Some will depart from the Faith.

If you have a bible open it up to 1 Timothy Chapter 4. I have titled the message this morning, Some will depart from the faith.

Pray with me..

Today we continue our study in the pastoral epistles talking again about false teachers, and really some characteristics of them. Now what every false teacher has in common is they exchange the truth for the lie, they twist the Holy Scriptures, and Paul in the text we are in today is addressing Timothy concerning the description of false teachers. Now the bible is harsh against those who pervert the very word of God. In fact we see this in the pastoral epistles several times and what we need to know from todays text is often these false teachers have certain things that are noticeable different from the word of God. Causing those who profess Christ to depart from the faith. And Paul in the text today is most likely dealing with the elders in the place Timothy is ministering showing that even those in authority and high standing in the church can depart from the faith, and false teachers can creep into the church.

In fact if you go to the book of acts he warns of this very thing.. Specifically to the church at Ephesus.

Acts 20:17–35 ESV

17 Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. 18 And when they came to him, he said to them: “You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, 19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; 20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 22 And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. 24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. 25 And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. 26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, 27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. 28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. 29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. 32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33 I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. 34 You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. 35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

Now when it comes to the text today what I want you to understand is that Paul told these people I did not shrink from telling you the whole council of God. But you elders need to be careful because once I leave wolves are going to come, and draw people away from you, and it appears from 1 Timothy that even some of the leaders were drawn away so be on guard against those who teach contrary to the word of God.

Now before we get into todays text what I want you to see as your main idea is this..

Those who depart from the faith depart from the scriptures because they have been influenced by demonic spirits.

Lets read the text.

1 Timothy 4:1–5 ESV

1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

As read in our passage in Acts there were going to be wolves who would be teachers who twisted the scriptures drawing people away from the Lord Jesus Christ.

So Paul says in the text the Spirit expressively says in the later times some will depart from the faith.

Paul by the guidance of the Holy Spirit warns Timothy there is going to be people who no longer follow Christ who once claimed to follow him. Old Testament speaks of this the New Testament speaks of this and the last days that Paul is referring to here is the time between the first and second coming. Even right after Jesus death and resurrection there were already people twisting the gospel, this happens to this very day. We should not be surprised when this happens.

People who walk away from the faith are known as Apostates. Jesus himself talked about people like in Matthew 24:10-13

Matthew 24:10–13 ESV

10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

So some will fall away some will abandon the faith. These are going to be people who professed but did not really believe.

So going back to the text Paul says the reason those people depart from the faith is they become devoted not to God, but to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons.

There is a real spiritual battle happening in this world that we cannot forget about. In fact Paul teaches us in Ephesians 6:12

Ephesians 6:12 ESV

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

So these people who depart from the faith have not just left God essentially they have joined forces with the enemy itself. There is only one devil, and he unlike God cannot be everywhere at once, but you better believe he has demons doing his work all over the world.

John MacArthur in one of his sermons said this.. Now may I say something to you that I want you to grab? When people are lured from the truth – I hear this so often with parents who say, “You know, our child was raised in a Christian home, and they went away to the university, or whatever, and they were deceived and led astray, and now they totally deny the faith,”

I want you to understand, they were not the victim of some , educated, authority-bearing professor; they were not. They are not the victim of some well-meaning religious leader who’s a little bit off in his doctrine. They are not the victim of some clever writer who has purveyed some false truth in a very clever way in a book. They are the victims of demonic spirits. They have been led astray from the pit of hell; that you must understand. And when you’re playing with lies and false religion, you are not just playing with something that is merely a human aberration, you are toying with demonic teaching and the seducing spirits that come from Satan himself.

As a result of that, we should be immensely cautious before we ever expose ourselves or anyone we love to any false teaching. That is why in 2 John you have that tremendous warning that says, in effect, “There are going to come false teachers.” That we know, it’s inevitable. “Many deceivers are entered into the world,” he says. And then he says, “If they come to your house, don’t you even bring them in and bid them Godspeed. If you do, you’re a partaker of their evil deeds.” Shun them; stay away from them; don’t listen to them. Anytime you get near anybody that’s under their teaching, Jude says, “Snatch them like you would snatch a stick out of a fire, and make sure you don’t get burned yourself.”

