Apostasy

As you're taking your seat make sure all your electronic devices are turned off and open your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 4. We're talking about beautifying the bride as we preach through verse by verse, chapter by chapter, through the New Testament epistle of 1 Timothy.

Paul has left Timothy at the local church in Ephesus. He's giving Timothy instructions on how to both fashion and to function in the local church. And so we have much, much wealth for our church today from this canonized, inspired Word of God for all the church of all the ages. So we look at it together and we come to 1 Timothy chapter 4.

Before I read the text, I want to ask you a question. Why does it seem that so many people who've made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, later fall away from the faith? I believe I remember accurately, I know I'm close, that in the largest Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, that over the last 20 years after you remove those who actually died and left this life, Southern Baptist lost 6.5 million church members. Just folks disappeared, just left church.

Why does that happen? Well, one of the foundational reasons is because there is weak preaching and unsound and unbiblical views of both evangelism and conversion. All the things we've addressed here a million and one different times of just pray a prayer, just walk to the front, just little simple non-biblically established hoop jumps, you might say. And so people come into the faith having never really been converted. So it shouldn't surprise us that over 20 years, the largest Protestant denomination in the world loses 6.5 million members. But even in the strongest churches, though it shouldn't be many, there will always be some that fall away, proving that they were not sound to start with. And then I'm talking there about folks who actually fully apostatize, folks who completely forsake Christianity, you might say.

But then there is another group that we sometimes use the word backsliding for. They're genuinely saved, but they're not faithful in serving Christ or belonging to a local church. They're not walking with God as they ought to be walking with God. And perhaps they're genuinely converted. Now I'm convinced based on the balance of biblical teaching, this is not something that can go on for years. God will apprehend his own and bring them back. Though I cannot tell you that there is no backsliding in the scripture.

I can tell you this, it's a dangerous thing to attempt. Because the scriptures also teach that if you belong to him and you willfully wander long enough, he may just take you from this earth and take you on home. So weak churches, weak preaching, a weak doctrinal understanding of what true evangelism and true conversion looks like, and the fact that even the strongest churches will have some who fall away, and that there are some genuine Christians who for a season do fall away and God brings them back, but also we have those who fall away from the faith because the scripture tells us it's going to happen. And that's what Paul tells Timothy in our text today. 1st Timothy chapter 4 verses 1 through 5, let's read it together. Paul writing to his understudy, he's overseeing the church for him there in Ephesus says, but the Spirit explicitly says that in latter times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the 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 by those who believe and know the truth.

For everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it's received with gratitude, for it is sanctified by means of the Word of God and prayer. So I've entitled this morning's exposition apostasy, apostasy. Roman numeral one, let's note the age of apostasy. This is the New Testament era we're talking about here, or what you might call the church age. The Apostle Paul is the premier lead apostle to establish and rightfully set up and oversee all of these local churches that are being established literally across the known world. It's the beginning of the church age, but once the church age begins we are in what the Bible calls the latter days. Why would you call this whole church age that's been going on for 2,000 years now the latter days? Here's why, because God is doing his last great work on earth in building his church.

Everything else has been done. The only event left after the church is built is the return of Christ and the setting up of the eternal state. So this is the last thing God's going to do. He has no other plan other than when he returns, purges the world of sin and sinners, cleanses his bride the church, and reigns forever with her in the eternal state. So we have entered into, and you and I are 2,000 years into, the age of apostasy.

Now you might say, why do I say that? Look what he says in verse 1, but the Spirit explicitly says that in the latter times of these last days some will fall away from the faith. What he says explicitly says, he says, make no doubt about it. Mark this down Timothy and local church at Ephesus and local church called Grace Life Church of the Shoals. Mark this down, it's a certainty there are going to be many who will fall away from the faith. And by the way, child of God, a lot of those who fall away are the folks you least thought would fall away.

The folks you served with, folks you prayed with, folks you went witnessing with, folks you sang in the choir with. Yet they show they are not really God's because they fall away. It's a certainty.

