In Pastor Steve Hopkins' sermon titled 'Apostasy of Youth', delivered at Burnet Bible Church, he addresses the concern of young individuals turning away from their faith. The sermon is centered around 1 John 2:15-17 and discusses the dangers of loving the world, which is seen as a path to apostasy. Pastor Hopkins stresses that loving the world and its comforts can lead young people away from their faith, resulting in spiritual death. He urges the congregation, particularly the youth, to examine their lives for signs of hypocrisy and to resist the devil by engaging deeply with prayer and scripture. The sermon emphasizes the importance of true regeneration and the need for young people to have a sincere desire to obey Christ. Pastor Hopkins warns of the deceitfulness of sin and the potential for secret sins to lead to a hardened heart. He uses biblical examples such as Judas and Demas to illustrate the consequences of apostasy. The sermon concludes with a call for self-examination, urging young people to prioritize their spiritual well-being over worldly desires and to seek a genuine relationship with God.

Welcome to Burnet Bible Church. This week, Pastor Hopkins gives a sermon on apostasy of youth. If you would, turn in your Bibles with me to 1 John chapter 2 and we're going to be reading verses 15, 16, and 17 this afternoon. We have been looking at the topic of apostasy and specifically addressing apostasy of youth. Let's stand for the reading of the Word of God.

Let's read together, verses 15 through 17. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world passeth away and the lusts thereof.

But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." Let's pray. Father, we want to humble ourselves before you once again, God, and ask, Lord, that you might be pleased to do a work in this church, in the heart of this people, in the lives of this people, God, a work that no man can do. Father, we are humbled by your Word when we read these sober words, God. And we ask that you would cause us to look at our own lives, examine our own lives as we we study this passage. And God, that you would help us, Father.

Where we need conviction, bring conviction. We believe in the Holy Spirit, and we ask that you would convict hearts by your Spirit. We pray that you would open up the understanding of our hearts to your word by your spirit. And we pray, God, that if there are those here that have never known you, they would be raised from spiritual death to spiritual life, God. There would be regeneration.

And we ask, Lord, that your people, Lord, Every one of us would grow in the grace and the knowledge of Christ in conformity to His blessed image in this time. Oh Lord, may Your Spirit fall upon this place, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's be seated. At the end of our last session this past Sunday, after the end of part one of this message series, Apostasy of Youth, I asked the young people of the church to consider taking some time after the service before the end of the day and to find a solitary place to get alone with God and to seriously consider the words of Luke 6 46 in light of what had been taught in that session and in light of the teaching of the Word of God, whereby we are commanded of God to be ever watching and praying and seeking God by His Word.

And I said, take that time because you have an adversary, the devil, who like a roaring lion, is walking all about you, seeking to devour you. And I won't ask for a show of hands, but I wonder how many of the young people made the time to go out and to get alone with God in a solitary place and consider Jesus' words from Luke 646. We live in an age of ease and we live in an age of comforts unknown to generations before us, even for millennia. And we live in a time and we live in a nation where the professors of Christ tend to do more what they feel like doing than what God commands them to be doing. And yet the reality, as I said in our last session, is that the landscape of modern American Christianity is strewn with the spiritual corpses of young people, young people who were raised in Christian homes and young people who attended gospel preaching churches, young people who at some point in their upbringing professed faith in Christ, but who later repudiated that faith and forsook the gospel preaching churches that they were raised in and ran with arms wide open into the world to embrace the world.

Again, did you find a place to get alone with God and seriously consider the words of Jesus from Luke 646? They're still today. They're still today. Luke 646 is to me one of the most searching passages in all of Scripture, and though it should strike at the heart of hypocrites, it tends many times to only move the true believer to any real contemplation. In other words, those who should be convicted tend to not be convicted, and those who maybe don't need to be all that convicted by the passage take it very seriously.

In that passage, Jesus was preaching to false teachers. He was preaching to men who consider themselves to be guides to the blind and instructors of babes, people who profess that they knew God but who in works denied Him. And Jesus asked them, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Why call you me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say." And of course, the simple answer to that question was that they didn't believe. They weren't truly born again.

They weren't really in the family of God. If they had really believed, they would have had an interest in Christ, manifested in a desire to obey Christ and keep His commands. Remember, Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my commands. If you love me, you're going to be those who are going to be interested in the things that I've commanded and You're going to be seeking me and you're going to be wanting, desiring deeply to obey me. And I'm not saying in this, young people, that if your Christian disciplines are not currently where they need to be, if they're not currently on track, that you're not a believer.

