The Doctrine of Apostates

Transcript

GR 1272
5/2/2004
The Doctrine of Apostates
5/2/2004
Gil Rugh


I want to direct your attention to I Timothy 4. We’re in a section talking about apostasy, and I was reminded as I worked through this again, there is really nothing new. Sometimes it seems like a section we’re going to be looking into today talks about matters relating to food and drink. And in New Testament times in the days of the early church, where there was a strong Jewish background and Jewish influence in the church, these matters of food and drink and what you could eat and what you couldn’t eat and how that relates to our day of grace in Christ was more pertinent than it is today. But you know, the issues are basically the same. We noted that in I Timothy 4:1 the source and origin of all false teaching, all false doctrine, is not human, but spiritual. There is an ongoing war between God and the devil, and those who follow and are loyal to the living God and those who follow and are loyal to Satan. The followers of Satan include angels who joined with Satan in his rebellion against God. The followers of God include the holy angels who have remained faithful to Him. And then you have all humanity divided into two groups—those who belong to the devil and faithfully serve him, and those who belong to the living God and those who faithfully serve the living God. Everything divides down just that simply. All the conflicts, all the war, all the battle, all the spiritual conflicts settle down to that basic issue. That’s why in I Timothy 4:1 Paul said that the Spirit made clear that it would be the teaching of demons and deceitful spirits that would influence the church and lead many away from faithfulness to Christ.

Now we know the devil hasn’t changed in 2000 years. The angels who rebelled with him against God have not changed. And his work in and through people who follow him is basically the same. But what we’re really talking about with the apostasy that the Spirit of God says will infiltrate the church in the latter days, basically it centers in the matter of externals—how significant are externals, what place do they play, externals. What do you mean? Well, things like food and drink. Well, I don’t know that we’ve had many battles over food and drink, what do you eat, what do you drink. Are you allowed to eat certain foods or not allowed? Stop and think, where is the church? I was reading a survey and in this survey they had asked people, list in priorities what influenced you in selecting your church. You know what gets at the top of the list? I like the style of worship, I like the style of music, whether it’s contemporary or traditional. The people were friendly, they had programs that we liked. Now in and of themselves there is nothing wrong with any of those things, but they are all externals.

In I Timothy 3:15 we were told that the church is the pillar and support of the truth. But you know the truth is no longer a major consideration, even in the evangelical world for many people looking for a church. They want to know, do I like the kind of music, do I like the service—is it contemporary enough, or is it traditional enough? Do they have the kind of programs that my family will like?

Those are all externals. In fact they can all be nothing but empty form if they are not focused in truth, if the church is not focused on communicating truth. The church is the pillar and support of the truth. So the battles we face today are basically the same as they fought 2000 years ago, and the work of the devil to turn people’s attention away from the truth to matters of external form and function. And in doing so he turns them away from true spirituality.

This is not a new danger to God’s people. Paul had warned the church in Ephesus that this was coming years before he wrote this letter. Turn back to Acts 20. I remind you again as I have reminded you numerous times. In Acts 19 Paul founded the church at Ephesus on his third missionary journey. He spent three years of his life in Ephesus teaching and preaching the Word of God. He left Ephesus and visited in Greece, after he left Greece and he was returning to the area of Palestine, he stopped at Miletus, which is not too far from the city of Ephesus. And he called for the elders, the leaders of the church at Ephesus to come and meet with him. And in this meeting he told them, in Acts 20:28, “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” Why is this so important? “I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. And from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore, be on the alert.” Verse 32, he “commends them to God and the Word of His grace,” which is basically an exhortation to continue in the ministry I had with you. Because he told them in verse 27, “I didn't shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” There are going to be those who Paul called savage wolves that will infiltrate among the church and they are going to cause great consternation, they are going to cause problems, they are going to cause confusion, they are going to bring ruin. Be faithful to the Word.

