The Nature and Causes of Apostasy – Part 14

Posted on July 2, 2024 by Hilltop Bible Church

The Third Cause of Apostasy

By John Fast

For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame. – Hebrews 6:4-6 (NASB)

Iain Murry, in his magnificent biography of Jonathan Edwards, described the condition of the church in early 1700’s America, prior to The Great Awakening, as being, “small difference between the church and the world. Almost any degree of religious interest, or of adherence to the forms of religion, was considered enough to justify a person’s Christian profession, and all who grew up in the church were commonly treated as belonging to Christ, irrespective of evidence to the contrary …. Men were treated as saved who never knew they were lost”.[1] Read more »

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The Nature and Causes of Apostasy – Part 13

Posted on February 24, 2024 by Hilltop Bible Church

Remedy for Apostasy

By John Fast

For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame. – Hebrews 6:4-6 (NASB)

Before a disease can be cured it must first be accurately diagnosed. To merely treat the symptoms while ignoring or denying the cause only makes the disease grow worse and worse. To merely treat the undesirable effects of apostacy, yet ignore and deny its causes, only makes the apostasy grow worse and worse, until, “There is no relief for your breakdown, your wound is incurable” (Na 3:19). Read more »

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The Nature and Causes of Apostasy – Part 12

Posted on December 18, 2022 by Hilltop Bible Church

The Second Cause of Apostasy

By John Fast

For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame. – Hebrews 6:4-6 (NASB)

In the previous study we saw that the only means which God has ordained for promoting, establishing, and preserving the truths and doctrines of the gospel is the same and only means which He has instituted for bringing people to a saving knowledge of the gospel, namely, the faithful, accurate, unadulterated, unedited, and diligent preaching and teaching of God’s Word found only in the Bible. Read more »

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The Nature and Causes of Apostasy – Part 11

Posted on May 28, 2022 by Hilltop Bible Church

God’s Means of Promoting and Preserving the Gospel

By John Fast

For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame. – Hebrews 6:4-6 (NASB)

Charles Spurgeon’s successor, Archibald G. Brown (1844-1922), once told a group of young people that they would witness a time “when a faithful man will be so scarce that you will have to hunt for him, and there shall be an apostasy on the right hand and apostasy on the left.”[1] We now live in such a time. What the majority of modern evangelicalism considers to be progress and success is, by any biblical definition and criteria, apostasy from the truths, doctrines, principles, authority, and sufficiency of Scripture. Brown’s biographer Iain Murray explained the basis for Brown’s prediction, Read more »

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The Nature and Causes of Apostasy – Part 10

Posted on October 30, 2021 by Hilltop Bible Church

Reasons and Causes of Apostasy

By John Fast

For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame. – Hebrews 6:4-6 (NASB)

Whatever hopes, beliefs, and assurances that the vast majority of people in this world have for their life after death, they are not founded on the truth of God’s Word, which is the only sure ground of hope. When the Apostle Paul told Gentile believers in Ephesus, that before their conversion they were “having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph 2:12), he did not mean they were devoid of their own self-made hopes. Read more »

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