1 Timothy for the life of..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Well, good evening, everyone, and welcome to our Wednesday Bible study. Let's open up our Bibles together, please, to the first letter of Timothy.

We're continuing with our study on the first letter of the apostle Paul to his disciple Timothy. And by the grace of God, this evening, now we are able to make it into chapter number four. We're going to be addressing verses 1 through 5 in chapter 4 and that's going to be, good catch, that's going to be the topic of apostasy that which the apostle is addressing there in the first five verses of chapter 4. Somehow we have already addressed this topic in chapter 1 but now the apostle is going to reinforce the teaching on apostasy not only for Timothy and the church at Ephesus, but also for us as the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. So what we're going to do is that we're going to read the whole chapter from verse one until the end, verse 16, paying much attention to each one of the words, especially to the first section, the first five verses.

So let's read the words of God, beloved brethren with reverent hearts. This is the apostle Paul. 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's 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 hopes set on the living God, who is the savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself. to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.

Practice these things. Immerse yourself in them so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this. For by so doing, you will save both yourself and your hearers."

Amen. The words of God. Now, let's just read together again those five verses, which are the focus of our study. It says, Now the Spirit expressly says that in later or latter 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, but it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

Amen. As I said, Beloved brothers and sisters, this evening we're going to be addressing again the topic of apostasy. That is the falling of one person from the faith of the departing. of a person from the Christian faith, the body of the faith, the departing from that faith. That is the topic of apostasy, which is a topic that Paul has already addressed in this letter.

We actually spent probably the first three, four, or even five first Bible studies that, by the grace of God, we had the opportunity to address in chapter one, addressing that topic of false teaching, or better, using Pauline words, other doctrine. You might remember that Paul says in the beginning of chapter 1 to Ephesus that I urge you to remain at Ephesus that you may charge certain persons not to teach other doctrine. He calls that other doctrine and then he's going to expound on that other doctrine is speaking in chapter one of those people who desire to be teachers of the law not knowing what they say nor the things which they confirm or they assert or they confirm they don't know the things that they are saying nor the things that they affirm yet they want or they decide to be teachers of the law and then in the end of chapter one you might remember those two names Hymenaeus and Alexander, who were those two people within this church that were handed over to Satan, telling us in that language, in that spiritual language, that they were removed from the context of the church because they were false teachers. They were people that deviated, that swerved away, that deviated from the faith. Now, after that, the apostle started just to give to give practical exhortations.

You might remember chapter two about prayer. And then we spoke about the authority to the role of women and men within the context of the church. And then the apostle speaks of those roles within the context of the church that pertain to the sound administration of the words of God, elders and deacons. And then our brother, after we address elders and deacons, our brother explained to us the importance of the church as the foundation of truth and the gospel of Christ as the source of biblical evangelical godliness. There is a sense in which every single practice of the life of the church is founded upon the sound doctrine that is contained in the word of God.

And then the apostle, knowing the importance of the word of God and the sound administration of the words of God within the context of the church, Now in chapter four, he's going to give again an exhortation to Timothy, not about the positive side of it, which he has already done, those people who are to administer the words of God, but rather the negative side of it, which is apostasy, deviating from the words of God, moving or departing from the faith. Beloved brethren, this is a very important topic for the church and remember that what we're trying to do is give you practical principles that they might not only abide in your mind, but also in your heart, that every time that a topic comes to your mind, or every time the first Timothy comes to your mind, that you might remember those practical principles that are vital for your individual life, and they're also vital for the life of our church, of our community. And of course, they can be extended and applied to the universal church of Jesus Christ. So what I want us to do this evening, the puzzle is addressing again this topic of apostasy. So I only want you to hold in your mind, in your heart two things.

Two things are the ones, the two things that I want to put in your mind and also by the help and I hope the power of the spirit into your heart about this topic that we have here, which is apostasy. The first one is the reality, if you allow me to use that word, of apostasy, or the certainty of apostasy, or the truth, the reality of apostasy, which the apostle explains in the beginning of this section. And then once we have spoken about the reality of it, I want us to meditate upon the characteristics that the apostle is going to give of the apostates or of that apostasy. Remember that apostasy is just moving, deviating, departing, rebelling against the faith that is of Christ. And I want us to meditate upon the certainty, the reality of the apostasy.

And once we have meditating upon those things, to take or just to meditate upon two or three characteristics that the apostle gives, especially in verses two, three, four, and five, three characteristics of that apostasy. So the first thing, remember, we're only doing those two things. The first thing, it is the reality of apostasy. And this is a very serious matter for your life, for the life of our church, and for the life of the universal church, the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. When I say the reality of apostasy, Brothers and sisters, I'm talking about the certainty of it, that it is not something that could happen in the life of the church, the universal church, but rather is something that must happen.

