We must Avoid Division and Reject Apostasy by Keeping the Oneness and Keeping the Faith

In Deut. 12-13 we see Moses telling the people of Israel to avoid division and reject apostasy; today we as believers in Christ need to avoid apostasy, avoid living in the principle of antichrist, and turn away from the divisive ones and reject the heretical ones.

This week in our crystallization study of Deuteronomy we come to the topic of, Avoiding Division, Which Is versus the Oneness That We Keep, and Rejecting Apostasy, Which Is versus the Faith That We Contend For.

We need to open to the Lord so that He may shine on us through His word; the opening of the Lord’s words gives light, imparting understanding to the simple (Psa. 118:130).

We pray that the Lord’s word would be unfolded to us and would truly gives us light.

When the Lord shines on us through His word and we receive light from the word, we will have divine understanding imparted into our mind. The divine light shines into our mind, imparting understanding not to the complicated but to the simple.

May our eye be single toward the Lord, having an uncomplicated but pure heart, so that our whole being would be full of light (Luke 11:34-36).

When our eye is single, that is, when our heart is pure, Christ will be our only goal and aim; He will be the unique One we exalt and elevate, and we reject any idols or replacements of Him.

May our heart be single toward the Lord so that our whole being be full of light, not having any dark part. Our spirit is the lamp of Jehovah; our spirit contains Christ as the Spirit, the light within the lamp.

The Lord’s shining within us illuminates us with His rays to shine into all our inward parts.

As we approach the matter of avoiding division (which is versus the oneness that we keep) and rejecting apostasy (which is versus the faith that we contend for), we need to realize that we need to keep the oneness and keep the faith.

We already have the oneness of the Spirit, and the faith has been delivered to us; we simply need to keep the oneness and keep the faith.

As Eph. 4:3 tells us, we need to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace; this is to practice the one accord.

We need to reject apostasy – first we need to see what apostasy is, and then we need to be inoculated so that we always avoid division and reject apostasy.

Amen, may the Lord shine on us, keep us on His way, keep us in His word, and save us from any division and apostasy, as we cooperate with Him to avoid division and reject apostasy!

We must Avoid Division and Reject Apostasy by Keeping the Oneness and Keeping the Faith

In Deut. 12 Moses was strict in the matter of division, instructing the children of Israel to avoid division by coming to the place of God’s choice and drop their own preference and desire.

In Deut. 13, Moses was strict in the matter of apostasy, telling them to reject apostasy. Apostasy in the Old testament denotes the giving up of God and the turning away from God to idols.

If a “prophet” would come and prophesy that the children of Israel will return to idols, the children of Israel were not to listen to him, for Jehovah their God was testing them to know whether they love Jehovah their God with all their heart and with all their soul (Deut. 13:1-4).

In the New Testament apostasy is heresy, which is teaching things that are contrary to the faith, things that deny the deity of Christ and deny aspects of His redemptive work.

There’s a difference between teaching apostasy and being wrong in doctrine; some believers may not be clear concerning doctrines such as the rapture, but they may not be apostate, for they don’t give up the faith that Christ Jesus is God and that He came in the flesh to be a man.

The apostle Paul in Rom. 14-15 was very generous and broad-minded, even all-embracing, encouraging the saints to receive all believers just as Christ received them, not looking at the things they eat or whether they keep a feast above others.

However, in Rom. 16:17 Paul was very strict and narrow when he exhorted the believers to mark those who make divisions and causes of stumbling contrary to the teaching which they have learned, and turn away from them.

When it comes to receiving the believers, those who hold the faith and are regenerated by God, we need to be general and broad, open-hearted and all-embracing.

When it comes to those who deny the incarnation of Christ and His redemptive work, and when it comes to those who make divisions, we need to not only not receive them, but even mark them out, turn away from them, and not even greet them.

We must be strict concerning division and apostasy; we must avoid division and reject apostasy; apostasy and heresy are an insult to the person of God, and division is cutting up and dividing the Body of Christ.

Apostasy is against Christ the Head, and heresy is against the church as the Body of Christ; we need to avoid division and reject apostasy.

Heretics deny that Jesus Christ is God incarnated to be a man, and those who make divisions cut up and divide the Body of Christ; in both the Old and the New Testament, God does not tolerate apostasy or heresy.

Instead of listening to those who speak heresy, we should hold to the faith delivered to all the saints, and instead of taking heed to those who make divisions, we should keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.

Apostasy and heresy insult the person of God. In the Old Testament the apostates turned away from God and followed idols, and in the New Testament the heretics denied that Jesus Christ is God incarnated to become a man; such things are heresy, New Testament apostasy.

We should reject apostasy – not even try to argue with it, we should simply avoid it!

Instead of sympathising with those who make divisions, we need to turn away from them; division and apostasy damage the Body of Christ and also the person of Christ, the entire economy of God.

Lord Jesus, we want to avoid division and reject apostasy according to Your word. May we realize that apostasy and heresy damage the person of Christ, while division damages the Body of Christ, and may we stay away from division and apostasy. Amen, Lord Jesus, we want to keep the faith delivered to all the saints, and we want to keep the oneness of the Spirit! Keep us in the divine and pure revelation in Your word, and keep us enjoying You with all the saints on the genuine ground of oneness! We praise You for Your incarnation – God became a man to be our Redeemer, Savior, and life! We praise You for the Body of Christ, which is one!

