verse 1 1st Timothy 4 1 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 speaking lies in hypocrisy having their
conscience seared with a hot iron forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from
meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving
of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature
of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received
with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified by the word
of God and prayer. If thou put the brethren in remembrance
of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ,
nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, wherein
too thou hast attained. But refuse profane and old wives'
fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily
exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto
all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of
that which is to come. Now the title of the message
this morning comes from verse six. If thou put the brethren
in remembrance of these things. He's just been talking about
forbidding to marry and abstaining from meats. And says that that's,
what he called it was doctrines of devils. Not just a little difference
of opinion. It's doctrines of devils. Is he saying there that telling
people that it's fine to marry and to eat whatever you want
makes you a good minister of Jesus Christ? If you understand how that's
true, then you know the gospel. Let's look at it together. I
want very much to be a good minister of Jesus Christ. Being a good
minister is being a minister of Jesus Christ. I know that's God's doing and
so I pray for that. I don't so much, I'm not so much ambitious about
that as just asking God to restrain my flesh and make me a good minister
of him. And I know this, if God does
make me a good minister of the Lord Jesus, what that looks like
is me reminding you of the Lord and all things concerning him.
If you remind him, you're a good minister. Don't try to teach
him some new thing you came up with. There are people preaching
things that I worshiped the Lord for 25 years and never even heard
of. And now all of a sudden it's
vital doctrine? I suspect not. He said, if you love me, feed
my sheep. Some people say, well, the purpose
of the ministry is to win souls. I want God to save everybody
he wants to save this morning. But what he told me to do is
feed his sheep. Now there are some sheep I understand that
don't know their sheep yet. I want to feed them too. I want
them to start eating. But this is the Lord feeding,
nourishing, nurturing his sheep. And I want to be a good minister
of the Lord Jesus. And this text tells me that I've
got to put you in remembrance. That's the title of the message
this morning, remembrance. John 14, 26, the comforter, which
is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall
teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance.
He's not going to teach you something new. He's not going to give you
some spectacular new revelation of something that's never been
revealed. He's going to remind you who I am He's gonna bring all things to
remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. Second Timothy
2.14, of these things, put them in remembrance, charging them
before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, to the subverting of the hearers.
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth
not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. That's the
definition of putting sinners in remembrance. To rightly divide
this book is to remind. You know this passage, I've quoted
it so many times, 2 Peter 1.12, wherefore I will not be negligent
to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know
them. I don't want you to hear a single thing this morning that
you don't know, unless you just walked in here for the first
time. You already know these things. And be established in the present
truth. Yeah, I think it meet, I think
it appropriate. as long as I'm in this tabernacle,
in this body, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance,
knowing that shortly I must put off this, my tabernacle, even
as our Lord Jesus Christ has showed me. Moreover, I will endeavor
that you may be able after my decease to have these things
always in remembrance." Don't forget when I'm gone, somebody,
I'm gonna do everything in my power to make sure somebody gets
up here and reminds you again. over and over and over again
of Christ and what he did for you. So we look at this passage now
in 1 Timothy 4, let's keep this in mind, remember, remember.
Verse one, now the spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter
times, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing
spirits and doctrines of devil. Now the spirit, he says, is very
clear and emphatic about this. He speaketh expressly. All scripture
is inspired by God and it's profitable for reproof, for rebuke, for
instruction in righteousness. And the Holy Spirit has breathed
or inspired these scriptures that were written down by men.
And there never has been any doubt now about what was being
written. But this phrase is never used
anywhere else. The Spirit speaketh expressly. Expressly. And that's what's happening right
now. In this text, the latter times, is what's going on right
now. He speaketh expressly that in
the latter times, that's now, that's today. When the Lord ascended,
the latter times began. When he ascended into heaven,
between that moment and when he returns is the latter days.
And one of the things that's going to characterize those times
is a falling away. falling away. The apostasy, that's
what that word means, apostasy, to fall from grace. They will
depart from the faith. It doesn't say they're gonna
lose their faith. They're gonna depart from the faith. If you
depart from the faith, you never had faith. If God ever gives
you faith in Christ, you can't ever lose that, we know that.
