Sunday Morning Service 10:30AM- 1 Timothy 4:1-5: Faithful to Stand pt 1: In the Midst of Apostasy

All right. Good morning. It's good to see you guys. I'm glad you're here. I want to invite you to stand with us. We'll pray and we'll get started.

Well, Father, we thank you for the day. Thank you for another opportunity to be in your house this morning. Lord, just pray that you bless this time. Lord, help us to set everything else that's going on in our lives aside. To focus upon you, Lord, to lavish praise upon you. Lord, and to spend some time in your word. And Lord, may it affect change in our lives.

Lord, may it move mightily in our hearts. Lord, may it move us to a point of surrender this morning. We love you, Lord, and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.

Praise the Lord. You guys can go ahead and have a seat if you like. And we'll continue on.

Lord Jesus, as we come into this next song, Lord, I just want to take a moment. And I just want to say thank you for the blood that you willingly spilled out on the cross for us, Lord God. Lord, it is precious. Lord, it is life-changing. Lord, in the book of Genesis, Lord, in the story of Cain and Abel, or when Cain spilled out Abel's blood, his blood spoke of judgment.

But Lord, your blood that you spilled speaks a better word this morning. Lord, your blood speaks of forgiveness and redemption, the newness of life, Lord. So Lord, as we sing this next song, Lord, we just thank you for the blood.

Speaks a better word. Speaks a better word. Jesus, again, we just thank you for who you are, Lord. We thank you for that precious blood that you willingly spilled out for us. Lord, we thank you for the new life that we have in you. Lord, you took us out of our old life. You took us out of that miry clay, Lord. You set us upon a firm foundation. You set us upon you, Lord Jesus.

Lord God, we just thank you and we praise you. Christ is my firm foundation.

It's just him. And everything around me is shaken.

Because he's never done anything suspectable.

We're not singing to each other in here. We're not singing to a room full of people. We're singing to you, Lord Jesus.

We're going to worship you. And spirit, we just pray that as we open up your word, God, that you would speak mightily to us. Overflow a pastor around with your Holy Spirit and give him the words to speak. Give us ears to hear and a heart to receive it, Lord. Father, we love you and we praise you and we thank you. In Jesus' name, all God's people said, amen.

Let's take some time and greet one another. Good morning.

If you could begin the process of finding your seats. Grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. A handful of things to take note of. One change over on the left-hand side of the bulletin. There will be no ladies study tomorrow for Memorial Day. So, ladies, spend a little time with your families. No need to come to study tomorrow night. Over in the middle section of your bulletin,

just a reminder that the Rizzios are getting a home fellowship going starting the first Thursday in June. It'll be every Thursday evening. All the info is right there. A couple of conferences that are coming. Coming up, there's a leadership conference coming up in Wellington on June the 7th from 8 to 4. It is a free conference. So, if you have a chance to go over there, it's at Grace Calvary Fellowship.

If you have a chance to go over there, it should be a good time of spending time in the Word together. And then there's a Bible prophecy conference that Calvary Chapel of Emporia is hosting June 12th through the 14th. So, if you're able to make that, it is, again, a free conference. You just have to provide your own lodging. So. And there should be a poster hanging up somewhere out there about that one.

And then one last thing that's not in your bulletin. Well, it says, pardon the mess. But as you have noticed, they have started putting beams up out here. And they have a lot of things laid out and a lot of equipment in the backyard. So, if you could help me out, kids, if you could stay out of the backyard for the next couple of weeks. And parents, if you could kind of help keep them away from that.

We just don't want to have any injuries or any issues with any of the equipment out there. So, for the next two or three weeks, if you guys could kind of help me. If you could answer that, it would be fantastic. Then I don't have to be the mean pastor. I don't want to be the mean pastor. I hate when I have to be like, excuse me, but you can't do that. Or use my mean voice to say it.

I hate having to do that. So, that would help me out a great deal. All right. Those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 85. Psalm 85. Looking at the New American Standard for this part. So that hopefully we all sound the same. If you need a copy, there should be one in a row around you.

And as you're reading this morning, you're going to be in Psalm 85. And as you are turning to Psalm 85, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's word.

I will read the odd verses, if you will follow along with Pastor Jared and the even verses. Psalm 85. For the choir director, a psalm of the sons of Korah. Oh, Lord, you showed your favor to your land. You restored the captivity of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people. You covered all their sin. Selah. You withdrew all your fury. You turned away. You're burning anger.

Restore us, O God of our salvation. And cause your indignation toward us to cease. Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not yourself revive us again? That your people may rejoice in you? Show us your loving kindness, O Lord. And grant us your salvation. I will hear what God the Lord will say. For he will speak peace to his people.

To his God. To his holy ones. But let them not turn back to folly. Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him. That glory may dwell in our land. Loving kindness and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth springs from the earth. And uprightness looks down from heaven. The Lord will give what is good. And our land will yield its produce.

And read verse 13 with me. Righteousness will go before him. And will make his footsteps into a way. And Father, we do praise you that you are the God of salvation. And the God of restoration. And so, Lord, I pray that as we spend time in your word this morning. That you would give us hearts that are sensitive to what your spirit wants to do. Lord, that you would give us minds that can take in what your spirit wants to teach.