That prophecy had already been realized in the church at Ephesus. Paul will go through the rest of what is recorded in the book of Acts, he’s arrested, he spent about five years as a prisoner of the Romans. He is subsequently released, he takes a trip back to visit other places. One of his traveling companions is Timothy, they stop at Ephesus. Come back to I Timothy 1. Paul couldn’t stay a long time in Ephesus this time, so he left Timothy there, and he told Timothy in I Timothy 1:3, ‘As I urged you upon my departure from Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines.’ You see already the church had departed. There were men in the church teaching things they shouldn’t teach. Paul himself personally dealt with a couple of these teachers. Down in verse 20, “Among these who have abandoned the faith are Hymenaeus and Alexander whom I have handed over to Satan so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.” They were teaching things contrary to the Word of God. That means they were speaking against God, that’s blasphemy. Paul said I put them out of the church, I turned them over to Satan. Hymenaeus is an ongoing problem, even when he’s put outside the church, he doesn’t quit trying to influence people.

Turn over to II Timothy, Paul’s second letter written at a later time. In II Timothy 2, he exhorts Timothy in verse 15, “To be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed.” How do you present yourself approved
before God, an unashamed workman? You handle accurately the Word of truth, you avoid worldly and empty chatter. It will lead to further ungodliness. Their talk will spread like gangrene. False teaching spreads like wildfire. It’s hard to move the truth forward, there is great resistance. But false teaching seems to get ahold and it spreads like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus. Hymenaeus has gotten a new partner now. In the first letter he was joined with Alexander, now he’s j oined with Philetus, but he’s still promoting false doctrine. Men who have gone astray from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already taken place. We believers aren’t looking forward to a future resurrection, the resurrection is over, it was spiritual. You know what? That blasphemous teaching upset the faith of some. Some believers in the church at Ephesus were confused by this false teaching. So the church in Ephesus is going through difficult times.

When we come to I Timothy 4 Paul has just reminded Timothy that “the church is the pillar and support of the truth.’ He has given a summary of the truth in I Timothy 3:16 as it focuses in the person and work of Jesus Christ, who is the center of all that God does, the foundation of all that God does, His person, His work. All other truths revealed by God are related to His Son. Then chapter 4 opens up, “But the Spirit says explicitly, in the latter days” difficult times will come. What will those difficult times entail?
“Some will fall away from the faith,” apostasize. These are those who profess to be believers, now they turn away. An apostate, remember, is someone who departs from, stands away from what he’s claimed to believe. And what it will entail is, they will turn away from the truth of God and they’ll turn to the teaching of demons, “paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines (or teachings) of demons.” This is a serious matter. And the teachings of these demons, how do they get conveyed to people, human instruments? Verse 2, “by means of the hypocrisy of liars, seared in their own consciences with a branding iron.” So the devil and his demons devise teachings similar to the truth of God, but a denial of that truth. And they mix this error and this truth together, then they use human teachers. And Paul speaks of them very strongly, he calls them hypocritical liars who have no conscience left. When they turn from the truth to the lies of the devil, their conscience is seared.

So we say, can people do this? When these teachers stand up and claim to be followers of Christ and teach what seems to be a lot of truth, and then mix this error in, you understand these men have no conscience. They are hypocritical liars. Hypocritical liars, they profess to believe the truth, they profess to be followers of Christ. Paul in another letter said, I tell you weeping, they are enemies of the cross of Christ. It pained him greatly, those who had made a profession of faith in Christ, who gave some evidence of being followers of Christ, now have become enemies of Christ. Broke his heart. This is a serious matter. You talk about the teaching I want to warn you about, it comes from demons, it is passed on by hypocritical liars who have no conscience left. We think, this is serious, they must be people who are denying that Jesus Christ is God, who deny the reality of His virgin birth, becoming completely man. Who deny that He died to pay the penalty for our sin on the cross. And some do that. We already saw Hymenaeus who denied the coming resurrection. And in I Corinthians 15, Paul said if you deny that there is a coming resurrection for believers, then you are denying that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. Because if the dead are not raised, then Christ wasn’t raised either, and it’s all a hoax.

