Doctrine of Demons - 1A

A Matter of Conscience

1 Timothy 4:1–5 NKJV

Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

A waring from Paul to his disciple Timothy in Paul’s final days about those who have seared their conscience leading to false teaching

2 Timothy 1:3–7 NKJV

I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy, when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

In writing to Timothy from a prison cell in Rome, the Apostle Paul wants to deposit something in his beloved disciple Timothy realizing that his time s at hand

2 Timothy 4:6 NKJV

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.

In opening his letter he makes two important statements:

“I serve God with a PURE conscience” and “the genuine faith that is in you”

First Paul uses the word “Cathara” which is the Greek word meaning cleansed, morally free from stain of shame, Mythology it meant restoration of violated cleanness!

I speaking to the rebellion of Isreal the Lord says:

Ezekiel 36:22–29 NKJV

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,” says the Lord God, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you.

There is a promise of a conversion through “the sprinkling of clean water”

Paul tells Titus:

Titus 3:5 NKJV

not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,

You see there should be a change in your Spiritual and Moral fiber through the transformational encounter with Jesus Christ

The word Paul uses here means “to be emptied of something and filled with something else”!

Our old life was filled with with all unrighteousness in the flesh:

Romans 1:28–32 NKJV

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.

We now as new creations are called to be filled with the Spirit of God:

Ephesians 5:17–20 NKJV

Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Peter put it this way:

2 Peter 1:2–4 NKJV

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

You see new life is rooted in Godliness

The problem today is the thought that sin can b washed away like dirt and thus be dealt with…this is a fools falicy

It like a doctor seeing a person dying of liver failure with yellowing skin and prescribing a facial mascara to make his face color normal again!

He is only hiding the problem and dealing with the root!

Sin is an issue of conscience and actions the manifestation of the sin nature

Man needed a new conscience!

Hebrews 9:6–15 NKJV

Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance; the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience—concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation. But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

You see the word conscience entails the ability of an individual to be “self aware” if their actions have been carried out in harmony with God’s moral standards

Paul uses this concept more than 30 times throughout his writings connecting the believers conduct in relation tho his or her inward condition

Romans 9:1 NKJV

I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,