And Lord, that we would be fashioned into the men and women of God that you've called for us to be. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would, open up in your Bibles. To the book of 1 Timothy, chapter 4. 1 Timothy, chapter 4. Continuing on with our theme in 1 Timothy on faithfulness. As we come to chapter 4. The theme that we will look at is being faithful to stand.

Being faithful to stand. And as we look at all of 1 Timothy, chapter 4. There will be three things that he's going to tell Timothy to do when it comes to standing. He's going to tell him to stand. He's going to tell him to stand in the midst of apostasy. He's going to tell him to stand for the truth. And he's going to tell him to stand in his ministry. And so this morning, we will look at the first of those.

To be faithful to stand in the midst of apostasy. And so we pick up in verse 1 of chapter 4. And this is what it says. But the spirit explicitly says that in later times, some will fall away from the faith. Paying attention to deceitful spirits. And to doctrines of demons. By means of hypocrisy of liars. Seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron.

Men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created. To be gratefully shared in 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. For it is sanctified by means of the word of God. And prayer. And so within this heading of faithful to stand in the midst of the apostasy.

There's three things he's going to tell him within that subheading. Number one, he's going to give him a warning. Number two, he's going to tell him what is false. And then number three, he's going to give him the solution. But we will start with the warning. It says, but the spirit explicitly says that in latter times, some will fall away from the faith. Now, the message I have to give this morning.

It's not always the fun, happy message, right? I was telling my wife this the other day as I was preparing. And we were kind of talking about things that I was sharing with her. The things that I was going to have to go over today. I said, you know, I wish every Sunday could be the happy message. I wish every Sunday could be the message of joy and peace and restoration and goodness in God.

But that would make me not a faithful shepherd. Because as a faithful shepherd, I have to warn. And as a faithful shepherd, I have to protect. And this is one of those messages that's a little bit about warning and a little bit about protection. Because Paul tells Timothy that there's some dangerous things that are on the horizon. And there's dangerous things going on around him.

And he needs to pay attention to them. And so he starts off by saying, the spirit explicitly says. Some of your translations may say the spirit expressly says. And the idea behind that is that there's a clear warning that has been given to Paul by the Holy Spirit. Now, the question is, how did Paul receive this warning? Was it some direct revelation from the Holy Spirit?

Kind of like some of the other messages. Messages that he's given? Or is this something a little bit bigger than just some direct revelation that he was supposed to give to Timothy? I think this is something that's just a little bit bigger than that one specific direct revelation. Because if you look at the entire body of work of the New Testament, you will find that a warning of the false and a warning of falling away runs through the entire thing.

For instance, if we were to turn back to the book of Mark. If we were to go to Mark chapter 13, verse 22. It would be in the middle of what's called the Olivet Discourse. Where Jesus kind of talks about the things that are to come. And Jesus told Paul. He told them that many false messiahs and many false prophets will come in his name. Seeking to lead away even the elect.

And so Jesus warned that there would be false teachers. That there would be false messiahs. That there would be false prophets that were to come. If we were to then move into the book of Acts chapter 20. We would find that in Acts chapter 20. Paul was giving his final address to the Ephesian elders. And he told them that after he left. That ravenous wolves would come in.

Not sparing the flock. Seeking to make disciples of themselves. And then if we were to continue going. We could get to 2 Peter. Which all of 2 Peter is really wrapped up with the idea of false teachers. That they need to be aware of. Specifically in chapters 2 and 3. But the one that always gets me the most. Is the book that comes later. It's the small little book of Jude.

Because Jude said. I started out to write to you about our common faith. But I have decided that I needed to warn you of false teachers. So that you would be aware. Of those who have crept. In and deliver false things. And so while Paul may have specifically received. A direct revelation that hey. In the later times. Some are going to fall away. We know that the entire New Testament.

Warns about a falling away. It warns about the false. Even Jesus in his kingdom. Parables. Told parables about the fact that within the church. There would be good and bad mixed in together. And we would always need to be able to discern between the two. And so Paul gives this. Warning he says the spirit explicitly says that in the later times. Again what does he mean by later times.

Well usually we think of last days. And usually when we think of last days. We think a little bit about what we're living in now. And I do believe that we're living in the last days now. I think we're living in the last of the last days now. But but biblically speaking. If you look at it. We've been living in the last days since Jesus resurrected into heaven.

This is all considered the last days. So when he says in later times. I don't think he's speaking of that much. Later after all he had already warned the Ephesian elders. About those who would come in after him. And remember Timothy is pastoring in Ephesus. So he already knew that this was going to be a potential. That was going to take place. He says in later times.

This is what's going to take place. Some will fall away from the faith. Some will fall away from the faith. The word fall away can also be translated. Depart or the departure. Oftentimes. A biblical word that we use is the word apostasy. And that word means to fall away. Or to depart from. And there's a danger. That's that's warned about here. And that danger is the falling away from the faith.

Well it raised a question in my mind. It raised a question in my wife's mind. When I was talking to her about it. Maybe it's raised a question in your mind. It raised a question in the mind of every commentator that I read. Since Paul is warning that some will fall away from the faith. Does this mean that you can lose your salvation? It's a fantastic question.

Isn't it? One that probably we wrestle with just a little bit. And I think that we should wrestle with it just a little bit. Because there's distinct warnings that's given through scripture. So let's speak biblically. Shall we? The Bible tells us in the gospel of John. That Jesus says. I know my sheep by name. And I hold them in my hand. And I won't lose any of them.