But you know what? This doctrine of demons promoted by hypocritical liars who have no conscience left, you know what it entails? Verse 3, forbidding to get married and forbidding you to eat certain kinds of food. I have to say the first time I read this I said, that’s a terrible letdown. I mean you’re talking about doctrines of demons, you’re talking about teachers who are hypocritical liars who have no conscience left. I’m expecting something big. They deny the deity of Christ. It’s like you sit one of your kids down and you give them a brimstone lecture and they’re really trembling. And you say, that’s the last time we’re going to talk about it, pick up your socks and go to bed. Pick up my socks? I thought this was serious. I mean doctrines of demons, hypocritical liars, men who have no conscience. And it’s all about don’t get married, don’t eat certain foods. Is that so bad? Isn’t this a little bit of overkill, Paul? These people claim to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel, the One who died for our sins. ?????? from other passages. And now all they’re saying is look, you will need to abstain from marriage and sensual pleasures in this sensual world, if you are to really experience the blessing of God in your life. You will have to indicate your commitment to Christ and separation from the defilement of the world by being willing to give up certain foods and drinks. But Paul, there are a lot more with us than most of the rest of the world.

But you understand, there is nothing good in the doctrine of demons. We like to look and say, look there is some truth here, so it can’t be bad, or at least it’s not all bad. You know what happens when you mix the devil’s doctrine with God’s truth? It’s all bad, because it’s a denial ultimately of the sufficiency of the person and work of Jesus Christ. It’s faith in Christ plus a more ascetic self-denying life. That brings you salvation, that produces godliness in a life. It’s a lie from hell, it’s a lie from the devil.
It’s promoted by men who represent the devil, and when they claim to belong to Jesus Christ, they are hypocritical liars. And they can do that because they have no conscience left. We’re dealing with the truth of God, this is a serious matter. We ought to understand, it is black and white. The church today wants to push everything into the gray realm. Well, I find enough truth there to make it acceptable. Means what? I don’t find the doctrine of demons so offensive that I have to oppose it? That’s disastrous for the church. You say, I know, we’ve heard this many times. I know, the Ephesians had heard it many times, too. Paul spent three years day and night, he said, with tears teaching them. Then he followed that up with what we read a portion of in Acts 20.
Then he wrote the letter to the Ephesians that we have in our New Testament. Now he has to go back and they still aren’t doing it. It’s not enough to know the truth, the truth must be put into practice.

And so I want you to know again, Paul says, the Spirit has spoken clearly on this matter. These hypocritical liars, and the connection with verse 3, men who forbid marriage. You see the word “men” has been inserted in italics, because that gives you the connection. Literally it says, forbidding marriage and the ????? as it is in the Greek text, connects it to liars. So the connection is, by means of the hypocrisy of liars, forbidding marriage. That’s what these liars are doing, they’re forbidding marriage, one of their doctrines that they got from the demons. They’re saying life without the entanglements of a marriage partner and the indulging of your flesh in sensual pleasures, the sexual relationship that comes in marriage, was a more pure and a more holy life. Somehow your devotion to Christ would be more complete, more pleasing to God if you deprive yourself of a marriage partner and of course the sensual pleasures that go with it, a celibate life. Now we can say, we admire people who give up so much it seems, in their devotion for their religion, that they’re willing to forego marriage. Wow, I admire their commitment, I admire their willingness to give that up. Since when do we start admiring the doctrine of demons? Just what is admirable in what the devil promotes, is a lie opposing the truth of God? How confused can believers get that I think it’s admirable that they are willing to forego marriage in their commitment? I think it’s abominable, I think everything the devil teaches and promotes is abominable. We need to be careful we don’t begin to admire certain things in the world that readily find their source in the devil.

