forsook Paul and the church and the Lord out of a love for this present world. These two guys rejected good conscience, they rejected the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:When someone walks away from God, walks away or deconstructs and recreates a new form or version of what they want their faith to be, you watch, you look. What they're doing is they're rejecting the conviction or the convicting teaching of scripture. For example, the scripture says um, do not be drunk with wine where it is excess, but be filled the Holy spirit. Someone might say, well, um, I can use alcohol because the scripture doesn't forbid it. And then they and I've made this mistake in full transparency. Then you abuse alcohol and you become intoxicated, all because you rejected the convicting principle or guidance of scripture.
Speaker 1:That's a. That's a maybe a more simple one, but I think you know the one, that that some, some of the things that that would be maybe prevalent right now are redefining sexuality, redefining gender or masculinity, or the roles of men and women in marriage and sex, and church and community, and like all these different areas where God's given what we believe at NSR and at Snowbird Outfitters and the church where I'm an elder, red Oak Church we believe God has given a complementarian role to men and women, where we have distinct roles in relationship and leadership and family and ministry, and in no, that's not what the Bible teaches. You're rejecting the conviction of the Holy Spirit, because all scripture is breathed out by God. So you have to reject scripture and then fill that space with a new conscience, a new conviction, a redefined version of the truth, which is not the truth at all. So let's go back, starting with the last episode.
Speaker 1:The way you fall away, turn away, apostatize, is you fall in love with what this world offers you materially, sensually or philosophically, ideologically. Or now, number two, you reject the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, the convicting power of the word of God. You reject scripture and specifically, I think where we see that happen a lot is when you start to read man more than you read God. We believe the word of God is the word of God, and so what people write and teach is different. It can be helpful, but it doesn't have the same authority. Number three, so number one, demas, our example in love with his present world. Number two Hymenaeus and Alexander are examples rejecting good conscience, and Paul tells us how do you not do that? You remember with conviction, you have faith and a good conscience and you fight the good fight to maintain that.
Speaker 1:Number three the number three thing that will, that will allure people and pull people away and maybe deceive people, is the deceitfulness of sin. The deceitfulness of sin Do not be deceived, brothers and sisters. Hebrews 3, 12 to 14 says this Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won't be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin's deception. For we have become participants in Christ if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start. So he's saying watch out, be on the alert, because sin is deceptive and it's deceitful. And he says something important in that verse 13, so that none of you is hardened by sin's deception. So if now, listen, think about this y'all If sin deceives you and you believe the lie and fall for it, you will then become hardened in that lie.
Speaker 1:That's scary that I could be deceived into believing a lie that God is not enough or God is not good Like what the serpent deceived Eve with in the garden. God is not good like what the serpent deceived Eve with in the garden, or that God's design is not the best design for sexuality or for worship or how we live in the material world. Sin is deceitful. The human flesh, the human heart, will always prefer the world and what the world offers. I say always in its raw, fallen state, will prefer what the world offers over what God offers. Romans 3 says nobody's going to seek God, they're looking to consume the death and destruction of the world and the flesh.
Speaker 1:In the oldest and simplest illustration the Bible says it's kind of like a person that prefers sweets and fried food, desserts and bread over grilled meat and vegetables. And my hands are raised. I'd rather eat fried chicken, some mashed potatoes with gravy or some French fries. I love French fries. They say it's one of the worst things you can eat. Everything I've read is like French fries are horrible for you. I love them so much and I like to eat them and I like to drink Coke with them. That's bad for you, but I know it's bad and so you know you try to find that balance where I'm going to try to eat decent as much as I can and then, but I'm not going to be religious about it. But but I but I'm not deceived into thinking that ice cream and French fries is good for me. I know it's not, um, but I will rationalize it, you know.
Speaker 1:So one of the biggest dangers in, in, in, is when we rationalize and reason from the flesh rather than from the spirit. Now, I'm not talking about ice cream and French fries, I'm just using that as an example. But you know, someone might say well, I want to be with this person and I wouldn't feel the way I feel if I didn't, if I wasn't supposed to be with them. I've asked God to take these feelings away if he didn't want me to be with them, you know, and you start to reason and rationalize. So anyway, let me read you a passage of scripture from Galatians five, in dealing with this, this is in dealing with the deceitfulness of sin. Now we're going to go over from the CSB to the ESV, because that's what I'm most, this passage, that's what I'm most familiar with. We'll begin in verse 16.
