Pure Doctrine

Good morning and it is great to be with all of you

If we have not had the chance to meet, my name is Stefan Wilson and I am the preaching and teaching pastor here at Harvest Bible Church

We are in a short sermon series for the next few weeks that we started last week

It is a sermon series that is focused on what it means to be a pure church

And I said last week, when we say a “pure church” we do not mean a “perfect church”

When we say a “pure church” we mean a church that is the way that it is supposed to be according to what God intends for his people

And last week I gave us a definition of purity that we’re actually going to use throughout the duration of this series

Purity: Alignment with the word and will of God

So a pure church is a church that is aligned with the word and will of God

And if you missed last week sermon I would highly encourage you to go back and listen to it because it really lays the groundwork for what we’re going to be talking about for the rest of the series

But we’re gonna move forward this morning and talk about the necessity of a pure church having pure doctrine

So please turn in your Bible to 1 Timothy 4

If you didn’t bring a bible…

Now when I say, “pure doctrine”… that word doctrine can mean a few different things, And perhaps for some of you, your experience with that term has been negative and so it carries negative connotations for you

But doctrine really is just a term that means belief

And there are things that we believe as Christians and those are called Christian doctrines

There is the doctrine of God in which we believe certain things about who God is

There is the doctrine of creation in which we believe certain things about how God created the world

There are all kinds of doctrines of various kinds that we believe as Christians

And if purity is alignment with the word and will of God…

That means that pure doctrine is belief that aligns with the word and will of God

That we believe things that are in-line with Scripture and in-line with God’s desires for us as his people

The truth is that we all have beliefs about God, the world, and ourselves,

And those beliefs directly impact the way that we live

Right?

We do what we do because we think what we think about God, his word, and his world

But the fact of the matter is that too often we form our beliefs based on what we think and what we desire

And when we form our beliefs according to what we think or what we want, we will certainly be out of alignment with God’s word and God’s will.

So here is the point we need to all be on the same page about:

It matters what we believe and it matters where those beliefs come from.

And pure doctrine is found in beliefs that align with God’s word and his will.

And in our passage this morning the apostle Paul is going to give us an important warning and instruction about what it looks like to have pure doctrine

And because it matters, let’s give these words our full attention

1 Timothy 4:1–10 “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, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.”

These are God’s words for us as his people

Big Idea: Pure doctrine guards and grows God’s people [7:00]

I also want to highlight that the inverse of that is also true

False doctrine harms and hinders God’s people

False doctrine exposes God’s people to error and stunts their growth

There is real harm that is done to the people of God when we embrace flawed and false ideas about God

If we do not prioritize pure doctrine in our church…

we will let things in that are actually contrary to God’s word and God’s will and…

we will look wildly different than what God actually means for his church to look like

So we must prioritize pure doctrine in our church because pure doctrine guards and grows God’s people

And this isn’t the first time in scripture that this idea of guarding and growing shows up

Turn to Gen. 2

In Gen. 2:15 were told that “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”

Those two words, “work” and “keep” In the Hebrew language are the words “cultivate” and “protect”

Mankind’s role in God’s creation was to cultivate growth and protect it from corruption.

And then after giving mankind the role of cultivating growth and protecting it from corruption, God gives him a command for how to do that in v. 16-17

Genesis 2:16–17

So in the opening chapters of scripture, when we see God’s good design for his world, We see that mankind’s role in that design was to cultivate growth and protect from corruption by listening to the word of God

And the man wasn’t supposed to do it alone - Gen 2:18

God created the woman to partner with the man and they were to work together to cultivate growth in creation and protect it from corruption

And so God’s good design for his creation in Genesis 2 is that God’s people would be assembled in his presence, tasked with cultivating and protecting God’s creation by listening to his word and following his will

And it is the same for us

We as the church, the assembled people of God, are tasked with the same task:

Cultivate growth and protect from corruption by listening to God’s word and following God’s will

Do you see that?

We don’t have a different task as God’s people today

God has always been doing 1 thing: Assembling in his presence a people who will reflect him for his glory

And the way that his people will reflect him for his glory is by cultivating growth and guarding against corruption, by listening to his word.

And an essential way that we will do that is by prioritizing pure doctrine as a church

[BRIDGE QUESTION] How does pure doctrine guard and grow us?

