Why some will Leave Christ

Why some will Leave Christ

“Why Some will Leave Christ”

(1 Timothy 4:1-5)

Series: Reality Check: Keeping it Real at FBC

Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD

First Baptist Church Henderson, KY

(11-9-08) (AM)

Take God’s Word and open to 1 Timothy, chapter 4.

 

We are entering into the second half of 1 Timothy and we read a passage of Scripture that is very timely for us.  It is a warning to us about the very real possibility of our leaving the faith, of our walking away from Christianity, of our turning our backs upon the Lord Jesus Christ and following some other gospel.  Paul has in mind one particular false teaching when he wrote this letter to Timothy in 64 AD, but there are so many more false teachings that apply and I want us to think of this wider application as we study the passage this morning.

 

  • Stand in honor of the reading of God’s Holy Word.

 

1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,

2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,

3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving;

5 for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

 

  • Pray.

 

Introduction:

 

The thing that really grabs me as I read this text is what jumps out at me in verse 1: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith.”  And before we start digging into this passage I want that to just sink-in for a moment.  That phrase, “some will depart from the faith.”  The word “depart” there is the word from which we get “apostasy” or “apostatize,” to depart from the faith.  Some will depart.  Who?  Some.  Where?  Other places?  Other houses?  Some in your house?  Some in your family?  Some in other churches?  Some in our church?  Some on your pew?  Maybe you?  Maybe me?  Some will depart from the faith.

 

There is an element of humility that is absolutely essential when we speak of our assurance in Christ.  We Baptists are really big on going around and saying, “Once we’re saved, we’re always saved” and that is true only if, in fact, we are genuinely saved.  The problem is that many people who go around saying, “Once saved, always saved,” know nothing of salvation and rather are on a speedy course towards hell.  Yes, the true Christian will persevere in his faith to the end.  The true Christian will continue to follow Christ and God will give him the grace necessary to complete the journey successfully.

 

But there is a tension here.  We who believe savingly in Christ know that God has changed our hearts and that our assurance is based upon what Christ has accomplished for us on the cross and yet, we dare not take these things lightly.  We shudder to think that it is possible that there are some around us who are not truly born-again, but merely think they are.  There are some around us who, having been “once enlightened, and having tasted the heavenly gift” may fall away from Christ (Hebrews 6:4).”

 

Some will depart from the faith.  And like the disciples asked of their Master on that dark night He said someone would betray Him, we should ask ourselves, “Is it I?”  Could I depart from the faith?  Does Paul have me in mind when I read verse one?  Some will depart from the faith.

 

My task this morning is to do what the Bible says in verse 6.  Paul says to Timothy, “If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ.”  And the “things” Paul has in mind are the things preceding verse 6, the things of verses 1-5.  So I want to be a “good minister of Jesus Christ” and I want to instruct us concerning this matter of departing from the faith.

 

Paul’s concern here is that Christians do not follow after false teachers and false teaching.  We must follow the truth and avoid error.  So let’s consider some facts this morning concerning the matter of truth and error.  First:

 

I.  Know Satan is the Cause of Error [1]

 

Now maybe that sounds a bit alarming or sensational.  To say that Satan is the cause of error may make some of us uncomfortable and cause a few of us to shift around a bit on our seats.  We expected perhaps a more intellectual statement, a more reasoned, rational cause for the problem of error in the church.  But Paul does not mince words here in verse one:

 

1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,

 

We must always remember that when we sing the song, “Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war,” that the writer does not have in mind our fighting against human beings, but rather against spiritual beings.  As Paul writes in Ephesians 6:12, “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age.”  There is an unseen battle always going on before us.  In the spiritual realm there is a battling of Christ the victor against Satan the defeated foe.  And what Paul says is that the teaching of error originates with Satan and his demons and then comes through the instrumental agents of human beings, false teachers.

 

And if you think about it, it makes sense that false teaching has its origin in Satan.  Truth comes from the Lord.  Jesus Christ Himself is the embodiment of all truth.  He says in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”  So that which is not true does not originate with Him, but comes from another source and that source is the very antithesis of truth, the polar opposite of truth, and it originates in the enemy of truth, in Satan and his demons.

 

Now when will this departure from the faith occur?  Paul says “in latter times.”  The phrase here refers to the time that was inaugurated by Christ’s first coming and consummated by Christ’s second coming.  This is what the writer of Hebrews has in mind when he writes in Hebrews 1:2, when he says, “God has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.”  The phrase “last days” or “latter times” is simply a reference this present time period of the church.  We are now in the “last days,” the “last chapter,” if you will, awaiting Christ’s second coming.

