Sermon Tone Analysis

*1 Timothy ch.4.*

*Intro:* - Dangerous rip at Scarborough - protect against danger by: Education, Example.

- Paul returns to the subject of false teaching (cf.

Ch.1) - urgent exhortation because not only was it false it was actually demonic!

- *read** 4:1-16*

 

*Apostasy:* - contrast to church as pillar and foundation of truth is a serious warning against deception and error

- the answer to error is always the truth - taught and lived out in the lives of God’s people particularly leaders.

Godliness i.e.

Divine truth and love realised in mature Christian experience is always the answer to the onslaughts of error and heresy

- church infiltrated by demonic teaching [*Acts 20:28-30*/ 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.

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./]

“from among  /you/”i.e

from leadership of the church!

- ?

End time revival - no, end time apostasy (word for fall away) - those who say something else are teaching a lie

-We should not be surprised by the mushrooming of false teaching that pervades the church, for this is precisely (ῥητῶς) what the Holy Spirit revealed would take place: [*Luke 18:8** */However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”/*Matt 24:4-5, 11, 13, 23-26, 45 */And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you.

For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.*11*

Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.

Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.

But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.

*23* Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him .For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.

Behold, I have told you in advance.

So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them.

*45* Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time?/ (Teaching again) *2 Tim 3:1-7, 10, 13-17; 4:2-5* /But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.

For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,  unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,  holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance,  But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;  so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,  and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

/*2 Thes 2:3, 9-12*/ Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, that is, the one whose coming i//s in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.

For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false,  in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness./]/

/

/-/ some will fall away [*1 Tim 1:19 */keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith./]

remember Hymenaus and Alexander

This means that we are in the end times - Christ’s return is near!

(Luke 21:28) It should not fill us with despair as if something were going terribly wrong - no, this is how God knew it would be, everything is happening according to plan.

Man’s plans are different - they see an end time revival, the church going from strength to strength, presenting the Kingdom to Christ when He returns.

The Scripture paints a different picture - many falling away, faith disappearing, love growing cold, false teaching of demons propagated and some falling away from the faith.

- rise of mysticism and the systematic denigration of the place of Scripture (Bill Randles’ “Beware the New Prophets”)

- not irreligious, spiritually active, but not the Spirit of Truth Y other spirits, evil spirits, demons

- False teaching is demonic in origin - it’s not just mistaken human ideas.

It is a spiritual assault from the pit of hell!

- These demons deceive, they lead people astray.

Is this not what we see today - "Christians" totally taken up with supernatural experiences?

They think it is the Holy Spirit, but these spirits have deceived them.

People are turned inward seeking an experience for themselves - the motivation is selfish! - contrary to the truth which calls for us to deny self.

- This will be the cause of some falling away from the faith!

It is serious!

- The utter falseness of this teaching is emphasized: "deceitful," "hypocrisy," (play actors - guise of religious zeal and fervour) "liars."

The devil is the "father of lies" a "liar from the beginning" (John 8:88).

The work of his minions is true to his nature - the teaching of demons is lies, it deceives, leads astray, fools people, it is not true but deludes people into thinking it is - deception

- deception - satan’s most powerful weapon - when you’re deceived you don’t know it (personal testimony - two photos developing turn out utterly different) sincere but sincerely wrong!

[Irenaeus: (180 AD) /Error indeed, is never set forth in its naked deformity, lest it being thus exposed, it should at once be defeated.

But it is craftily decked out in an attractive dress, so as, by its outward form, to make it appear to the inexperienced more true than the truth itself/.]

- sensitivity to the Spirit lost when you live a lie - They teach lies to the people without a twinge of conscience because it has long since been rendered inoperative by continually overriding its voice [every time the fuse of conscience is blown by a lie they replace it with a thicker one - now there is a 6" nail in the fuse of conscience that will never be blown no matter how outrageous the lie]

- Only one with a seared conscience can so blatantly promulgate absolute falsehood (e.g. say I am anointed i.e.

Christ!)

 - their error was not to lead people into vice but to redefine it - go beyond what God had said, super-spiritual, holier than God!

In their punctiliousness they go against God’s word saying what God had declared was good was actually evil -gnostics despising the physical world as evil ÷legalism ÿ ingratitude

- false asceticism [*Colossians 2:16-23*/ Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.

Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.

If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”

(which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?

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./] - appealing to spiritual pride.

- take what God has given and is good and pervert it into something nasty - Christians and food fads, temperance, celibacy of the clergy - marriage and food both made by God and are good [*1 Tim 6:17*/ fix our hope on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.

/*Gen 1:29-31; 9:3*/ Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you.

God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good./]

- What God created is *good*!

He made it for us.

If we truly know this truth we will be truly thankful, have complete assurance of faith and will receive all things, rejecting nothing.

Nothing will harm us, for whatever we partake of will be made holy, clean, will not defile or harm us because of the truth of God’s word (declaring it created by Him and therefore "good"); and by our prayer to Him - acknowledging Him as our Provider, the Giver of /good/ gifts, with gratitude for His goodness- To forbid certain foods is to declare "bad’ what God says is "good" - you are calling God a liar and robbing Him of thanksgiving

/- /gratitude not legalism We should not abstain but rather give thanks to God for His good gift to us.

What we receive with thanksgiving, in faith and acknowledgment to God as Provider is wholesome.

- Gratitude is the key to a Christians relationship with God.

No longer are certain foods "profane," "unclean" - now all are "clean."

"holy" - fit for consumption through our dependence on God - His word, through our relationship to Him, by prayer.

The "prayer" here indicates a close relationship with God - if we are close to Him, He will keep things from harming us.

-Do we trust Him to look after us and do good?

It is a matter of our faith, the closeness of our relationship with God.

 

*Teaching:* -nourishment comes not from pedantic eating but from God’s word (“/man shall not live by bread but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God/”)

- The exposing of false teaching as outlined in (1-5) is a vital function of a faithful servant of Jesus Christ - it is not to be ignored or allowed to carry on unchecked.

It must be countered with sound teaching - teaching the words of faith which nourish the Church, enabling it to grow and develop.

The pastor is to guard the flock against false teaching.

The pastor is to nourish those under his care with the "word of faith" - the Scriptures, the Word of God which engenders faith (Rom 10:17).

- Sound teaching is not just theoretical study - it is to be followed, lived out, put into practice.

Teaching is only nourishing food if it affects your life (don’t be a spiritual bulimic!), gives you strength to live the Christian life.

Teaching must be put into practice (Jas 1:21-25; Luke 6:46–49).

In contrast, false teaching is mere fables - empty words which don’t affect the life (cf.

v.7).

- On one hand we are to utterly reject stories and superstitions that have no basis on truth (that is what is unclean, not food) but, rather, on the other, in contrast, we are to train ourselves for the goal of godliness - this requires *discipline*- refusing the false, holding to and building yourself up in the truth.(cf.

*1 Cor 9:24-27* /Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize?

Run in such a way that you may win.

Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things.

They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified./;

Heb 5:14; 12:10-14).

Godliness requires training - it takes determined, disciplined, hard-work - bringing every effort to bear to attain the goal (cf.

Phil 3:7-15).

- Physical bodily exercise has some benefit but it is limited - the exercise Paul is talking about - spiritual exercise, training of godliness - is of far greater profit extending to eternity.