How Sad When There Is No Fire To Burn The Apostasy

TOPIC: “How Sad When There Is No Fire To Burn The Apostasy” Hebrews 12:15, 16

Apostasy is to walk away from the divine truth; it is to neglect to reach the grace of God. These two verses seem to present four different sins that involve apostasy and should be avoided at all expenses. They are all related to the apostasy. First, the apostasy when one neglects to reach the grace of God. The person that falls into apostasy appears to be a Christian, talks like a Christian, professes to be a Christian, but the truth is that the person has never been born gain. The person has been very close to the Savior, but has never received Him or known Him. We can say: So close and so far away! Second, we can also say that apostasy is a root of bitterness against God. The apostate person turns bitter against the Lord and repudiates the Christian faith he once professed. His desertion is contagious; it attracts others and infects them. These other people are contaminated by listening to their complaints, doubts, denials and gossip. The apostates raise calumnies to God and all those who listen to them also become bitter and rebellious. Third, apostasy is rigorously linked to immorality. A professing Christian can fall in apostasy when he falls in a serious moral sin. Instead of recognizing his sin he will blame the Lord and walk away from God. Fourth, apostasy is a way of merely having a religion but without experiencing the new life with Christ through the Holy Spirit. We can see an example or case of apostasy in Jacob’s brother, Esau (Genesis 25: 32-34). This man who was born with the promises and favors of God did not show a true appreciation for his inheritance rights. He voluntarily changed it for the momentary gratification of his appetite; he rather preferred a plate of lentils. Esau profaned, contaminated what was pure and led it to the impure. 2 Peter 2:20 One falls in apostasy when allowing the sacred to be stepped over, when the impure has been given access to the sacred. It is when the threshold has been trespassed and gets contaminated knowingly, when the doors are left open for the impure to enter where the pure is. In these times many fall in the hands of the false teachers and the doors are opened without considering the consequences. Let us understand that the false are not victims but rather they are contaminated, who open the door of the sacred to introduce the impure. The apostates are those persons who appear to be converted but haven’t converted at all; they have not been born again. They have only been reformed, but not transformed! They’re like those who recur to programs to stop drinking or smoking, etc. They’re taken there to be reformed, and told that what they have is an illness; for this reason they cannot go to places where there is a habit of drinking or smoking because they can relapse. In the gospel they are people who had knowledge of the Lord, but did not have the plenitude of the Lord. They had abandoned a life of sin and had begun a life of moral cleansing as a result of the Christians principles they had heard. But, they fall under the influences of the false teachers who want to mock those who want to live a holy life. Then, they go back to the same sins which they had been temporarily delivered from. Of course, they fall even lower than before, because now that the religious restraints have disappeared, there is nothing that can stop them. Then, it is true that the final state of mind is worse than the first. Careful, beloved with the false teachers, nowadays they are abundant. When Hebrews 10:38 speaks of those who retract for the perdition of the soul it refers to those who trespass the threshold. There is something that should concern us very much and that is the fear to not please God. This impulses us to take certain precautions with our lives. The life that pleases God is the life of faith: "The just shall live by faith." We are nowhere near those who turn away. The life that pleases God is the one that values the promises of God. May we be among those who contemplate the indivisible and persevere to the end! The life that is displeasing to God is the one that renounces to the Messiah and wants to return to acknowledge the old law, the antiquated temple sacrifices, as if Christ had not come and paid the price on the cross. That's apostasy. "And if He turns back, He will not please my soul ..." This is clear, God is not pleased with those who do such. Only he who lives by faith and does not deviate from that love pleases God’s soul. Let us please God with our faith and perseverance even if the road is hard and narrow. Galatians 4:7, 9, 10 speaks of the Christians of Galatia. Had they known God or rather was it that God had known them? How were they going to justify their behavior of turning back to acknowledge the Law of Moses to be saved? Would they apostate from the first faith? Rather they did or did not know God, in a deep experimental sense, at least they were known by God to be saved. But they departed from the power and riches of the grace of God of which they were heirs,

to the weak and beggarly elements of those things connected with the law such as the circumcision, holy days, dietary laws, etc. They returned to be enslaved to things that could not save or enrich them but that impoverished them in their faith in Christ. Revelation 2:4 tells us the fire of the first love for Christ, of the affection to the Savior which had been extinguished for the Ephesians. The ardent enthusiasm of the early days had disappeared in those brothers. They left behind the wonderful experience of the warm, fulfilling and flowing love. They kept working, but the love in them had disappeared, the true motive for all worship and service. That is sad because one can easily fall into apostasy; we have to return to what was first. Let us take care of our heart and maintain the love, the true faith and the obedience as the great and greatest treasure we have received from God. Let us guard our salvation in Christ, keep the commandments holy and righteous, practice the intense love that gives life and work for the glory of God. Let us maintain a firm step in this road without turning right or left, always placing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12: 1, 2). Amen.