DEPARTURE FROM THE FAITH

Friday 28 March

Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 1 Timothy 4:3 (NKJV)

Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; Hebrews 3:12 (NKJV)

It never ceases to amaze me as we journey deeper into the word of His grace, how much hope there is in salvation. The reason for this thought will become clearer as we continue. The Greek word for depart is ‘aphistemi’. Some of the meanings are to depart, to desist, to move from, to withdraw yourself, to desert, to fall away.

Now before going any further, we need to understand that all of these definitions can never change your salvation in Christ. I’m not suggesting that doing any one of these things are beneficial for you to do. Be assured however, that if you are in Christ and Christ is in you, no matter what you’ve done, you can never lose your salvation. John 10:27-29 confirms this reality.

‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.’

Now we have firmly established our status in Christ we can answer the question: What does it mean to depart or fall away from the faith? Faith in what? The gospel. So what exactly is our gospel? 1 Corinthians 15:1, 3-4 gives us the answer.

‘Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,’

This tells us that our gospel is the faith in the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord. This is the finished work of salvation and is not based on our effort or performance.

When we deviate from a Christ-centred gospel of grace into a self-centred gospel of a mixture of grace and law then we are preaching another gospel and have begun departing from the faith without even realising it. This is the meaning of falling from grace.

Moving from faith into unbelief is where Christians abandon or reject the beliefs and practices of their belief system they once adhered to. It even says that a believer can have ‘an evil heart of unbelief’. Heart here refers to the soul and in particular the mind. ‘Departing from the living God’ means moving away in your consciousness and actions. It doesn’t mean leaving God. He lives and abides in you forever so there’s no chance of that ever happening.

Unbelief is one of the reasons believers start listening to deceiving spirits whose desire is to cause you to desert your post in God’s army and go AWOL. They know they can’t destroy you but they can render you ineffective.

Some blame departing the faith on being offended by someone in the church. Truth be told if you keep showing up it is inevitable that something or someone is going to offend you. The word is in itself can offensive. Jesus said ‘blessed are they who are not offended for my sake’. Offenses will come but don’t use them as an excuse to ‘withdraw yourself’ from your faith in the gospel.

Maybe you are in a predicament of unbelief, offense or some other challenge as a believer. Be assured that God loves you and has given you His word and His Spirit to fulfil your calling in Christ. Another sure fire way to ‘build yourself up on your most holy faith’ is praying in tongues every day. My encouragement to you is don’t give up. Like the Apostle Paul said ‘I get knocked down but I’m not knocked out’ Keep walking by faith.

APPLICATION

Read John 10:27-29, John 3:16

John 6:25,26, John 6:63, Hebrews 7:25 and Jude 1:24 to understand from a doctrinal point of view that salvation in Christ is forever and cannot be lost.