Paul is going to show us in 1 Timothy 4:1-10 how it is that listening to the word of God and living according to his will guards and grows us

When our doctrine is pure, when it aligns with God’s word and will, there will be two results.

When our doctrine is pure…

1. We are guarded from deception (1–5) [11:00]

Remember what I said a few moments ago that the task of protecting is to protect from that which would corrupt

Adam was to protect the garden from anything that would corrupt God’s good design

In the same way, we as the church must guard against that which would corrupt us as well

Look at verse 1

1 Timothy 4:1 “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith…”

The primary warning of these first 5 verses is in the word “depart”

Everything else in verses 1-5 explains the what and the why of that “departing”

So we need to make sense out of what Paul is talking about

That word “to depart” is an intentional walking away from one thing in order to embrace something else

You claimed to believe one thing, but then you made the decision to depart from that and to believe something else

This isn’t just a difference of opinion - It is that you have embraced ideas that are contrary to the truth of the Gospel that you once claimed to believe

We live in a time where there is no shortage of ideas that are contrary to the gospel.

We have what seems like limitless input of values and beliefs that are promoted and would entice you and I to depart from the truth of God’s word.

Ideas that would deceive us

That sound good

That seem enticing and tempting

But are actually lies that would corrupt our hearts and corrupt our lives

And if we do not recognize them as deceptive, we will be in danger of believing them

I am sure that we could all share stories of family members or friends who got wrapped up in some flawed and false way of thinking and it made shipwreck their lives and their faith

And so because of the reality of false and flawed teaching out there, we have to be clear about a couple of things:

It should not surprise us

Paul says in v. 1 that the Spirit expressly says that this is going to happen as time goes on

Paul is referring to the warning of God in his word

Throughout your Bible, God’s word warns that as time goes on more and more people who looked the part will ultimately choose to walk away in favor of false and destructive ideas.

So it shouldn’t surprise us - And because It shouldn’t surprise us, it should cause us to be on guard

We should be listening to what people are saying and what the world is promoting…

And actively filtering it through the truth of God’s word so that we can protect our minds and protect our church family from the corrupting nature of false teaching.

And since it should not surprise us… we take it very seriously

And we call it what it is… evil.

Deceptive teaching is not well-intentioned…

It is evil.

look back at v 1

“By devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons”

Now we don’t often talk about the demonic and angelic realm, but your Bible talks about it, so we do ourselves great harm to pretend as if it doesn’t exist

“Demons” are fallen angels, angels who rebelled against God and were cast out into darkness

Well, if demons are fallen angels, what are angels?

An angel is simply a messenger and minister of God to God’s people

So if an angel is a messenger of God’s word and a minister to God’s people…

Then a demon, a fallen angel, is one who now does the opposite that: Who twists God’s word and they tempts God’s people

So Paul is saying that people are departing from the faith…

because of the demonic twisting of God’s word and temptation towards sin

Now, this does not mean that I just get to blame demons and the devil for everything that is wrong in my life

No, Paul is helping us to see that there is a legitimate spiritual war going on that affects the hearts and minds of human beings

And so we must take seriously the reality of this deception

But it won’t be obvious that it is demonic in its source, because it will be human in its presentation…

1 Timothy 4:2 “through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,”

There are beliefs that are promoted in the world that are the product of people who have embraced evil ideas

There are things in this world that people promote, not because they believe it is truly what is best and what is right, but because they have devoted themselves to evil ideas.

And they exchanged the truth of God for a lie because they loved the lie

And Paul is helping us to see that it is not just a mere difference of opinion

It is deception that we must guard against

And if we don’t pay attention, we are in just as much danger to be deceived…

And we should be asking the question, “So how can I know? What does this kind of teaching look like so that we can guard against it?”

Look at v. 3-5

1 Timothy 4:3–5 “who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.”

In Paul’s day, there was a common teaching called gnosticism

And gnosticism viewed the physical world as evil and the spiritual world as good, and so anything that was a part of the physical world, especially anything that was enjoyable, was labeled as evil and needed to be avoided

So food was a part of the physical world and some food was enjoyable, so you had to avoid it.

