Turn with me if you would to
First Timothy chapter four. First Timothy four. Verse one says. Now, the spirit speaketh expressly. That in the latter times, some
shall depart from the faith. That's what I want us to look
at this morning, departing from the faith. What is departing
from the faith? When people hear that, oftentimes
they think that means leaving church. They think that's what it means.
Getting tired of religion. You just kind of get tired of
it and you turn back to life in the world. That's not what
that means. For anyone who has never seen
this, I believe this will be very eye-opening. Very eye-opening. What is the faith? What is the
faith? The answer is, it's Christ. It's Christ. Faith is of Christ. Faith is in Christ. Faith is
to Christ. Faith is Christ. Faith is Christ. What is faith? Christ is Christ. If we want to get to the heart
of what it is and what it believes, it's Christ. That's it. It's Christ. Let me show you
something in Hebrews 11. Turn with me over to Hebrews
chapter 11. Every time we see the word faith
right here, I'm going to say Christ, we're going to substitute
it for Christ. See if this doesn't clarify this
passage of scripture. Verse one says, now Christ is
the substance of things hoped for. Is that not so? Is it not
Christ that we're hoping for? I mean, that's the fullness of
it. That's the substance of it. Christ is the substance of things
hoped for. The evidence of things not seen,
for by Christ the elders obtained a good report." How does a man
obtain a good report before God? By Christ. Verse 3 says, through
Christ we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word
of God so that things which are seen were not made of things
which do appear. By Christ Abel offered unto God a more excellent
sacrifice than Cain. How does a man offer an excellent
sacrifice? By Christ. Verse five, by Christ
Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was
not found because God had translated him. For before his translation,
he had this testimony that he pleased God. How does a man get
from here to there? By Christ. Verse six says, but
without Christ, it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh
to God must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of them
that diligently seek him. By Christ Noah being warned of
God of things as not seen as yet moved with fear and he prepared
an ark to the saving of his house. Verse eight, by Christ Abraham
when he was called to go out into a place which he should
have to receive for an inheritance obeyed. Verse nine, by Christ
he sojourned in the land of promise. Verse 11, through Christ, Sarah
received strength to conceive seed. Verse 13 says these all
died in Christ. That's how all of God's people
die. Leave this world in Christ. Do we see that? Do we see that
the simplest way to understand faith, what it is, what it means,
what it believes, is to see Christ in it. Faith looks to Christ. Faith doesn't look to faith.
Faith doesn't look to self. Faith looks to Christ. It looks
to Christ. It claims Christ. Faith claims
Christ. Look right here at Hebrews 10,
verse 38. It says, now the just shall live
by Christ. That's how we live and move and
have our being by Christ. Look at Hebrews 10 verse 23.
It says, let us hold fast the profession of our Christ. What's our profession. What is
your profession of faith? Christ. We profess Christ. He's our profession. Turn a page
or two to James chapter one, James one verse five. It says, If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth
not, and it shall be given him, but let him ask in Christ. We don't ask anything outside
of Christ, do we? Our prayers end for Christ's sake. In Jesus'
name, I pray. We don't ask anything outside
of him. Turn a few more pages to 1 Peter 1. two or three pages. First Peter
one verse five says, who are kept by the power of
God through Christ unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last
time. That's how we're kept through
Christ. While our Lord was on this earth, he said to some of
the people that he healed, He said, thy faith hath saved thee. And what he was saying was your
Christ has saved you. Your Messiah has saved you. What
God has given to you, what God has provided for you has saved
you. The one you're looking to, the
one you've come to, the one you're hoping in has saved you. When it comes to faith, Christ
is the author of it, he's the finisher of it, he's the object
of it, he's the definition of it. Christ, Christ. By grace are you saved through
Christ. He is the common faith of all
of God's people. All right, so we've established
that. Go back to 1 Timothy 4. First Timothy 4 verse 1 says,
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some
shall depart from the faith. What is departing from the faith?