But like Judas, some will depart from the faith. He left the Son
of God and said to this world, what will you give me? He went
to somebody that couldn't give him anything and left the one
that is all things and giveth all things. The Lord Jesus Christ,
though, said he was a devil from the beginning. It wasn't that
he believed on Christ and then lost that. The gifts and calling
of God are without repentance. He doesn't take them back. He
doesn't change his mind. He doesn't give you faith and
say, well, That one is a real loser. I'm just gonna have to
take that faith back. We're all real losers. So I'm
real glad he doesn't do that. The latter times, as I said,
are the time from when the Lord ascended to when he returns.
And we're living in those times right now. I don't know how long
those times will be. I don't know if it's a thousand
years or, or 2,000 years or 3,000 years
or 6,000 years. I know this, 1,000 years is as
a day with the Lord Jesus. It could be 1,000 years from
now. It's already been a couple of thousand years since he ascended.
It could be today. The latter times may be from
when he ascended to right now. That's up to him. but it's gonna be characterized
by a departure from the faith. And maybe most important about
this is how it happens. Look at how do you depart from
the faith? Giving heed. Hearing something
else. Giving heed. seducing spirits
and Doctrines of Devils that word seducing means wandering
misleading deceptive imposter We're taught in the New Testament
that there in the latter days will be many false Christs and
And many are gonna say here is Christ and there is Christ. They're
gonna say Christ is at the front down here, come meet him down
here. Or Christ wants to save you if you'll let him. That's
a false Christ. They're saying here is Christ.
No he's not, that's not him. That's not the Lord Jesus Christ
revealed in this book. And they're saying that now in
these end times. The teachings of devils the doctrines
of devils, the teachings of devils. Do you know what the teachings
of devils are? I'll tell you this right now.
People are not departing the faith to become devil worshipers
in the sense that this world uses that term. People normally
think of that as joining some kind of a satanic cult. The seducing spirits, you know
being some evil spirit that enters into you that may well happen
it happened to Judas The devil entered into him and he betrayed
our Lord But that's not what this is talking
about Because of the context we're going to see what the doctrines
of devils are you know what the doctrines of devils are here's
what it's characterized by forbidding to marry and Well, how in the world is that
a doctrine of devils? Well, we'll talk about that.
They're not departing the faith and joining satanic cults. They're
departing the faith and joining free will, man-centered, works,
religion. They're joining Baptist churches
and Methodist churches and Catholic churches and so on. That's when
you depart the faith. Doctrines of devils are Antichrist
doctrine and always remember Antichrist says a lot doesn't
it? What is it that characterizes
satanic Horrible devilish born-of-hell false doctrine not Christ That's
all you need to know about it. It's not Christ. It's Antichrist
and Whatever brand it is doesn't
make any difference at all. It's not him. Anything that denies that Christ
Jesus the Lord is God in human flesh, the successful redeemer
of his people, that he redeemed everybody he shed his blood to
redeem, sovereign over all, he's got to be the, if he's not God,
he's not the savior. Giving eternal life, this is
the record that God has given unto us. Eternal life. Saving whom he will. Just as
the father quickeneth whom he will so, he has given authority
unto the son to give life to whomsoever he will. All you have to do to preach
a doctrine of devils is to just simply say God loves everybody. All you've got to do to be saved
is come down here and repeat after me, say the sinner's prayer
and accept Jesus as your personal savior. That's a doctrine of
devils. And it's exactly the same thing
as forbidding to marry. You're wondering about that probably.
I did too. I did too. The hellish teaching that God
loves everybody reduces the love of God to an impotent position
of wanting and wishing a sinner well, but not being able to do
anything about it. You think about that. God loves
you. His love is eternal now. He has
loved you with an everlasting love, but you're gonna go to
hell because you didn't do the right thing. You didn't make
the right decision. That's a doctrine of devils.