That's that's a in our outline. It is a certainty that this is happening and this is going to happen. You see, just as certainly as the true has come, Christ and the true gospel and the true church, so it is true that the counterfeit will come. Matter of fact, that's why the counterfeit is so prevalent because never has there been an age in the world's history that has said so much truth of God being embraced and promoted in the earth. I mean when the church is established, Christ has come. He's died on the cross. He taught his apostles.

He rose again. He's seated at the right hand of God. His Spirit is working through the preaching of faithful ministers to win more to Christ and build more churches. God's truth is is more prominently, even preeminently, active in the earth today than ever before. So Satan is more active in the earth than ever before. This is God's greatest work, so Satan is attempting to do his greatest work. Christ, or rather Satan hates Christ and hates the glory Christ is receiving through his church. He can't reach Christ, but he tries to mess with Christ's bride, the church. So Paul writes to Timothy and says the Spirit explicitly says, Timothy be ready for it.

Don't let it mess you up when some fall away. Don't seem to be going forward with God any longer. Jesus warned us of this in Matthew 24 24, for false Christ and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead if possible even the elect. That's a very penetrating truth there where Christ says, some of the satanic ministers, the false preachers and teachers, are going to be the most charismatic, the most impressive, the most externally speaking, provable.

They're the ones everybody would think these guys are on track. Jesus is going to say to many of those, depart from me I never knew you. In 2 Timothy 4, 3 and 4, Paul writes to Timothy says, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. There's some in the churches who just won't put up with sound bible preaching anymore.

Why? One need to have their ears tickled. They accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own, and I might for amplification say put, their own natural desires. Not spirit-filled desires, their own fallen natural desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. So satan is busy promoting false doctrine, promoting false teaching that he might lead some away from the faith. Now the word here in verse 4, literally the new american standard, it says fall away from the faith. It's the greek word that we get our english word apostasy from, and that's literally all it means. The context can give it a various shades of meaning that literally they fall away from the faith.

I like to picture it this way, they had this position. They said I'm a christ follower, I'm a committed one to Jesus Christ, and then they moved from that to a different position. Now some are somewhere in between perhaps, but a full apostasy, a full apostasizing is to come to a new position contrary to the original position that you held.

Now let's go to B. Not only is it a certainty, this false teaching and this apostasy is going to accumulate and then culminate. Accumulate and then culminate. Just as the Jews in the old testament begin to first synchronize worldly doctrines, particularly bell worship, in with orthodox judaism, so the church will bring in false doctrines in the last days, and begin to weave them in with true doctrine and true bible teaching. And just like the old testament, eventually they even dropped all remnants of judaism and just embraced paganism, so the church will keep going in her apostasy until she fully apostasizes and falls away from the faith altogether. Now while this is not spelled out explicitly in this text, that is that it will accumulate and culminate, I wanted to bring it out because it's so prominently taught throughout the scriptures. In 1st John 4-3 the Bible says, every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God, this is the spirit of the antichrist of which you've heard that it is coming.

Now look, and now it is already in the world. Now I'm convinced, the scriptures would bear this out, a mature local church with faithful leadership will not have the spirit of the antichrist getting many inroads, though he will keep trying. But in your average happy-go-lucky, without diligence and intentionality church, that just kind of lets things go along, I'm telling you the spirit of the antichrist can gain many, many, many footholds. And by the way, to the grief of good and godly people in those churches who go to church and are grieved by what they're seeing and experiencing and witnessing in their own local churches.

Why? Because the spirit of the antichrist, he is unrelenting to bring falsehoods and error into the church. Now the apostle Paul ministered in Ephesus for a long time before he left and left Timothy in charge. And before he left Ephesus, here's what he said to the elders of this local church. Acts 20 verses 29 and 30. Paul says, I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, now notice this, and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them.

He says it's going to happen, it's a certainty, and it's going to accumulate as time goes on. 2 Timothy 3 13 points this out so vividly, but evil men and impostors will proceed notice from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived, accumulating. Now then we come to this final climactic accumulation to where we come to the culmination of apostasy and the culmination of false teaching in the earth.