It's something that is happening and something that will happen. This is the reality of apostasy, something that must necessarily take place. And I don't know if this is what it produces in your heart, but it should make us tremble because the way that the apostle puts it in the verse is that he says that the spirit, of course, the spirit of God expressly says, clearly says that in the later or latter times, in the last time, some will depart from the faith. Brothers and sisters, when I said when I speak about the reality of apostasy, I'm referring that God has clearly said that this could not happen. But actually, this is going to happen, that people will depart from the faith.

And now we are not speaking about the outsiders. We are not speaking about those who are outside of the church. For a person to depart from the faith, That person has to be within the context of that faith so that person can fall away or can depart from that faith. Now, the spirit of God, the apostle says with his authority that expressly, that clearly says that people in the latter or later times, in the end times, that these people are going to be part from the faith. Now, When the fearful thing about this statement, brothers and sisters, is that God is not like an Old Testament prophet that is able to foretell the things that are going to happen as someone who is just having a vision of the things that come in the future and that he just simply says the things that are to happen.

When God says something about the future, it is because God himself in his sovereignty, in his decree, in his perfections and in his wisdom, has determined that these things should take place. He is the one that governs everything that takes place. He's the one that is in control of everything that takes place. And God himself in his or his spirit has said that he has pleased God that within the context of his visible church or his bride, there's going to be people who are going to fall away from the faith. God has determined that he's not something that is something that could happen, but actually something that is going to happen.

You should see, beloved brethren, with the eyes of your spirit and your heart, the weight of those words, that this is what God has determined in his wisdom for the church. Now, I have to say, I don't want to put an unnecessary burden on your heart or unnecessary burden on your soul when the apostle speaks of the faith. He's not speaking that people are going to fall from saving faith. He's not speaking that people are going to fall from a spirit given, regenerating, saving faith that has been given to the individual, but rather he's speaking of the faith. He's speaking of the body of faith to the Christianity, to Christianity as the faith that we hold and that we have as a community.

So he's speaking of people who never actually had real saving faith. And this is very important for you to know, because the Lord has not decreed that those who have been united by grace through real saving faith to Christ will fall away from the faith. But rather, he has decreed that people who are within the context of the Christian faith will depart from that faith. this is exactly what jude when he's writing his letter he's writing his letter jude is writing this letter to the church and then he said i was going to write to you beloved brethren concerning our common salvation or in other words i was going to write concerning that which has united us to christ real inward saving faith concerning our common salvation he says in the book of jude verse three and then he says but After saying that, I was going to write concerning our common salvation, but I found it necessary, that is in the book of Jude, I found it necessary to write to you. so that you may contend earnestly for the faith, the faith which was once for all delivered or given to the saints."

He says, I was going to write to you concerning the inward salvation that you have, the common salvation that we have by grace through saving faith, but I thought I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the body of faith. And then he speaks of men who have crept into the church in the following verses, unaware or unnoticed men have inserted themselves into the church and the believers did not know. So the apostle or Jude is exhorting these people to contend, to defend the body of faith, because there are some people who have inserted themselves into the church and they did not know. Then the apostle Jude, when he's just writing there the letter, he's then going to compare these men who have inserted themselves into the faith, the environment of the faith of the church. He's going to compare them with the Exodus generation, having the Lord Jesus, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt.

Afterward, he destroyed those who believed not. He will compare them with the fallen angels. He will compare them with Sodom and Gomorrah. He will call them clouds without water, twice dead. But then he's going to say something very important in verse 19 of Jude, speaking of these people, that these men are devoid of the Spirit.

These are verses that you can check there later in your own time. that these men who were attacking the body of faith, Jude verse 19, speaks that they did not have the spirit within them, that they were devoid of the spirit. Now, beloved brethren, this is very important. I do not want to put an unnecessary burden on your soul or on your heart when I say that God, the eternal God, the triune God has determined in his wisdom and his perfections to allow and to decree, actively decree that some people who are within the context of the faith These people will depart from that faith because they did not have saving real faith. They did not have the Spirit.

Now, he speaks of something very interesting. He says that this happens, that this reality, beloved brethren, of this apostasy, that this takes place as the ESV says here, the later times or the latter times or the last times. I also I don't want you to just because you hear the word later times or latter times or the last days to think that apostasy or the falling away from people from the faith or out of the faith of the removing, ejecting, whatever you want to call it, of people from the faith is something that belongs only to the last times before the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come. Because when the word of God speaks of the last time of the last days usually refers to the whole period of time from the manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ until the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't know if you remember.

