1 Tim 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
The apostle is teaching here that in the latter times people were going to depart from the faith. Take a good look around you today at all the people who profess to believe in Jesus Christ but they reject the teachings of Jesus.
The Lord Jesus taught that he that hath my Commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. In order to obtain salvation we need to love the Lord Jesus Christ because that’s the first commandment: to love God with all your heart and soul and mind. The Bible teaches that those who don’t love the Lord let them be anathema.
If you truly love the Lord Jesus you’re going to forgive those who say I repent. If you truly love the Lord Jesus you’re going to confess your sins and apologize to others that you have wronged in the church so that you can be reconciled. If you truly love the Lord Jesus Christ you’re going to care and love others and you’re going to want them to repent and obtain salvation.
As I’ve taught for many years and I’ll say it again that out there in the world there is a large form of false Christianity that is not based on faith in what Jesus taught from the scriptures.
As I’ve said for many many years it’s a false form of Christianity that is not based on faith in Jesus and what he taught. It is a form of Christianity that has assimilated into all kinds of false religions, untruths, philosophy and worldly teachings. Is this a shock to me? No because it’s prophecy being fulfilled.
There are two forms of Christianity prevalent today. Those who accept and believe the teachings of scripture and those who want to be Christian but reject passages of what Jesus taught. Remember we have the promise of eternal life in the scriptures but I want you to think about this for a moment.
Imagine when your in 9th grade and your dad promises that he’s going to buy you a car when you graduate from high school. He gives you a promise that that’s what he’s going to do if you complete your education. What happens if you get to the 11th grade and decide to quit or give up or skip school and you never pass any of your classes? You don’t want to be like that in the Christian Life. You don’t want to be the person to whom the promise was left of entering in to eternal rest but you came up short of it.
We are given a promise of eternal life. God wants to be with us in heaven forever. But there are also requirements that you need to do in order to attain that final resting place. That is why he tells the young minister….
1 Tim 4:16 “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.”
In this passage we are learning that Timothy did play a part in his own salvation. Many people who profess to be Christian today have what I call a lazy Faith where it’s not required to do anything for God but yes I’m going to heaven. There are so many people like that who are deceived out there in the world today.
That kind of belief goes contrary to what Paul taught Timothy. God has come half way and died on the cross for our sins now he expects you to come the other half to become obedient and faithful to the teachings of his only begotten Son who laid down his life for you.
Imagine being someone who would quit their job. They completely turned away from it and left. Later on they repented and got forgiven by their boss and he gave them their job back. Do you really believe that you’re going to get a paycheck someday unless you repent and come back to work? The Apostle Paul taught that he had kept the faith. Keeping the Faith means to do what the scriptures teach. With that in mind let’s take a look at our study scriptures for today.
1 Tim 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
Depart is the action of leaving or a deviation from an accepted, prescribed, or traditional course of action or thought.
There are people in the church who have spent many years growing in the Holy scriptures. My wife and my children have had the scriptures taught to them twice a day for almost 20 years. With strong biblical education comes very high convictions and a moral standard to differentiate between what is right and wrong. Out there in the world there are people who only know a few verses of the Bible. They’re ignorant to Biblical truth.
The more that you know and that you have been taught the more you are accountable for before God. We can come boldly to the throne throne of grace in time of need but we can never and I repeat NEVER depart from what we have been taught. The scriptures say what they mean and mean what they say.
If somebody is going to go away or to leave the faith it means to depart from the things that they have been educated in from the scriptures. They know what they’re doing is wrong but they depart from it anyway. That is a very grave sin and some people call it apostasy. To those who know what they’re supposed to be doing and then they don’t do it to them it is sin.
Imagine going to a church somewhere and you know what the scriptures teach about a certain topic yet you completely turn against it and willfully reject it. That is the group that we are speaking about today. Think about it, what did your parents used to say, you know better than that!
I’m not saying this because I think I’m better than other people. I’m a sinner too and I’ve made my own mistakes along the way. What I’m trying to do here today is lead people back to the truth. You have to turn away from all the lies that other people are teaching you. You have to turn away from all the lies that you are believing in your own mind and turn back to Christ. We’re talking about salvation and eternal life.
Beware about willfully abandoning what you been taught.
Heb 3:12
12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Have you ever left something?
Faith is a strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion. It is something that is believed especially with strong conviction especially : a system of religious beliefs.
Remember we can come boldly to the throne of grace in time of need . There is forgiveness available with God. It matters that you admit your sins and get back up and follow the faith that you have been taught.