Not Living in the Principle of Antichrist, Turning Away from the Divisive Ones, and Rejecting the Heretical Ones

Apostasy in the Old Testament denotes giving up God and turning away from God to idols.

In the New Testament, however, apostasy is heresy, denoting the denial of Christ’s deity and not believing that Jesus Christ is God incarnated to be a man (John 1:1, 14; 1 John 2:18, 22; 4:2-3).

We may not have physical idols that we worship, but we may have idols in our heart; anything within us that we love more than the Lord Jesus and replaces Him in our life is an idol. We need to guard ourselves from idols.

And in particular, we need to be aware of the principle of antichrist; on one hand there will be an Antichrist who is the man of lawlessness, but on the other hand there’s the spirit of the antichrist and the principle of the antichrist.

Christ means the anointed One; He is the anointed One in our spirit, and He’s also the anointing in our spirit!

Christ is now the Spirit in our spirit moving, working, operating, and saturating within us; He saturates our inward parts with Himself day by day.

Antichrist first means against Christ; this has to do with the teaching of denying some aspect of Christ’s person and redemptive work.

Also, antichrist is something that replaces Christ; when Christ is replaced in our life, we are living in the principle of antichrist.

If we deny an aspect of Christ’s person, we are against Him, anti-Christ; if we have something in our daily living that replaces Christ, we are also against Christ, anti-Christ.

To be anti-Christ is both to be against Christ and to replace Christ with something else.

For example, if we replace Christ with our own good character and behavior, we are practicing the principle of antichrist.

Many times we think that evil behavior is anti-Christ, but we may not consider our good behavior, our good character, as being a replacement of Christ.

However, our own goodness may be something totally apart from Christ, for even before our regeneration we are good persons, and now after being born again, we are “a good brother” – but our goodness is not Christ.

We may allow our natural goodness, patience, good behavior, and good character to replace Christ.

In a practical way, if we replace Christ with our own good character and behavior, we are against the anointing; this means we’re anti the moving, working, and saturating of the Triune God within us.

May we not be against the anointing but rather open our whole being before Him and allow Him to move, work, and operate in us to saturate us with Himself!

Regretfully, however, in Christendom today many times if someone is a good person naturally or talented, he will be uplifted and used there; but that very talent and ability they have can be something anti-Christ, replacing Christ, unless it is crucified and resurrected.

Regarding heresy, we may think we don’t teach heresy or believe it, but do we believe all the aspects of the person and work of Christ?

In Isa. 9:6 we are told that a son is given to us, a child is born to us, and His name is the mighty God, eternal Father.

This son is Christ; Christ is the mighty God (we may say Amen to that) and also the eternal Father (do we agree with this?) – we need to keep both of these aspects.

Furthermore, our God is Triune – He is the Three-One God, and the Three in the Godhead are distinct – the Father, the Son, and the Spirit – but NOT separate, for they are inseparable.

When it comes to teaching heresy, we cannot be general and receiving of the ones who do it; rather, we need to realize that these ones damage God’s economy, so we need to turn away.

The apostle Paul charges us to turn away from the divisive ones (Rom. 16:17) and the apostle John says that we should reject the heretical ones (2 John 1:9-11).

We should not even receive such ones in our house. Some may come to knock on our doors and preach a different gospel, even heresy, denying the incarnation of Christ; we should not even receive them in our house.

If such persons are in such an illogical system, not believing that Jesus is God, not only should we not receive them into our house, but we should not even greet them.

Like Moses in Deuteronomy and the Apostles Paul and John in the New Testament, we must be very strict concerning division and apostasy; we must keep the unique oneness of God’s people and the unique faith in the person and redemptive work of Christ (Eph. 4:3, 13).

Lord Jesus, we love You, we uplift You, we exalt You, we worship You, and we reject any apostasy or heresy! Hallelujah, Jesus Christ is God incarnated to be a man, and this One became our Savior, Redeemer, King, life, and everything in His salvation! Lord, we want to keep the unique oneness of God’s people and the unique faith in the person and redemptive work of Christ! We turn away from the divisive ones and reject the heretical ones, and we stand on the truth in the word of God to keep the oneness of the Body and the faith in Christ!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Deuteronomy, msgs. 12-13 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy, week 10, Avoiding Division, Which Is versus the Oneness That We Keep, and Rejecting Apostasy, Which Is versus the Faith That We Contend For.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Being diligent to keep the oneness / Of the Spirit / In the uniting bond of peace: / One Body and one Spirit, / Even as also you were called / In one hope, in one hope of your calling; / One Lord, one faith, one baptism; / One God and Father of all, / Who is over all and through all and in all. (Scripture verse)
  – Up from Babylon, where the sects abound, / From division we must all rise up! / Brothers, Babylon’s not the proper ground; / From division we must all rise up! / Rise up! Rise up! / From division we must all rise up! (Hymns #1252)
  – In His Christ to head up all things / Is our God’s economy; / Taking Christ as Head and Center, / All is one in harmony. (Hymns #981)