Sex is a part of marriage, and since sex is an enjoyable physical act, marriage then should be avoided

Now I want you to see what Paul is doing here:

He is highlighting the deceptive teaching by actually showing God’s good design

They are saying these things are bad and Paul is saying, “No, God made them good”

He is saying “God declared these things good when he created them so to call them bad is to twist and distort God’s word and God’s will”

And this helps us to see the nature of pure doctrine versus false doctrine

Pure doctrine sees God’s design and embraces it

False doctrine sees God’s design and changes it

Pure doctrine hears God’s word submits to it

False doctrine hears God’s word and reinterprets it

And while it might take a different form today, the same deception is happening

In Paul’s day, false teachers told you to reject marriage. Today, they tell you to redefine it.

In Paul’s day, they told you certain foods were off-limits because it was bad for your soul. Today, they tell you can change your whole body so that it can match what you feel.

While the ways that we change and reinterpret God’s word and God’s design may differ, The fact of the matter is that for all time false teaching at some level changes God’s design and God’s word

You can know for certain that you were being deceived by false ideas when they distort or change what scripture clearly says

It doesn’t matter the explanation

It doesn’t matter the justification

When God’s word and God’s will are being twisted, you can know for certain that is a corrupting, deceptive false teaching

So let’s pause for a moment and put this all together:

God’s design for us was that we would protect ourselves from corruption by listening to and submitting to his word

And when we encounter beliefs and claims and lifestyles that go against God’s word, we can know that that is deception that is ultimately rooted in spiritual evil…

So we have to take it seriously and we have to guard against it if we are to be at church that prioritizes pure doctrine, seeking to align with God’s word and God’s will

But I need to press something that might hit a little too close for some of you…

How can you possibly know that you are being deceived if you don’t know the truth?

Let me put in another way:

If you are not actively growing in your knowledge of God’s word and his design for us as his people, If you are neglecting growth in theological truth and in right doctrine

You have no way of being able to identify distortions and false doctrine

The only way to be able to identify the fraud is to know very well the truth

If we are to be a pure church that has pure doctrine, if we are pursuing alignment with God’s word and God’s will,

it will necessarily include actively pursuing growth in how we understand God’s word so that we can know that we are aligned with what he says

That was his design in the beginning

That is his design for us today

That we would guard ourselves from deception, precisely by knowing his word and living by it

And this helps us to see that guarding against false teaching is inseparably linked to how we live, which leads us to our second point

When our doctrine is pure…

2. We are grown in godliness (6–10) [26:00]

It would be an error to think that pure doctrine just means getting the beliefs right in our minds.

It also means applying those beliefs to our lives

When our beliefs align with God’s Word and will, our lives will look like God’s word and God’s will

And so when our doctrine is pure, we will grow in godliness

Notice what Paul says to Timothy in v. 6

1 Timothy 4:6 “If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed”

“Brothers” is generic way in the greek language of referring to the whole church

He is telling Timothy that the whole church needs to know this distinction between truth and falsehood

The purity of our doctrine is not just in what we believe privately but in how we instruct one another corporately as a church

Part of growing in godliness is that we are instructing one another in the truth.

Remember, back in the garden Adam was put in the garden to cultivate it and to protect it but he was not asked to do it alone he was given a partner who together they would cultivate and protect the garden

You and I are not meant to grow in godliness on our own but are meant to do it together as God’s people, assembled together as his church

We should be learning the truth together

We should be applying the truth together

We should be reminding one another of the truth and calling one another to repentance with the truth.

And when we do that together, we will be trained in the words of the faith end of the good doctrine

Prioritizing purity in our doctrine necessarily involves everyone, it is not an individual endeavor

And it takes all of us saying that it is a priority for us as a church that desires to be a pure church with pure doctrine.