2 Thessalonians 2 3 and 4. Paul writes to this church and says, let no one in any way deceive you for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first. He's saying there's been apostasizing all through this church age, but there's going to be one final great turning away from Christ and true doctrine in the true church. There's going to be one final apostasizing and that's going to come first.

How will we know that that day has come? Because the man of lawlessness, that's another name for the antichrist, he will be revealed, he's the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God displaying himself as being God. So in this final culmination moment, the antichrist will be head of the one-world government and he will be head of a one-world Christian church, but it's a false church. The book of Revelation calls it a harlot church. It's a whole organized Christian apostasy. Now note, they will say a lot of the same things we say.

They'll use a lot of the terminology that you and I use. They'll use the Bible some, but in the end it's all about the antichrist, it's all about man, and it's all about rejecting Christ and his truth. And then Revelation 17, 1 through 6. Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me saying, come here and I will show you the judgment of the great harlot, that's that great worldwide false apostatized church who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality.

This is figurative language. So the national powers will get in league with this false church, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality. They love the advantage connecting with this false harlot church will give them in their political power pursuits. Verse 3, and he carried me away in the in the spirit to a wilderness and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast full of blasphemous names having seven heads and ten horns.

The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. Now this speaks of the the glory and the wealth and the and the impressiveness of this great harlot worldwide church in the end times. And then he continues on and says, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality and on her forehead a name was written a mystery babbling the great the mother of harlots and the abomination of the earth and I saw the woman that pictures the church drunk with the blood of the saints. There will be a true remnant church left in the earth and the great false harlot church who professes to be doing the work of God will violently persecute the true remnant church.

That's very small comparatively speaking that didn't go along with the one-world system of government and the one-world system of one church in the world. She the remnant church will be viciously persecuted. And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus and when I saw her I wondered greatly. Then revelation 18 one and two and after these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven having great authority and earth was illumined with his glory and he cried out with a mighty voice saying fallen fallen is babbling the great she's become a dwelling place of demons in a prison of every unclean spirit and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. And then revelation 18 eight for this reason in one day her plagues will come pestilence and mourning and famine and she will be burned up with fire for the Lord God who judges her is strong. There's going to be an accumulation of false teaching and apostasy throughout the world and to try to make inroads into every church. And then it's going to have a culmination into a one-world global apostate harlot church. And then God's going to say you've come far enough and he will crush it in judgment. So as we are concerned about pastor what about this is so prevalent in his uncertainty and it is accumulating what's going to happen?

I'm going to tell you what's going to happen. The Lamb of God wins and his children will reign with him forever. So while there will be an accumulation of false teaching and apostasy there is coming a culmination to it all. Well not only is it a certainty, not only do we see there's an accumulation and culmination though not spelled out in this text but in the balance of scripture it's obviously clear. Thirdly from our text notice the craftsman in this age of apostasy.

The craftsman that is who formulates? Who puts together these false doctrines? Who's behind getting them syncretized into or are taught in places where there ought to be sound doctrine taught? Well notice what he says in verse one the last phrase, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the doctrines of demons. These are supernatural beings. Their tactic is to oppose the spirit of truth. They author and craft satanically inspired teachings that always look good and they always look godly to the fallen and natural mind but they are a lie. They are the doctrines of demons. James 3 15 This wisdom is not that which comes down from above but is earthly and natural and demonic. In second Corinthians 11 Paul actually says these are satan's ministers.

Satan's ministers. Well pastor how can we be convinced of the truth if satanic and supernatural powers are behind bringing in false doctrines that sound good and they look good? Well first Corinthians 2 14 reminds us that these things are spiritually discerned. There's something now listen to me there's something deposited into the elect child of God whereby when he hears the preaching of the truth the truth who the spirit of truth who wrote the scriptures takes it and seals it to your heart and you identify with it and you have the amen of the spirit that says yes that's the truth.

I can't give you any particular formula. I can't put it under a microscope and dissect how it looks. There is a mystery to it but the spirit of God reveals the truth of God to the children of God through the preaching of the word of God. These things are spiritually discerned. Well we are in the age of apostasy it's a certainty this thing's going to accumulate until one day in God's sovereign purposes he will culminate it and the craftsmen behind it are demons and satanic powers. Now roman numeral 2 notice the apostles of the apostasy. The apostasy apostles of the apostasy verse 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own that means men these teachers sit in their own conscience as with a branding iron.