I hope that you do. But we did a ceremony in first Peter, first Peter chapter one, verse 19 and 20. He says that the Lord Jesus Christ was foreknown. You might remember he was foreknown before the foundation of the world and he was made manifest He was being manifest in these last times. And then he says, for the sake of you, the church.

Jesus Christ, who was made manifest or who was foreknown before the foundation of the world, he was made manifest in these last times. When we speak of the last times, beloved brethren, we speak, we're speaking about the time before the coming of Christ and his second coming. You might remember when the author of Hebrews is writing in the beginning, when he's given this exhortation to endurance and to faith in the beginning of Hebrews chapter one, he said, in other times, in diverse manners and in different ways, God spoke to the Fathers through the Prophets. But in these last times, or in these last days, He has spoken to us, the Church, through the Son, Jesus Christ. These last times in which God has spoken to us through the Son is the times of the Church.

Now, beloved brethren, this last times is something that the early apostles were aware of those things happening from the very beginning of the church. And it's also something that is related to the end times before Jesus Christ coming. These are the words of the apostle John. You might remember in chapter two. Read it with your eyes.

I don't want to quote verses anymore. So just go to 1 John chapter two. I want you to see it with your eyes. Chapter two, the first letter of John, chapter two. Speaking of people falling away or departing from the faith, departing from the context of the church, departing from the people of God, moving away from the family of God, the church of the living God, then the apostle John in chapter two, in verse 18, he says, Children, it is He wrote this in the first century.

He says, it is the last hour or the last times or the latter times. And as you have heard that antichrist is coming. So now many antichrists have come. Therefore, he's speaking of an immediate reality of the first century. He says, therefore, we know that it is not that he will be, but he says that it is the last hour or the last times.

And then he speaks exactly of what we are talking here this evening, this Bible study, verse 19. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that it might become plain that they all are not of us." He's speaking of realities that were taking place in the present audience and in the present times when he was writing these things.

When we speak of the last times or the later times of the last days. We're speaking the period between Jesus Christ and his second coming. Now, this is very important because now the apostle with the authority of scripture, he's saying that all of these things are going to take place during all of this time. Of course, there is going to be a falling away in the end of the times. That's what the apostle Paul says in second Thessalonians.

You can go there and we can read it together in second Thessalonians chapter Chapter 2, 2 Thessalonians 2, speaking also of these last times. In chapter 2, verse 1, he says, Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, now we know that the apostle is speaking about the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Lord Jesus Christ is about to come, he says, Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to Him, we ask you, brothers, and of course, sisters, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or by a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Some people were saying that the Lord has already come back then. So now, verse three, let no one deceive you in any way.

For that day, the day when the Lord comes, for that day will not come Unless, and then we in our ESV, we have the word, the rebellion comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed. But that rebellion, that word is apostasy, apostasia, that unless the falling away will take place on our brothers and sisters. The only thing that I'm just trying to say here is point to you. the certainty, the reality of this that we call apostasy, of some departing from the faith, they did not have saving faith, they were devoid, they did not have the Spirit of God, and the departing of these people from the truth, it's something that is going to be characteristic of all the time between the first and the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. That there's going to be times in which that is going to be increased, Yes, perhaps, but the Bible speaks of this last day and the presence of this falling away or this departing from the faith.

That's the reality of it. God speaks that this must take place. Oh, brothers, that we may have a greater love for the bride of Christ. Do you see the implications of what I'm saying? That there's brothers and sisters all around the world, even like if the If the Lord does not give us grace and in his providence protect us, that he could even be among us, that people will be among us who were never of us and they will depart from us.

They did not continue with us. They were false teachers. This is what second Peter or Peter in second Peter, chapter two, verse one. He says that in those days, speaking of the old covenant, verse one, in those days there were false prophets among the people, speaking of Israel. But in the last days, There will be false teachers among you speaking to the church under the new covenant.

This is the reality, beloved brethren, of apostasy, of this falling away, of departing from the faith. This is the first thing that I want you to have, that this is not an option. This is not a could, it may happen, but rather this is going to happen. People departing from the faith. The second thing, an important thing that now I want us to see, it is the characteristic of these people who have departed from the faith.

