Some Will Depart The Faith Series

Scripture

In his First Letter to Timothy, Paul concluded chapter 3 with a description of the church as “a pillar and buttress of the truth” (3:15) and a summary of that truth in relation to Christ (3:16). Chapter 4 opens with a discussion of false teachers.

Let us read 1 Timothy 4:1-5:

1 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, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. (1 Timothy 4:1-5)

Introduction

During these past two years we have all become familiar with the worldwide pandemic known as COVID-19. We were told to wear a face mask, wash hands for 20 seconds, maintain a distance of at least six feet between ourselves and others, avoid large gatherings, and get vaccinated to prevent the spread of the virus. Hopefully, the virus is now waning but we will need to be prepared for the next pandemic.

One of the difficulties with pandemics is that they have been around for centuries. Some well-known pandemics are known as the Plague of Justinian (541-543), Black Death (1347-1351), First cholera pandemic (1817-1824), Second cholera pandemic (1827-1835), and they go up to the Seventh cholera pandemic (1961-ongoing). Who knows when the next pandemic will make its appearance?

Just as pandemics have come and gone throughout the centuries, so have false teaching, heresy, and apostasy. And just as pandemics have dreadful physical and emotional effects on people, so have false teaching, heresy, and apostasy had dreadful spiritual effects on people.

The apostle Paul was keenly aware of false teaching. He constantly battled it throughout his ministry. In his First Letter to Timothy, Paul warned his young assistant about false teachers. They were troubling the church in Ephesus and Paul wanted Timothy to be on his guard against false teachers.

Lesson

1 Timothy 4:1-5 shows us several features of false teachers.

Let’s use the following outline:

1. The Certainty of False Teachers (4:1c)

2. The Prediction of False Teachers (4:1a)

3. The Period of False Teachers (4:1b)

4. The Teaching of False Teachers (4:1d-3a)

5. The Correction of False Teachers (4:3b-5)

I. The Certainty of False Teachers (4:1c)

First, notice the certainty of false teachers.

Paul wrote in verse 1c, “some will depart from the faith.” Paul was concerned because professing believers were abandoning Biblical Christianity by embracing false teaching. Paul reported the same problem to the Corinthian church, where he wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:12-15, “And what I am doing I will continue to do, to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.”

There are two kingdoms in this world: the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. There is truth and there is error. Satan does not want people to embrace the truth about God and Jesus and salvation. So, he will sow seeds of error. Kent Hughes gives a wonderful illustration of what happens when people move away from the truth. It does not happen all at once but gradually. He writes, “Imagine yourself in a room with walls that are papered bright green. You walk to an adjoining room where the walls are green, but the shade is imperceptibly bluer. You enter a third room, bluer than the second. Again the difference is too small to be noticeable. After passing through fifty rooms, each slightly bluer than the last, someone hands you a sample of the wallpaper in the room where you started. You are astonished by how green it is. Suddenly you realize that the room you are now in is not green at all! It is blue.” That is why it is important to check our understanding always against the inerrant, infallible word of God.

II. The Prediction of False Teachers (4:1a)

Second, look at the prediction of false teachers.

Paul wrote in verse 1a, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith.” We are not told how the Spirit revealed that some will depart the faith. Perhaps the Spirit revealed it in some way to Paul. Nevertheless, Paul was told by the Spirit that some will depart from the faith. To “depart from the faith” refers to an apostasy from the body of Christian truth. Paul was clear in stating that the Spirit had revealed to him that there would be professing believers who would abandon their Christian faith.