1 Timothy 4:1-3 – Right Now – Bible study

1Timothy 4:1-3 Right Now I refer to and use this text often. The reason why is because it is so relevant to our time. Lets consider it in three thoughts. 1. What has been fulfilled. 2. What will be fulfilled. 3. What we must to do to remain faithful. I. The Fulfilled A. \#1Timothy 4:1\ "some shall depart from the faith" 1. It is not surprising that "some" have departed from the faith. People have been walking away from Jesus since before Jesus was crucified. 2. What is surprising today is how many are departing from the faith. a. Whole nations have departed. (1) It may surprise some to learn but many nations that are steeped in false religion and no religion were once fairly strong in the Christian faith. (2) Great Britain for example. (a) Britain was a Christian birthing country a few centuries ago. They produced sound Bible translations, revivals, and the modern-day missionary movement was started in England. (b) Look up the Reformation and see Englands importance in the work of God during the 1600-1800s. (c) But they became cold to God and His Word and eventually turned away. (d) Today, they are one of the toughest mission fields in the world. Our missionaries, Bill & Norma Carter, spend decades there getting one small work started for the Lord. (3) But they are not the only ones: Germany, Poland, Hungry, Sweden, Ireland, Walesjust to name a few. (4) However, we are not really interested in history but in what is happening in our lifetimes. (a) On June 28, 2006, then President Obama said, "America is no longer JUST a Christian nation." https://www.factcheck.org/2008/08/obama-and-the-christian- nation-quote/ (b) Some misquote him (myself included), stating that he said, "America is no longer a Christian nation." (c) Why do I misquote him? Because Christianity is not a sharing religion. It is the stand alone gospel. Anyone who worships gods does not worship God. When Obama said we no longer worship JUST Yahweh, he was saying we no longer worship God. (d) Even so, we did not need his statement to see that America is no longer a Christian nation. i. The laws already on the books BEFORE he made that statementlaws concerning prayer, Bible reading, abortionmade it clear that America was no longer a Christian nation. ii. If those werent enough, laws created since on marriage, gender, and homosexuality have loudly declared America is no longer a Christian nation. iii. Added to that are the voices of decreasing church attendance, rejection of the Word of God as inerrant, the acceptance of atheism, evolution, socialism, the participation of violence, drug and alcohol use, sexual promiscuity and perversion, and the whole nation shouts out that America is no longer a Christian nation. (e) Sadly, in some of our lifetimes, we have seen America depart from the faith. (f) Interestingly, while America may not be the first nation to depart from the faith, I dont think you will see another nation depart from the faith. i. Why? ii. Because there are no more "Christian" nations and it does not look as though there will be another. b. Churches haveand are-departing from the faith. (1) I am not talking about small, out-of-the-way churches, but city-leading churches are departing from the faith. (2) Be warned, I am not speaking locally, but Kathy and I have heard of "First Baptist Churches" in cities much larger than ours who have ceased to preach and believe that Jesus is the only Way to heaven, have hired homosexuals on their staffs, have dissected sections of the Bible and labeled them fiction. (3) Not knowing these churches personally, I have to suppose that there WAS a time when they were strong in the faith, but no longer! (4) Friend, when the main-line church denominations are the ones turning from the faith, I believe we can mark this prophecy FULFILLED. B. \#1Tim 4:2\ "Speaking lies in hypocrisy" 1. Sadly, lies and hypocrisy abound today. 2. Such behaviors have been around for years in the secular world but it has infiltrated the churchthe true church in an astonishing way over the last 4 years though the means of politics. 3. I never thought I would see the day when some of Gods men, men I respect, would ever mock the victims of sexual misconduct and abuse, or joke about and laugh at crimes committed to cover up such sins, or turn a blind eye to those who have committed such actionswhile at the same time, blasting those in another political party for doing the same things. 4. You think what you want about my prudish ways, you stand with whatever party you feel you must, but please dont defend one politicians behavior while condemning another who did the same thing. 5. Either call them both righteous or call them both sinful but dont be a hypocrite. 6. Such hypocrisy has a bad odor with it, especially when it originates in the heart of a Christian. 