Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons,But the Spirit says expressly that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons,Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;But the Spirit saith expressly, that in later times some shall fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons,
4 sermons cite this verse
… to the ones we've talked about in our last message, is what is called an apostasy, or a falling away from the faith. It tells us over in 1 Timothy 4.1, the spirit speaks clearly that in the last days some will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and teachings that come from demons. So yes, it's going to happen. Now you say, well, I hope it doesn't happen to me. Well, it doesn't have to. A person makes choices that lead to this. And if they make other choices, it will not lead to this. It's really up to you. But it is a reality, and it happens to people more often than they may realize. Think of it this way. If you are not progressing as a Christian, you are by default regressing. If you're not taking ground, you are in effect beginning to lose ground. As I've said before, the Christian life is like a grease pole. You're either climbing or slipping. Every day I should be learning more like Jesus. Every day I should become more like Christ. Every day I should be growing in my knowledge of scripture. Every day there's a lot of growth to take place in my life. And when I'm not growing, I'm going to by default start going in the opposite direction. Hebrews 2.1 says, we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard or we may drift away from it. …
… please mark these verses down in 1st Timothy chapter 4 verse 1 because it matters where we're going tonight 1st Timothy chapter 4 verse 1 says now the spirit that is the Holy Spirit expressly says that in the latter times I believe it's now these days some will depart from the faith doesn't tell us why but it tells us how they're going to give heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons this is pretty crazy pretty intensifying our alertness this way. Jesus said in the last days, the apostles said in the last days, there's going to be an advent or a release of or the coming of demonic spirits and deceiving spirits that are going to put out there false teaching, doctrines of demons. Now demons are not going to preach it. Humans will preach it. But the demons will be manipulating people. Cults, occult, aberrant way of thinking. Some of the deception, as we've talked about in the past, impossible to detect unless the Holy Spirit is in you. He will warn you. Next verse, we have quite a few of these verses. 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 1 says, but there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies. Okay, everybody, that's a big warning. If you're a Christian tonight, wherever you go to church, even here, always be on the guard for weirdos. …
… go live normal human life without jesus or might you go from here and live in your body in a holy way that's what we talk about these in these moments so this is first timothy chapter 4 verses one to five. Paul is here writing to his protege Timothy and the Ephesian church is reading this letter over Timothy's shoulder and he's warning Timothy and the Ephesians about a group of false teachers who apparently under demonic influence. This is demonic. This is what Satan did in the garden when he tempted Eve. He questioned God's goodness. And so he's warning them of these false teachers, he says, who forbid marriage and outlaw certain foods. So these false teachers are ascetics. You know that word, ascetics? That is persons who pursue severe self-discipline. They have disavowed God-given pleasures in marriage and among certain foods, apparently they can't outlaw all foods because the people who do that tend to die within a few weeks. So they have to make, some foods have to be okay, but because we have this suspicion of physical life, of bodily life, we're going to outlaw some of these foods. …
And the place I'm going and want to finish is in 1 Timothy 4. 1 Timothy 4 verse 3 sets the scene about God's good gifts of bodily life. Verse 3, he's talking about food, talking about the marriage bed, which is, this is bodily life in 1 Timothy 4, which is why I think it applies to exercise and to sleep. Let's put sleep in there as well, bodily life. Here's what he says in verses 4 to 5. Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy, consecrated, made holy by the word of God and prayer. I finish with this. what does it mean to make it holy by the word of God and prayer right so what's the word of God the word of God is his speaking so don't first think leather round book think God's communicating himself the concept of God's word he's revealing himself he does that through his word we rightly capture it in the leather and bound book amen but the word of God conceptually is he's telling us about ourselves. He's telling us about himself. He's telling us about his world. He's telling us about your body. So hear what he's got to say. If you're going to make your bodily life holy, you need to know what God has to say about it. He made it. So listen to him. But then the other thing is, he says it's made holy by the word of God and prayer. He means for us to ask him. …