Speaker 1:But I say walk by the spirit and you'll not gratify the desires of the flesh. Excuse me, that means that word gratifies. The same way. It's from the Greek word teleos, which is the word to tell us die, root word to tell us die. It's finished. Jesus said it's finished, it's completed. Romans 10.
Speaker 1:Paul says Christ is the end of the law. He's the fulfillment of the completion of the law, the teleos of the law. So he's saying walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. In other words, you will not let the flesh bring to fulfillment, completion, bring to an end the teleos of its desires, you know. So, in other words, you'll struggle with and fall into and make mistakes when it comes to sin and the desires of the flesh, but you won't let it come to final fulfillment, where it crushes you and brings you to an end and completes its ultimate work Kind of a cool way to word that. So. But I say, walk by the spirit and you will not bring to fulfillment and completion the desires of the flesh for the flesh, for the desires of the flesh or against the spirit?
Speaker 1:The desires of the spirit or of the flesh For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit. The desires of the spirit are against the flesh. These are opposed to each other. To keep you from doing the things you want to do, but if you're led by the spirit, you're not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. And to those who belong to Christ Jesus. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Speaker 1:So what Paul is saying is um, as Christians, we don't need to give into those fleshly desires. We don't let. We don't need to let sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, we don't need to let those things come to fulfillment in our lives. We might wrestle with them and make mistakes and fall into them, but recognize that the live sin is that, hey, this is good, this is fulfilling, this will reward you. Sin is deceitful, no matter how rewarding it seems, it's deceitful. Just think of the Lord of the Rings and think of Bilbo recognizing I got to get rid of this ring, I, you know. And and Gandalf saying I can, I can't, I'm not, I can't take that, I can't, I don't want to touch that ring. And the way they handled it was this awareness of and this thing yields and wields great power, but it's not a power I can handle. The flesh wields great power, but it's a power that will overwhelm you and it'll link up with the lies and the deceitfulness of sin to do it. A lot of people turn away from the Lord because they are deceived by sin. Number four people have itching ears and desire for loose, permissive teaching. Second Timothy four, one through five, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with complete patience and teaching, for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but have an itching ears. They will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wonder off into myths. As for you, always be sober minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. Itching ears and a desire for loose, permissive teaching this is what progressivism is. Progressive Christianity is loose, permissive teaching, and it says people will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. There's never going to be a shortage of carnal, worldly teachers that'll support your fleshly desires. I mean, yeah, they're there. I mean, this is no surprise. So so one of the things that leads to apostasy or deconstruction is a desire and itching ears. That desire loose, permissive or what we would call progressive teaching. So kill that desire. The way you kill it is by surrendering it to the authority of the word.
Speaker 1:Number five, just a couple more of these Separation from community and fellowship within the body of Christ. There's one of the most a message that I've done I do it every year with our staff called Don't drift. And one of the steps in the progressions of drifting away and turn away from the Lord is that you begin to disassociate or cut yourself off from Christian community. Fellowship with within the community that those that will will hold you accountable, speak into your life, will hold, hold you to the faith you profess. Um, that's, uh, that's something that we see happen a lot. So you got to maintain community, got to maintain fellowship.
Speaker 1:Um, ephesians four one through 16 is this really cool passage about the fellowship that comes within the body of Christ? Paul says to the Ephesians I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called, with humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. There's one body, one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to you, to your call. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all, who is overall and in all through. All but grace was given to each of us, to each one of us, according to the measure of Christ's gift, therefore, it says, and the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves carried about by every wind of doctrine and human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. There it is Community, all these gifts working together, shepherds, teachers, prophets, evangelists, the unity of the body, the building up of the body, mature manhood, the measure of our stature and the fullness of Christ. What is all that for? To build us up so that we won't be tossed about by human cunning and craftiness, rather speak the truth in love. We're to grow up in every way into him. Who is the head? Christ, so Christ is the head. And then who? The whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. So he's saying Christ is the head, we're the body. There's strength in that. If you get away from that, you'll be carried away by every wind of doctrine and human cunning. So separation from community and fellowship with the body of Christ will almost always lead to a turning away. And the last two things that I'm not going to elaborate on here, that I think but we will be in 2024, we're going to visit both of these in episodes Two things that I think are worth noting.