7. When Christians speak the lies with hypocrisy, I believe we can mark this sign as FULFILLED. C. How about this one for being fulfilled in our lifetime. Matthew 24:10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 1. "And then many shall be offended." a. Do you realize that is a stand-alone end-time sign? b. Granted, most of the time when Jesus spoke of the coming offense, He was speaking of the offense of the cross or of Himself. c. But in this passage, Jesus just spoke of a coming time when people would be easily offended. 2. Has a society ever been so easily offended as the one we are dealing with today? a. NO. b. Some call them snowflakes because snowflakes are so easily destroyed. Catch one in your bare hand and it will melt in seconds. c. However, I think some are underestimating the force of the snowflakes. d. You see snowflakes that stick together can paralyzed a city and freeze people to death. 3. With the easily-offended society we have today, I believe we can mark this sign as FULFILLED. II. To Be Fulfilled – While many signs have been fulfilled, not all of them haveYES. A. \#1Tim 4:3\ "Forbidding to marry" 1. That one has not happenedYET. 2. It will. a. There may or may not be a law that actually forbids marriage, but we have already begun down the road of making marriage socially and politically incorrect. b. As of this month, eight counties in Alabama no longer issue marriage licenses. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_Alabama c. They figured if our government was going to let men marry men and women marry women, why bother? They were correct. d. As if the home has not fallen into enough disrepair, our country and world is actively working to dismantle even more. e. If Jesus tarries His coming, one day it will be acceptable for adults to marry children and humans to marry animals. 3. But for today, we would have to put this end-time sign in the NOT FULFILLED YET category. B. \#Tim 4:3\ "commanding to abstain from meats" 1. For some reason, I have always looked at this end-time sign being a religious sign. a. I have assumed it would be a re-kindling of the Jewish laws dealing with clean and unclean meats. b. Now I see, it probably will not. c. Judaism is not exactly a flourishing religion. How would that religion gain the clout to stop people from eating meats. d. No, this is probably not a religious sign at all. 2. The world is becoming more vegan every day. 3. It is already becoming socially and politically incorrect to eat meat. 4. I believe that if Jesus tarries His coming, one day soon it will be against the law to hunt, fish, even to eat meat. 5. Just to be honest, I dont see that has a far-stretch in todays world at all. 6. But for today, we would have to put this sign in the NOT FULFILLED YET category. C. Matthew 24:9 "they will deliver you up" Matt 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my names sake. 1. The sign mentioned here is that of being hated, persecuted, and killed by ALL NATIONS for Christs sake. 2. This verse is not merely prophesying that Christians will be hated, persecuted, and killed in some nations, but in ALL NATIONS. 3. While such persecutions have been ongoing in some nations ever since Jesus was crucified, as of this moment, it has not yet happened in ALL NATIONS. 4. Yet, it will. a. It will happen in the most civilized, cultured, Christian nations just like it has happened in Iraq, Afghanistan, China, and Russia. b. All nations would include the United States of America or whatever name this country will choose to be called at that time. 5. It is beginning in mild ways today. a. We remember the case of the Christian baker who had to go all the way to the Supreme Court to defend his right not to make an offensive cake. b. Christians pharmacists and medical personal are being fired today for refusing to provide abortion causing drugs. c. I read an article this week of a school teacher who was fired for refusing to call a girl by boy pronouns. (1) The teacher offered to call her by her new name and even not to call her by a pronoun at all, but that was not enough. (2) The high school principal who lead the charge to first the teacher said of the teachers actions: I cant think of a worse way to treat a child than what was happening. (3) I can. Whats say we let them surgically mutilate their body, warp their minds with foolish and ungodly counseling, and alter their physical appearance with drugs. 6. Even so, this is just the beginning. Right now this is more inconvenience for our faith and not persecution, but it is coming. 7. But for today, we would have to put this sign into the NOT FULFILLED YET category. Now, I am not finished with this message yet. We have one more point to discuss. Namely, how do we remain faithful in an end-time world. We will look at that thought tonight.