So are we secure in Christ? Yes. I believe that we are secure in Christ. So what of these people that have fallen away? Well I think that there's two options here. Either one. They never really knew Christ. And it was only a false profession of faith. That they have fallen away from. Or perhaps an even scarier thought. That they did not lose their salvation.

But willfully walked away from it. Willfully walked away from the true faith. Into the false. When it comes to the question of can you lose your salvation. Just to blanket this with one statement. I always tell people one thing and one thing only. If you spend your life focused on abiding in Christ. You never have to worry about being separated from him. Because we are told that if you abide in the vine.

That's where security comes from. And so if you find yourself going. Oh man I'm. I don't know where I stand today. Well then it's time for you to abide in the vine again. It's either A. Time for you to come to faith for the first time. Or B. It's time for you to get back into that abiding relationship. Where security is. Because that's where your greatest security lies.

But he does give this warning. That some will fall away. Some will apostatize. Some will depart from. Some will depart from. Some will depart from. The faith. The faith. I love the way that the New Living Translation puts this. It says the true faith. Some will fall away from the true faith. And I'm going to quote David Guzik for you on this. He says. It's not that they don't have the ability to have faith.

But they have lost the content of Christian faith. It's not that they've lost the ability to have faith. They have left the content of true Christian faith. And if Timothy was to stand firm. In the midst. In the midst of the apostasy. In the midst of those who departed around him. He had to stick true. To the faith. And that's what Paul's going to talk to him about.

He's going to talk to him about what that looks like. Well. So what he does after he gives this warning. This warning that we should all pay attention to. He begins to talk about the false. And he describes the false. Both the false teaching. The false teachers. And falling into the false in four different ways. He starts off in verse four by saying. Excuse me.

In verse one by saying. Paying attention to deceitful spirits. Doctrines of demons. By means of the hypocrisy of liars. Seared in their own conscience. As with a branding iron. You know what I love about Paul. Is that Paul's not worried about hurting feelings here. Paul's not worried about whether he's going to offend someone. With the things that he says. Because he knows at the end of the day.

The job of the shepherd is not to worry about offending the wolves. The job of the shepherd is not to worry about offending the wolves. The job of the shepherd is to worry about protecting the sheep. And that's exactly what Paul does here. And that's what he urges Timothy to do. And so he defines four different ways. That the false comes in. Number one. Deceitful spirits.

Deceitful spirits. I would like to read for you several different translations. Of this phrase deceitful spirits. From different Bibles. One said seductive spirits. One said deceptive spirits. One said spirits. That lead into error. I would like to hone in on one particular word. That I think is really important. And that word is deceptive. Because this is how the enemy loves to work.

In the lives of people. You see. Once you've been born again. And once you know the Lord. And you know the word. He's never going to get you with a blatant lie. You would spot that from a mile away. You would spot the false that was just shining. With bright fluorescent lights a mile away. No. What he does is he comes in deceptively. He'll mix three parts truth.

With one part. With lie. And that's enough of a lie. To taint the entire truth. And that's what he'll do with us. Is he'll begin to deceive in little ways. And it always starts with our doubts. You know how I know that? Because you know who the first person was. To have a deceitful spirit move into their life. A deceitful spirit lead them astray. It was Eve.

In Genesis chapter 3. I'm going to reference this two or three times. Because you need to know. If you really want to understand the rest of the Bible. You need to understand Genesis. Because without Genesis. The Bible is a lie. The rest of the Bible doesn't make sense. Okay. In Genesis chapter 3. What was the very first thing that Satan said to Eve? Did God say?

You see. He created doubt. Enough doubt that he could put in deception. Enough deception that she was willing to be led astray. So we have to pay attention to that. We have to pay attention to deceptive things. When things feel off. When things feel false. When you sense a little bit of deception. You should immediately ask yourself why. Don't just blanketly follow it.

You should ask yourself. Why does that seem? Why does that seem off? Why doesn't that seem right? It just feels like there's something not right about that. You should explore that. And try to figure out why. Because Jesus will never deceive you. He will always stick true to what his word has to say. That's why anytime somebody says. Listen this isn't really in the Bible.

But I go then I don't care. I don't care what it says. It's either got to line up with the Bible. Or be in the Bible. Otherwise it's not true. But he will come in with deceptive spirits. The second thing that he refers to it as is. The doctrine of demons. The doctrine of demons. Again I'll quote David Guzik on this. He said you know demons have theology degrees.

And can I say. Sometimes demons give theology degrees. Listen. I want you to know there are some fantastic seminaries out there. There are some fantastic Bible colleges. That are preparing the next generation. To move forward with God's word. To understand God's word. And to faithfully deliver the message of the gospel. But there's a lot of people. There's a lot more that aren't.

There's a lot of them that only want to give out liberal theology. They only want to give out. What the rest of the world is okay with. And they will make you question. What God's word has to say. And whether or not it's true. Do you know how I know that? Because over 50% of pastors in the United States of America today. Do not believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God.

And I actually think I'm pretty conservative on my estimate there. I actually think it's more than that. That's how I know that there's a lot of seminaries. That are putting out pastors. With degrees from a demon. Because they don't really understand the truth. It's the doctrine of demons. You know what the very first doctrine of demons was? Again, back to Genesis chapter 3.