It is departing from Christ alone. It is not departing from religion. It's actually diving head first
into religion, into false religion. That's what departing from the
faith is. Diving head first into false religion. We're going to
see that so clearly right here. Departing from the faith is mixing
works with grace. That's what it is. Mixing works
with grace. Verse one says, 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. What are doctrines of devils?
Turn with me to Isaiah 14. This is the moment where our
adversary, the devil, was cast out of heaven as a bolt of lightning.
And this is why he was cast out of heaven as a bolt of lightning.
Isaiah 14, verse 12, it says, How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the
ground, which didst weaken the nations. For thou hast said in
thine heart, here it is right here, I will. I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount
of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above
the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. Verse 15 says, yet thou shalt
be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit. I will. I will do. I will do what I will
do. Free will. Free will. The doctrine of devils is free
will. My will. If you see a religious
building with the words free will on it, that is a house of
seducing spirits, preaching the doctrine of devils, speaking
lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot
iron. That's what it is. Any man or
woman who believes that he or she is going to add or assert
his or her will over God's will, is going to have that same end
right there that verse 15 declared to us, that same end. This is
not something we need to mess around with. You know, I thought
about this. We, we passed places. You, you passed places coming
here that have those two words on their building. Okay. And I can totally see people
who do not understand this saying, well, you're just, you know,
you're just putting down the competition. No, no, no. I fear
for men and women. We don't need to mess around
with this. We just do not need to mess around with this. There
is only one will that's going to be done. And it's the will
of God Almighty. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done in earth as it is in heaven. The first doctrine of devils
was I will now we're not going to turn to it. But the second
one is when our adversary came to Eve in the garden, this is
what he said to her. He said, if you will put forth your hand. OK, if you'll put forth your
hand to it, you will be an equal sharer of the glory with him. If you will add your works to
his grace. That's what will make you to
be like him. That is the lie that will cause
a man or a woman to depart from the faith. God said, if you add
your hand to it, you'll die. It's Christ alone. It is Christ
alone. Our Lord illustrated that to
us time and time again throughout the scripture. I know you remember
the time that the children of Israel were moving the Ark of
the Covenant and an ox was pulling it on a cart. And the ox stumbled
and a man thought that the Ark of the Covenant was going to
fall off the cart. So he put his hand on it to steady it and
God killed him. Man does not help God. Man does
not help God. Man does not add his work to
God. What God does, he does alone. What God has done, he has done
it in Christ alone. We cannot add the works of man
to the grace of Christ alone. We cannot do it. Go with me back
to 1 Timothy 4. Verse one says, 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, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared
with a hot iron. And what they're doing is they
are preaching and believing things like this, okay? Verse three
says, forbidding to marry. That does not mean that they're
just encouraging people to live together in sin outside of the
covenant of marriage. Y'all just live together. Don't
get married. That's not what that means at all. That's talking
about for holiness. That's what it's talking about.
for holiness, thinking it'll make us holier like priests and
nuns do. They take a life of celibacy
and they're forbidden to marry because they believe in doing
so. They are a partaker of a holier
life, but they are not. They're not. And here's the reason
why. It's because they're adding the
works of man's flesh to Christ alone. That's the reason why.
In order to do that, we have to depart from the faith, and
we have to give heed to seducing spirits and lying doctrines of
devils. And we're not gonna take the
time to go over there, but 1 Corinthians 9, verse 5 tells us it's fine
to get married, even for people in the ministry. It's okay to
get married. Hebrews 13, 4 tells us that in
the covenant of marriage, the bed is undefiled. It's a holy
union. So verse 3 says, 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 in prayer. We are not making
ourselves any holier by not eating pork. No holier at all. Or cutting out all meat except
for fish only on Fridays. For a certain period of time
in the year that doesn't make us any holier. Not in I wish
people knew that. I do, I wish people knew that.
All we're doing in these things is departing from the faith.
That's all we're doing. All these things are doing are,
they are causing us to look to these things for our holiness
and not to Christ. That's what they're doing to
us. Christ is our holiness. Our Lord said in Matthew 15,
nothing that goes into the mouth can defile you. Why is that?