Now Paul did say that there were reasons for a single life, I Corinthians 7. The first seven verses he lays out there are advantages to remaining single, but he says you have to be gifted by God and you function according to your gift. If your gift is celibacy, then use it, remain single. That gives you freedom from family responsibilities to serve the Lord. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with a single life, a celibate life. If your gift from God is to be married and find fulfillment in marriage and the sexual expression, Paul said that is necessary, good. Follow that through. The issue is you’re not more spiritual or less spiritual if you’re married. In marriage you shouldn’t think you’re more spiritual if you abstain from sexual relationship. Paul says you shouldn’t. If you’re married, part of the expression of your marriage relationship is the sexual. He says don’t deprive one another except for a short time for things like prayer. But being single, being married is not an issue of spirituality in that sense. It doesn’t affect you being more spiritual, less spiritual, more holy, less holy. What does that say about the Roman Catholic church whose teaching is that their priests and nuns ought to be celibate? We realize it doesn’t work, and that’s what Paul said, the devil will tempt you if your gift is not singleness or celibacy, and the Roman Catholic church experienced it. Where did they get that doctrine? Peter was married, you know, the first pope. He had a mother-inlaw. You know how you get a mother-in-law? He was married. We know, because in the gospels Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law of an illness. But somehow the doctrine of demons has come into the church and now we teach, not required for everybody, but for those who are really spiritual and stand between God and man, then the celibate life. They are more devoted to Christ. It’s a doctrine of demons. I mean there is nothing admirable in that sick kind of teaching, corrupt supposed devotion to the church. Where did it come from? Well, the Bible says it’s a doctrine of demons, promoted by hypocritical liars who have no conscience left. Oh, we don’t want to talk about them that way. Well, it doesn’t matter how we want to talk about it, here’s how God talks about it, here’s what the Spirit clearly says. I need to be careful about being embarrassed for God. In the second letter Paul will tell Timothy, Timothy don’t be ashamed of me, of the gospel. We don’t want to offend anybody, they’ll never come to hear the truth. You know the first responsibility of the church is to preach the truth. Let God do His work with His Word. We decide we’ll help God out and one way we’re going to help Him out is we’re going to preach that. I came to hear a positive message. And now you’re telling me about hypocritical liars who have no conscience and offending Roman Catholics. My
Roman Catholic friends will never come. Well, do you think Paul was making any friends with Judaizers with this message? How are we going to fill this church with these Jews who need to be saved, Paul, if you keep stomping on them? I just preach the truth, I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I taught you the whole counsel of God. What God does with His counsel, with His Word, is His business. I don’t try to help God out of a tough spot. What kind of God is that who needs my help out of a tough spot? That’s the way the church begins to function, that’s how it gets corrupted by error.

The second thing they’re teaching is they advocate abstaining from foods. This evidently involved mixing the Mosaic law with the message of Christ. It was an ongoing difficulty in the early church because many of those who heard the message of Christ and initially responded came out of Judaism. Remember for the first 10 chapter of the book of Acts the church was basically Jewish. Samaritans responded in chapter 8 and they were half-breed Jews. So they come and they’re bringing the baggage of Judaism and they’ve been taught you eat certain things, drink certain things, don’t eat certain things, don’t drink certain things. It was a problem in Ephesus.

Back up to I Timothy 1:6, “For some men straying from these things have turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers of the law, even though they don’t understand what they’re saying in the matters about which they make confident assertions.” Then he goes on to talk about the law. We looked at that already. They bring in all these restrictions on food, and even for Gentiles. You understand, the Old Testament, the people of God marked out their devotion to God and faithfulness to God by being willing to give up certain foods and not eat certain things. So we would expect you’re not only going to believe in Christ, it’s so important now that the Messiah has come and you believe in Him and note that He’s the Savior, but you also honor Him by being willing to keep yourself from the world and abstain from these foods which would be defiling to you spiritually. Well, it sounds good. I mean, we do admire people who give up things. Every year before Easter there is Lent. I remember one year when I was a kid I gave up Ovaltine. Must have been a great sacrifice because I still remember it and that was over 50 years ago. I mean that really made me more spiritual. I mean Ovaltine, you never know what it’s doing to your body and defiling you spiritually. These kind of
things you know there are all kind of people. What do people ask? What did you
give up for Lent? ????????????????? No, Lent. Lint? Lent—l-e-n-t. I didn’t give up anything for Lent. Aren’t you interested in being closer to the Lord in these days? It doesn’t have anything to do with anything. But the church gets infiltrated by this. Some
of you come out of traditions and backgrounds where Lent was The Roman
Catholics used to give up fish on Friday, the real conservative ones still do. Why?
Certain foods, it makes us more spiritual to give up things. Seventh Day Adventists, a large contingent in our area, where do they get their doctrine about abstaining from certain foods and observe certain days? They didn’t get it from the Bible, they didn’t get it from God. There are only two sources and I’ve eliminated one, it’s multiple choice, you should pass. What’s the alternative? The devil. I just don’t like it when we say it that way. Can’t we be nicer? I don’t want to be any nicer than God is. Almost sounds blasphemous to say that, doesn’t it? Well, what are we tiptoeing around like oh you’re right, I mean if you’re going to be technical, you’re right. That’s what it says, but we’re more cultured today. Don’t want to just run around telling people what they believe came from the demons. It didn’t make Paul very popular, either. Understand, it’s never been popular to tell people their religious beliefs came from demons. But it’s true.