What did Satan. What finally got Eve? She said, no, no. We can't eat it. We can't even touch it. That's asceticism. We'll deal with that in a minute. Can't even touch it lest we die. He says, listen. You're not going to die. Okay. God knows. That in the day that you eat of this. You will become. Go ahead. Like God. Knowing good from evil. What he essentially told her is.

You can become your own God. And not only will you know good and evil. But you can determine good and evil. You know what the doctrine of demons is teaching us today? You can become your own God. And you can determine good and evil. You know how I know that? Because you know what the famous statement in the world today is? You. You live your truth. You see, that's being your own God.

And you determining what's good and what's evil. It's the original lie. Satan is not original. Right? Like he doesn't come up with new stuff all the time. He's churning out the same lie over and over and over again. And people just keep buying it. So, deceptive spirits. Doctrines of demons. And then he just gets plain mean. Hypocrisy of liars. Hypocrisy of liars.

Again. I'll lean on the New Living Translation because I really appreciated what he says. They are hypocrites and liars. There's just no question about that. They're liars, meaning those that deliver false doctrine because they're not handling the word accurately. They're not handling the truth accurately. They're lying to you. And you need to know that. We have to pay attention to that.

But they're hypocritical because usually whatever a false teacher tells you, they're not willing to live by themselves. Usually whatever they tell you, they're not willing to live by themselves. Sometimes we call those narcissists. Right? Pretty similar thing. He says they're hypocrites and they're liars. They are liars just like the devil. Well, then he says one more thing about them.

He says, And their consciences are seared with a branding iron. Their consciences are seared with a branding iron. This is pretty interesting. I learned something new today because I always took it for the second thing. And I'll tell you what that is. But there's actually two aspects. There's two aspects to this branding iron that are kind of interesting for us to pay attention to.

Apparently in ancient Roman culture, when someone was convicted of a crime, a branding iron would be used on their forehead and they would be branded as a criminal. So that anytime anyone saw them, everyone would know they are a criminal. They would be seared as with a branding iron. Well, it's kind of interesting because in this instance, it's not that your forehead is seared as if with a branding iron.

It's that your conscience is seared as with a branding iron. Because if you are the one who has given in to the false or you are the one who is, giving out the false, then your conscience has been seared. And everybody else may be fooled, but God's not because he sees the criminal intent of your conscience. You've been seared as with a branding iron. But there's another aspect of that that I think is important for us to pay attention to.

Because it's not just a mark that's put on our conscience. It is a lack of feeling that takes over our lives. Because a person who continually gives in to the false eventually stops feeling the conviction of the truth. It's interesting how it begins to happen in our lives. It usually starts small with some sort of a little area of our life that we're willing to give in to,

some sort of a false God, some sort of a sin, some sort of a something, and we give in to it. The first time that you give in to it, it hurts. It hurts really bad because that conviction was heavy upon you. You may even feel a little bit sick on the inside about it. But if you push down that conviction and you fall into that sin again, or you continue to follow that false doctrine, that false teaching,

that false understanding, then the next time it doesn't hurt as bad. See, the next time there's not nearly as much of a sting when you sin. It's still there. It's just not as distinct as it was the first time. Until finally you move yourself down the road and you don't feel anything anymore. You don't even notice when you sin. You don't even notice when you sin.

You don't even notice when you've given in to it. As a matter of fact, you've embraced it wholeheartedly because you have lost all feeling. I remember listening to an interview with Tony Dungy. If you know who Tony Dungy is, Tony Dungy was a professional football coach, won a couple of Super Bowls, also is now a commentator with one of the sports networks for Sunday Night Football.

I think it's NBC. But he's also a great man of God, a firm believer in Jesus Christ. And he told a story about his son because his son had this issue. His son had a nightmare. He had a nerve-ending issue to where he couldn't feel pain. So while initially that sounds like a really great thing, especially for a little boy, right? I think I would have done a whole lot more as a little boy if I didn't feel pain,

which is why God gives us this feeling of pain so that we won't do stupid things. And he said we had to keep a really close eye on him because he could get injured so easily and he would have no idea. He said, I remember him placing his hand on the stove one time and not feeling that the stove was burning his flesh. And I had to run over and remove his hand from the stove because he didn't realize, because he couldn't feel the pain that would normally alert someone to move your hand because that hurts.

That's exactly what Paul means when he says their consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. It's absolutely true of someone who lives according to false teaching, but oh, how dangerous it is for the one who is giving out the false teaching. Someone who is giving out that false. Because you know what Jesus says about that? Jesus said it's inevitable that stumbling.

It will happen. But whoever stumbles one of these little ones of mine, it would be better for him if a millstone had been hung around his neck and him drowned in the bottom of the ocean than for him to have to deal with God on the day of judgment. That's a pretty startling statement that Jesus made, right? Well, as I was thinking about these things and kind of working my way through these things, I started thinking about, okay, so who are all the cult leaders?