Speaker 1:I think two of the biggest reasons right now that people are abandoning the biblical, historic teachings of Christianity are number one and this is really number six and seven of this study. This two part study issues LGBTQ issues. It's driving. It's driving it right now. When I say it's driving it, I mean it's driving this big shift away, this exodus from the church or from Christianity, where we're seeing a lot of young people and people that were at one point on fire for the Lord fall away or turn away.
Speaker 1:Lgbtq issues it's such a cultural topic right now and it's interesting because to listen to the world's narrative right now, you would think that it's just. Would think that I don't. It's just crazy to me that thousands of years of history, we can study so many societies and cultures and when this becomes a key and prevalent issue, a society's days are numbered. And that's where we're at. It happened in the Roman empire and as, as well as in other empires, and that's where we're at. It happened in the Roman empire and as well as in other empires, and that's where we're at right now. Um, I hate it, but it's just a reality and it's, I think people are, people are, so it I want to, I want to try to articulate a thought here.
Speaker 1:There are people that have been deceived by the LGBTQ, the demonic movement that it is, and they are victims to some degree, to in, in, in one sense, and to to one degree they're victims, and what I mean is a kid that's been wounded, hurt, maybe abused. Maybe abused, not loved, well, rejected, neglected, you name it.
Speaker 1:Or they just come from a family situation where there's been a lot of pain under the roof, and under that roof, in that home, in that house, there's been a lot of pain and so there's confusion, there's a lack of security. A kid that grows up with a mama and daddy that are working to get along, working to pay the bills and love each other Well, a kid's going to be more well-rounded, they're going to be more confident of who they are. Um, but a kid that grows up in a and hear me out, I'm not saying everybody that says they're gay or trans or bi or whatever it's, because they got daddy issues or their mama was mean to them. That's not what I'm getting at. I'm saying there are enormous numbers right now that are inflated because people are saying you see, there's a 30% increase in transgender teenagers because they're finally free to express themselves and say who they are. No, what it is.
Speaker 1:The LGBTQ demonic movement has victimized and manipulated kids that are hurting with the same things kids have been hurting with for a long time, and what they need is Jesus, and instead we're trying to give them a movement that is driven by older adult people that stand to profit in one way or another from it. So kids become the victims. In that sense, we need to be burdened and broken and saddened for these kids and we need to do what we can to see them as victims. Now, on the other hand, there is a massive movement. That is the enemy. It is demonic, it is wicked people that are going to face an eternity in hell because they have rejected the truth, but they have manipulated and deceived people into following their lie.
Speaker 1:That's what's driving the LGBTQ movement. It is calculated, it is absolutely calculated. It's demonic, it's an attack and a perversion of everything that God has designed and in that sense, the LGBTQ community and movement is the enemy. So you've got in the same camp, our enemy and those that we need to fight to rescue. And it's very complex, and I think what a lot of Christians are doing is they're just so scared of being they. Usually you'll hear this phrase quote, unquote, on the wrong side of history.
Speaker 1:Well, whatever that means whatever that means. This is not the same thing as a civil rights movement. Courageous men and women in the sixties fought for equality for African-Americans and it was one of the most noble and powerful and wonderful things that has happened in our country's history. This is not the same thing as that. This is not the same thing as that People did not march and suffer Jim Crow laws and social ridicule and lynchings and physical abuse and marginalization and poverty so that modern day gay people, trans people, perverts could call it a civil rights issue.
Speaker 1:It's just crazy. So we need to be burdened and scared for those kids that I'm thinking of. A kid right now who she's saying she's a boy. She's, I don't know, 14, 14 years old maybe, and she wants to be a boy, so 15 maybe. She's like call me, don't call me this name. Call me, I'm going to give you fake names here because I want to protect this kid. Don't call me Emily, call me Mikey, don't call me Emily, call me Mikey. She's doing that. She's saying that's not the name. But she's saying I don't want to be called this name. I'm no longer a girl, I'm no longer that person, I'm a boy and this is my name. But that's not going to fix what's broken in this young lady and I happen to know her story and she's a broken person. She's been hurt and wounded and we have a movement. What we need is for people that are capitulating to this movement and abandoning historic Christian faith and teaching to follow after it. They're saying we have to be loving and I don't want to believe in a Christianity and a God that doesn't love these people. No, no, see it for what it is.
