Love Will Grow Cold

Text: Matthew 24:9-13

Jesus warned His disciples of some difficult times that would be in their future. Sadly, hardships would cause many to turn from God and “grow cold” in their love and devotion to Him. This passage mentions six things that can cause people to depart from the Lord. These are things we must be prepared to deal with so we will not fall away.

Persecution

  • Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you” (Matthew 24:9)
  • The whole point of religious persecution is to persuade one to abandon his religious convictions – if we compromise & surrender the truth, there is no more reason to be persecuted (John 15:18-19)
  • We will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12; 1 Peter 4:12) – so we must be prepared for it

Unpopularity

  • You will be hated by all the nations because of My name” (Matthew 24:9)
  • The way of Christ is not a popular path (Matthew 7:13-14) – many are tempted to follow the crowd to do evil (Proverbs 1:10; Exodus 23:2)
  • Our desire must be to please God rather than men (Galatians 1:10)

Discouragement

  • At that time many will fall away” (Matthew 24:10)
  • It can be a great discouragement to hear of our fellow Christians falling away from the faith
  • We should seek to encourage one another in doing right (Hebrews 3:12-13; 10:24-25)

Division

  • Many will…betray one another and hate one another” (Matthew 24:10; cf. Mark 13:12)
  • Some division is necessary, sadly even among family members (Matthew 10:34-37) – even in the church, division is necessary at times (1 Corinthians 11:19)
  • But our goal should be unity (Ephesians 4:3) – unity of the Spirit leads to the growth of the body (Ephesians 4:16)

False Teaching

  • Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many” (Matthew 24:11)
  • False teaching was not something to be ignored or tolerated – tolerating false teachers puts loyalty to the truth in jeopardy (Galatians 2:4-5)
  • False teachers must be marked & avoided (Romans 16:17), not accepted & fellowshipped (2 John 10-11)

Sin

  • Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12)
  • Lawlessness is sin (1 John 3:4)
  • Sin causes one to become hardened & leads him away from the Lord (Hebrews 3:13) – we must walk as children of Light in order to please the Lord (Ephesians 5:8-11)

Conclusion

  • Jesus said, “The one who endures to the end, he will be saved” (Matthew 24:13) – this is true for us as well (Revelation 2:10)
  • Therefore, we must not allow anything to cause us to turn away from the Lord & back to the world