The world is full of demonic spirits and powers we must be on guard for them, and understand what happens to those who fall away.

Now there are Few things to take note of today in addition to this main idea…

Those who fall away from the faith are lairs.

Now this does not mean that everything they say is a lie, but what it means in the context of things spiritual is they lie about the goodness of God. They lie about the word of God. John himself speaks of this..

1 John 4:1 ESV

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

This ties into our message doesn’t it, thankfully in this day and age in addition to the Holy Spirit we have the word of God that helps us determine whether or not false teachers are liars. We can examine them by the book.

These liars can preach the gospel in such a way that sounds good enough, but in the end they are really just posers. Teachers who are insincere liars are the most dangerous ones. Because they just twist the word enough to lead you away from God and his word.

another characteristic you could say of people who fall away is this…

Those who fall away from the faith have seared consciences.

This point honestly is a powerful one. Medically speaking when something is seared the nerves are suppose to lose felling. I like what John MacArthur says.. He says false teachers can teach their hypocritical lies because their consciences have been desensitized, as if all the nerves that made them feel had been destroyed and turned into scar tissue by the burning of demonic deception.

When i read that quote my mind immediately went to so many people. Who when they hear the good news have no reaction as if the very message is so dull to them they cannot experience the power of it. Its a sad really when a “teacher” of God’s word is so numb to it they do not take seriously things like sin and doctrine. The scariest place you can be is when you are numb to your own sins and the world. Overtime we have allowed compromise over and over again, and its getting to the point where we are so numb to things that we are selfs have a the wrong views.

When you are led by demonic spirits led by the ways of this world you can become dull to the message to the gospel .

another characteristic we see from those who fall away from the faith is this…

Those who fall away from the faith minimize the Word of God.

Paul uses a few things to explain how these teachers minimize the word of God.

One he says those who forbid marriage. And i would add in our own context ones who destroy the meaning and purpose of marriage. Its one of the saddest things to me.

Hebrews 13:4 ESV

4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

God himself in creation said this about marriage.

Genesis 1:28 ESV

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

I was reading this week that one Scholar noted Jesus endorsed marriage in the wedding at Cana and in his teachings to the Pharisees.. Paul talked about the importance of marriage in his writings so why do false teachers attack marriage. They love to go after the word of God.

During that time even into the late 1 and 2 century there were cults of Christianity who bought into the idea that people were not suppose to be married.

these teachers would convince people that marriage would push people away from God. Which seems silly because if people were trying to be faithful to God then marriage would be needed to repopulate the world. To as Paul help keep us from sinning.

For even Timothy who was a Jewish most likely un married man he would not have ever thought to forbid something like marriage, because he knew it was good, and he and Paul knew that those who attacked marriage were going against the word of God that called marriage good.

There was an idea during that time going around that marriage was actually a stumbling block to perfection and those who teach or twist the idea of marriage are so far the word of God.

Even when you look at modern day cult leaders one of the defining traits they all have is this twisting of marriage. Usually its them acting like they are married with the other women. While the men must stay celebrate.

I have been speaking on this alot lately but there are even teachers who would say that marriage is not as meaningful as what the word of God says it is. Cohabitation is the new norm. IN fact its so normal now even amongst self proclaimed Christians that that more than 65 percent of all evangelical Christians have cohabitated in their lives which according to research is up from 40 percent in 2012, and another website i was re-searching said that 80 percent of all teenagers expect to co-habitate before marriage. many have bought into this lie.

I am convinced this is part of the reason so many people are walking away from the faith or living in sin is because they don’t see marriage as something God called good. They minimize and far to many teachers do as well, Even calling things that are an abomination before God good rather than what he created to be good.

These teachers also required abstinence from foods. Now Jesus addresses this in Mark 7:14-19 where he says this…

Mark 7:14–19 ESV

14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” 17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)

Peter had a vision this was the case, Paul teaches us about this in other letters.

Romans 14:17 ESV

17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Baptist would struggle if this was the case we like food to much, but real point I am trying to make for you today is this. False teachers who minimize the word of God are under the influence of the enemy of demons, and those who fall away over the word of God do it because they fail to see he is good.

Another key point this morning is this…

Those who remain in the faith know the goodness of God.

I read something this week that ties perfectly into this message that said.

