This sermon delves into the great lie of the great apostasy, focusing on the deception within the church that suggests one does not have to obey God. It explores the subtle yet powerful nature of this lie, rooted in a partial truth about salvation by grace but neglecting the call to live a holy life. The message emphasizes the importance of confronting sin and the resistance faced by pastors who seek to preach the truth, warning about the danger of turning away from sound doctrine and embracing myths.

I want to talk today about the great lie of the great apostasy. There is a lie that is being propagated that is paving the way for the great apostasy. And you are affected by it, witnesses of it. Probably much more than you realize. And I hope to expose it for what it is here today in such a way that you won't forget. I said in one of my books, I think it was intoxicated with Babylon maybe, but I said that there is a wave of deception coming upon this earth like a tidal wave. And I suppose that will end up being true before it's all over with. But before the tidal wave comes, there is a swelling of the tide. And that's what we're experiencing now. A swelling of the tide of deception. And I'm not talking about out in the world, that's there of course, it's always been there. I'm talking about in the church, at least in the Western church. And I'll tell you what the lie is right up front so you understand what I'm getting at here with this message. Here is the lie in its barest form and you'll never hear this said from a pulpit. Not this explicitly, but as I'll go on to prove to you and show you, it is expressed in a thousand ways in the church. The lie is, you don't have to obey God. That's the lie. In 2 Thessalonians 2 where the Apostle Paul is talking about the mystery of lawlessness. There's something about that at work in the end times church that is mysterious. It's profound, it's enigmatic, it's not understood very clearly. It's not seen very clearly. Jesus said in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, He said, many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Do you believe that? He said, because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. Now in regards to this lie that's being propagated in the church, there's two reasons really primarily that it's so powerful. One is that it's built on half truth. Much of it is. And that's the most powerful deception is when there's truth involved. So they'll take some portion of truth which we all understand, oh that's a true thing. And they will build on that, but from that pure foundation then they add all this other junk and they twist and corrupt what began as a pure truth. Now in this case, for this lie, the truth is that we are saved by grace. That is true. Absolutely true. The opposite of that is what Paul was constantly battling in his day, some 30, 40, 50 years before this, which was the lie of legalism that the Judaizers brought forth. So Paul was, that was the great heresy of his day and he fought it with all his heart and some of the strong things he says about grace are to refute that lie on the other side. See? So now that Paul is gone, Jerusalem has been decimated by the Romans and life has gone on almost 30 years after Jerusalem is destroyed. Judaism as it was is gone. So Judaizers are gone. So now the enemy brings in this lie of antinomianism through the Greek culture. Antinomianism just means without the law. So now it's on the other side of the spectrum. So there's a truth there that we're saved by grace, but there's also another half to that. It isn't just that. The other part of that is if the Holy Spirit of God is living within you, there's something compelling you to live a holy life. To obey God. And to say that it's all grace and to totally focus on that makes it into a lie. Because it's not the whole truth. It's part of the truth, absolutely, but it's not the whole truth. A.W. Tozer said, salvation without obedience is a self-contradictory impossibility because the essence of sin is rebellion against divine authority. You know, you can be in unrepentant sin in the evangelical church. You can do that, but you can't do it in God's kingdom. The second reason that these lies are so powerful is because they are so subtle. Usually subtle. You know, they're just kind of woven in. In fact, the most powerful part of this lie, that you don't have to obey God, is simply because preachers don't preach it. They don't confront sin anymore. Or if they do it, they do it in such a generalized way, such a low-key way, or they aim it at the culture, which is a popular way to deal with sin. Oh, those people out there. They don't confront the sin of the people in their church, the people that are supposed to be under their care. Now, I'll say this, that most of this is because this is what people want. It's hard to be a godly pastor. I'll tell you that. It is hard. I feel bad for these guys. I have sat and talked to so many pastors over the years who are sincere men, godly men, want to do right, but if they try to preach about sin, not that they need to do it every week, but have a balanced diet, they're feeding their sheep, you know, and so occasionally they bring a message about, you know, whatever, unforgiveness, let's say. You know, if they try to do that, boy, you want people to turn on you, start to expose what's in them, what they don't want to give up, and that goes for people who write books, it goes for radio preachers, across the board. They feel the pressure to bring soft messages. Now, I'm going to read these two verses. You all know them very well, and I fear that because we know these verses so well, they've lost the reality, what should strike terror in our hearts, because this is talking about the church that you and I call home. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths. You know, the bottom line for a lot of Christians out there, their attitude is, don't preach the truth to us, because we will not put up with it. I hate to say it, but it's the way it is. It's just the way it is nowadays.