All right, abstaining from foods. You know it’s an ongoing problem everywhere Paul went. We have Romans 14, the whole chapter, dealing with this issue around foods and drink. You have I Corinthians 8-10 all revolving around foods and drink and what you eat and not eat. The whole book of Galatians where Paul pronounces, those who teach a mixture of the law and faith in Christ are cursed to hell.

Turn back to Colossians 2. Colossians was a sister city of Ephesus, Ephesus over by the coast, Colossae a little more inland. They’re both in Asia Minor, we call them sister cities. They were infiltrated by this teaching as well. Look at Colossians 2, and Paul has just finished talking about the finished work of Christ. And he talked about the defeat of the devil in verse 15 and his host of demonic beings. Then in verse 16 he says, therefore, in light of the person and work of Jesus Christ, “no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or respect to a festival or new moon or Sabbath day.” Verse 18, “Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement.” And something about that ascetic lifestyle, we step back and admire and say, I don’t know if I would be committed enough to give up what they give up, to live like they live.

Come down to verse 23, these giving up of things. “These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.” You get it? They are of no value when it comes to matters that really count, deal with sin. They are of no value. They don’t help you at all.

Jesus addressed this matter. Come back to Mark 7. Very important. And in this context and in the early part of Mark 7 Jesus is teaching people, addressing the scribes and Pharisees, telling how their traditions have nullified the Word of God. They really cancel the Word of God. They are hypocrites. He quoted Isaiah the Prophet in verse 6, quoting from Isaiah 29. “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” That’s a hypocrite. “In vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrine the precepts of men.” You see that. Any worship that is not based in accord with the Word of God is empty, vain, it’s following the teachings of men. And God is not honored and He will not be worshipped by men who devise their own system.

Come down to verse 14. He called the crowd to Him again and “He began saying to them, listen to Me all of you and understand.” You know what the problem is with their traditions? All dealt with the externals. That’s what happens when religion deteriorates. That’s how you can see the deterioration of the evangelical church today. You talk to someone going to an evangelical church. And an evangelical church, I’m talking about a church that would say, yes, you have to believe in Christ to be saved. We believe the Bible is the Word of God. We say, why do you continue going to that church? Oh, I really like the music, I really like the preacher. I realize that’s why most of you have come here. Oh, they have great programs for our kids. You know what that’s a mark of? The deterioration of the church. Well, you know they didn’t have many programs for our kids and the music wasn’t our style, but the truth was taught. That’s ???????????? Why do you stay? Because the truth is taught. Well, what about your kids and programs for them, do they really like it? We know the best thing for our children is to be where the truth is believed and taught. Well, what about the music? Do you like more contemporary music? Aren’t they really stuck in the 1730s? Well, that’s all right. The word and the music is good. If I want to be entertained I’ll turn on the radio when I go home. But the church is the pillar and support of the truth. You understand that’s why we want the truth in church, we pick our church on the basis of truth.

