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Chart #48
The Case of Simon - A Case of Apostasy.
- In Acts 8 we have a clear - cut example of a child of God sinning.
- Verse 13 tells us that he believed and was baptized.
- Jesus said, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," Mark
16:16, therefore Simon was a saved man -- yet he committed sin so that he
was "in the gall of bitterness, and the bond of iniquity." Acts
8:23
- As a child of God he was commanded to repent and pray that he might be
forgiven. Acts 8:20-24
Chart #49 King Saul - A Case of Apostasy
- 1 Samuel 10: Verse one states that he was "anointed" of God.
Verse six states that he became "another man."
Verse nine states that he had "another heart."
Verse seven states that God was with him.
Verse ten states that "God's spirit was in him."
Verse twenty-four states that he was "God's chosen."
- 1 Samuel 15: Tells of his sins of rebellion, stubbornness and
disobedience.
- 1 Samuel 28:16. Samuel tells Saul that "the Lord is departed from
thee, and is become thine enemy."
- Thus being rejected by the Lord, Chapter 31 tells us how Saul killed
himself as an outcast from God almighty.
Chart #50 2 Peter 2.
- Peter gives a vivid description of the many causes of apostasy and of its
terrible consequences.
- Note first the causes of falling away: verses 1-3
a. False teachers bringing in damnable heresies.
b. Many would follow their pernicious ways.
c. With feigned words these false teachers would make merchandise of those
who were Christians.
- Note second the warnings against apostasy: verses 4-19
a. God spared not the angels that sinned.
b. God spared not the old world but brought the flood.
c. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
d. These same conditions are repeated in those who "have forsaken the
right way" with "eyes full of adultery" who "cannot
cease from sin."
- In verses 20-22 their final apostasy resulting as follows:
a. They had escaped pollution through the knowledge of Christ.
b. They had become again entangled in sin and overcome.
c. Their last state was worse than the first.
d. It had been better for them not to have known the righteousness, than
having known it to turn from it.
e. Their apostasy was compared to the proverb of the dog returning to his
own vomit and the sow to wallowing in the mire.
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