Speaker 1:There is a movement that is predicated on chopping body parts off of teenagers, taking a boy's testicles and his penis and cutting them off. This movement wants your 14 and 15-year-old sons to, without your consent, be castrated and emasculated, and then they want to celebrate them as brave. They want to try to rebuild feminine genitalia, which is impossible to do. It would be a semblance or some distorted, broken, grotesque butchery of that. You want to take your 13, 14, 15-year-old daughters and chop their breasts off, like cut their breasts off of their body. That's what they want to do, without your consent as a mom or dad. That child that's struggling with an identity crisis is a victim and we need to rescue them, and we don't rescue them by encouraging them to believe the lie, referring to them as a boy or girl, opposite of whatever they are. Well, I need to be loving, so I'm going to call her a boy, if that's what she wants to be called. No, I love her enough to not feed the one thing, the one lie, that is destroying her as a person. So it's a complex issue when you see it for what it is, but that's one of the issues that's pushing people away from the church because we're not handling it appropriately and it's very tricky to see it for what it is.
Speaker 1:Um, learn how to articulate the biblical position. And then the last thing is people are turning away because of the biblical teaching on hell. What you get is people a lot of this, quote unquote, turning away or deconstruction is what it is. They don't completely turn away and become atheistic. Some do, but what's happened? And also, as a lot of people are redefining things, they're saying well, I want to create a Christianity where there's no hell. Um, and hell is a doctrine that Jesus himself taught. We're going to be doing a sermon on that at SWO 24 this summer. Spencer Davis will be bringing that sermon and we'll do um in a few months. We'll be doing a sit-down episode about the content of that sermon and he's studying right now. He's deep into it. People don't like to think. I don't like to think about hell, especially not when I think about people I love that are headed there or that I think are already there.
Speaker 1:That's hard to cope with, but I trust the Lord in that. It's hard to cope with, but I trust the Lord in that, so we don't have to compromise what God says in his word and create some other form of Christianity. So let me review. These are just seven thoughts. I don't know what we call this. Lessons from Demas is what I started and I kind of tapered off into different. So number one this is primarily from Demas. He loved the world and what it offers.
Speaker 1:What is it that causes people to turn away, to apostatize, to become apostates, to abandon or reject the faith? They professed? Love for the world and what it offers. Number two reject good conscience. Number three the deceitfulness of sin. Number four itching ears and desire for loose, permissive teaching. That's progressive Christianity. Number five separation from community and fellowship within the body of Christ. And then number six LGBTQ issues. And number seven, uh, the doctrine of hell. That's it, man. Those are the big things that I think, if we can hold fast to the scripture, hold fast to our faith, fight the good fight of the faith and just believe what the Bible says. Believe Jesus at his word and you will stand firm and stand fast. I want to close by reading I don't know who wrote this, it's from like a random website, that it's like question and answers, but I found it interesting. It goes back to where we started in the last episode with Demas, kind of sums up Demas' journey.
Speaker 1:Demas had at one time been one of Paul's fellow workers in the gospel ministry, along with Mark Luke and others, philemon 124. During Paul's first imprisonment in Rome, demas was also in Rome. Colossians 4.14. There's also biblical evidence that Demas was with Paul during Paul's second imprisonment in Rome, at least for a while. Then something happened. Demas forsook Paul, abandoned the ministry and left town. Paul wrote about the sad situation. Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. 2 Timothy 4.10. The Greek verb used in the original implies that Demas had not merely left Paul but had left him.
Speaker 1:Quote in the lurch, unquote, that is, demas had abandoned Paul in a time of need. The apostle was in prison, faced a death sentence, and that's when Demas chose to set sail. Undoubtedly, paul was deeply let down by Demas. It's never easy to see a friend and associate in whom you've placed your trust forsake you in the midst of hardship. The separation caused by Demas.
Speaker 1:Demas' desertion of Paul was not merely spatial, but spiritual. Demas left Rome because he fell in love with the world. In other words, demas chose the corrupt value system of the unsaved world over what heaven values. As the NLT translates it, demas quote loves the things of this life, end quote. We don't know the details of Demas' situation, but it is evident that Demas decided that what Satan has to offer in this life is better than what God has to offer in the next.
