Chapter 4 is a warning to us that unless we hold these truths and continue in them in God's assembly, we are going to find ourselves in spiritual difficulties. If we are not under the control of the Spirit of God, we are liable to be under the control of seducing spirits mentioned at the beginning of the chapter.
This is a warning to Christendom, because Christendom ends in strong delusion after the true Church has left this world. The great apostasy which is coming will envelop all of Christendom-those who refused in their hearts to own the truth of God.
1 Tim. 4:1616Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee. (1 Timothy 4:16) is an exhortation to the individual, "Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine [the teaching]." He would not tell each of us to take heed if there were not danger, which is rapping on our doors every day. If we do not take heed, if we do not follow in the truth which we know and have been assured of and bow to it, we will be in trouble spiritually.
"Take heed unto thyself." The Apostle Paul speaks to Timothy, a beloved servant and warns him, "Continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee." This does not mean that he will save himself from hell. He is speaking of the testimony of God on the earth, and if one will not take heed, he will find himself outside of the testimony of God on the earth and into delusion. If one is a real believer he will not lose his soul, because "My sheep... shall never perish," but he will lose his sight as Samson lost his spiritual sight-and maybe his reward, which he might have had if he had walked in the path of faith.
God has made the assembly on earth to be His house-the habitation of God through the Spirit. As God's house it is the pillar and support of the truth and God's present witness for the truth on the earth. Are you and I going to be found walking in fellowship with God where God has set the truth, in "the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth," or are we taking the path leading to the great delusion? (2 Thess. 2:1010And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. (2 Thessalonians 2:10).)