And you know, beloved brethren, when we're going through scripture and when we see truths and promises and things, the Word of God is a double-edged sword that points us to the truth and also points us to that which is not true, that discerns that which is within us, that discerns the spirit from the soul that points us to truth so that we might know that which is not true. And this is the way that we should approach always the scripture with reverence, with humble hearts, not thinking that this is something that does not belong to me or that's not concern to me, but rather that this is a major concern for the life of the church. So now what the apostle is going to do, let me just find here. is that the apostle is going to give us at least or the way that I want us to see it is three characteristics of this apostasy and the way the reason why I've just tried to summarize this in three is for the sake of the weaknesses of our minds that we might remember these things so apostasy is something that is meant to be real it's not a possibility it will happen it will take place and now I want you to have these three characteristics of the apostates or apostasy And I want us to see those characteristics as the relationship of the apostate to the Word of God, the first one, relationship of the apostate or this person who departs from the faith to the Word of God. The second thing is the heart or the soul or the inner being of the apostate.

And the third thing is the teaching of the apostate. Because remember, beloved brethren, that we're not speaking about people who are outside of the context of the church. We're not speaking about people who are just crossing the road and just seeing the church from far away that are not within the context of the church. We're speaking about people who are within the context of the church, and they are departing from the faith. The departing from the faith does not necessarily mean that they are leaving the church as Hymenaeus and Alexander were handed over to Satan, so they will not be within the context of the church.

What it means is that they have departed from that which makes the body of truth truth, or what makes the body of faith truth. They have departed from it, but they may be still within the context of what we call the visible church. They might leave the church, they may depart in the future, but some of them may still be within the context of the church. That's why Paul is writing to exhort Timothy and the church to be aware of all of these things. So I want us to see the characteristics, beloved brethren.

the relationship of these men or these people to the Word of God, then the heart of that person, and then the teaching of that person. Those things, relationship to the Word, then the heart of that person, and then the teaching of that person. And I personally say the relationship to the Word of God, because one is either related to the Word of God or not. and both cases affect the life of a person. You see, the fact that a person is not related to the Word of God does not mean that the Word of God does not have any application on the life of that person.

If a person is not related at all, that means that that person is only living his or her life in the flesh and the Word of God speaks to that matter. What happens with a person that has deviated entirely from the Word of God and has turned away? That's what the apostle says in verse one, in the end of verse one. He speaks of these people who have departed from the faith in the latter days. And he says in the ESV, by devoting themselves, rid yourself, by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons or doctrines of devils.

Wow, beloved brethren, these people have devoted, have given themselves entirely to seducing spirits and to doctrine of devils, doctrines of demons, that only happens when the mind of a person has been taken from the word of God, which is that which is meant to rule everything in the life of a person who is within the context of the church, when that person has deviated from it and has turned his eyes to initially self. And then the apostle speaks of seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. Now, these people were never in the faith. They had all the fruits. If you would have seen those people, you would have said brother, sister, or brother primarily, because they seem to be in the faith.

They would have said things of the faith. They would have spoken terms of the faith. They would have certain truths in their mouth. The Pharisees in chapter 23 of Matthew, they had truth in their mouth. And the Lord Jesus Christ says, do as they say, but do not do as they do.

So the things that the Pharisees, who did not have faith, were saying were sufficient truth so that a person who is truly in the faith could have submitted to the things that they said, but not the things that they did or that were living just because they did not have the truth within them. So now, these people, Romans 7 and 8 speaks, that people who are not with the Spirit and do not have faith, that these people cannot submit to the law of God. So, beloved brethren, it's just a matter of time in which a person who is within the context of the Church, who is not in Christ truly, who is a false believer, who is a false Christian, it's just a matter of time in which the passions of the flesh that are truly ruling within the heart of that person, because people who are not in Christ cannot submit to the law of God, that is, they cannot submit to the words of God. It's a matter of time in which the hypocritical eyes that seem to be placed in the word of God are going to turn away to self. So then seducing spirits will be able to exercise their power over their fleshly desires.

So they will not be taught by the words that come from God because they are unable to submit to them, but rather they will be taught by doctrines of demons. Beloved brethren, if true believers have in and of themselves a war against Christ-like nature and Adam-like nature. If we have, in and of ourselves, within us, we have a war between that which is holy and that which is of the flesh. And the Bible calls us to walk in the Spirit and to put sin to death by the power of the Spirit and by submitting to the Word of God and by abiding in Christ. So then those who are not truly in Christ, it's just a matter of time.

in which they are going to end up doing that which they really love. And it's putting themselves in the throne. It's putting themselves on the throne. And in this world, there's only two categories. That which is of God, and that which is not of God, to say it politely.

But that which is not of God, is not holy, is not righteous, and it is not of Christ. So therefore it is of the devil. It is of the flesh and it is satanic. It is unrighteous. Now, beloved brethren, apostates are being seduced by the spirits of this power, which can easily take them.