Then he goes on in verse 3 and it's implied in the text men who forbid marriage have capes things foods etc etc. So there are actual men that satan and demons call to their cause as he is leading them to start building the false church. You see the great harlot church of revelation is going to be made up of all the unsaved church members of all the protestant and non-protestant dominations throughout the ages.

And he's going to gather them all together. Now our forefathers, baptists and evangelicals in general, have held that the great harlot church is the roman catholic church. I think that's a little too simple.

Now if you want to argue that that is the only system that has a global footprint so it's the logical system to use I would agree with that. If you want to argue that the roman catholic church is a full of apostatizing doctrine and positions I would agree with that. But don't kid yourself that there's not going to be any baptists in the great harlot church. Don't kid yourself that there's not going to be any presbyterians or assemblies of God or whoever in the great harlot church. Satan has his apostles working to build his false church.

Now notice a couple of things here. First of all notice the office of these apostles. We talk about the office of pastor and the office of apostle in the bible. But notice here's the office of the apostles of apostasy. Their office is hypocrite by means of the hypocrisy of liars. The word hypocrite literally means play acting. Just as God has called his men to the office of pastor or apostle, men who bear any cost to preach the truth, so satan has his men called to the office of hypocrite. And just as satan presents himself as an angel of light, so these teachers present themselves as God's ministers, but they are not. They are play actors playing the role having none of the substance of a true man of God. That's their office hypocrite.

Secondly, notice their manner, their modus operandi. They're liars. They're liars.

That's what it says in verse 2. By means of the hypocrisy of liars. Just as God called pastors and teachers or apostles are to be men of the truth who preach the truth, so these though they parade as men of the truth, they are men of lies and they preach wise. Satan their father and their master is the chief of all liars. John 8 44. Jesus says to these religious leaders of his day, and I notice who he's saying this to, the religious authorities of the day.

You are of your father the devil and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there's no truth in him. And whenever he speaks a lie he speaks from his own nature. For he is a liar and the father of lies. These false teachers are satanically inspired. They distort and they twist scripture for their own end and for their own gain. The faithful true minister preaches the scripture, quote, rightly dividing the word of truth, end of quote, to achieve God's end and achieve God's glory.

But that's not what these men are doing. So thirdly, notice not only, what do we talk about? Their office and their manners. Notice their nature. Notice their nature in verse 2 as we continue. The last phrase, verse 2, seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron. Literally it means a branding iron. That iron that you would put in the fire and heat it until it's glowing red and then press it into the side of the livestock. And it burns into the skin of the the livestock, the brand. The picture here is there's been a lot of branding and a lot of burning till that whole area is cauterized. It's hardened.

It's deadened. It's unable to be affected by truth and what is right. He said, that's what these men are like. I think the point is they've walked in sin and lived in sin without repentance to such an extent they are no longer able to see, recognize, or receive the truth of God. And they're convinced they know the truth.

I mean these aren't guys who are saying we know what we're up to. Basically these guys are so seared they really believe they're on the right track. But they have cauterized, deadened hearts.

The real point of this being seared with the branding iron means that they are rotten at the core. They have bad hearts so they are men with bad motives and so they teach bad doctrine. They present themselves as guardians of holiness and purity and yet their own hearts are embracing sin and impurity.

They are not humbled repenters but hardened hypocrites. Paul gives a contrasting statement in first Timothy 1 5 where he says, the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Notice good conscience and sincere are true faith. True saving faith connects to a good conscience.

False demonic faith leads to a bad conscience. So we have this age of apostasy that we're in. And then there are the apostles, the spiritual leaders of this apostasy and this false teaching and ultimately culminating in a global false church. Now let's notice the axiom of apostasy. Now the word axiom means something is self-evident. And I'm not saying this is self-evident to the natural man. I'm not saying this is self-evident to the world. What I mean is to the regenerate man, to the spiritual man, this is self-evident. Notice the precept behind all apostasy and false teaching. It is pride and perverse doctrine. That's the axiom.