Like maybe I need, I want to be a good shepherd, I want to war. So I sat on my computer, I did a little Google search. Cult leaders of the last hundred years. If you want a fascinating Google search, Google search cult leaders of the past 100 years. There were some I didn't even know existed. I knew about the big ones, you know, the Jim Jones and David Koresh

and some of those kind of guys. But I was kind of fascinated at more of the, shall we call them, small time cult leaders. Like their cult never really hit like top tier level where everybody was doing it. But it's kind of fascinating, but inundated with information, right? I thought, okay, so let's just look up cults of the past 100 years. Again, I was just inundated with all of the things.

And so I was kind of praying and thinking through it like, okay, Lord, how do I be a good shepherd and warn without also turning this just into like a Walter Martin conference where I'm going to give you every cult that's possibly out there. And you know what I felt like God tell me? Keep it simple, right? Stick with the Bible. I was like, that's pretty good advice.

That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. So that's what I did. So I came up with three characteristics based on what I've read in scripture, a false teaching, false doctrine, things that we need to pay attention to. Characteristics of the false that people can end up falling into.

Number one, the first characteristic is the lust of the flesh. The lust of the flesh. There are all kinds of teachings out there that will tell you this. You can live however you want to. God wants you to be happy. And if that relationship makes you happy, then that's what God wants you to be. That's what God wants for you. If that sin makes you happy, that's what God wants for you.

As a matter of fact, we've been defining sin wrong for way too many years now. We have been defining sin wrong because we didn't know as much at that point in time than we do now. And we know how to make our table wider. We know and understand a little bit better what sin actually is and what those Greek words actually meant. And so you can live and do these things that you want to, and you can still love Jesus.

You see, that's false because that tells you that you can follow Jesus and the Lord. You can follow Jesus. You can follow Jesus and the lust of the flesh at the same time. The problem is those are in two very different directions. They're the opposite of each other. And it all falls under the lie of God wants you to be happy. No, he doesn't. God wants you to be holy.

And if you're holy, you'll really be happy. I promise. Because you know the most miserable times in my life? They've always centered around sin. You know the happiest times of my life? They have always centered around holiness. And so we have to pay attention to the fact that we're not happy. We have to pay attention to doctrines that tell you you can live how you want to live.

It's fascinating what people do. So I read this thing recently that when Paul used the word homosexual in Scripture, that wasn't actually what he meant. What he meant was pedophilia. That's what he meant by that. And so it's not that God is opposed to homosexuality. It's that God's opposed to pedophilia. And I do agree that God is opposed to that. It's awful.

That's a horrific sin. And so I don't know the God. I don't know the Greek. I don't. I never took Greek classes in Bible college. That's where I use the joke. It's all Greek to me. It's not a good joke, but it's the only one I've got right there. And so I don't actually know the Greek. I can do lots of word studies and look things up. But I have a friend that does.

As a matter of fact, one of my kids, one of my former college kids from way back in the day, he's actually a theologian now. He writes theological works. You can buy his books on Amazon. His name is Sam Parkinson. You should look him up. Buy his books. You'll be as confused as I am. So I send him this. And I'm like, hey, talk to me about this because I read this.

And I don't know the Greek enough to be able to answer this properly. And so he sends me back this book. I send him like a text that long. And he sends me, I'm just like, right, scrolling through it to read his answer. You want me to give you the condensed version of his answer? Uh-uh. Right? That's the condensed version. That's not what that is. Yes, it does mean pedophilia.

But it also means pedophilia. It also means homosexuality. But do you know why we have to try to change things? Because the false teaching says you can live according to the lust of your flesh and still follow Jesus. And I'm here to tell you right now, nothing in the Bible says that. Everything in the Bible says if you want to follow Jesus, you have to put your flesh to death.

That's actually a direct quote. So number one is the lust of the flesh. Number two is the lust of the eyes. The lust of the eyes. What do I mean by the lust of the eyes? Let me condense it into one word, covetousness. You can have it. You can have whatever you want. You just need to claim it in the name of Jesus. Jesus wants you to have your best life now. No, he doesn't.

He wants you to have your best life in eternity. Because eternity is what you're made for. But according to the teachings of today, we call it the prosperity gospel. I did name one, sorry. We call it the prosperity gospel. You should have everything that you want. As a matter of fact, if God's blessing is really on your life, you should be wealthy. You should be healthy.

You should have a great car. You should have a great life. Your kids should be perfect. If you have enough faith. You know what I always like to think about when I hear that is, I'd like to introduce you to a guy by the name of Job, right? I'd also like to introduce you to a guy by the name of Paul, who had a thorn in his flesh that God chose not to remove.

I'd also like to introduce you to a guy named Jesus, who said, Lord, if there's any other way for this cup to pass from me, then let it take place. Yes. That's not my will, but your will be done. It's false doctrine, and it's leading people astray. I'll tell you right now, you can fill up a church full of the prosperity gospel faster than you can blink your eyes.

Because if you tell people you can have everything that you want now, if you just have enough faith and follow my five steps, then people get excited about those things. Because they think that life is all about what's here on this side of eternity. And it's not all about what's here on this side of eternity. It's all about being with Jesus on the other side of eternity.

And so it's, you have to pay attention for teachings that are going to focus on the lust of the flesh. You have to pay attention to teachings that are going to be focused on the lust of the eyes. But number three, you have to beware of teachings that focus on the pride of life. The pride of life, or as John puts it in his epistle, the boastful pride of life.

