Sermon Tone Analysis

(1 Timothy 4:1-5)

As we come to chapter 4, the inspired author redirects his audience’s attention back to the issue of false teachers who were destructively influencing the church at Ephesus.

As we have seen in this study, these wayward teachers were corrupting the truth by twisting the law and the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I think we can argue with ease that little has changed since the apostle pinned this letter.

Our world is full of bad theology.

Turn on your tv, listen to your radio, scroll through your social media accounts and I am sure you will easily find countless examples of twisted doctrine.

Now, you may be wondering “what’s the big deal?

Every church and pastor are unique, and perhaps we have more in common with these ministers and churches than we have differences.

Maybe we need to be more inclusive and more acceptable of different theologies as long as we are claiming to be Christian.”

If you identify with such thoughts, I’m praying that today you will hopefully see things more clearly from a biblical perspective.

Listen closely, church family, truth matters.

It matters greatly.

We must never treat the biblical doctrines of the faith lightly, belittle them, or compromise them in any way.

Our text today reminds us of the devastation that accompanies distorted doctrine, for it causes people, as Paul describes, to fall away from the faith.

If you have Bibles with you, I invite you to read along with me, as I read 1 Timothy 4:1-5.

Notice with me 3 ways we must respond to our text this morning:

1) We must be saddened but not surprised when worshippers abandon the truth (4:1a).

After Paul explained the mystery of godliness in the prior passage of scripture, he now aims to describe the mystery of ungodliness.

He writes simply, “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith.”

What a heart breaking and gut-wrenching fact the apostle gives us in these opening words to chapter 4. If our lives are right with God, and we are established and grounded in the truth, then our hearts will rightfully become troubled when a loved one embraces any form of false doctrine.

Notice, the Bible said the Spirit Himself has revealed this truth explicitly, meaning clearly and precisely.

Now, we have no idea how the Spirit made this reality known to the inspired author.

Perhaps, as he was in the process of writing this letter and the Spirit simply revealed it to him, or maybe Paul was refereeing to something that was disclosed to another prophet of old.

There were indeed similar prophecies made in the New Testament.

Even Christ Himself boldly proclaimed this fact.

He said in Matthew 24:10-11… “At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another.

Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.”

You see, we must not be surprised when fellow worshipers led away from Biblical truth, for the Bible speaks with certainty that it will occur in these last days.

For the authors of the New Testament, those were, and these are, the quote “later times” or as we often call them the “last days.”

This final chapter of time was inaugurated by the incarnation of Christ, characterized by the power and immediate presence of the Holy Spirit among God’s chosen people, and will be completed when the Messiah gloriously returns.

Therefore, we can say like the apostles withgreat confidence that we are living in the last days.

Paul was utterly convinced of that truth.

In fact, in 2 Timothy 3, he wrote these words, “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come, For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious, gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; avoid such men as these” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).Did you notice those last words, Paul counsels Timothy to avoid such men as if they already present in his time, thus the last days had already begun.

But also, what a description of our modern world, is it not!

It’s almost as if, Paul was allowed to look into the future, into this current year of 2022, and he sums it up perfectly!

Now sadly, according to scripture, some will fall from the truth during this season because false doctrine will continue to rock both the culture and the church.

Understand that just as we shouldn’t be surprised that many will leave the church, we also shouldn’t be surprised by the absurd and various new forms of warped doctrine that arise over time.

These two things are intrinsically connected to each other.

Now we must also carefully consider the meaning of what Paul implies when he said, “some will fall away from the faith.”

The Greek verb used in this phrase gives us the English word “apostasy” which means to “depart from” or “go away.”

This is a much stronger word than what the apostle used earlier chapter 1:6, when he said that some men were “straying” from a sincere faith, or the phrase he used in 19 of the first chapter to say that some had “suffered shipwreck” in their faith.

Instead, this word in 4:1 implies a purposeful or deliberate departure from a former position.

Therefore, in a spiritual sense, and in the context of this verse, the phrase “falling away” refers to those who come close to saving truth, only to leave.

You see, apostasy does not mean that believers who have saving faith can lose it.

This would be an impossibility, since every sinner who receives the gift of saving faith, is kept in the faith, or preserved in the faith by the Holy Spirit.

Scripture testifies that just as God began a good work in you, He will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

That’s the glorious promise of Philippians 1:6 and numerous other passages that ensure the perseverance of the saints.

Theologian and author JI Packer explained that inspired doctrinal belief when he said, “Your faith will not fail while God sustains it; you are not strong enough to fall away while God is resolved to hold you.”

It simply an impossibility, for who can pry themselves out of God’s strong grip of their lives.

Therefore, those who are truly saved can never abandon the faith.

What Paul is saying here in 1 Timothy is same truth that Jesus taught, for Christ used this same GK verb for falling away in his parable of the Sower.

He said in Luke 8:13… “Those (seed that fell) on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation, they fall away.”

There’s those two words again… fall away.

But what do they mean?

