Sermon Tone Analysis

1 Timothy 4:1-5

Religion in the Last Days

 

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.[1]

God’s Spirit speaks explicitly concerning the state of religion in the last days.

Though the Apostle recognised that he was even at the time of his writing living in the last days, he nevertheless anticipated an increase in wickedness and the rise of even greater evil.

Who could have anticipated a church without convictions on issues of righteousness?

Who could have foresaw a church which would mouth the words of grace even as she rejected the doctrines of grace?

Paul specifically focuses on what religion will be like in those closing days of the Age of Grace.

It behoves us to study his description so that we can be prepared in light of the proximity of Christ’s return.

In order to discern more clearly the face of the times and to avoid condemnation with the world, the people of God must look to the Word of God.

We must be informed of the will of God.

And we must be strengthened in the way of God.

Focus attention on the apostolic warning issued through the first pastoral letter to Timothy.

Join me in careful study of *1 Timothy 4:1-5* to discover the characteristics of the last days.

A Laodicean Church will Dilute the Faith.

A church which is best described as Laodicean will arise in the last days.

Though you have no doubt heard the term “Laodicean Church,” what does the term describe?

The concept arises from the last of the seven churches of Asia to whom John wrote in the Apocalypse.

As I have taught through the Book of Revelation during our evening services, I have again affirmed the teaching that the seven churches of Asia are at the same time practical, perennial and prophetic.

That is, the letters were meant to address literal churches and the conditions that then existed within those churches.

At the same time, the problems addressed in these churches are problems which infect churches to this day, and thus the call for self-correction are ongoing throughout the age of grace.

However, the letters also anticipate the course of church history throughout the Church Age.

If the churches of the apostolic era are represented by the Church of Ephesus, then the days immediately prior to the rapture of the church are represented by the Church of Laodicea.

If we study the conditions addressed in the letter to the Laodicean Church, we will have a measure of understanding of the conditions which will mark the general state of religion in the last days.

In order to understand the religious tenor of the last days, it will be beneficial to study the church era which immediately precedes the Laodicean era.

We need also to understand the Church of Philadelphia.

The Philadelphian Church is often referred to as the Church of the Open Door.

This Philadelphian Church is commended by the Son of God, who also says to them, Behold, I have set before you an open door which no one is able to shut [*Revelation 3:8*].

This is the church of missionary advance through whom the Gospel will be proclaimed widely throughout the world.

This is also the church which has received a promise of greatest comfort.

Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth [*Revelation 3:10*].

Judgement is coming upon this fallen world.

Indeed, those who are lost are already under the judgement of Holy God.

This is the obvious meaning of John’s words.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.  …Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him [*John 3:16-18, 36*].

The judgement in view in *Revelation 3:10* is what has come to be referred to as the Great Tribulation [see *Revelation 7:14*].

The stage for awesome, world-wide, cataclysmic judgement is set by a missionary church era in which churches advance the cause of Christ throughout the world.

I suggest to you that that era of missionary advance began with the great Baptist mission causes ushered in by William Carey and Adoniram Judson at the beginning of the *Nineteenth Century*.

That era has continued until sometime near the present as a transition has already begun.

The Laodicean era will be marked by the conditions Christ outlines in his letter to that seventh Asian Church.

“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.

“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot.

Would that you were either cold or hot!  So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realising that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see’” [*Revelation 3:14-18*].

In the Laodicean Church, we witness a tepid church, which can neither reject the trappings of religion nor yet embrace the cause of Christ.

Therefore, it continues to mouth the words of righteousness, but without daring demand adherence to those same great teachings.

It is a church which possesses wealth, but has no power with God.

It is a church with vast holdings, but which has sacrificed character.

It is a church which enjoys a rich heritage, but is oblivious to godliness.

In this penultimate letter to the young pastor at Ephesus, the Apostle Paul envisions wholesale departure from the Faith as church members devote themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons.

This departure from the Faith is promoted among the churches by deliberate insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared.

The dark picture is that of a church whose pulpit is occupied by liars intent on deceiving the Faithful.

Paul is pointing to a church which has rejected her doctrinal moorings, appointing people to pastoral oversight on the basis of credentials or connections instead of character.

Consequently, they teach which is convenient instead of what is needful.

Idolatry is demonic, and the Church of the Laodicean era is an idolatrous church.

By this, I mean that they have supplanted God on His throne.

In order to understand the meaning of my words, I invite you to consider the instruction provided in *Romans** 1:18 ff*.

The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

So they are without excuse.

For although they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles [*Romans 1:18-23*].

The words which follow are immediately applicable to the conditions about which Paul warns Timothy.

God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonouring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!

Amen.

For this reason God gave them up to dishonourable passions.

For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error [*Romans 1:24-27*].

A church which exalts tolerance over purity will increasingly worship mankind’s own sexuality.

The teaching will become incessant and insistent that Christians must be tolerant, accepting that which is against all nature and that which offends Holy God.

Sodomites and Lesbians will increasingly be accepted as normal within the church, the negative impact of paedophilia will be downplayed, serial adultery through multiple marriages will be ignored, and personal pleasure will be elevated as the greatest social good.

Whenever you witness these conditions becoming normalised, look up.

The great, overarching qualification which is necessary for appointment as an overseer is that he must be above reproach [*1 Timothy 1:3:2*; *Titus 1:6*].

Among the criteria by which the churches are to determine if an individual is above reproach is that the man must be self-controlled and respectable [*1 Timothy 3:3*], in addition to being upright, holy and disciplined [*Titus 1:8*].

Sodomites and lesbians cannot meet these qualifications since they are subject to reproach because they are in rebellion against Holy God, undisciplined in their lifestyle, unrighteous and ungodly.

Therefore, they are not respectable.

More than that, it is impossible for such individuals to be well thought of by outsiders [*1 Timothy 3:7*].

Even the world condemns the sodomite priests of the Catholic Church, despite the media attempts to portray the problem as one of paedophilia, it is in fact a problem arising from permitting homosexual priests to provide oversight of their institutions.

How does a church become Laodicean?

What conditions would lead a church to exalt wickedness and glorify impurity?

When the church looks to the world for approval, it is moving away from being Christ-centred.

When the church seeks to exchange worship for ritual, it is moving toward apostasy.

When the church denigrates grace and emphasises works, it is already moving away from righteousness.

When human thought trumps the Word of God and there is no longer a doctrinal basis for fellowship, that group ceases to be a church and becomes just another religious organisation.

Far too many of the professed churches of Christ the Lord are nothing but religious societies.

When a professed Christian turns from a doctrinal foundation for faith and practise and begins to do what makes him feel good, he reveals that he is not a Christian.

Likewise, when a church scoffs at the doctrinal foundation for membership and begins to exalt feelings and emotions, it demonstrates that it has no spiritual depth.

Listen to what the Spirit says.

In later times some will depart from the Faith.

Laodicean Christians want to be religious and they want to be acceptable to their fellowman, but if forced to choose between acceptability to the world or Christ, they demonstrate their religious ignorance by insisting that a God of love approves of their apostasy.

They first begin to preach a message of blind love which invites people to be religious without being transformed.

Consequently, they soon have a church populated with professing individuals who live lives openly rebellious to the will of God.

Refusing to address their own sinfulness, they move steadily toward confrontation with Holy God, ever ignorant that they are living in a state of self-induced spiritual catatonia.

God’s love is easy, but it is demanding.

That is, God readily receives the sinner as His dearly loved child.

However, having received the sinner into His Family, God will change the sinner.