And I think that this, a lot of times, feels about two or three different things. Two or three different things we need to pay attention to underneath this subheading of the pride of life. Teaching that focuses on the pride of life will, first of all, put yourself first. It will put you above everything else. We call it self-help usually. Not that there's anything wrong with some of the self-help stuff that's out there,

but I do always get concerned when the word self is used because my self is usually the problem. But the teaching will always put yourself above everything else. Like your needs are the most important. That's the exact opposite of what the Bible says. The Bible says if you'll fall in line with putting Jesus first, yourself last, and others in between, that's where joy comes from, right?

That's what the Bible says. And so, first of all, that type of teaching will always put you above everything and everyone else. Second of all, it will put your leader above everyone and everything else, even Jesus. I've told this story before, and I'll tell it again because it just fits so perfectly. I remember being a kid. We went out to Colorado to visit some friends, and then we stopped by another place to visit some other friends.

And they had this. This church that they'd started going to, and they thought it was fantastic. And so they wanted my parents to go to this Bible study with them, small group kind of a thing. And my parents went with them, and all of us kids stayed back at the house because that sounded boring. And so they go to this thing, and we stay the rest of the day. We leave the next day.

And at some point in time on our drive home, my parents started talking about that Bible study. And they were like, you know whose name we never heard mentioned in that Bible study? We never heard Jesus mentioned. You know whose name we heard mentioned over and over again in that Bible study? We heard the leader's name mentioned. That's kind of a problem, right?

But you will find that a teaching that is constantly pushing towards the boastful pride of life will always put the leader first. The leader will be who everyone talks about. They will say, this guy's so great. This guy's so amazing. This guy did this for me. Listen, I didn't do anything for anybody. Jesus is who saves you. Jesus is who sustains you. Jesus is who sustains you.

Jesus is who I'm pointing you to. And if I ever stop doing that, make me leave. Because that's not what I'm here for. I'm here to point you to Jesus. But that's the boastful pride of life. Is it puts the leader above everybody else. But the other thing that the boastful pride of life type of teaching does is it puts your knowledge first. It puts your knowledge first.

I always get nervous when someone says, you know, I've been studying this ism for the number of years, and I finally realized it's correct. I have landed on the knowledge of the truth. And then they go off and just, that's all they talk about, is they talk about their ism. They talk about their new belief system, their new theology, that all of a sudden nobody has ever really paid too close of attention before.

And everybody that believes the opposite is just absolute losers, and they don't know anything. And I always get a little bit nervous because I go, man, that feels like the boastful pride of life. Because you've stopped telling everybody how great Jesus is, and you've started telling everybody how great your ism is, right? How great this new teaching that you found is.

And you kind of go. But that's a problem. Because all of the teachings should always go back to one thing, and that's Jesus. If they don't, I have a hard time believing that they're biblical. You know why? Because all of the Bible always takes us back where? It always takes us back to Jesus, right? And God in past times and in various ways has spoken to us through the prophets.

But in the last of these days, he has spoken to us through his own son, right? Through Jesus. And so we have to be careful about that sort of thing. Because it will always put your knowledge first. And you will become puffed up in knowledge. And people won't care what you know because they only hear about what you know. Listen, I can tell you right now that you can be more divisive with this than anything else.

Because if Satan can't get you with the lust of the flesh, if he can't get you with the lust of the eyes, he'll get you with that boastful pride of life. And brothers and sisters, I can't always tell you every single false teaching that's out there. But I can tell you every single false teaching that's out there. One of these three. Three things. Or all of these three things.

It's going to be a part of it. So you have to watch for these main characteristics. And so Paul says, And then he goes on to give an example. He says, He says, He says, He says, He says, He gives an example in verse three. And the example that he gives is kind of a fun theological word that you'll never remember. It's called asceticism. The idea of asceticism is it is religion that is outward only.

It's religion that's outward only. It is the extreme abuse of the body in order to appear more spiritual. And he gives two examples of it here. The forbidding of marriage. And advocating of staining from certain foods. You see, in Paul's time when he was writing to Ephesus, this was the teaching that was beginning to take over. It blended Jewish legalism with Greek philosophy.

Stoic philosophy with Jewish legalism. It will later go on to take on a name called Gnosticism. And that one you probably remember. But the idea is that the material world is evil. Only the spiritual world is good. So either forbid. All of the material world. That's stoicism or indulge in the material world. That's Epicureanism because none of those things matter.

The spiritual is what's true. And it always plays on pride. The advocating of abstaining from marriage carries with it the idea that, oh, I am so spiritual that I will completely lay aside all of the relationships of this world so that I can follow Jesus. And I will not allow myself to be married. The only problem with that is, you know what that doesn't solve inside of the life and the heart of a man?

It doesn't solve the lust. It only solves the fact that he's not married anymore and doesn't have God's blessing over a marriage with a physical relationship. Usually it just means he's led into sin of some sort. And modern day, of course, we have Catholicism that has the priesthood do that. And even some of the other religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, and I'm pretty sure Islam has their priesthood to where they cannot marry within the priesthood.

And, of course, it creates all kinds of problems. And it's the abstainment. It's abstaining from something that God has given to try to appear more spiritual. And then, of course, there's the advocating of the abstinence from food, which Jesus had already dealt with. But, again, it's I look more spiritual because I abstain from things that still follow all of the dietary laws.

