Apostasy.
"Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you," etc. Our text leads us to consider—
I. APOSTASY IN ITS NATURE. "Departing from the living God."
1. This departure is not local. In this respect separation from the Divine presence is impossible "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?" etc. (Psalms 139:7-12).
2. This departure is not theological The corruption of a man's creed will almost certainly be followed by deterioration of his character and conduct; yet a man may retain his hold of a true creed, and at the same time be falling away from the living God.
3. This departure is not ecclesiastical. Membership and activity in the visible Church of Christ may be fully maintained even while one is departing from God. Apostasy may exist in the heart long before it is manifested in action.
4. This departure is spiritual. It is a falling away from the living God in sympathy and in service. "They do always err in their heart" (Hebrews 3:10). It is the decline of love and loyalty to God.
II. APOSTASY IN ITS ROOT. "An evil heart of unbelief." Confidence in God is essential to union with him or love to him. Let any one doubt God's existence or character, that he is wise and righteous and good, and that man's sympathy with God will speedily perish. His apostasy has already begun. Doubt of our friends will be the death of our friendship. And unbelief towards God must lead to spiritual alienation from him, and that alienation persisted in must issue in spiritual death. It is of the utmost importance that we firmly grasp the truth that this unbelief is not intellectual, but moral; it is not the doubt of the inquiring mind, but of the wandering heart. It is the faith of the heart that unites man with God. "If thou shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shelf be saved; for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness," etc. It is the unbelief of the heart that separates man from God. "An evil heart of unbelief."
III. APOSTASY IN ITS PERIL. There is the danger of:
1. Drifting further away from God. It is impossible for us to remain stationary in our relation to him. We are ever either drawing nearer to him or departing further from him. In this "failing away from the living God" the soul falls lower and lower.
2. Deprivation of spiritual blessings. Unbelief excludes the soul from the rest of God. The peace of the forgiveness of sins, the rest and joy of affections centered in God, the comfort of Christian hope, and the blessedness of true progress, are forfeited by the unbeliever.
3. The death of the soul. The soul lives only as it is united with God, and its union with him is impossible apart from faith in him. "Departing from the living God," its death is inevitable. What a death is that! A man in whom truth and trust, purity and love, righteousness and reverence, moral effort and aspiration, are extinct. What a death!
IV. APOSTASY IN ITS PREVENTION. "Take heed, brethren," etc.
1. Guard against the insidious advances of unbelief. "Watch and pray," etc.
2. Seek the increase of your faith in God and of your love to him. A nearer approach to God is the surest preventive of apostasy from him.
CONCLUSION. Is "thy heart right in the sight of God"? "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life."—W.J.