I.　The whole of today's Christendom is an apostasy; this is the reason the Lord needs a recovery—Jer. 2:11, 13, 19; Rev. 2:4, 15:

A.　Apostasy means to leave the way of God and to take another way to follow things other than God—Acts 9:2; 18:26; 2 Pet. 2:2, 5, 21; Jude 11.

B.　Apostasy is doing things for the self under the name of Jesus Christ and under the cloak of worshipping God—Judg. 18:30-31.

C.　Nothing throughout the history of Israel was more sinful or more damaging to God's people than Dan's apostasy in setting up a divisive center of worship—Gen. 49:16-18; Deut. 33:22; Judg. 18:1, 13-31:

1.　Every divisive center is set up for someone's self-interest; such a practice causes not only division but also competition:

a.　The tabernacle was in Shiloh, and the graven image was in Dan.

b.　"They set up the sculptured idol…the whole time that the house of God was in Shiloh"; this indicates competition—v. 31.

2.　Because Dan was successful, he became proud and individualistic; he cared only for himself, not for others—Deut. 33:22; Judg. 18:27-31:

a.　The source of Dan's apostasy was in not caring for the other tribes; not caring for the other parts of the Body is the source of apostasy.

b.　In the history of Christianity there have been many "Dans"; what they gained made them proud and independent, unwilling to submit to what the Lord has ordained—Deut. 12:5, 8.

D.　The apostasy of Jeroboam can be considered a type of today's Christianity— 1 Kings 12:25-33; 13:33-34:

1.　Jeroboam's apostasy broke God's ordination of having one unique worship center in the Holy Land for keeping the oneness of God's people—Deut. 12:2-18.

2.　Jeroboam ordained a feast like the one in Judah, doing what he had devised in his own heart—1 Kings 12:32.

E.　In God's New Testament economy, all true believers in Christ are made priests to God, but degraded Christianity has built up a system to ordain some believers to do the service of God, making them a clerical hierarchy and leaving the rest of the believers as laymen; this is an apostate practice which we must abhor and abandon—1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6; 5:10; 2:6, 15.

II.　The Lord's recovery is a recovery of the truth and of life—John 18:37b; 10:10b; 1 John 1:1-2, 5-6:

A.　The decline of Christianity is due to the fact that it has lost both the truth and the life—2 Tim. 2:25; 1:10; Titus 1:1-2.

B.　Both the truth and the life are Christ Himself—John 14:6:

1.　Life is the inward and intrinsic content, and truth is the outward definition and explanation—1:4; 18:37b; 8:12, 32, 36; 17:17.

2.　The experience of the Lord as life is contained in the Lord as the truth; thus, in order to experience the Lord as life, we must know the truth— 14:6; 11:25; 8:32, 36.

C.　The Lord's recovery is the recovery of the light of the truth—1 John 1:5-6:

1.　Truth is the shining, the expression, of the divine light—John 8:12, 32, 36.

2.　The standard of the truth should constantly be raised higher among all the churches in the Lord's recovery—1 Tim. 2:4; 3:15.

D.　The Lord desires to recover the scriptural view and proper realization of the eternal life of God—John 3:15, 36; 20:31:

1.　Life is the first and basic attribute of God—Eph. 4:18.

2.　We need to grow in life, be saved in life, and reign in life—4:13-16; Rom. 5:10, 17.

E.　The provision of life and the revelation of truth are the antidotes used by Peter in dealing with apostasy—2 Pet. 1:3-21:

1.　Life is the inward energy, the inward strength, to bring forth the outward godliness, which leads to and results in glory—v. 3.

2.　The present truth is the truth that is present with the believers, which they have already received and now possess—v. 12.

F.　By life and truth Paul encouraged Timothy and inoculated him against the decline of the church—2 Tim. 1:1, 10; 2:15, 25:

1.　Though the churches may become degraded and many of the saints may backslide in unfaithfulness, the eternal life remains forever the same— 1:1, 10.

2.　The word of the truth, rightly unfolded, enlightens the darkened people, inoculates against the poison, swallows up the death, and brings the distracted ones back to the proper track—2:15, 25.