Well, as he has told us about the deception, both the description and the example, he now gives us the solution. He says, For everything created by God is good. Verse 4. And nothing is to be rejected. If it is received with gratitude, for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer. I love what Paul does here, because what Paul does here is he resets the biblical focus.

He resets the biblical focus. He says, Everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected. If it is received with thanksgiving. I want you to think about those two examples. That he gave the forbidding of marriage and the advocating of the abstinence from certain foods. And think about the fact that both of those have been given to us by God. You know, the very first human institution that was given to us by God.

The very first human institution that was given to us by God is marriage. And it's a beautiful thing. It's something that God has intended. After all, what was his first command besides don't eat of the fruit? Be fruitful and multiply. Right? Pretty hard to do outside of the marriage relationship if you're going to keep up with the things of God. Not that there's anything.

Wrong with being single. There's nothing wrong with it. But God has blessed the marriage relationship. But the really fascinating thing to me is to pay attention to what God has given us with food. Do you realize that in the book of Genesis pre-law, pre-any Mosaic law, the two things that God gave to men besides marriage was food. Right? Pre-flood, he said,

You can eat all of the herbs of the field, all of the plant life. Eat it. It's good. You're going to love it. Eat your vegetables. Right? And then after the flood, he's like, I didn't like animals anyway. You're going to think they're tasty. No, that's not true. He said, You can have all the animals you want. Barbecue. You're going to love it. Right? One day you'll have an entire day to celebrate it.

It's called Memorial Day. Right? You'll get to celebrate barbecuing. And it's going to be amazing. You'll make great grills. And it'll be a really sweet incense in my nostrils. He says, All those things are good. It's interesting because if you follow, I was listening to Lloyd Pulley teach on this, and he was quoting Gail Irwin. If you've never read anything,

by Gail Irwin, you absolutely should. But he quoted Gail Irwin. And he said, Gail Irwin had this fascinating take on this. He said, Have you ever noticed how much God loves food? Think about it. All of the sacrifices in the Old Testament all centered around what? A feast. They all centered around a feast where everybody got together and ate food. As a matter of fact,

one sacrifice was nothing but eating food with God. And then when you move into the New Testament, the entire gospel of John is centered around feasts. Did you know that? Every, every story, all the great miracles in the gospel of John center around some kind of a feast. Either Jesus feeding 5,000 people or Jesus feeding 4,000 people or Jesus doing something at the wedding feast

or at the Passover feast or at the feast of Pentecost. Jesus was always feasting with his disciples. After all, what did they accuse Jesus of being? A glutton, right? That's what they accused him of being. Well, then think about it. When we get to heaven, what are we going to enjoy together with Jesus? The marriage supper of the lamb. God loves a meal. So after you leave here,

invite yourself a friend and go have some food together, right? It's going to be great. It's going to be the most godly thing you do all day besides still listening to the Bible taught. And so, so he says, all these things are good if they're received with gratitude because he centers them back on what the word of God has to say for it is sanctified by the means of the word of God and prayer.

When I worked in the construction world, we'd go to lunch, always went to lunch on Fridays. It seemed like not at Fridays on Fridays. When we went to lunch, I would always say, do you mind if I pray for the meal? And they never minded. Most people don't. And, and afterwards, inevitably, if there was a new guy, he would say, why do Christians always pray for their food?

Like, why do we do this at every single, have you ever asked yourself that question? Maybe you're a Christian. You've never even answered that question before. You know why we answer, you know why we pray for before meals? Because it is thanking God for the feast that he's given. We are sanctifying that food through our prayers. You see, in the early church,

they knew that around them, there were people that sacrificed food to idols sometimes. And they may show up to a meal and they may know that that could have been sacrificed to an idol. Maybe it wasn't sacrificed to an idol, but here's what I can do to sanctify it is I can offer this food to the Lord as a blessing and thank him for the blessing that he's given me by receiving this meal. And pretty soon that food is sanctified because I've offered it to the Lord.

And so as I sit at McDonald's, I pray even harder, right? I pray, that God would sanctify that food because I don't know what kid's cooking it there in the back and what idol he's worshiping while he's doing it. And I also don't know where it came from. And so I just pray that God would sanctify that food and that he would bless that food. Listen, that is how we make America healthy again, okay?

Sanctify it by prayer. Well, so he resets this biblical focus for them, right? Well, as we wrap up here this morning, I would like to remind us how to reset our biblical focus. I want you to go over to John chapter 10. I was reading this yesterday in my devotions and it just leapt off the page at me.

You see, while he dealt with something specific there, I've dealt with a lot of broad brush things here. So in a broad brush way, how do we keep our focus? How do we keep from being people that end up giving into the false teaching that keep from falling away? Well, I think the answer is given to us in John 10 verses one through five. It says, truly, truly, this is Jesus speaking.