Proverbs 24:16 – For a just [man] falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.
Even a just man makes mistakes. What matters is that you get back up and keep trying.
Departing from the faith is to go completely against the things that you have been instructed in the church.
It’s exactly the way that Eve was deceived in the Garden of Eden. A person starts to believe seducing spirits who lead them away from the truth that they have been taught for years.
Jeremiah 3:22. Return, ye backsliding children, [and] I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou [art] the LORD our God.
Jeremiah 14:7
O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name’s sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee.
As I said already there is Grace available with God, but we have to turn away from our ways to the way of Jesus Christ.
Giving heed means to pay attention to; take notice of. To heed something is to listen to it, pay careful attention to it.
You’re supposed to give heed to the things that we’ve been taught rather than listening to the false teachings out in the world.
Heb 2:1
Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
Prov 2:1-6
My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
Again we are supposed to take heed to the teachings of the Holy scriptures not to seducing spirits.
The devil seduces others. That means he persuades others to be disobedient and disloyal to the teachings of Jesus Christ.
A seducer will lead people astray from God’s commands. As the devil did to Eve, a seducer will lead you astray, from a duty that you are supposed to complete.
A seducer will lead you or draw you away from your principles of your faith and your allegiance to Christ and what he taught.
1 John 2:26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
In gen 3 the devil seduced Eve to go against the command of God. He continues to do it today.
The Lord Jesus Christ was seduced and tempted in the wilderness by the devil. Matt 4:1
Why do you think it’s so important to keep separate from the world? In a state of unbelief they don’t share the teachings of our faith. Although God doesn’t want anybody to perish, He commands us to come out and be separate from the world.
These people are going to be deceived and follow the doctrines of devils. Well what does the devil appear like?
2 cor 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
Are you going to trust these people because they were robes or a three piece suit? Jesus warned not to judge by the appearance.
Doctrine- a belief or set of beliefs held and taught by a Church, political party, or other group. Doctrine is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a belief system.
The devil doesn’t want you to obey the commands of Christ. The doctrines of devils are teachings that go against Jesus and scriptural truth. Sure these people have got nice teeth, nice smiles, they are good speakers, but I’ll ask you this, what do you think the devil looks like? Do you really think he’s going to appear with horns and a pitchfork?
The devil will manifest himself by completely denying the truth of Holy Scripture. Those are his horns. His Pitchfork is used to try to turn people away from what Jesus and the apostles taught.
How does he appear? Because the devil is the king of deception he shows up like a minister of righteousness.
Where are you going to find the devil today? You will find him in a lot of false churches out there. I mean after all, where do you think the best opportunity is to turn people away from the teachings of Jesus Christ but the church? Don’t be so naive people. The devil is trying to actively turn people away from the doctrine of Christ.
2 Timothy 3:16 – All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
Titus 2:1 – But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:
1 John 4:1 – Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Hebrews 13:9 – Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For [it is] a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
Ephesians 4:14 – That we [henceforth] be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, [and] cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
Titus 1:9 – Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
A seducing spirit is a deceiver.
They lie and make an untrue statement with the intent to deceive. A lie is to create a false or misleading impression or a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive; an intentional untruth; a falsehood. All liars are going to have their place in the Lake of Fire.
Matt 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
Matt 24:11 and many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
Ephesians 4:14 that we [henceforth] be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, [and] cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
As I said, if we sin we can come boldly to the throne of grace in time of need but what a hypocrite is, is someone who is feigning.
A hypocrite is a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not. Feigning means to intentionally deceive or to pretend.
So these people are going to turn away from the Christian faith and speak lies in hypocrisy because their conscience is seared with a hot iron.✅
You know one time I burnt my arm on some hot water really bad and I don’t have any feeling there anymore because it burned the nerve endings off. The people we are talking about here sin and they don’t care because they don’t feel it in their hearts anymore. That’s how far they are from the teachings of Jesus Christ. The conscience is the faculty by which you determine what is right and wrong. These people have been educated in God’s word but they completely turn against it and then they don’t care if they sin after that. That is a very bad place to be and it’s a grave sin.
I believe sin and even backsliding can be forgiven by the Lord Jesus Christ. The only thing that prevents forgiveness from happening is when people dont accept the truth of what the scriptures teach.
Receive it, believe it, and live it. The Commandments are not that grevious. Let’s decide today to walk in love towards others and most of all toward Christ Jesus our Lord. After all, today is the day of salvation!
That’s it for right now so Lord willing we’ll talk to you some more later till then bye-bye everybody.
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 