Because we're already defiled. We're already as defiled as we
can possibly be. Nothing can add to our defilement. He said, it's not what goes in
that defiles a man, it's what comes out. What was already in
here, already in this heart that comes out. Nothing we do can
make us more defiled and nothing that we don't do can make us
less defiled. We are what we are, sin. We are what we are, sin. All
we have to add to God is sin. If we're going to add anything
to him, that's all we have to add, sin. And that's why we cannot
mix works and grace. Verse six. 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, whereunto
thou hast attained, but refuse profane and old wives' fables,
and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. He said, if you want
to be a good minister, remind the brethren of this. Refuse
profane old wives tales. That's all that false religion
is. That's all that it is. Old wives tales. It's not God's
word. If it was God's word, it wouldn't
be false religion. Paul said, Timothy, if it's not
God's word, refuse it. If it's not God's word, refuse
it. Refuse old wives tales like this. Okay, like this. Now, you know
the Lord helps those who help themselves. That's an old wives'
tale. That is not God's word. Search
it. You won't find it. You will not
find it. That's an old wives' tale that
causes men and women to depart from the attention and the glory
of the work of Christ. What do you mean, helps those
who help themselves? God doesn't help those who help
themselves. God helps those who can't help themselves. That's why Christ came. That's
why Christ came. Well, now here's the thing about
it. Jesus Christ wants to save you, but he can't do it if you
don't let him. That's an old wives tale. You
know, people believe that that's the scripture. They believe that
that's Bible. It's not. That's an old wives
tale. It must be rejected. That must be refused. Verse seven
says, refuse profane and old wives fables and exercise thyself
rather unto godliness. What's godliness? Oh, well, that's
man's good works. No. What is godliness? Look at 1
Timothy 3 verse 16. It says, and without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. Here it is right here. God was
manifest in the flesh. God was justified in the spirit. God was seen of angels. God was
preached unto the Gentiles, God was believed on in the world,
and God was received up into glory. That's godliness. It's Christ. It's Christ. It's the Word of Christ. It's
the work of Christ. It's the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ alone. Look back at chapter 4, verse
8. It says, for bodily exercise
profiteth little. He did not just change the subject
matter and all of a sudden start talking about lifting weights
and jogging. He didn't do that. He's talking about man's works,
bodily exercise. So he's talking about man's works. He said it profits little meaning
for a little time. There is a little profit to it.
Okay. Good deeds are better than evil deeds. They are. Obedience is better than rebellion.
It is. as long as we don't look to any
of that for our good standing before God. I'm all for good
works. I really am. I'm so glad that
this is a town filled with people who strive to do good works.
It makes for a happy environment. It makes for a safe place to
live, and I thank God for that. And I'm all for good works, and
I want to be conformed to the image of my Savior. I love thy
law, all those things. But the moment we start looking
to our good works for our good standing before God, we've departed
from the faith and we're in trouble. We are in trouble. Christ is
our good standing before God, period. Christ is our good standing
before God. If we get it in our mind that
any bodily exercise, you know, there are whole religions where
at certain times of the day, everybody gets down and bows,
you know. That's a bodily exercise. Bowing, kneeling in prayer, observing
ordinances, and pray without ceasing. Pray without ceasing. But if we start to think that
our favor with God stems from two hours of prayer that we've
set aside every single morning, and this is what we do, and I'm
better than the next guy because I set my alarm for this, we've
departed from the faith. No matter what it is, if anything,
any exercise, any bodily exercise, if we believe that improves our
standing before God, we've departed from the faith. I'm done. Verse
eight says, for bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness. And that's Christ. That's the
word of Christ, the work of Christ. That's looking to Christ and
hoping in Christ. Godliness is profitable unto
all things. With man it's impossible, but
with God all things are possible. Having promise of the life that
now is and of that which is to come. What that means is it's
Christ alone. It's not Christ plus us in any
way, shape or form. It is Christ alone. That's the
faith. And may God keep us right there
from this moment till the time he takes us out of this world.
I pray he does. All right, you're dismissed.