A Great Falling Away

(2 Timothy 1:15-18 – A Great Falling Away)

Not every person who comes to Christ will stay with Him. We are warned that there will be a great falling away in the end days before the return of the Lord.

But even apart from that specific event that was prophesied by Jesus, there is almost always a great falling away as people choose different paths than the path of truth. Many come and find the walk too hard, too intrusive in their lives, too restrictive, and so on.

Such people have either not learned the truth of the gospel or cannot hold fast to it as times get tough. And times will get tough in the last days, as we are already witnessing in this pestilence outbreak that is a harbinger of things yet to come.

A great falling away in the church

Jesus foretold a great falling away when He spoke of the signs of the end. This is what He had to say:

7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: 8 all this is but the beginning of the birth-pangs. 9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation, and put you to death; and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. 10 And then many will fall away, and betray one another, and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because wickedness is multiplied, most men’s love will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:7-14)

This is the great falling away that Jesus foretold would take place. It is one of the signs of the end times.

The great invitation

What is worth noting in the above scripture, is that there is also a time before Christ returns when the true gospel will be preached to the whole world as a testimony to all nations. He talks about “this gospel” and that can only be the gospel that Jesus preached.

There re many gospels preached in the broad church today and they have bits and pieces of the truth. But they are also intertwined with lies and half truths; things that are not scriptural and were never part of the truth of the gospel.

But when the time comes, the Lord will have His servants preach the truth. He will unmask the lies that have infiltrated the true gospel so that the whole world will hear the truth before His return. And this I believe may be the great invitation that Jesus spoke about.

16 But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet, and invited many; 17 and at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for all is now ready.’ 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it; I pray you, have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them; I pray you, have me excused.’ 20 And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So the servant came and reported this to his master. Then the householder in anger said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and maimed and blind and lame.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 23 And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges, and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’” (Luke 14:16-24)

In other versions of this parable, Jesus speaks about this banquet as being a marriage feast for a king’s son. And when the king sends servants to call the people in to the marriage feast, the servants are treated shamefully and some are even killed.

This is a parallel to what is happening in the world to those of God’s kingdom. The world treats Christians shamefully, some have been martyred in recent times, and the world hates those who choose to seek Jesus.

But as we see here, the invitation then goes out to the whole world and many will be gathered in to the feast. There will be many who hear the call of the Lord and choose to follow Christ when the word goes out to the whole world to call them in.

What we also see though is that “many who were invited” will reject the call. They will choose to do other things rather than come to the feast. And they will miss out.

These people were already invited. They are the people who are already in the church, but they choose alternatives to coming into the kingdom of God and will miss out. Why? Because they failed to put any importance and priority into the teachings of the kingdom. They saw Christianity as just something you do one day a week, or they were distracted with other things they felt to be more important or beneficial.

A great falling away of individuals

We see a shift in the way people fall away from the church in the words above.

There is a great falling away of the church in the first scriptures, and there is also a great falling away at an individual level. This individual level falling away can be seen in the parable of the sower.

14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown; when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word which is sown in them. 16 And these in like manner are the ones sown upon rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; 17 and they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. 18 And others are the ones sown among thorns; they are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world, and the delight in riches, and the desire for other things, enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20 But those that were sown upon the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” (Mark 4:14-20)

Here we see the effects of a great falling away of individuals. Many people hear the word of the gospel, but they do not follow it to full growth.

Some have it snatched away before it takes root. It may be friends or family who ridicule the person when they hear they have gone to a church meeting, and the person listens to them rather than the voice of God. Others take the word in, but can’t handle the heat that comes upon them. The persecutions are too much, and so they fall away. Another group get distracted by the troubles and the pleasures of this life and so the word is strangled in them and they fall away.

But those who stick it out to the end will grow and strengthen and bear the fruits of the Spirit as they mature in Christ. They will win the rewards of following Christ despite everything going on around them.

Not everyone will stay and there will be a great falling away

Paul in the early church saw this individual falling away take place. He spoke about it in his letter to Timothy,as we see in these words.

15 You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, and among them Phy’gelus and Hermog’enes. 16 May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiph’orus, for he often refreshed me; he was not ashamed of my chains, 17 but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me eagerly and found me– 18 may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day–and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus. (2 Timothy 1:15-18)

Paul was lamenting the falling away of these various ones. They had been close friends and colleagues in the work of Christ.

But they took a wrong turn and chose instead to listen to or follow a false doctrine, or they went back into the world.

The evidence from all of the above is that not everyone who comes to Christ will stay with Christ. Some come for a while but they don’t stick it out to the end.

Make no mistake, it is a hard road we walk as Christians. It is not called a hard and narrow path that leads to life for no reason. There will be trials, tribulations and persecutions because we stand opposed to the ways of this world. We will be hated because of the stand we take to follow Christ.

The world hates us because they hated Christ first. The world does not understand that if they followed the ways of Christ, all of the troubles of this world could and would be overcome.

But it is even worse when you consider the hatred of those who call themselves Christians but follow false teachings. They hate the truth because they don’t understand it. Instead, they choose to follow the lies and half-truths that plague and cripple the church, and they do not look for the truth of the gospel. They should know better…but they don’t.

Encouragement

But all is not lost. There may be a great falling away, but there is also the great invitation when many will be called and many will return to Christ.

We should be encouraged knowing that Jesus is in control. He knows those who are His, and while we remain faithful, He will teach, protect and grow us to maturity. We may struggle in these times, but those who hope in Christ do not look at these times as being of any consequence. These days are the temporary testing place to make ready the people of God to enter into His kingdom.

We should be encouraged even as we see the world falling apart around us. Everything that is happening has been prophesied and it is all going to plan. Sure, it is a difficult time, but we know that God knows the end from the beginning. He designed the earth and the times to follow this path and to bring His kingdom to fruition.

All we need to do is to continue to look to Jesus and remain faithful. There may well be a great falling away, but there is also a great calling together of the people of God. We just have to make the right choice and stand on the side of the right.

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