I'm not saying that. But this passage from Luke is one that every person who calls himself by the name of the Lord should take seriously, take to heart. Those who truly know Christ have a desire to obey him because God has given them a new heart with new desires. He's given his people a new heart with new desires, and desires that though imperfect, as they all are, are being conformed day by day to the likeness of Christ and the image of Christ. Calvin comments on this passage, this doctrine embraces all hypocrites, whatever may be their rank or station.

In other words, it doesn't only apply to the false teachers of Jesus day. In another place, you remember Jesus told them, this people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. This people honor me with their lips but their heart is far from me. There is a people that say I love Jesus, I love God, but their heart is far from God. These people honor me with their lips, with an outward honoring, but their heart isn't anywhere near me.

Last week we looked at the sin of apostasy and focused primarily on professors of Christ who go on to deny Christ and then abandon the churches of Christ. We showed that all who profess Jesus do not necessarily possess Jesus. That all who profess faith in Christ do not necessarily possess saving faith. We looked at 1st John 2 19 that was our primary passage that they went out from us because they were never truly of us for if they had truly been of us they would not have departed but they departed so that it would be manifest or made known that they were never really of us, they were never really true believers. So I want to focus this week and this message on the path to apostasy and the hearts of professors of Christ and the lives of professors of Christ Because many who are joined to the churches of Christ are not joined to Christ.

Many who are joined to the churches of Christ are not joined to Christ. And their hearts are actually far from Christ. The love of God not being in them. And young people, I'm addressing you primarily today, though this applies to all professors of Christ. I want you to understand that there is a path to apostasy.

You can lay out the map on the table and you can Look at the life of a professor of Christ and you will see that there is a path that they are on that ends in destruction and it is a a path that many who profess Christ in the churches today and throughout history have been on that is the path to apostasy. And that path is marked by a love of the world. And it is marked by a love of the things of the world, and it is marked by a heart that is far from Jesus. In the Father's Day message two weeks ago, I reminded fathers that the ultimate goal in raising our children is the salvation of their souls. That all the prayers and all the efforts of truly Christian parents in raising up their children in the way they should go has only really one purpose in mind and that is their regeneration.

We only want one thing for our children that they might be born again. Some may want great occupations and jobs and high paying salaries for their children, but the truly Christian parent, their objective, their desire, what motivates them in raising up their children is not that they would grow up and be great in prosperity and high in rank and in the world and have nice things and nice jobs and nice clothes and nice houses and nice cars but that they would know God and love God. They might be born again. Our prayer is that God might be pleased to take our children and make them new creatures in His Son. Truly Christian parents are more concerned with what's going on inside their child than what's going on outside with regards to outward conformity to a set of principles.

Infinitely more interested in what is going on inside their child. In our prayer, the prayer of truly Christian parents is that God might grant our sons and daughters true repentance and saving faith. And that our children might come to know God and to love God. And our opening text this afternoon says, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, it's not of God, but it is of the world. And the admonition here is to believers. In the preceding verses, we see the address, If you'll look at it, the address of the Apostles' exhortation, it is to fathers and to young men and to children of the faith of Christ in general, to fathers who, quote, know God. I write unto you fathers because you know God. And to you young men, I write unto you young men because you have overcome the evil one Which will get two more at the end of the message But it's it's it's also a test of true faith.

It's also a passage intended for self-examination. It is a test that requires self-examination in the light of God's Word. Young people, do you know God? I asked you this question last week, do you love God? Is the love of God in you?

Is the love of God in you? Is the love of God in you? Is the love of God in you? And you need to understand something here. The passage here teaches us that the love of the evil things of the world is inconsistent with the love of God.

Calvin writes here, whosoever makes himself a slave to earthly lusts cannot be of God. Cannot be of God. It is an impossibility. I know in the 1599 Geneva Bible, where they have the commentary, says the father and the world cannot be loved together. And this admonition is very necessary for young and growing youth.

400 years ago. Matthew Henry comments on this passage about 300 years ago, the world draws the heart from God and the more the love of the world prevails, the more the love of God decays. Unless this victory over the world is begun in the heart and he's referring there to regeneration new birth in Christ and the ongoing work of God and the life of true believers But unless this is begun in the heart By God a man has no root in himself but will fall away, but will fall away, or it most remain an unfruitful professor. In a nutshell, he's saying you whose sins have been forgiven, if you go further back in the book, in the letter, you whose sins have been forgiven for Jesus' sake, You who know God, you who have overcome the evil one, who are truly born from above, you in whom God has begun a work upon your heart, You who know God and love God do not love the world and the evil things of the world. But then there's the flip side.