Paul brushes aside these prohibitions by appealing to the Bible. God has created both marriage and food to be enjoyed gratefully.

The false teachers' prohibitions contradict the doctrine of creation taught in Genesis 1-2, which declares that God created everything and called what he created "good. The only evaluation of "not good" is when God notes that it is not good for man to be alone; in response, God creates the woman and gives her to the man in marriage.

Thus Paul is simply applying the Genesis creation account to the error propagated in Ephesus. The contrast is stark: the false teachers claim that marriage and some kinds of food are bad, but Scripture makes clear that both marriage and food are good Christians should base their evaluation on what God says, not on what false teachers claim.

Those who fall away from the faith who teach doctrines contrary to the word of God they fail to see the goodness of God. God is so Good. Everything he gives is good. And Paul points out things like marriage and food those things are created by God and true believers non false teachers know they should be recieved by thanksgiving and faith.

v4 is explained best by one commentator.

Paul then clarifies that it is possible to pursue marriage and food in a way that is sinful. It is possible to make an idol out of sex or food in such a way that one enjoys it for its own sake and not for the Lord's sake. So Paul clarifies that everything created by God is good "if it is received with thanksgiving." Those who enjoy God's good gifts without rendering thanks to God are sinning. The sin occurs not because the gifts themselves are bad but because the recipient is an idolater.

Marriage and food in a reminder to us of the goodness of God. And should be thankful for it, and let that thankful and good led us to be set apart, because he has set us apart.

last point this morning is this…

Believers remain in the faith because they have been set apart by God.

God makes things like marriage, and food Holy good, because he has set them apart. Marriage and food are made suitable by God’s word.

So that means we are to consecrate them to God, and thank him in prayer for them.

The good news as believers is he sets apart more than just things like marriage and food. Because of Christ there is no regulations on what we can eat, Gods people before Christ came were set apart by the law, by the food they ate, but now those who are in Christ have the freedom to eat what we please, because Christ has set us apart.

Through the sending of his Son, teaching by the power of the Holy Spirit giving us his word, and his word says that he lived a perfect life, and he died on the cross, and he rose again on the third day so that his children could be set apart. There are no lies in the word of God this is the message from God’s Word, and by the power of the Holy Spirit he can unsear the hardness of your heart showing you his goodness and grace, and in turn you can be thankful and have faith because what he has created is good, and you better believe he is Good. And the good thing about knowing him by faith is you will never fall away like these false teachers do, because he seals you with his Holy Spirit and gives you his word.

Let us be people who thank him today and for the rest of our days…

Finally as I close I want to close from one pastors words .… So if you’re a believer and you have come to the point where you have given your life to Jesus Christ, then take His good gifts, and thank and praise Him for all of them. Enjoy the bliss of marriage and the fulfillment of the physical. Enjoy the wonder of all the food that God has provided in the bounty of His incredibly vast mind. Enjoy it all, and thank Him and praise Him, that in Christ you are free from any necessary effort to attain what has already been given you in grace. If you’re depending on something other than Jesus Christ for your salvation, you are seduced by demon spirits to believe a lie. Open your heart to Christ.

Let us pray..

Today is a special day where we get to respond to the Lord together as a church taking the Lord’s supper.

The Lords supper is one of two ordinances the Local church has the other is Baptism.

Luke 22:19 “19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.””

Its a reminder of the work of Christ on the cross, how his body and blood were shed for believers.

The Lords supper is an act of unity in the Body. Now before we take of this I want to be clear this is for believers only. So if there are any children or unbelievers who have not came to know the Lord yet this is not for them you, but can be a moment that we teach them about Christ.

Listen to the words of 1 Corinthians 11:27-32 “27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.”

You can also take the Lord’s supper in an unworthy manner if you are living with some sort of un-repented sin. Repent of that. The Lord takes this moment very seriously, and so should we, and that being said let us take a moment to pray in silence for ourselves and our own standing with God, and I will close with pray in a moment.

Deacons would you pass the elements this morning. The bread and the wine symbolize the body and blood of Jesus and I want to pray for each one before we take it.

Pray for body.

1 Corinthians 11:24 “24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.””

Pray for the blood

1 Corinthians 11:25 “25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.””

1 Corinthians 11:26 “26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”