You understand there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him. Did you get that? The disciples didn’t. You know what they did after the crowd is gone? They come and say, we didn’t understand. You know what Jesus said? Verse 18, are you so lacking in understanding also. “Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him.” What’s so hard to understand that? You’re not spiritually defiled by what you eat or what you drink. Of course. You know what I was taught when I was a young person and started going to an evangelical church? Smoking was the big thing then, and I’ll get in trouble, but at any
rate I thought I shouldn’t smoke, you know why? I Corinthians 6:19-20 says,
“Know you not that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit which you have in you? Therefore you are not your own, you have been bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your bodies.” Do you want to fill the temple of the Holy Spirit with smoke?
Good argument. I didn’t know then about Mark 7. I could have smoked. That doesn’t mean smoking would have been a good thing ????????? But the point is, spiritual defilement does not come from what you put into your mouth.

Read Matthew 15 if you don’t get it. He elaborates the way He does in Mark 7:19. You want to understand what you put in your mouth goes in the stomach and keeps
going. Read verse 19. You see the literal in my Bible has it’s eliminated. It’s even
more graphic than that. Or you can go to the marginal note, it goes out into the latrine. That’s what happens to the food, the drink, the stuff you put in your mouth. Some of the nutrients are drawn out for your physical body, the rest of it is gone. Now what’s the problem spiritually here? How you get into saying I’ll be more spiritual, I’ll be more pleasing to God, I’ll have a better relationship with Him, I’ll be more holy if I don’t eat something that doesn’t affect me spiritually. There is not a spiritual issue here. So Jesus declared all foods clean, at the end of verse 19 with this. How does the evangelical church get into buying books with titles like What Would Jesus Eat? I go back and put together probably some of what He ate, you know, fish and bread and wine and ????????
if He were here today Big Mac and fries? Oh no, you don’t think He’d do that to
His body, do you? Well, I don’t know. Think He’d be on the Adkins Diet? Maybe the McDougal diet, maybe the Hawaiian diet. Wouldn’t you be surprised if He said, “Could we stop at McDonald’s?” You know it’s no spiritual issue.

Now again, I’m not saying it may not be a health issue. You may say I think it’s better for my physical health if I don’t eat this and I eat this. Fine. As soon as you say, I think it will help me spiritually, you’ve lost your focus. We just keep that clear. Again, you know, I’m not saying all foods are the same in physical health. It’s just not an issue biblically. The church is getting trivialized. The issue is not whether I’m 10 lbs. or 30 lbs. overweight according to the world’s standards. The size of my physical body does not influence my spiritual condition. We get caught up in the thinking of the world around us and then we want to sanctify it.

Go back to I Timothy 4, they forbid marriage, they advocate abstaining from foods. And he’s going to focus on the foods, but what he says about the foods will be the same regarding marriage. The food that you’re saying they shouldn’t eat is created by God. Of course, marriage was created by Him, too, Genesis 2. He performed the first marriage. Jesus made that a point, look what God did. But he’s going to focus on food. God created these to be gratefully shared in. Nothing God made is sinful or bad. So go back and read Genesis 1. Everything God made was very good. It was good, it was good, it was good, through Genesis 1. By the time you get to the end of the chapter, God looked at everything He had made and it was very good. So how can you tell me that eating asparagus is very bad? I shouldn’t eat this or that. We say, well, it was just vegetarians. If Jesus were here today, He’d be a vegetarian, because Genesis does tell us that God told Adam and Eve that He had made every seed-producing plant come up out of the ground to be food for them. That’s right.