That's not just a little different opinion on things. Think about this, if God loves
everybody, and most people go to hell, most people go to hell,
in spite of his love for them, then what does God's love have
to do with the saving of a sinner? It's not the difference between
salvation and damnation. That's blasphemy. That's right
from hell. What good is his love? It's a
doctrine born from the black heart of Satan himself, according
to the scriptures. Most religious people believe
that Christ died to save people who were already in hell the
day he died. It's nonsense on the surface
of it. They've backed themselves, though,
into that dark corner with their sentimental, unscriptural, godless
reasoning. Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? And look what else, verse two,
speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with
a hot iron. This is what you're watching
for now. This is what you're watching for. You want to know
who's a devil and who's not? Listen to what he says, and the
way you can tell if it's a lie or not is not whether it sounds
good to you or not. It's is it according to the word
of God? Speaking lies, and that word
hypocrisy means he's a stage actor. He's a phony. He's presenting himself as something
he is not. And his message is presented
as something it is not. He says it's the gospel, but
it's not. It's not good news to a lame
man to say you need to take the first step. That's not good news. The good news is not that you
need to do something. The good news is Christ in what
he did. He claims to be, he acts like
he presents himself as a gospel preacher, but he's not. God calls
him a devil. And don't miss this now. If he
got up and was honest and said that salvation is by your works,
if they just got up and said, you're not gonna be saved by
God unless you earn it. If they just got up and said
that, and just said, now Christ's sacrifice didn't save anybody.
It didn't actually save anybody, but it made it possible for you
to save yourself. Then he wouldn't be a hypocrite.
He'd be exactly what he portends to be. But the thing is, they call it
grace. They present it as something
it's not. And they present themselves as
something they're not. They're stage actors and you
can tell if you know the Lord. The difference between being
deceived and not being deceived is not that you're smarter than
other people or that you just have a, you know, You have a
discerning nature. It's knowing the son of God. If you know him, you know when
somebody's lying on him. But they call it grace. They
say things like God is in control. The religion I came out of as
a teenager, Is exactly what we're talking
about what this text is talking about They say things like God
is in control, but then they contradict that in subtle ways Ways that count ways that are
vital then they deceive many like that They said oh we believe
God's sovereign God's in control, and then they preach that salvation's
up to you Because that's what people want to hear If salvation's up to the sinner,
then God is not in control. Just quit saying it. Just be
honest. Don't be a hypocrite. And they don't bat an eye about
it. Their conscience is seared with a hot iron. That's what
our text says. They don't bat an eye. They don't
lose any sleep over it. The most horrible thing you can
do is lie about God. Most people, if they killed somebody
on the street in cold blood, for no good reason, they just
killed somebody, just murdered somebody because murder was in
their heart, there's a good chance they might feel bad about that
later. They might lay awake at night
thinking, what have I done, you know? But this is way worse than
that. and they never bat an eye about
it. Why? Their conscience is seared with
a hot iron. It's cauterized. It can't feel
anymore. It's the very thing, false doctrine,
it's the very thing that plunged our entire race into sin and
death, and it still does that. It's still plunging people into
that, and it's the murder of an eternal soul, and yet these
seducers, they do so without compunction. I had a so-called preacher tell
me once to my face, I believe what you're saying, but if I
preach that, it would split this church. And he actually thought that
that was justification for not telling the truth. I'd tell the truth, but it would have consequences that
I don't like. That's having your conscience
seared with a hot iron right there. There's a man who I used to call
friend years ago, very close friends, and he's a so-called
preacher now, and he's a stage actor, as sure as I'm standing
here this morning. I suffered through one of his
messages not that long ago, and he told stories and was very
comfortable speaking to a crowd. He never mentioned the name of
Christ one time, not in any form, not by any of his names. He never
said the Son of God or Jesus Christ or the Savior, the Redeemer. He never mentioned him. How are
you going to preach Christ and not even bring him up. That's our text. That's our text. Now verse three, forbidding to
marry and commanding to abstain from
meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving
of them which believe and know the truth. Now Paul gives these
very specific examples of some things that devils preach. That's
what it boils down to, isn't it? These are doctrines of devils. What do devils preach? If they
forbid you to marry, for example, and they command that you abstain
from eating certain meats. And you might think, well, that's
indifferent. That's not vital doctrine either way. We can differ
on that. That doesn't prove that they're
false preachers. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. It's a doctrine of absolute
devils. Now, this is just an example
that he's giving here. And we know this is taught even
today by many. But this is not an exhaustive
list. He's not listing everything that devils preach. These are
just a couple of examples. It's an example of the same false
doctrine being taught in other ways under different disguises
in false churches everywhere this very morning. It's exactly
the same thing, forbidding to marry. They teach that in order
to be holy, in order to be righteous, what makes a man sanctified and
holy is to not be in a marriage relationship with a man or a
woman. If you abstain from marriage,
that sets you apart. That makes you righteous, that
makes you sanctified. They say that having a close
relationship with God means not having an intimate relationship
with another human being. That's a doctrine of devils. This is a trampling underfoot
of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. If righteousness of any
kind, if holiness and godliness of any kind, in any sense whatsoever,
can be attained by something you do or do not do, then Christ
has died in vain. That's the doctrine of devils.