 

And what Paul is saying here is that we shouldn’t be surprised by the false teaching going on here or that people are departing from the faith because, as he says in verse 1, the Spirit expressly—or explicitly—says that this is going to happen.  Some will depart from the faith.

 

And Paul knew that this was going to happen years earlier when he was doing his missionary work there at Ephesus.  You need not turn there but let me read what Paul said would happen to this church in Ephesus where Timothy is now pastoring.  In Acts 20:29-30, “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.  “Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.”

 

So Paul tells Timothy that he really shouldn’t be surprised by this and so we, too, really shouldn’t be surprised when this happens.  The Bible says some will depart from the faith.  Some will be drawn away by false teachers whose teaching originates in deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.

 

The word “deceiving” there is an interesting adjective in the Greek.  It is the word “plano,” from which we get “planet” and it refers to wandering, like the wandering or drifting of a planet in space.  This is the method of false teachers.  They lure unsuspecting victims and lead them off on a journey of error as they together wander further and further out of the orbit of truth.

 

Now Paul has in mind a specific religious error as we will see in a moment.  But I want you to understand that there is a wider application of this text that encompasses all false teaching.  When we do not know the Scriptures and we do not study the Word of God diligently, we are openly susceptible to error and may be drawn away by false teachers.

 

Paul warned elsewhere, in 2 Corinthians 11:13-14, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.  And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.”

 

One need not be an expert in history to trace some of the false teaching of the Gospel from the time of Christ to the present.  A cult, by definition, is that which appears to be very much the truth, but includes a perversion of the truth, a twisting of the truth, that leads to error.  And so we know of Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Science, the Moonies, Hare Krishna, Transcendental Meditation, Scientology—all of these have to some degree taken the Gospel and turned it, twisted it, so that part of it looks right, but it is in fact error.  This month is the anniversary of a horrendous evil that occurred 30 years ago in Guyana, South America.  One man, one false teacher by the name of Jim Jones; one man whose earliest beliefs were Christian, having learned the faith in a Methodist church in Indiana, one man who departed from the faith and led over a thousand people to follow his false teaching, eventually leading over 900 of them to commit mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana.

 

We may say we would never get caught up in that kind of thing.  Really?  How do you know?  Many of those folks were very intelligent people, much like the 38 people who were hoodwinked by Marshall Appelwhite and Bonnie Nettles 11 years ago, tricked into believing that they would obtain salvation by committing suicide and entering into heaven’s gate that coincided with the appearance of the Hale-Bopp Comet.

 

Crazy stuff, we say.  What fools!  Well maybe you wouldn’t follow after that kind of teaching, but what of other forms of false teaching?  What of the religion of humanism, which teaches that man is the most important creature there is and that he needs no God?  What of evolution, which rejects the God of the Bible?  What of so many other forms of false teaching, from the social gospel to the prosperity gospel?  Some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits.  Will you?  Know that Satan is the cause of error.  Secondly:

 

II.  Know Some of the Characteristics of Error [2-3]

 

In verses 2-3 we read some of the characteristics of these false teachers and/or their false teaching.  I have three words here all beginning with the word “U.”  First, they are:

 

  • Untruthful (2a)

 

2 speaking lies in hypocrisy,

 

They are untruthful.  This is plain, isn’t it?  Anything that is not based on the truth is a lie.  False teachers necessarily speak lies in hypocrisy.  The next word is:

 

  • Unfeeling (2b)

 

having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,

 

Paul says that these false teachers—and their hearers through them; those who listen to them—are those whose conscience is seared with a hot iron.  The word “seared” there is a medical term from which we get the word “cauterized,” to sear the body tissue with heat, which results in an inability to feel.

 

A few years ago I had a root canal done.  That was a lovely experience!  But those of you who have had a root canal know that you’ll do anything to get rid of that pain.  One of the things I remember about that procedure was that the guy who was doing it told me everything he was doing before he did it.  And I remember one point when he said, “Okay, now I’m going to actually kill the nerve.”  And he did.  And when all was over and the procedure complete, I never felt any pain again because the nerve had been killed.  There was no feeling there.

 

Paul is saying that we can allow our conscience to be deadened like that.  These people once had a conscience that could feel.  It was sensitive to the truth.  But over time, they allowed their conscience to be hardened to the truth, becoming less sensitive to the truth, failing to repent, failing to heed the Word of God.

