INTRO: The Fall of a Nation and or The Church

Reason #1 - A Nation will fall (ISRAEL FELL) because of lack of Knowledge. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me;
Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. HOSEA 4:6.

Reason #2 - A Nation will fall (ISRAEL FELL) because of SPIRITUAL ADULTERY -My people ask counsel from their wooden idols,
And their [g]staff informs them. For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray,And they have played the harlot against their God. HOSEA 4:12

Reason #3 - A Nation will fall (ISRAEL FELL) because of PRIDE - The pride of Israel testifies to his face; Therefore Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity; Judah also stumbles with them. HOSEA 5:5.

Reason #4 -A Nation will fall (ISRAEL FELL) because of INSTABILITY OF CHARACTER - “O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you?For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud,
And like the early dew it goes away. HOSEA 6:4

Reason #5 - A Nation will fall (ISRAEL FELL) because they did not OBEY GOD - For I desire mercy[c] and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. HOSEA 6:6.

Reason #6 - A Nation will fall (ISRAEL FELL) because of her relationship with the WORLD - “Ephraim has mixed himself among the peoples;
Ephraim is a cake unturned. HOSEA 7:8

Reason #7 - A Nation will fall (ISRAEL FELL) because they were DISHONEST -“Woe to them, for they have fled from Me! Destruction to them, Because they have transgressed against Me! Though I redeemed them,Yet they have spoken lies against Me. HOSEA 7:13.

Reason #8 - A Nation will fall (ISRAEL FELL) because of CORRUPTED MORALS - They are deeply corrupted, As in the days of Gibeah.
He will remember their iniquity; He will punish their sins. HOSEA 9:9

Reason #9 - A Nation will fall (ISRAEL FELL) because they counted Gods law a STRANGE THING - I have written for him the great things of My law,But they were considered a strange thing. HOSEA 8:12

Reason #10 - A Nation will fall (ISRAEL FELL) because they were bent on APOSTASY. HOSEA 14:4

WORD POWER: Apostasy “musba “apostasia”, which means departure, revolt or rebellion.

ANALYSIS/APPLICATION: The Great Apostasy

The Period of Apostasy: Latter Times
Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith,
“the time will come when they [Christians] 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.” 2 Tim 4:3-4

The Powers of Apostasy; Deceiving spirits/Doctrines of demons
giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2
“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” 2 Cor 11:13-14
You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. John 8:44-45

The Practices of Apostasy: Words, Witness, Works
speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; 5 for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. VS 2-5

- Speaking Lies in Hypocrisy (Words)
- Seared Conscience (Witness or Character)
- Forbidding to marry/Abstaining from foods (Works Orientation)

They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16 but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet. 17 These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. 2 Peter 2:15-17

The Prevention of Apostasy:Teaching, Godliness, Perseverance
If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. 7 But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness.

- Teaching the Body sound doctrine
- Exercising Godliness
- Persevering in the Lord

They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. 1 John 2:19