Then in Genesis 9:3 He said, I’ve also given you all the animals just like I gave you all the plants for food. So meat, vegetables, they are all made by God, they’re all part of His provision for us. There is no such thing as unclean food any longer. We read that in Mark 7. Peter had to learn that in Acts 10 when he tried to argue with God and say that food is unclean. God said what? Don’t call what God says is clean, unclean. That would be blasphemy to tell God He’s wrong. God says, I said it’s clean, and you’re telling me it’s unclean. Don’t tell me what I say is clean, is unclean. Peter said, I learned a lesson. He had a hard time implementing it consistently, but he learned a lesson. God created it to be enjoyed, to be shared in gratefully with thanks. He’s writing to believers. It’s believers that are influenced. Paul is not concerned about the unbelieving world out there. God’s common grace has made the provision of rain and food and so on for all humanity. But he’s talking here about believers. What’s the attitude toward food ?????? have anything to do with I won’t eat this food, or it will make me more pleasing to God. But in everything you eat, you ought to do so with gratitude, thankfulness to God for His gracious provision for you. If it’s a lettuce and tomato sandwich, then thank God. If it’s a ham and cheese, you can thank God. So you partake of it gratefully. James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect act of giving comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow caused by turning.” So whatever it is, I can say, thank you, Lord, for your gracious provision for me. To be shared in gratefully by those who believe and know the truth. And that’s one group of people with two descriptions. They believe, and they are the ones knowing the truth.

Back in I Timothy 2:4, God “desires all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.” And you believe in Christ, you enter into a knowledge of the truth. So he’s talking about believers. So those who believe and know the truth can, with thanks to God, enjoy whatever they desire from His creation. Again, this doesn’t say you can’t be a vegetarian if you so choose. But if your motivation in that is spiritual, you’ve lost track, you’re off track. Your thinking on that is more related to what the demons teach, than what God teaches. But he doesn’t say you have to eat meat, he doesn’t say you have to eat vegetables. That’s what we tell our kids. They do it for their health, they don’t have to do it for their spiritual condition. We want to be sure we teach our kids properly, we want you to eat well and healthy because your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. And we want you to take care of your bodies. That argument is a lie. I want to represent God in what I teach my kids, not the devil. I may teach them, you want to have a healthy body, you want to take care of your body. God has blessed you with a body
and eating properly will help it to function properly. And so we eat I mean
??????? it’s a physical thing. But to imply it’s a spiritual issue for them is to lead them down a track that is not biblical. We want to be careful for ourselves and for what we model and teach our kids, and we are on track biblically.

So believers, we know the truth, so we know what God has said about this. We know about the finished work of Christ. We know that everything that will make me holy and godly, acceptable before Him has been provided for me in Christ. It has nothing to do with what’s on my dinner table. You say, is there abuse? Of course, God created the sexual relationship between a man and a woman to be fulfilled only in the marriage relationship. But all people who have sex outside the plan of God, that’s sin. Doesn’t mean sex is wrong. Hebrews 13 says, in marriage the bed is undefiled. God sees no defilement in the sexual relationship between a husband and wife. But adulterers and fornicators God will judge. Every sexual relationship outside the marriage relationship will bring the wrath of God upon those lives, it's His judgment.

So you say, well, you talk about sex being okay. In our day don’t we need to qualify that? Well, God already has. Well, foods. Well, there are other guidelines for foods, Romans 14 and I Corinthians 8-10, but there is nothing inherently wrong in any food for us and nothing we eat that can defile us spiritually in and of itself.

All right, what he does in verses 4-5, in case, as much as we’ve belabored this, if we didn’t get the point, you know what he does? He repeats it all again. We can just run over it quickly. For everything created by God is good. That’s the same thing he said in verse 3, God has created these things. Well, of course, everything created by God is good. He said so in Genesis 1 - it was good, it was good, it was very good. “So everything created by God is good. Nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude.” In other words, I don’t have to turn away any of God’s good things, but receive it with gratitude. He’s talking to believers. I have to have the proper attitude always in this. He’s already written to the Ephesians in Ephesians 5:20, “Always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God, even the Father.” He told the Colossians in Colossians 3:17, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” So we have a spiritual issue if thankfulness does not fill our hearts. So it’s not just a matter, I can indulge when I want, sit down and stuff my face. No, but I can sit down and I’m not restricted in what I choose to eat or drink. ?????spiritual issue here, well, I couldn’t eat that, it would defile me. It’s just food, it’s just drink, it won’t defile me. That doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the best thing for you to eat every day. Oh, if that’s the case I’m going to have hot fudge sundaes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and my snack. I’ll just do that every day because it’s good, God made it. Well, there’s nothing wrong in and of itself. Can I give thanks to God for a hot fudge sundae? Sure, great thanks. Much more thanks than for asparagus. I can say, thank you, God for providing foods that enable me to enjoy these special times. I do get enjoyment out of that. Well, shouldn’t I thank God for that? You know I realize I want to do this in moderation because it wouldn’t be good
for me physically, but if I had a second hot fudge sundae oh no, I really defiled
myself spiritually, and look what I’ve done to the temple of God. I did nothing to the temple in a spiritual defilement sense. I may have acted unwise physically.