Which also means that together we avoid things that would get in the way

Look at v. 7

1 Timothy 4:7 “Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness… for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”

The word train here is where we get our word “gymnasium” - It is a word that means to work out and become stronger

Paul is using the imagery of working out and training because it helps us to see what it looks like to prioritize growth in godliness

You think about a high-level athlete: their entire lives are regimented toward the highest level of performance and optimizing their bodies to perform when they need it most

Their training and diets are incredibly intentional, both in how they train and in what they avoid

They will avoid anything that would get in the way of their end goal of performing in their craft

You wouldn’t know it to look at me now but I used to be something of an athlete…

And we would train year-round, And our training would become especially intense and disciplined and regimented over the summer leading up to the football season

So that we could perform to the best of our ability

And I remember having a football game on a Friday night, But we had a half day and so we went off campus to get lunch before our game

And we went to Taco Bell, And mind you this was 2001 when money went further…

And I spent $20 on food at Taco Bell

Let’s just say I didn’t perform very well that night…

Why? Because I allowed my desire for something unhealthy to get in the way of my training.

And so it effected the way I played.

Listen: We do this all the time when we allow and entertain ideas and practices that go against God’s word and God’s will

When we allow those things to occupy space in our minds and in our lives

It gets us off track from our end goal as followers of Christ: Godliness

We should be prioritizing in our lives, both individually and together as a church family, the pursuit of lives that look like what God wants for his people

And we should avoid those things that would get us off track and get us distracted from the pursuit of godliness

So let me ask you: What in your life gets in the way of godliness?

We all have them, they may be different from person to person… but listen church family:

There are things in your life daily and things in our life collectively that are getting in the way of godliness

We have tolerated them for too long, we have given our minds over to them too much, and we need to have nothing to do with them anymore

Growing in godliness will mean that we avoid those things that would get in the way, just like in physical training

And just like physical training, it will require us to be intentional with our time and with our energy and with our money

Just like physical training, it will require practice and discipline and accountability

But just like physical training, the discipline will result in growth

When you train in reading your Bible, you grow in your knowledge of God’s will and you grow in applying his word to your life

When you train in prayer, you grow in your dependence on Christ as you drawn near to him and cast your cares upon him knowing that he cares for you

When you train in Thanksgiving, you grow in being content with what you have, knowing that it was all from the hand of God

When you train in resisting temptation, You grow in obedience to God’s word

You see when you and I train in godliness we will grow in godliness

But how many of us right now are choosing to trade the benefit of training in godliness to eat some junk food?

How many of us are so fixated on this world that we have completely forgotten the value of godliness, both for this life and the age to come?

If that is you, your soul is atrophied… and you need to train in godliness so that you can grow in godliness.

As a church, we must prioritize growing in godliness, avoiding what is unhelpful and pressing in to what will help us grow.

We have to make it a priority

There is no growth that comes passively

There is no growth that comes through mere proximity

True growth only comes through making training in godliness a priority

This fall we are offering all kinds of ways to make it a priority and we’re gonna have tables in the lobby after this service where you can take that step in making it a priority in your life

Where you can learn the truth of what God says in our studies

Where you can apply that truth to your life with other others in small group

Where you can be speaking to one another and helping one another as you train together for godliness

We have to make it a priority to pursue pure doctrine together

But just like physical training, your willingness to devote yourself to the training will be determined by what your end goal is

And you and I will devote ourselves to wherever our hope lies

And Paul tells us what kind of hope will cause us to pursue growth in godliness

Look at v. 10

1 Timothy 4:10 “For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God”

The end goal of godliness is motivated by setting our hope on God

Seeing him as our greatest need in this life.

Setting your hope on anything less is a waste of a life and a destructive deception

And you may be here today and you have been living for a different end goal, Your life has been lived in the pursuit of some other hope

Perhaps it is the hope of health

Or the hope of popularity

Or the hope of riches

If you have been pursuing fulfillment in something else, hoping that in that thing you will find what you have been looking for,

I need you to look at those last words of the apostle Paul

“[the living God] who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.”

If you live for anything other than the living God, through faith in Jesus Christ, if you live for anything other than him, you are being deceived and it will ultimately lead to your destruction

But if you will recognize that you were made on purpose for a purpose, to live your life for the living God, then you can come to him and he will not turn you away

You can confess your sin to him, ask for his forgiveness, believe in Jesus Christ for the salvation of your soul, and you can set your hope on him as well

[Conclusion]

But as a church family…

We must know what God’s word says so that we aren’t deceived

We must know what God wants, so that we can walk in it

We must grow in godliness and guard against deception

And the way that we will do that is by prioritizing pure doctrine,

Becuase pure doctrine guards and grows God’s people.