And once they are taken, they can be easily instructed by the doctrines of these demons. Now, beloved brethren, Doctrines of demons and seducing spirits are not necessarily what you're thinking or what we may think. It's not necessarily 666 and things that are black or things that are clearly satanic. Satan is the father of lies and the way that he operates is by making that which is true just to seem as close enough to truth to make it his doctrine and to make it his own thing. This is the first thing, beloved brethren, that the relationship of this person to the Word of God is one of inability.

He cannot submit, enduring and persevering in submission to the truth of the Word of God in the life of that person. And therefore, the fleshly desires will come out of him and he will end up being seduced by spirits and being taught by Satan. And when Satan starts to minister the heart of a man, only fleshly things will be produced. Because it's not only the relationship to the word of God of a deviation to doctrines of the devil. But then the apostle says that these people will speak lies, hypocritical lies.

And that is speaking of hypocritical lies is because they have a conscience that is seared. The King James will say that the conscience is seared with iron. that they're speaking lies because now they have turned from God onto Satan, who is the father of lies, and their consciences are seared. Beloved brethren, conscience is a God-given thing to all humans by which sin is somehow restrained. The conscience is given to all of us when we are born.

And by the conscience, we know that which is wrong and that which is evil. What the apostle is saying here about these people who have departed from God and have turned to demonic to themselves is that now they are going to speak lies, the truth that they have been taught by Satan and something even worse, that their conscience is seared. So that conviction of the truth or conviction by the spirit is not available for them anymore. You say there is a sense. in which unbelievers can be pierced or convicted by their consciences towards things that they are not supposed to do.

This is the whole argument of the Apostle Paul in Romans 2, speaking of the conscience of the Gentiles. But once God gives over a person, the conscience of that person is seared, as King James says, with iron, or as we will find it in other parts of the Bible, the heart of that person has been hardened. The heart of that person has been hardened. And now the word of God does not operate conviction anymore. So that person is given over entirely to the passions of his flesh and to the teachings of demons.

That again, beloved brother, is not something that is clearly opposite to the truth, but it's something that seems to be truth. That is the relationship of these men to the words of God and also the relationship to his heart. because his heart now is dominated entirely, beloved brethren, by these doctrines of demons. And now he's speaking lies and his heart is hardened, his conscience is hardened. This is a terrifying thing.

We should tremble when we hear of these things, that a person can come to a point in which his conscience is so seared or his heart is so hardened that the admonitions or the exhortations of the Word of God do not produce any type of conviction and therefore they are entirely blind and they're entirely deaf to exhortations that come from the Word of God and now they are giving themselves entirely to their wisdom. They have become wise in their own eyes. They rejoice in their own wisdom. They are the princes or the kings of their kingdom, of their world. And then the Word of God has been now closed to their eyes and to their spirits.

This is what then produces the teaching, the teaching of the Apostate. And the example that the Apostle is going to give us here, it is founded upon two things. He says in verse 3, and I want you to bear with me here, verse 3, He says, who forbid, so we have spoken about them devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons. And this is through the insincerity of liars, whose consciences are seared. And then he says, in verse three, we will see the operations, now the actions of these apostates in teaching.

Because remember, they're within the context of the church. So he says, verse three, 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's received with thanksgiving. For it is made holy by the word of God and prayer." Now, beloved brethren, this is what the apostle is saying now.

This is how we can summarize this portion of the scripture that we have there, these five verses. He's saying, beloved brethren, I'm telling you, that apostasy or that the falling from the faith is a reality that has been spoken by the Spirit of God. That some people will depart from the faith and these people will depart from the faith in the latter times, which is all of this period, which is the first and the second coming of Christ, by devoting themselves to the seducing spirits and the doctrines of demons. Why? Because now their consciences are seared, their hearts are hardened, so they speak lies.

From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And because that which is the treasure in their hearts is that which is satanic, so then what comes out of their mouth is that which is of the devil, lies. And then the apostle is going to give us the example here of two teachings. He said that these people were teaching two things. The first thing was to forbid that they were forbidding marriage.

That was the first thing. And the second thing is that they were requiring of people to abstain from certain foods. These are the two things he says. these people who are forbidding marriage, that's the first thing, and the second thing is that they're requiring people, of course within the context of the Church, to abstain from foods. He presents the two examples and then he takes foods to make a theological argument.

He says that this food is something that has been created by God, that God created those foods. And therefore, because he has been created by God, is something that needs to be received with thankfulness or with thanksgiving. And then in the last couple of verses, he takes the argument that says that food has been created by God and is to be received by thanksgiving by those who are true Christians, those who believe in the truth. And then he takes the argument to everything, not only to food. He says that in the last verses, for everything has been created by God.