It's about you abstaining, you doing, you not doing. That's
how you have acceptance with God. You see what this is? It sounds innocent, doesn't it?
Well, we just, you know, you're not, you can't marry because
then that's, you're not dedicated to God. I'm going to be married to God.
That's what they say. I'm going to be married to God, not a man
or a woman. It's nothing but works religion Plain as the nose
on your face God will put you in hell if for no other reason
for not marrying If that's why you do it If that's why you do
it to be more holy To be more righteous before God if that's
why you do it. He'll put you in hell for not
marrying and And that's reason enough. What
more reason could there be? It's you gaining favor with God
by something that you do or don't do. If that's why, in order to be
more righteous before God, believers are married to God by grace through
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not by not marrying a woman or
a man. We're married to God by faith.
In Christ, we're united, we're one. In Christ Jesus, commanding
to abstain from meats. Well, that's completely different
from forbidding to marry. And yet it's exactly the same
thing. Exactly the same thing. If you
see how those two are exactly the same thing, then you understand
our text. And you know what false doctrine
is. You know what devils preach. It's exactly the same thing.
To abstain from meats. Why? Oh, that'll defile me. A dead chicken's not going to
defile you. You would defile the dead chicken. If it could be defiled. It's
exactly, if you understand that that's exactly the same thing.
If you do or abstain from doing anything in order to recommend
yourself to God, even if it adds one jot or tittle to your righteousness
before God, you're a goner. You're a goner. To preach that
is to preach what devils preach. You've rejected God's son and
righteousness by him alone. Whether you even know you've
done that or not, that's what you've done. And this is what
Paul said in Galatians 5 too. It's exactly the same thing he
said. Now he said, behold I, Paul, say unto you, that if you
be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. If you don't get married, Christ
will profit you nothing. You say, well, that doesn't have
anything to do with marrying or getting married. Exactly.
Neither does circumcision have anything to do with it unless
you do it in order to recommend yourself to God. I want us to
look at the context of that. What does being circumcised or
not have to do with salvation? What does being married or not
have to do with what is eating something or not eating something
have to do with salvation turn to Galatians 5 Verse 1 Galatians 5 1 Stand fast, therefore, in the
liberty, the freedom wherewith Christ hath made us free. And
be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. What's the yoke
of bondage? Not marrying. Being circumcised. That sounds
innocent. That happens every day, people
just do that. Yeah, look at it. Behold, I, Paul, verse two, say
unto you that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole
law. How is that? If you do one thing, In order to establish a righteousness
before God, then you've got to do everything required in order
to establish a righteousness before God. Whether that's not
marrying, not eating certain things, or being circumcised.
It's all the same thing. What do those three things have
in common? They're exactly the same thing. That's what they
have in common. They're works, religion. That's the doctrine of devils.
Christ shall prophesy, verse three, for I testify again to
every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the
whole law. Christ is become of no effect
unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law. We know
what that word justified means. To declare not guilty, to make
yourself righteous before God. That's what you're doing. You're
being justified by the law. You're putting yourself under
the law. All of these things, same thing.
You're falling from grace. That doesn't mean God's grace
is upon you and you fell, you know, you forfeited that. That
means you have departed from grace, as a way of standing righteous
before God. You got grace in works, you left
grace and went right there. If you abstain from marriage
because you think that makes you closer to God, it makes you
married to God somehow, You are justified in your own mind and
heart by the law, and you're a goner. If you abstain from
certain foods because you think that makes you more righteous,
that that would make you unclean, but now since I haven't eaten
that, I'm clean. You're justified by the law. or that is you stand before God
on the basis of justification by law, and you don't measure
up real good on that basis. Christ shall profit you nothing. Think about what position that
puts you in if Christ is no good to you. For we through the Spirit, By
God's grace, we know by His Holy Spirit, we wait for the hope
of righteousness by faith. Not by anything we do or don't
do, but by believing on the Son of God, I'm righteous in the
sight of God. Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him for what? For in Jesus Christ, neither
circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision. It doesn't
make any difference whether you're married or unmarried, whether
you eat fish or eat pork. I cooked up a pork shoulder the
other night and I thanked God for it. That's what he said,
it's sanctified if you eat it with thanksgiving. If you do anything without thanksgiving
before God, it's sin. I thank God for that pork butt. It was amazing. It doesn't profit anything, neither
one of them. Circumcision, uncircumcision,
getting married, not getting married. If you're in Christ,
it doesn't matter. If you're not though, and you
trust in one of them, instead of him, it makes all the difference. but faith which worketh by love. Faith does what it does, and
when I say faith does it, I say the sinner who has faith from
God does what he does, not in order to be righteous before
God, not to be justified by his works, not to be married to God
or to be holy because I didn't eat that, but because he loves
the one that saved him freely by sovereign grace. You don't come to the wedding
at all unless you have on the wedding garment the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that means abandoning all
the works, the traditions and religious activities of men.