All right. It is sanctified by the means of the Word of God and prayer. You know what the word sanctified means? It means holy. Well, I thought we just said no food was defiling. How can you make it holy, set apart for God? Well, in our lives as believers, what we do is recognize the food for what it is. The Word of God has made clear, it is good. It is provided for me to enjoy. So the Word of God has set it apart for me, I recognize it for what it is through the Word of God and prayer. I take it the prayer would be the prayer of thanks because he’s talked about gratitude or thanksgiving in verses 3-4. And here the word for prayer, which I take it in the context, in light of what the Word of God has taught me that this food is holy already because as God’s child He has provided it for me. And I offer my thanks in prayer for it. That’s why we say grace before a meal. We say, isn’t this a meaningless ritual? For some people it is. But for us as God’s people it’s a privilege to be reminded every time we pause to eat, God, you’ve provided this for me again. Don’t have any food for 3-4 days, see if it’s meaningless repetition that we thank God for our food. I do want to pause. I’m partaking of this today. God, it’s another indication that it just comes to me all the time. Thank you for providing it for me. No matter what the food is, I can thank Him for that. Thank you, Lord, for this sour cream that I’m not going to eat because somebody will probably enjoy it. Thank you, Lord, for this potato. I’m going to have a double portion without sour cream. I will enjoy it. Pause and thank God, He’s provided. That’s our attitude.

We forego blessings from God because we allow false teachings to confuse our thinking, then our spirituality deteriorates. What’s the whole emphasis in all of this?
True spirituality is not external. Focus your attention on Jesus Christ and His finished work. my life well-lived as I walk with Him, the Spirit of God working in my life, my life filled with gratitude for Him for all He is and all He’s done and all He’s provided. The food that comes in, the external actions that go on, they don’t impact me spiritually. It’s the truth of God working in my heart through the ministry of the Spirit of God.

These are important matters. Already he’s showed the importance by saying doctrines of demons are the contrary teaching. Hypocritical liars with no conscience are the ones who promote it. You know what he tells Timothy in verse 6, “In pointing out these things to the brethren, you’ll be a good servant of Christ Jesus.” Do I want to be a good servant of Jesus Christ? Of course. And we want to make clear what the issue of spirituality really is, what the focus of the church really is. We’re not on a diet together, we don’t all eat alike, we haven’t all committed ourselves to no longer eat at McDonald’s
because Big Macs have too much fat or I mean, what would that be? That
would be externals, it would have nothing to do with our spirituality. We’re a people gathered together because of truth. We have committed ourselves in faith to the One who Himself is truth, and we’re living in obedience to the truth that is the revelation of Him. And to reject with every ounce of our being anything opposed to it—all the foods, celibacy are those issues we would fight over, we would die for them. Because anything contrary to the truth comes from the devil and his servants. And we make no compromise with the devil, we make no truces with the devil. We stand for truth. Hebrews 13:9, “Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by food, to which those who were so occupied were not benefited.” The church is the pillar and support of the truth.

Let’s pray together. Father, it is easy for our hearts and minds to be diverted from truth. As we turn from truth we turn to error, to lies. External matters become increasingly important to us, formal ritual becomes dominant and prominent. Lord, I pray that our attention might be focused on you, the beauty of your Word, that you have made yourself known. That personally and individually in our lives and corporately as your church in this place, we might stand firm for the truth, that we may make no alliance with error, that we may give no ground to the doctrine of demons, that we not be arrogant, but loving and absolutely unbending in our commitment to the truth that brings salvation to men, women and young people and prepares us for the glory of your presence. We pray in Christ’s name, amen.