And it's not to be rejected, it's to be accepted with thanksgiving. Why? Because it has been made holy or sanctified by the Word of God and by prayer. This is what the apostle is doing. I want you to see the argument.

So he says, forbid marriage and then food. This food has been created by God and is to be received with thankfulness by the believers. Why? Because everything actually has been created by God and is to be received with a heart filled with gratitude because the Lord has sanctified those things by his word and by prayer. So I want us to do two things first.

The apostle is speaking of something that it was real for the church, right? It was he's not just only given two examples that came to his mind, and then he's just addressing that out of randomly. He's addressing two things that are issues within the context of the church. But I don't want your mind to deviate from the practical applications and then lose the principle that I'm trying to trace in your mind and in your heart. So I want us to do two things.

Let's address biblically those two things, marriage and also foods. And then once we address those things biblically, we will be able to understand the principle that the apostate, whose mind has been taken by Satan and is speaking lies and is teaching false things, is why he is saying those things for the church. So we have marriage and then we have foods. This is something that the Apostle Paul has addressed already in the first letter to the Corinthians. So let's address those two things biblically.

Go with your Bible to 1 Corinthians chapter Seven. Let's start with marriage. So these people were forbidden. What's the other word for forbidden? Prohibit?

Prohibit. It was forbidden for them. Or they were making that something that was forbidden. But now, let's just read these things here that the apostle Paul is going to say about marriage within the context of the church in first Corinthians chapter six. Remember, I just want us to address these two things biblically, but not disconnect our hearts from the principle that we're going to be addressing.

Now it says, chapter seven, verse one, it says, now concerning the matters about which you wrote, they had written something to the apostle. It is good for a man not to have sexual relationships with a woman. But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her kingdom rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does.

Likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement, for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer, but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. Continue reading. Now as a concession, not a command, I say this. I wish that we all were as myself am, but each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.

To the unmerit and the widows i say that it is good for them to remain single as i am but if they cannot exercise self-control they should marry for it is better to marry than to burned with passions now these people this at ephesus they were forbidding mary right for marriage now go to verse 28 of the same chapter, and the apostle is going to make it very clear there. Well, let's just read from verse 25. He says, Now concerning the betrothal of the virgins, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who, by the Lord's mercy, is trustworthy. Now, let's lest we may be confused. When the apostle says that is not a command, it doesn't mean that is the word of God.

It is in our Bible. So therefore is the word of God. And you say, it is something that has been given to us by God. Verse 26, I think that in view of the present distress, it is good for a person to remain as his. Are you bound to a wife?

Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you do marry, You have not sinned. So if you actually get married, you're not sinning.

And if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. Now, beloved brethren, the teachings about this particular practical topic is very clear that marriage is not something that is sinful. It's not sinful. It is not something that is against the faith.

This is very clear. This is the first topic. This is the first conclusion that we make about this topic of marriage. This was taught by the apostles. Second topic, the second address, the second thing that the apostle points in First Timothy is food.

So going in the same book, go to chapter 8 because now he said these people are forbidding marriage and also they are requiring some people to abstain from certain foods. Now in chapter 8 the apostle is going to teach us something about foods and particularly the ones that were in debate or controversy among the church that is food that were given to idols. Now, chapter 8. Now concerning food offered to idols, this is when people were having controversies about should we eat that type of food or should we not eat that type of food. This was the thing that was happening within the context of the Church.

We know that all of us possess knowledge. This knowledge pops up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that an idol has no real existence and that there is no God but one.

For although there might be so-called gods in heaven or earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and for whom we exist, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we exist. The apostle is going to speak of this food being given to idols or offered to idols, and then he speaks of the smallness, if you want, of these gods or lords compared with the Lord and with the true God who is the creator of everything. He's going to expand on that point in chapter 10, if you bear with me, please. And if you go to chapter 10, verse 23. The apostle is going to speak of a very important principle that is now speaking of how we are to relate to things that have been created by God.

He says in verse 23, all things are lawful but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful but not all things build up. In chapter six, he has said something similar saying that all things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. And that he does not allow things to dominate or to overpower him. That is not that we cannot relate to things is that we are not to relate to things by letting them overpower us or dominate us.

Verse 24. Let no one seek his own good but the good of his neighbor. Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. Pay attention to this. eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience for the earth is the lord's and the fullness thereof so here the puzzle is going to make a similar argument than the one that he's doing for timothy that god has created all things and the things are to be received from god with thankfulness verse 26 for the earth is the lord's and the fullness thereof if one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience.