The flip side. If you do love all that is in the world and the evil things of the world that are in opposition to God, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life. If you're living in sensuality and materialism and covetousness and pride, you give evidence that the love of the Father is truly not in you. True believers do not love the things and live in those things that are in opposition to God and contrary to his commands. Paul writes in Galatians chapter five and verse 24, and they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts along with the affections and lusts thereof. And of course as you've always heard me say I should have the banner strung up behind my head, of course not perfectly right, but progressively as the true believer is incrementally day by day conformed more and more to the image of Christ, by the Spirit who indwells them. Those who belong to Christ are in the sin-killing business. It's called mortification. We mortify the members of the flesh by the Spirit, not on our own or in the flesh.

Those who belong to Christ are in the sin-killing business. And by the Spirit who indwells them, while looking to Christ and him crucified and risen from the dead, they mortify their lusts." Colossians 3, verses 5 through 10, in that passage, the Apostle Paul says, you used to walk in those things and you used to live in those things you used to live and he mentions fornication and in lust and in all of these things that are in opposition to God and is where you used to live lives of covetousness and worldliness loving the things of the world but not anymore but now you have put on Christ now you've put on Christ now you're in the sin-killing business now you live a life of mortification if you're truly a believer and your heart is not far from him. Young people, I want you to understand something. The path to apostasy is marked by an ever growing love of the evil things of the world and an ever increasing coldness to the things of God. If you're living in sin, we're going to get to secret sin in a moment.

If you're living in those things that you know are in opposition to God and to His commands, Don't be surprised if one day you wake up and you're absolutely frozen to the things of God and You have no interest in the things of God whatsoever We read it in the passes last week. Their Consciences were seared as with a hot iron Have you ever seen something seared with a hot iron? I used to be in the carpet business. And you have a carpet iron and you have a tape that has glue on it and you run that on the tape, the back side of the tape and it melts it and one time I took the iron and I set it down on the carpet. My sister is laughing, she knows about this.

You may have seen me do it, I don't know. She was in the business too. And put it on that carpet and when you pick it up it's just like kind of strings you know and everything. Oh boy. Go off, shut it off, clean it all off, come back.

When you come back it's no longer warm, no longer pliable. It's as hard as a rock. It's seared as with a hot iron. It's seared as with a hot iron. You've heard me use this expression before.

What's in the well eventually comes up in the bucket. So what's in your life, what's going on in your life will eventually surface. Do you understand that? Do you understand that? Florists, I was thinking about this last night, Lord give me another kind of illustration like the well and what's in the well coming up in the bucket.

Florists, I was thinking you know they they make these flower bouquets. Children see your dad bring a bouquet of flowers home for your for your mom, at least you should from time to time, probably on their anniversary for sure at least. But the florist will take a dye and they put it into the water and it comes up through the stem or the root if you put it in the soil, and it manifests itself in the petals or in the leaves. Typically, I think carnations are what are used. In a similar way, the love of sin manifests itself even when it's not observable at first to any but God.

It Eventually, what's at the root eventually shows up in the leaves and in the petals. Eventually it's manifested. Eventually it comes to the surface like what's in the well. Paul says in 2 Timothy chapter 4 in verse 10, Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. We don't know what it was, what the proclivity of Demas was.

We don't know if it was the lust of the eyes. We don't know if it was the lust of the flesh. We don't know if it was the pride of life. We just know that Demas loved the world. We don't know if it was the pride of life.

We just know that Demas loved the world. We don't know if it was if he left for money. We don't know. All we know is that Demas forsook the apostle because he loved this present world. He loved the world and the things of the world and the love of the Father was not in him.

The love of God was not in him. Demas was in the church. Demas walked with the Apostle Paul. He saw his miracles, but eventually he left because he loved this present world. What was in the well came up in the bucket, and it wasn't the love of God.

The color die in the water eventually made it from the root to the leaves. Remember where Jesus talked about a seed that was sown among thorns. Anybody remember that, young people? And he said that there was this, the farmer cast this seed and in the parable, it's thrown among thorns. Then he came back and explained and he said that the seed that's thrown among the thorns is those who, they hear the word of God, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things enter in." And the thorns choke the word.

There is a path to apostasy. Again, those are truly, truly believers. God has begun the work in them. We looked at the various passages last week. They cannot fall away.

I know the Church of Christ and I know the Roman Catholic Church. There's all these groups that say you can lose your salvation, But if you've got it, as we said last week, quoting R.C. Sproul, you can't lose it. And if you lost it, you never had it. Right?