It means casting off your filthy rags of self-righteousness and
putting on the wedding garment, the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice
what Paul says in the rest of verses three and four, and this
may be as far as we get this morning. the rest of verse three and then
in verse four. Which God hath created, this
is the middle of verse three, which God hath created to be
received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the
truth. These are things that are indifferent.
Not only are they to be not abstained from, they're to be enjoyed and
God to be thanked for them. They have nothing to do with
salvation. It's our wretched, black, sinful hearts that make
them something to do with salvation. For every creature of God is
good and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving.
If you sit down to eat a meal and you're thinking, boy, I worked
so hard, it's good that because I worked so hard, we can eat
rib-eyes tonight instead of meatloaf. That's sin. The plowing of the
wicked is sin. because there's no gratitude
unto God for these things. We count them as our own attainments,
our own victories. For it is sanctified, versified
by the word of God in prayer. Those who believe
on Christ receive these things that according to man's religion,
they make a man less holy. According to man's religion,
you shouldn't go to the movies. There's bad things in the movies.
You shouldn't smoke, because that's bad for you. I don't even
know what their justification for that is, really. Don't drink
any alcohol. Bad people do that. The Lord
says, receive these things with thanksgiving, the things that
God provides. in this world. Somebody told
Tim James, I don't go to the movies or drink or smoke. He
said, you're missing out on some of the best things in life. You see our text in that? I mean,
that's just the truth. And if you think that any of
these things make you less holy, what you're really saying is
I'm holy because I don't do those things. And you're a goner. You're
a goner as sure as I'm standing here. Our righteousness is not
in the eating or not eating of these things. Our righteousness
is a person. It's not real complicated, is
it? Our righteousness is somebody who lived for us and died for
us. I married Vicki 31 years ago
this past week. 31 years ago. And I thank God for
her, and I'm no less holy for it. I might be poorer for it, but
I'm not less holy. Because Christ is my holiness. Well, let's just mention on verse
five, maybe verse six, I've got 10 minutes. for it is sanctified
by the word of God in prayer. Now this is just a simple reminder
that even these wholesome things of marrying and eating what God
provides would be sin if we didn't thank God for them. They're sanctified
by the word of God in prayer. Thankfulness is mentioned in
verse four there. Without Christ, Without the Lord
Jesus Christ, my marriage would be daily, continual sin. If we indulge in anything that
God has provided and we don't worship him for it, it's sin.
It doesn't matter what it is. The plowing of the wicked is
sin because he does not acknowledge God in it. And being sanctified
by the word, that just means that God's word is real clear
that these things are to be enjoyed and received from God. These
things are made good because God says they're good. And prayer. Lord, thank you for
what you've given me. What difference does it make
what a man says about it? What religion says about it?
What did God say about it? That's how it's made holy. In
verse six, if you put the brethren in remembrance of these things,
Thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up
in the words of faith and of good doctrine, wherein too thou
hast attained. Now we talked about this at the
beginning of the message, but listen, a good minister of, what
do we minister? What is our ministry? A person. And when the Lord makes us good
ministers of him, we remind you all the time, we remind you every
week simply this, And think about how this is the opposite of abstaining
from marriage and from eating certain things and from being
circumcised and all the things that men do to be accepted of
God. This is the opposite of that. Here's what I want to remind
you of, 1 Corinthians 1.30, but of him. Are you in Christ Jesus? Who? is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, that according
as it is written, he that glorieth. Why is it of grace through faith
so that no man should boast? He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. Amen.