But if someone says to you, this has been offered in sacrifice, then do not eat it for the sake of the one who informed you and for the sake of conscience. I do not mean your conscience, but his conscience. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else's conscience? If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks? Now, beloved brethren, the apostle is speaking of a very important principle in this section of the scripture, which he's borrowing, or probably, I don't know which he's borrowed, but he's using also in 1st Timothy, which is the principle of receiving the things from God with thankfulness.

So thankfulness is that which is attached to morality. That means how we receive the things from God. If our heart does not have thankfulness, so then we are not receiving things in gratitude from God. The only two things that I want you to see from the portions of the scripture that we have read, the main important thing that I want you to see is that these two matters, marriage, and food were clearly not sins. They were things that were not required.

These were things that were not forbidden by scripture. But when you come to 1 Timothy, go to 1 Timothy again, the apostle explaining or speaking of these people, he uses a word in your ESV. He says in verse 3, who these apostates they forbid. marriage, and require abstinence from fruits that God created to be received. Now, the testimony of Scripture had already given, and the teaching of the apostles and the prophets had already given the freedom and the liberty of conscience to the Christians to decide upon these two matters, if I'm going to get married or if I'm not going to get married, if I'm going to eat this food or if I'm not going to eat this food.

Yet apostates were making these things necessary. They were forbidden. That is that they were imposing this teaching. Now, this is the principle, beloved brother. Now, take your mind from marriage or from food or from any other matter.

The principle of the apostate is that which the apostle will start saying in chapter number one. He said in chapter number one, that these people have deviating from the truth of God, that they have deviated from the words of God. They have deviated to themselves. And then he says, desiring to be teachers of the law. They wanted to be teachers of the things of God.

They did not know what they were saying, not the things that they were affirming. And then after that, in chapter one, in the first letter of Timothy, in verse In verse eight, the apostle is going to speak of the law and the relationship of the law to the gospel. And then he says that the law, once a person or once a man of God uses the law justly, he knows that the law has not been made for the righteous, but has been made for the unrighteous. And then he's going to given us the very important principle in verse 10. Actually let's just read it together, the whole section, so that you might understand what I'm saying.

Verse eight in First Timothy, chapter one. Now we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers and for mothers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality and slavers, liar, perjurers, and whatever. brothers and sisters, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God which I have been entrusted. Now these men, or let me just put it a different way probably, the result of removing yourself because of the slavery of your nature that you're not truly in Christ, the result of moving from the light of the truth of God towards self is going to make you the final authority of that which you think should be taught within the context of the church. And because your heart is not submitted to the law of God, then your personal preferences and interpretations and your personal knowledge deciding to be teachers of the law, not knowing what they say and other things which they affirm, will become the doctrine that you teach.

inspired by demons and seducing spirits, and the apostle calls those things contrary to sound doctrine, or not in accordance to the gospel of Christ, to the gospel of God. False prophets and false teachers will end up adding things to the gospel that are contrary to the truth of the gospel, that are not in accordance to the gospel of Jesus Christ, for subtle that they may be, they might end up adding things, and in their own wisdom, in their own understanding, they end up making those things essential for the profession of their perception or faith. They put these things into the gospel, making those things a burden to the gospel. It is not part of the gospel, beloved brethren. Paul says something very important in Romans 10 verse 4.

He says that Jesus Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. that when Christ came, he put the end to the love for righteousness. But the same apostle in chapter 9 and in chapter 11, he speaks of those who are not in Christ trying to seek the righteousness by their own works. Not the righteousness that is of God, which is by faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, but rather seeking the righteousness that belongs to them. Those who are not in Christ will end up adding to the gospel or adding to the message of Jesus Christ, something that is only of them, that it might be so subtle that it contradicts the substance of the gospel himself or itself.

Now, beloved friend, I want you to see the importance of these matters. because we're not talking here about people who are going to openly reject the truth of the gospel, or the atheists, or people that are going to only teach things that are clearly opposite to the truth of the gospel, but things that are added to the substance and to the essence of the gospel, that are not in accordance to sound doctrine, that are not in accordance to the teachings of God, that is the only thing that it takes for a person to be an apostate and have departed of the faith and falling away from Christ, departing from the Church and teaching the things that pertain or that abide in the mind of this person. The Apostle Paul speaks of all of these things of self-righteousness compared with the righteousness of God in Colossians. And let's just read Colossians and let me make the final important point that I want you to have. In Colossians chapter 2, or three, two.

When it comes to the righteousness that a person seeks apart from the righteousness of God, and I would hope and I pray that you might understand what I'm saying. I'm not speaking about religious people only. Men, by nature, beloved brethren, even you as a Christian, by nature, we want and we desire to do things according to our own preferences. It is easier for each one of you to submit to your personal preferences of the things that you have in your mind, than it is to submit to the word of God. That is the battle of, this is the cosmic battle of existence.