You can't lose something you never had, is what we're going, looking at here. There is a path to apostasy. Demas was on it. Demas forsook the Apostle Paul, forsook the church. He went out from them, having loved this present world.

Ananias and Sapphira, Acts chapter 5, Ananias and Sapphira concealed themselves within the church until the Holy Spirit exposed their charade. Remember Ananias and Sapphira. They thought that God didn't have the ability to know what was really going on with them. They could even lie to God, lie to the Holy Spirit. But their charade was exposed.

And they died. Serious matter. In our last session, we looked briefly at the primary example in all of scripture of what an apostate looks like. You may remember who that was? He is the premier undercover apostate in scripture, Judas.

Judas was the premier undercover apostate. Judas was able to conceal himself amongst the disciples of Christ for three years, and no one knew it but Jesus, of course. None knew his true state of unbelief but Christ, but God. And Judas was a secret sinner. Did you know that?

Look at his path to apostasy. Judas was a secret sinner. John 12-6 tells us he was a thief. Judas was a thief concealed amongst the disciples of Christ. He held the bag of money that funded the ministry of Jesus and the disciples, and he dipped into those funds from time to time for his own benefit.

That's why he was so disturbed When a woman took expensive ointment and poured it on Jesus feet, Jesus said anointing him for his burial. He said, oh that could have been used for the poor. But he didn't care about the poor, the text tells us. He was a thief. Judas was a secret sinner.

He was a secret sinner. Judas was in the church, but his heart was in the world. Judas was in the church, but his heart was in the world. His body was with Jesus, But his heart was far, far from him. The love of the world was in Judas, not the love of the Father.

Not the love of the Father. Judas gained the world and lost his soul. Some profess that they know God, but they're practicing atheists. Titus 1.16 says, They profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him. Young people, you cannot play around with sin.

You cannot dabble in sin. The Puritans used to say, you let one little thief in through the window, he'll let the big guys in through the door. I paraphrase. One little hole in the ship will sink it. One small breach in the dam and eventually the entire lake will be left out.

Eventually the entire lake will be let out. You cannot have a little reservation in your life to coddle a favorite sin. Eventually it will get off the reservation and come full and come full force upon you. Secret centers and apostates again have a heart of unbelief that eventually manifests itself at some point. What's in the well comes up in the bucket.

The dye makes its way from the root to the petals and the leaves. In 2nd Timothy chapter 2 and verse 19 the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy, nevertheless the foundation of God stand assured having this seal the Lord knows them that are His. Demas might be concealed for a time, even in the presence of the Apostle Paul. Judas might be concealed for a time, even among the disciples of Christ. And Ananias and Sapphira might conceal themselves for a time in the midst of the church, but God knows who are His.

And then He goes on to say this, and let everyone that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Let everyone who says, Lord, Lord, and it really means it, depart from iniquity. Are you living a life of departing from iniquity? Judas wasn't. Demas wasn't.

Ananias and Sapphira weren't. Proverbs 16, 17 says, The highway of the upright is to depart from evil. He that keepeth his way preserveeth his soul. Are you on the highway of the upright? Are you continually departing from evil or yielding to evil?

Are you continually departing from Sin when you're tempted or are you continually yielding to and giving way to sin? Let everyone that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Let everyone that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Let everyone that named the name of Christ depart from Iniquity and equity is is the is the breaking of the laws of God That you know Did you know I? Asked the young people in this congregation last week, are you serious about the things of God?

Some of you weren't here. You'll hear it for the first time. Are you vigilant in seeking God? Are you watching? Are you in God's Word?

Are you praying? Are you resisting the devil steadfast in the faith? The devil who's walking about as a roaring lion, all about you, seeking to devour you? Are you? This afternoon, I ask you, is the pattern of your life one of continual departure from sin or yielding to sin?

There is a path to apostasy. There is a highway to hell. There is a pathway that every young person who's ever departed from the faith has taken, and every apostate has taken. In our last session I provided a remedy, one from God's Word. I said, if you don't have scheduled time of prayer every day, and a scheduled time to be in the Word of God, set aside to be alone with God in prayer and the reading of His Word.

You're taking steps in the direction of apostasy. But These things that God has given us are remedies. There are steps toward apostasy. There's a path upon which every young person I've ever heard of was on before they denied their profession of Christ and forsook the assemblies of the true churches of Christ. I said ask those, ask one of them sometime.

