Sermon Tone Analysis

This week we are beginning a new sermon series from 1 & 2 Timothy/Titus.

Scholars have named these three letters the Pastoral Epistles because they were originally written to two young pastors named Timothy and Titus.

Both of these men had ministered alongside Paul on his missionary journeys and had gained Paul's respect and trust--so much in fact, that Paul had sent Timothy to oversee the churches in and around the city of Ephesus and Titus to oversee the churches located on the island of Crete.

Paul wrote these letters at the end of his life.

Paul could foresee that the apostolic age was drawing to a close as he and the others were growing older and persecution was intensifying.

Soon the last of the apostles would die and the church would be left in the care of men like Timothy and Titus.

You can see Paul's concern in his farewell address to the Ephesian elders recorded in Acts 20:22-32.

Let us give our attention to this text:

This past week our nation's capital was filled with pomp and circumstance as a new President was inaugurated.

But even as one political party took the reigns of government, the other was launching a resistance movement aimed at toppling the new administration.

This is just a picture on a smaller scale of what has been happening ever since Christ's Kingdom was Inaugurated at the Cross.

Christ's Kingdom was Inaugurated at the Cross

A lot more was going on at Mount Calvary than most people realize.

It is right and proper that the emphasis is placed on Jesus dying as a substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of his people, but this was not all that was going on.

Paul reminds the Colossians and us of this when he wrote:

The language and imagery Paul uses in these verse was familiar to his original readers--he is using the language and imagery of the Roman triumphal procession, in which the victorious Romans would parade their defeated enemies through the streets of Rome in chains and shame.

This Paul says is similar to what Jesus did to Satan and his armies at the cross.

Ever since the Fall of Adam, the world had been under the domination of Satan.

By sinning, Adam had forfeited his dominion to Satan.

The temptation of Jesus illustrated that the kingdoms of this world were Satan's to give.

In the third and final temptation we read this:

Jesus had no intention of being Satan's lap dog, he had come to take Satan down and establish his own Kingdom!

The defeat of Satan began even before the cross.

On one occasion recorded in the Gospel of Luke, we read this:

We are not waiting for Jesus' second coming so that we can begin his reign, but to fully consummate it!

On May 8, 1945 Germany officially surrendered, but this did not mean that all conflict had ended in Europe.

In the closing days of World War 2, the Nazis organized a resistance movement they code named "Werewolf".

The Werewolves were to operate behind the advancing Allied armies committing acts of sabotage and murder.

Consequently, combat did not end in Germany after the armistice was signed, but for months afterwards.

The Werewolves actions were ineffective and limited, but I use them as an illustration of what is happening right now in the spiritual realm.

Satan and his angelic allies know that they have been decisively defeated by Christ.

They also know that their days are numbered.

However, they are filled with so much hate towards Christ and humanity that they make it their goal to take as many as they can down with them.

We are currently living in Satan's "Last Days" Resistance Movement.

Satan's "Last Days" Resistance Movement

Of course, Satan and his forces have been fighting Christ even before humanity's fall in the Garden of Eden, but now their resistance is intensified out of a sense of desperation.

As the old saying says: "There is nothing more dangerous than a wounded animal."

This period of intense spiritual warfare is what the bible calls the "Last Days".

Popular dispensational end time teaching has lead Christians to wrongly assume that the "Last Days" refer exclusively to a final seven year "Tribulation."

There are strong reasons to think that there will be final super intense period of resistance at the very end of this age, prior to the Second Coming of Christ, but the bible makes clear that the whole period after the resurrection until the Second Coming is the Last Days.

For example, John writes:

It is surprising that this teaching is so neglected today when we consider how foundational it was the the apostles' teaching.

For example, as Paul and Barnabas when through Asia Minor preaching the gospel, we read this:

Satan and his allies tactics are predictable.

Jesus outlines their strategy in the Olivet Discourse found in Matthew 24.

We can summarize the tactics of Satan's "Werewolves" at follows:

Persecution

False Teaching

Temptation

It is to combat these three tactics that God inspired Paul to write the three Pastoral Epistles.

In these three short letters Christ outlines for us how we can defeat Satan's "Werewolves".

Christ's Call to Defeat Satan's "Werewolves"

We heard Christ call in our Scripture lesson this morning.

To refresh our memories, let's read those words again.

I find it interesting that Paul calls these false teachers "fierce wolves."

The Nazis were only copying Satan's tactics and name for his resistance fighters!

Three things stand out in this charge to the Ephesian elders:

Be Attentive: To Yourself and Others

Be Alert: For False Teachers

Be Dependent: On God and His Word

This last charge to Be Dependent on God and his Word is the point that I want to concentrate upon in the closing moments of this sermon.

Notice that Paul says that God's word is able to build us up and give us our spiritual inheritance!

Satan and his forces are sparing no effort to tear you down and insure that you do not inherit eternal life, but their greatest efforts are no match for God and his word!

What a great encouragement and incentive this is as we begin this series of sermons and bibles studies from the Pastoral Epistles.

For those of you who are able, I want to encourage you to join me on Thursday evening.

It is not to late to begin.

Study guides and worksheets are on the back table.

Those who have been coming to my Thursday evening bible studies have told me time and time again how helpful it is for them to look at the text first in a bible study and then as a sermon.

This should not surprise us because God's word tells us that both teaching and preaching are means of grace.

Teaching and preach are like a one-two punch.

A boxer can win with one hand tied behind his or her back, but it is so much easier to use both hands!

So let's grow strong in God's Word so we can give Satan the one-two punch!