 

Could you allow your conscience to become hard like that?  I was reading John Owen this past week and he used the term “sermon-proof.”  Is it possible we could allow our own conscience to become so hardened as to become sermon-proof, failing to heed the warnings of Scripture?  Here’s the third word:

 

  • Unfree (3)

 

Now Paul gives us the specific religious heresy he is addressing there in Ephesus.  These false teachers taught a religion that specifically forbade two things:

 

3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods

 

Many scholars believe Paul is addressing an early form of false teaching eventually called “Gnosticism,” an unbiblical belief that all matter was evil.  This philosophy started creeping into the churches and one of the views was that if all matter was evil, then one should avoid all matter entirely.  So there were these rules like verse 3, “Don’t marry, and don’t eat certain foods.”

 

Now, I’m not going to go into a full-blown discussion about Gnosticism.  You can do that later for homework if you like.  I do, however, want to get at how this applies to us today.  False teaching, like Gnosticism, often manifests itself in a wide array of legalistic demands.  “You must do this and you must not do that.”  You may not marry.  You may not eat this food.  Etc.

 

Think of it: so much false teaching is bound up with legalism.  And this legalism creeps into the church and perverts the Gospel.  What I mean is this: legalism suggests that somehow if you give up something or adhere strictly to something else that you will make yourself more favorable to God.  I will give up this or that so that God will be more pleased with me.  I will memorize Scripture, read my Bible, pray every morning so that God will be more pleased with me.  Those are all good things, but we’re doing them for the wrong reason!  Now, we dealt with this last Sunday night if you will recall.  We talked about the doctrine of justification last Sunday evening.  If we have trusted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, God has declared us “not guilty” of sin.  We are forever free not on the basis of our righteousness, but on the basis of Christ’s righteousness.

 

What this means is that at the moment of my saving belief in Christ, I am as acceptable before God as I ever will be.  God has declared me “not guilty” and has clothed me in Christ’s righteousness.  And listen: I will never be any “more acceptable” to God than I am right now.  We cannot earn God’s favor to become a Christian—and—we cannot earn God’s favor after becoming a Christian.  We are, as Paul writes in Colossians 2:10, “complete in Him.”  This is why we can approach God with confidence when we have sinned.  We come before Him boldly because we are “in Christ” Jesus and God sees us forever in His Son.  Praise God!  So we are not in bondage to rules and regulations we are “set free” by the Gospel.  Thirdly:

 

III.  Know Scripture is the Correction for Error [3-5]

 

Paul says that those very things these false teachers were forbidding were allowed by Scripture.  He goes all the way back to Genesis.  He says God created marriage and God created food.  See it there in the second part of verse 3:

 

which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving;

 

The Book of Genesis teaches that God created everything and He called it “good.”  God created both marriage and food.  It is Scriptural.  Scripture is the correction for error.  So Paul concludes by saying in verse 5:

 

5 for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

 

Marriage, food (and all matter) is sanctified—or made acceptable—by the word of God and prayer.  And the point is that we may receive these things with gratitude.  These things are sanctified by the word of God: His part, and prayer: our part.  This is why, for example, we say grace before a meal.  That food is a gift from God, sanctified by His Word.  He made all things and called it good.  It is sanctified by the word of God: His part and by prayer: our part.  So we say, “Thank You, God, for providing this food” and we receive it as a nourishing gift from the Lord.

 

Conclusion:

 

I knew a man who departed from the faith.  It was a remarkable work of God’s providence: this man was leaving his job as a minister to become a parole officer; I would be leaving my job as a parole officer to become a minister—and God brought our paths together.  He had been raised Southern Baptist and graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.  He pastored churches.  He preached the Gospel.  But something happened and, while he would not put it this way, Paul would say “his conscience became seared with a hot iron.”  How can I say that?  Because this man shared with me that he no longer believed the Bible to be without error.  He no longer believed Jesus Christ was the only way to heaven.  In fact, he no longer believed in the deity of Christ.

 

Loved ones, I simply want to make the point: if that can happen to a minister, don’t think it cannot happen to you.  Only you know whether you believe in the Gospel.  Only you know whether Jesus Christ is real.  Only you know whether your love for Christ constrains you to follow Him for the rest of your days.  Keep your conscience alive and sensitive!  Study the Scriptures!  Keep following the Lord Jesus!  And stay in the faith!

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