Did you have a scheduled time of prayer every day and the reading of God's Word? They're gonna tell you no. Were you diligent, Steadfast in resisting the devil and using the means of grace by which God has afforded you? No. If they're honest, they weren't truly serious about the things of God.

And I asked the question, are you resisting the devil using the means that God has given you? And I said, the devil wants you to have time for entertainment, but not time for the word of God in prayer. That's what the devil wants. He wants you to have time for entertainment, but not time for the Word and prayer. And I said, is he succeeding with you?

Is he getting what he wants? Has he gotten what he wants? That's what He wants. Is He succeeding with you? I said the devil wants you on Facebook not in God's book.

Is He getting what He wants concerning you? Is the devil getting what he wants? The devil wants you to be able to remember the lines of movies and the lines of popular music, but not the lines of scripture. Has he succeeded with you? Is he succeeding with you?

And I said, I fear that some will go home even today. This sermon will be forgotten and you will get along with your iPhone again, but you won't get along with God. Today I ask a similar question because the devil wants you in secret sin. He wants you to live in secret sin and hide it from others like Judas, like Demas, like Ananias and Sapphira Is he succeeding with you? Is he succeeding with you?

What's in the well will eventually come up in the bucket, this you can be sure of, and the dye will eventually make its way from the root to the petals and the leaves. Be sure your sin will find you out. Those who were dead in sins were raised by God to be dead to sin, not to live in sin. The apostle Paul wrote to Titus in Titus chapter 2. He said, Young men, as we come to a close here, young men, exhort to be sober-minded.

Oh, young people, be sober-minded, be serious about the things of God. In all things, showing yourself a pattern of good works and doctrine showing incorruptibility, gravity, sincerity. Why? For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous to do what he commands, zealous of good works.

I could probably some would say what you've given us this afternoon is mainly bad news. Well, here's some good news. First John was written to believers. It was written to believers. Young men, it says, I write unto you because you have overcome the evil one.

And then the exhortations and admonitions are given. I write to you because you've overcome the world. If you're trusting, if your trust is in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation, You have already overcome the world in this sense because Christ has overcome the world. In the Revelation of Christ it speaks of, it says they overcame him by the blood of Jesus. Because Jesus has overcome for you, you can be of good cheer.

You say, well, I don't really feel like he's overcome for me right now. You can be at peace. Jesus says in John 16, 22, I have overcome the world. Be at peace. Not at peace with your sin, but at peace knowing Christ died for you and this.

We went to this passage last week that he who have begun a good work in you will continue it until the day of Christ Jesus. If you're truly saved, the work that he began he's gonna continue. You say, well I feel like he's begun a work in me. I hope he has. If he has, he'll continue it.

And you will be more and more conformed to the image of Christ, and you will be given more and more grace. If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature. If your soul was invaded at some point by the Spirit of God, you were made a new creature in Christ Jesus. Jesus says in John 10 28, I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Did you trust in him and him alone?

Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. If you're in Christ by faith no one can pluck you out of his hand. Romans 839 says nothing shall be able to separate us, Nothing shall be able to separate us, nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. And you can be confident again of this very thing.

Philippians 1 6, He who had begun a good work in you will continue it under the day of Christ Jesus." So we have words that should strike fear. Fear to secret sinners, Fear to undercover apostates, but hear words that should give hope and assurance to those who are truly trusting in Christ. I'll ask you again today, go and find a place. Go find a place. Get alone with God today.

Make a reservation with God. It's easy to make a reservation with God. And go and examine yourself in the light of the passages of scripture that you've been jotting down today. You'll be glad you did. You'll be glad you did.

Let's pray. Father in heaven, we trust your word. We know that we can be confident of this very thing, that you God, who's begun a good work in your people, you will continue it. That the life that has been given by Christ to his people is never to be taken from them. That those who have been born again will never become unborn.

That those who have been adopted into the family of God will never be cast out into the streets as orphans. That no one who is in your hand in union with Christ will be plucked from your hand. That everyone who is a new creature in Christ Jesus will never be made not a new creature again. That everyone who's been invaded by the Spirit of God, everyone's soul who is every soul that's been invaded by the Spirit of God and changed will never go back to ultimately a life of sin and apostatize. That everyone who truly possesses Christ will enter into the kingdom of heaven.

We can be a good cheer. I thank you God that we can be a good cheer. Our trust is in you God, we thank you for your word. It's a word of hope, but God it's also a word of warning and of caution. I pray that every one of us here today, especially our young people, would take these things to heart and take them serious and be sober-minded.

For we ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.