Speaker 1:Much can be said in support of the view that Demas, in love with the present world, was never a born-again believer in Jesus Christ. Demas, in love with the present world was never a born-again believer in Jesus Christ. Paul makes a sharp contrast in 2 Timothy 4, 8, and 10. In verse 8, paul speaks of those who love the Lord. There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to all those who love his appearing. Demas, in contrast to those who love Jesus' return, loved the present world. Let me pause here so that what he's pointing out is that in 2 Timothy 4.8, those who love the Lord love the crown of righteousness that awaits for us the future award. The future appearing of Jesus Demas, in contrast, is showing that he loves what this present world offers.
Speaker 1:1 John 2.15 is clear about the spiritual state of those who love the world. Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in them. Nowhere in the Bible do we read of the restoration of Demas. The tragedy of Demas is still being lived out today by those who choose the temporary benefits of this world over the eternal riches of heaven. Today there are still those who seem to receive the word, but then the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.
Speaker 1:Matthew 13, 22 past services, no guarantee of future faithfulness. We must depend on the Lord, our strength. Psalm 28, eight we must be born again. John three, three, otherwise we have no foundation of faith. They went out from us but they did not really belong to us, for if they had belonged to us they would have remained with us. But they're going out showed that none of them belonged to us. First, john 2, 19. And then also Matthew 7, 22 to 23. Is that sobering verse that says on that day, many will say to me Lord, lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Cast out demons in your name, do many mighty works in your name. Then I will declare to them I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.
Speaker 1:It's a scary thing to me in conclusion of these two episodes. Scary thing to me is that there might be God forbid, there might be somebody listening right now to my voice, who is right now professing faith in Jesus, right now professing faith in Jesus. But, like we saw in the first episode, the last episode, the faith is a faith that you got to fight for. You got to fight to hold on, you got to fight to maintain, you got to fight to not be deceived, you got to fight against Satan's lies. And we saw how those two guys, hy and, and we, we saw how, uh, those two guys, hymenaeus and Alexander, rejected that faith by rejecting good conscience. So you got to say what is guiding my conscience? What's driving me in the decisions I'm making? Is it the world? The world is telling me this is okay, this is what God wants. God did God really say God wouldn't withhold this from you?
Speaker 1:And what we can easily do is get caught up in living in the moment to the point that we look for. We need to live in the moment, in that we are planted, our feet are planted in the moment to make an impact in the moment. But we do not need to live in the moment as if the moment would provide for us what we ultimately need and desire. We live in the moment so that we can be effective in the moment, as if the moment would provide for us what we ultimately need and desire. We live in the moment so that we can be effective in the moment, but we live with our eyes fixed on Jesus and our eternal reward. Keep that in mind and I pray that this next couple of weeks, um till we're, till we bring you another episode, lord willing um that you would live in the moment in so much as a moment by moment your eyes are on Jesus and you're looking for ways that you can be a light in a dark world, but that we would live with our mind, our heart and our eyes and our affection set on the future appearing of our Lord. And we and we strive towards that reward that awaits and we keep our hands on the plow, our grip firmly fastened, and we don't look back. And may we be faithful to the end, and may we not be of those who shrink back, but of those who persevere and endure and prove that our faith is a steadfast faith. God bless you have an awesome week and next week and I'm going to be having a good time somewhere, I don't know I'm going to be hanging out with my family and riding bicycles and throwing football and shooting basketball and fishing, I don't know. It's going to be fun just to get away with the four kids that are still at home Next year, another one gone and so I'm going to enjoy it while I can.
Speaker 1:I would ask you to pray for my son Tucker, just to share a prayer request. He has torn his ACL. Many of you know and have followed his career. He's a football player at Virginia Tech and he tore his ACL. So we'll be praying and navigating surgery for that and I think that's a that's a dead nuts that knocks him out of this next season. Even though it's April, there's no way he'll be ready to go come September. So April, may, june, july, august five months you don't come back in. Five months, five months from now. Hopefully he'll be rehabbing well and progressing well, but he'll not be ready to be released to play. So uh, just pray for wisdom in that and that the Lord will grow him through that. Thank y'all so much for supporting NSR and for being faithful listeners. And uh, do not go the way of Demas. Let's be faithful to the end, as Paul was and as so many others have been before, and be encouraged that others are being faithful and remaining faithful.
Speaker 1:Many will remain faithful. Let's be among that number. All right, I'm out.
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