Well we must consider the context of Paul’s letter to Timothy, and when we do we get some clarity for when the apostle wrote some will fall away from the faith, he simply meant they had deliberately turned away from the truth, from the central and biblical doctrines of the faith which are necessary for a salvation: doctrines like the sovereignty of God, the deity of Christ, the reality of the Holy Spirit, and redemption through the death and resurrection of Jesus, received by the gift of faith (if you remember our sermon last week on the previous passage, it was all about the doctrine of Jesus, the crown jewel of all doctrine).

Listen, the reality is, that because of all the noise in our world, all the distractions that keep us from being grounded in truth, and because of the constant bombardment of false doctrine, some professing Christians will deny the central doctrines of the faith and walk away from churches that are grounded in the Word of God.

This should sadden us, outrage us, but it should never surprise us.

We must understand that a mere profession of saving faith fails to guarantee the actual possession of eternal life.Scripture assures us that there will always be those who make a temporary response to the gospel, but ultimately, time will prove that they have no faith in God.

We would be wise to remember the words of John, the beloved disciple, who wrote, “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us” (1 John 2:19).

Listen my brothers and sisters, as much as I love theology and enjoy thinking through doctrines like the perseverance of the saints and even debating them, we must come to this verse with great humility.

We must acknowledge that salvation is completely of the Lord, for we are complex and depraved in our sinful nature.

Oh, how we must trust in His Word, cling to the truth of Christ and guard our hearts from false teaching, for our ears, they long to be tickled, our minds do they not desire to be entertained, and not our heart so proud?

You see, rarely if ever does someone set out to become an apostate.

No professing Christian just decides one morning to simply walk away from the Lord.

Instead, do they not most often drift away over time because they have established a pattern of spiritual compromises that have hardened and gradually steered their heart away from the truth of Scripture.

That’s how it most commonly happens, and therefore, we must humbly and constantly stand watch over our hearts, our faith, as well as each others.

2) We must remember the evil nature and source of all forms of bad theology (4:1b-2).

We are candidly told in this first verse that apostacy occurs when professing Christians “pay attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.”The

two words “paying attention” in this verse mean much more than simply “listening to” or “entertaining a thought.”

Instead, it literally means “to devote oneself to” or “to cling to” something, and in this case, that something is teaching that is diabolically opposes the gospel truths of Scripture.

See that Paul specifically mentions two evil sources of bad theology.

The first source he mentions are deceitful spirits.

The word deceitful in the Greek language is the word “Planos” from which we interestingly get the English word “planet” from.

It cares the idea of wandering, and like planets that seem to wander back and forth in the sky above, these spirits wander; and then they cause man to wander, by seducing them and leading them astray, causing them to leave the orbit of God’s truth.

Contrary to the Holy Spirit who leads people into saving truth, these unholy spirits lead souls to hell with their lies.

Listen church family, apostates are not actually the victims of some liberal, well-educated, and sophisticated university professors, false teachers who often serve as pastors, or even clever and celebrated authors or speakers.

No, we must remember that they are victims of demonic spirits, who simply spread damning lies through those human agents.

Listen, if Satan’s favorite strategy is deception, does it not make complete sense that we are in real danger of being fooled by the false doctrine of his deceitful spirits.

But also notice the second origin of bad theology, which Paul calls the “doctrine of demons.”

Now, it’s important for us to remember exactly what the apostle said in his original letter to the church in Ephesus.

He wrote this to the same congregation in Ephesians 6:12… “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

You see, apostacy is always generated by demonic beings, who along with Satan, have devised lying theologies which aim to confuse, deceive, divide, and lure.

Church family, you need to understand and be warned that to sit under false teaching that is contrary to the truth of God’s Word, is to be taught by demons.

But, let’s be honest, we don’t tend to think of that way, do we?

When someone leaves Heritage to join another church that practices some poor theology that is clearly contrary to the Word of God, do we not often conclude, “well, at least they are still going to church somewhere.”

Let’s be honest, that is often ho we respond!

Now, please understand, I’m not here saying we are the only good church in Central Massachusetts and that all other churches have it completely wrong.

That’s not what I’m saying and praise God there are some other churches in our area who stand upon the truth, and we should surely be praying for them.

But there are many so-called churches in New England and across America that proclaim a sour mixture of God’s truth mixed with what Paul calls the doctrine of demons, and that impure blend of half-truths and half-lies is devastating to the life and eternal wellbeing of the professing Christian.

So, listen, when we hear of such activity, when someone leaves our church for another church that is not like minded, we must not standby, but let us engage in a loving rescue mission to help them to discover a place of worship that will hold to the truth and sufficiency of Scripture.

Yet also, note how this demonic doctrine is spread among the masses, which is noted in verse 2, Paul writes, “by the means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron.”

Though bad theology originates from the gates of hell, it comes to our attention through deceived human agents.

The apostle vividly paints us a picture of these false teachers with the words of this second verse.

He initially describes them as “the hypocrisy of liars.”

This phrase translates two nouns in the original Greek text and could be rendered “hypocritical speakers of that which is false.”

That, my friends is who they are, they are hypocrites, a word that comes from the Greek theater.

It means to assume a role in a dramatic production, to simply play a part.

Hypocrisy, does that word not give clarity to why false teaching is so attractive and yet deceptive!

False teachers are merely great actors.

They know how to play the part of a Christian; they look the part, just like a leader in the ministry field.