Opposition and rebellion against God, Submitting to self is easier than submitting to God. Submitting to God's ways is not natural for the man who is not in Christ. The man who is in Christ has been given this nature that now desires to submit to God's ways. But we still have men's way within us. So when the Bible speaks of the righteousness that is not righteousness of God, it speaks of the flesh.

And this is what Paul says in chapter two of the book of Colossians. Therefore, Let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink with regard to a festival or a new moon or Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind. You see these people?

They are taken by their mind and not holding fast to the head that is Christ, from whom the whole body nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, what as if you were still alive in the world? Do you submit to regulations? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, or in the other case of First Timothy, do not marriage, do not eat those foods. Referring to things that all perish as they are used according to human precepts and teachings.

Brothers, pay attention to the last section of verse 22. This is the difference between, this is the whole difference between a man speaking on behalf of God and a man that is on his way to apostasy. That's, that, this is the whole difference. This is the difference between a man who is speaking on behalf of God through his word and a man that even if it seems that he's speaking on behalf of God, that inwardly and spiritually is on his way to sooner or later departing from the faith and speaking against the God that he claims to serve. These are human precepts and human teachings.

Verse 23. These have indeed an appearance, they are not externally contradict and opposite of the things that we will consider wisdom, but they have an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion, because the center of that man is not God, it is himself, and he is guided by spirits and by demonic powers, and ascetism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh Teaching of men... Now beloved brethren, pay attention to this and bear with me just the last couple of minutes Teaching and wisdom of men do not have the power to produce in the life of the souls or in the life of people that which the Bible clearly says that the preaching that comes from God should produce. So when the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking of false prophets, he says, you shall know them by their fruits. The teaching that comes from the lips of men that are not in God will eventually not produce in the life of those who hear The things that the Bible clearly says the sound doctrine and sound teaching should produce in the one that here with faith.

Why? Because this is a self made religion, because these are teachings of men. These are teachings of the flesh. And if not, it does no matter the appearance of wisdom. It does no matter the appearance of truth.

If they are devoid of the spirit. They are devoid of the spirit. They do not have the spirit because they are not putting their eyes on God. They are unable to do so. And they depart from the faith.

Then the apostle in chapter three is going to say, is going to give us the solution for this, the solution for this individually and corporately, the solution for your life in general. If you should make those three verses the rule of your life in general, if then, You have been raised. It starts with a condition. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above and the things that are above are not just spiritual things, but that's where Christ is reigning. He says where Christ is and is seated at the right hand of God.

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, that is, fleshly things think of us for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God what a glorious mystery the last part of that verse three for you have died see the contradiction the grammatical contradiction you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God brothers and sisters if the church is not led by preaching and teaching of men, not only who preach according to the truth of God, but whose lives have indeed been taken captive by the spirit of God. Then eventually, eventually, men who are in the flesh will end up teaching things that correspond to their own passions and to their own things and to their own wisdom, submitting themselves to things that are of the earth because their mind is unable to place their eyes, the eyes of the Spirit on things which are above. Now, exhortations, and let me finish here. Oops, I'm sorry. Exhortations to this, beloved brethren.

When our heart has been transformed by the gospel and by the grace that Christ has given us, our concern is always immediate, God-given, Spirit-given love. transcends my worry of myself and even from my family to the church. We're very good at loving ourselves and loving by the teachings or by the way that work operates, those who are easy to love. Our wives, our husbands, our kids, those who are our family. But God-given, spirit-empowered, scripture-based love is that love that helps us to love one another as a church and also to love the Bride of Christ universally.

Because when we speak of these realities of apostasy, may the Lord protect us as a local church that we may not fall in error and divert from the truth and always be submitted to the words of God. But in our hearts, the love of us should be always also directed towards the Bride of Christ. that those who are listening the gospel, that those who are listening the preaching of the word, that those men who claim to be speaking on behalf of God, they might always be submitted to the words of God. Because when a man decides to teach his own wisdom, as Paul will say to Timothy at the end of this chapter, that you may save your soul and the souls of those who hear. People might be just going to hell in churches in where apostates are teaching their own doctrine, in which men are teaching teachings of men, and these people never hearing the gospel of freedom that is only in Christ, but hearing the gospel that men have made for themselves from those who listen.

So our hearts will be always given towards the church as the bride of Christ, and always pray that we might be protected and kept, because in our hearts, beloved brethren, we have that nature of departing from God. May He give us grace. Amen.