Days of Darkness!

1 Timothy 4:1- Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons…NKJV

We’re in chapter 4 of the book of 1 Timothy. In its original format, there are no chapters and verses. However, in 1227, Stephen Langton completed the first Bible with chapters in each book. In the 1400s, Nathan, a Jewish rabbi, developed the system of verses for the Old Testament, and Robert Estienne developed the verses for the New Testament in 1551. Thus, we now have chapters and verses, in our Bibles, making them easier to navigate through. Thank you, Lord!

Paul continued his instructions to the young pastor, Timothy, in this chapter. He told Timothy:

Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons…

1 Timothy 4:1 NKJV

Whether those days were the latter days of Timothy’s era or the latter days of today, they still ring with a truth that needs to be addressed. People are departing from the faith. Many teach, maybe correctly, that once you are saved, you are always saved. However, this verse causes me to ponder on that a little more. Can people actually depart from the faith? I believe they can! And it is the first issue that Paul addressed which would mark the dark days of later times.

We break contracts, we divorce our spouses, we walk away from families, and we can most definitely walk away from God. Paul tells us why people will be departing from the faith in the last days, which is the focus of this blog today.

What does “departing from the faith” mean? In this verse, the word faith is taken from the Greek word “pistis” and means assurance or guarantee. It is also the word that denotes belief in the sense of a pledge, or conviction, to God, His word, and the relationship of the believers to Him (Blue Letter Bible). Therefore, Paul is saying that people will actually depart from what they believe or have pledged to believe about God and His word. They will abandon the teachings that are unique to what believers should hold dear to their hearts! Things like the cross, the blood, the resurrection, the Son of God! But there will be extenuating circumstances! These extenuating circumstances don’t excuse the people’s departure, they help us to understand what transpired and how to avoid the same situations.

Paul addressed that a major problem, or circumstance that will cause people to fall away will be the subject of deception. Deception has been a tool used by the devil to pull God’s people away from Him since the Garden of Eden. Deception caused Joshua and the children of Israel to form a treaty with the Gibeonites. And, deception caused Judas to betray the Savior. Therefore, it is no surprise that it will still be used against the people of God in later times.

The spirit of deception is running amuck in our culture today. People believe all kinds of things that to the “saved” mind make no sense whatsoever. Whether you look at the political scene, the religious culture, the entertainment arenas, or even the school systems, you might be wondering how people can believe the things that they do. It’s deception! Paul warned this would be a problem so that we wouldn’t embrace it or be pulled away by it. Yet, with all the biblical knowledge floating around, the televangelists, blogs, podcasts, and online Bible tools, deception is at an all-time high. As a matter of fact, the same mediums we use to promote the gospel, or also used to pervert it. We’re living in dark days!

I think about what is happening in Israel right now. It’s a sad situation to realize the extent of destruction and pain that is happening not only in Israel but also in the Gaza Strip where people live. The Israelis are people whom God loves and sent His Son to save. But so are the Palestinians. God loves them all, and as believers, we need to pray that God will intervene in this war and bring a speedy solution that will help all parties involved. Just like we should be praying about the war in Ukraine. When we start believing that people should die for this reason or that reason, the heart of God is not guiding our hearts. These are dark days.

Another issue that Paul warned us about that would cause people to depart from the faith is the issue of false teachings or doctrines of demons. False teachings are able to get a foothold in the church because people do not desire to know the truth about God’s word. We become anesthetized to the importance of studying the word of God and become vulnerable to false doctrines.

Since the pandemic, we have settled into a sense of complacency in regard to church attendance. Because we can catch a service on stream, we give in to the lie that we don’t need to attend church. We understand that we the people are the church, yet we feel removed from the need to be in attendance in church. This lie opens us up to be exposed to every wind of doctrine on YouTube because we are not in a Bible-teaching setting where we can ask questions and receive sound teaching on what God says in His word. Talk about days of darkness!

How can we discern the truth from a lie? Someone asked me if I believed that the Holy Spirit would tell me something that wasn’t in the word of God? I told them that the Holy Spirit would never contradict the written word of God. That’s our first test about what someone is sharing with us, does it contradict the whole counsel of God’s word? Another way we can identify false teaching is the focal point of the teaching. Are you the focal point? Is an individual, cause, or nation the focal point? Then it’s false teaching! Jesus is the focus of the gospel because He points us to the Father! It’s not Jesus and something else, it’s Jesus! If the teaching doesn’t reflect Jesus, who He is, what He did at Calvary, and His resurrection, that teaching might need to be rejected! Dark days!

Our dependency, hope, and trust are in the saving work of Jesus. Therefore, our teachings, and what we believe, should line up with this truth or we are on a path that will cause us to depart from the faith!

Paul made one other statement in verse 2 that I feel a need to address!

Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 

1 Timothy 4:2 NKJV

False teachings are lies. That’s the gospel truth. But it’s the next part that grips my heart: having their conscience seared with a hot iron. In our Bible study this past week we talked a little about this. This picture of searing something with a hot iron is powerful if you think about it. When a hot iron is taken to a nerve ending, it is seared, and therefore the life that was once in that nerve is no longer there. It is dead! Paul is saying that when we embrace the lies of hypocrisy, the spirits of deception, and the teaching of demons, our conscience which helped us discern good from evil, is now seared to the point that we no longer respond to the Holy Spirit’s tug! Whoa! Do you see that?

That’s a scary picture that we can embrace deception and false teachings that will cause us to lose all ability to respond to God! And as a result, we will depart from the faith! Yes, these are extenuating circumstances! But they are circumstances that we allow to take place in our hearts for whatever reason we imagine. Let’s not be those people with a seared conscience. Let’s make a commitment to God today that we will be found pursuing the truth! What is truth?

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

John 14:6 NKJV

Wonderful Jesus!