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and robber. He who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him, the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and he leads them out. And when he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them

and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger, they simply will not follow, but will flee away from him because they do not know the voice of strangers. There's two things in there I want to point out to you about the shepherd. It's kind of fascinating. I spoke at a funeral on Friday. I spoke from the 23rd Psalm and just talked a lot about the shepherd

and what the great shepherd does for us. I just love that Psalm because the older I get, the more I realize that I really am that old sheep who's learning all those things that David learned about the shepherd. And then I read this the very next morning. I thought, I think God's trying to get ahold of me about the shepherd and the sheep. And so there's two things I want to point out to you

about the shepherd. Number one, the shepherd knows us each by name. Isn't that cool? If you're here this morning, you're a believer in Jesus Christ. You've put your faith in Jesus Christ. The shepherd knows you by your name. But I want you to think about something. In Hebrew culture, a name was a lot different than what we think of today. Like I bet when you had your kids,

you either chose a name because that's what everybody in the family always chose. I mean, if you're a junior or a third or the 27th or whatever, or you looked in a book or you figured out what the most popular names were. You thought maybe this is going to go good with my last name, whatever it was. We had a somewhat trivial way of choosing our name, right?

We had a somewhat trivial way of choosing our name, right? Most of the time. Well, that's not the way they chose names back in the day, back in biblical times. Your name was based upon your character and your nature. So I love this because when it says the shepherd knows his sheep by name, it's not just that he knows Ryan. It's that he knows Ryan, right? Like he knows my character and he knows my nature.

Listen, and he called my name anyway, right? Like that's who he is. That's who the good shepherd is. He knows us so well that he knows our character and he knows our nature and yet he loves us anyway. That's the first thing I want to point out to you about the shepherd. But the second thing I want to point out to you about the shepherd has more to do with the sheep

and that's that they know his voice. You see, the sheep spend all that time in the wilderness with the shepherd as he leads them into the different pasture lands and he spends time with them and he talks to them and he's naming them, probably not just their name, but some of them are called knucklehead and things like that, right? Because he's naming them character and nature. And so they know his voice.

And so when they come into where the fold is, there would have been more than one flock in there. And so when the shepherd gets up, in the morning to take his flock back out to the pasture, he begins to walk and he begins to call them all by name and they begin to follow him, not necessarily because they see and recognize his figure because he probably looks just like every other shepherd, but they hear and they recognize his voice because they won't follow a stranger. I tell you that because of this, there is false all around us. You just need to know that.

The enemy wants to lead you astray. He wants to pull you into the false things of the world around us. The only way that you can stay biblically focused, the only way that you can stay centered the way that you're supposed to be is if you can know the voice of the shepherd, is if you can know what his voice sounds like so that you can know that's Jesus, I'll follow him. The only way I know for you to do that is to be in the words that Jesus has written to us because that's what his voice sounds like.

His voice is always gonna sound like this. It's always gonna sound like what his word has to say. And so as you get into God, it begins to resonate in your mind. This is what Jesus sounds like. I think one of my favorite quotes from one of my former college kids a long time ago, it's actually Alicia Schaefer. She's not Alicia Schaefer anymore. It's Luke Schaefer's sister.

I point there because that's where he stood to lead worship a few weeks ago. It was Luke's sister. And I remember her really getting into God's word and her saying, you know, God's word has been pretty cool because I used to think Jesus was like this. And then I realized I was wrong and I'm really happy about it because that's what happens to us as we get to know the word of God.

That's what happens to us. That's what happens to us. That's what happens to us. That's what happens to us. As we get to know the voice of the shepherd, as we get to know his voice, we start to discern that's what Jesus sounds like. That's not what Jesus sounds like. And I got to tell you right now, I've been a little nostalgic again here lately. And 24 years ago, I graduated from Bible college

right around this time. And I came home and there was still a lot about the shepherd's voice that I didn't understand yet. So I've been through a lot of peaks and valleys trying to understand the shepherd's voice. And now 24 years later, it's kind of like, man, I think I'm starting to understand. I'm starting to get the idea of what the shepherd sounds like.

I think I'm starting. So I'll hear things, I'm like, man, it's close. But that's not Jesus. I don't think that's Jesus. I'm starting to know the difference between the two. And that's the only way you can keep away from the false is if you hear the voice of the shepherd and you follow the voice of the shepherd. Friends, I will always take you back to the exact same thing.

You have got to stay focused on Jesus because he's coming soon. He's coming for you. And you need to be ready. And listen for his voice. Amen. Let's all stand.

And if you'd bow with me.

Father, we come to you now. And Lord, I thank you for your word. Father, we are so distinctly aware that the people fall away all the time and we don't want that to be us. Lord, I want to be a faithful shepherd that leads. I want to be a faithful shepherd that follows. The good shepherd. And so Lord, give us discernment. Discernment to see the false. But more than anything, discernment to hear the true.

Lord, that we would know our shepherd's voice and that we would follow. And that we would follow wholeheartedly. And so Lord, I pray for each person that's here this morning. And I pray that as they get back into what your word has to say, Lord, that you would give them ears to hear. Lord, that you would give them a heart to understand, a mind to take in. And Lord, a discerning spirit

to know the voice of the shepherd. Lord, we praise you for who you are. In Jesus' name, amen. Be blessed. I turn to his grace. God, we just praise you for who you are. Lord, and because you are alive today, because you've conquered sin and death for eternity with you. Jesus, hope for that same victory over sin and death. Lord, we just thank you and we praise you

and you're worthy of it all. Lord Jesus, you are worthy. We thank you for your word this morning. May you continue to minister to us as we leave. Lord, give us a spirit of discernment in these last days. We love you and we praise you. In Jesus' name, amen. You guys have a wonderful week. God bless you.