The other day, I opened up my Bible, which was lying on the counter, and it just happened to open up to 2 Timothy 3:5.
I like to think the Holy Spirit many times will chose the scripture which my eyes land upon when I open my Bible.
I seen that particular verse on the pages because I had highlighted that verse at a previous time.
In the previous four verses of this chapter, Paul is explaining to Timothy that a time will come in the Church, in the last days, that Apostasy will plague the Church bringing about selfishness, covetousness, braggarts, pride, blasphemy, children who will not obey parents, thankless, unholiness, having unnatural affections, those who break truces, those who accuse people falsely, sexually unrestrained, with fierce dispositions, who despise those who are good. There will be those who are traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.
But the key verse I think is verse 5, it says, “having a form of Godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away."
I believe it is because they are denying the power of Godliness that has brought about the Apostasy of said Church.
This got me thinking, “what is the power of Godliness,” which this verse is referring to. I believe the only answer to this has to be Jesus Christ. But not just Jesus Christ, but Faith in what he accomplished at Calvary. An abiding trust in and reliance on His ability to set us free from whatever sin does beset us, and to deliver us into His Kingdom.
I guess the question then is what will bring people in the Church to such a state of Apostasy?
I then turned to Hebrews 3:13-14. I think the answer to this question as to how the Church gets into such an Apostate condition lies largely in this verse (it may very well lie in other verses as well but this is the one the Lord showed me).
These two verses say, “But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.”
To cut through right to the point, let me just say, “these people in said Apostate Church did not exhort one another daily.”
And notice that the point of the exhortation was to be, “the holding of the confidence which we had when we first got saved, until the end.”
Also, I think an important thing to notice is, this was to be done daily, not just by the minister, or the Elder, or the Pastor, or the Evangelist, but by all believers; and it is to be done for one another. And not to forget, the scripture says, “daily.”
It’s certainly true that every believer will not have an opportunity to do such for another believer everyday. However, most of us I think are around another believer quite often (centainly more often than just on Sundays. Sadly, I do not even hear this happening on Sundays, and not even by most ministers), so that even during the week we should not be shy about proclaiming one to another, what Christ has done for us.
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