That's the self-evident obvious foundation of all they teach. I don't care what form it takes. Behind it all is pride. I'm in it for me. I'm in it for my glory. I'm in it for my gain. I'm in it for power.

I'm in it for whatever you want to say. It's pride. And flowing out of that pride is false doctrine to serve their end of being so proud. Pride and self-doctrine is the precept. Now in this context, and it's very common throughout the ages, that this exhibits or expresses itself in legalism or what I like to call external religion.

They'll take scripture. They'll put a spin on scripture and a twist on scripture and build this legalistic set of rules, this external religion. And behind it all is just outward conformity, not inward transformation. The heart motive behind it is self-exalting pride and control. They love asceticism.

It's a rigorous self-denial. Because see, when a person creates a bunch of rules and they impose their rules on themselves, then they impose those rules on you, then they're in charge. They're in control. And they'll walk around and they'll be all bent down and they'll be all humbled and they're keeping all these rules because they're so holy and they're so godly. And the Bible says they're not holy and godly.

They're following the doctrines of demons. It's about drawing attention to themselves. Pride can manifest itself in either of two ways. You can be putting yourself up or putting yourself down. In either way, you're talking about yourself.

A.W. Tozer calls it boasting by belittling. What they're saying is, I'm more spiritual than everybody else. I'm so beat down with these rules and these laws and I keep...

I force them on you, but I keep them better than anybody else. That was the Pharisees of Jesus today whom He looked at and said, you're of your father the devil. Really what they're saying to everybody is, I'm superior. Now here's a key phrase.

Get this phrase. The motive of the false teacher is not the glory of God and the good of the church. It's not the glory of God and the good of the church. The motive of the false teacher is glory unto themselves and control of the church. Two very different things. The true minister of God is about the glory of God and the good of the church.

The false teacher. The apostles of apostasy are about the glory to themselves and controlling the church. And this is a mirror image of Satan's motive and ministry. Satan was jealous he wanted the kingdom Jesus has. So these apostles of apostasy put on a show of godly suffering for Christ and then the shallow and spiritually undiscerning sometimes swoon over them. Oh, she's so godly. Oh, he's just the most godly man.

Based on what? I told you before when I was in India, you talk about rigorous self-denial to serve your God. When I was in India, there was a man in the city that I was in. I don't know how old he was.

He's 40, 50 years old. He had never walked since he understood walking because he was going to deny himself walking to roll everywhere the rest of his life to please his God. Oh, what devotion. No, what satanic foolishness.

And on and on you can go. They love asceticism. They're not angels of light.

They are demons of darkness. Now the particulars here in this context, Paul's writing the church at Ephesus, is legalism. Because what these guys will do, now you listen to me, they'll hit on whatever will get traction in the day they're ministering. They'll take whatever will get some traction and they'll distort it to teach their false doctrine.

In this case, verse 3 says, what do they do? Men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods. Well, that was a very popular teaching. Even in gentile circles, there was some teaching like this.

So the people naturally thought this way. If you're going to really please God, then you ought to never get married just to be a devoted single person and give all your energies to God. And Paul corrected that error to this letter to the Corinthians where he said, look, there are few people who are given the gift of singleness and that's wonderful. But for the most of you, get married. You're not less spiritual if you get married.

So Paul just blew that false teaching out of the water. Just an external legalistic burden. And then of course, the Jews had their dietary laws. That was very, very important to them. You couldn't eat this food or that food. It'd make you spiritually unclean. And God just obliterated that when he told Peter. He showed Peter that vision.

There's all kinds of hog meat, barbecue, pork chops on that sheet. And God said to Peter, Peter, kill and eat. It's all of God. These external rules will not make you more holy.

But my point is, by forbidding marriage in certain foods in this cultural context, that was a clever scheme. They are slick manipulators. And folks, you don't have to think hard, especially if you're in my line of work and being in it for several decades now, seeing one wave after another of a new list of rules, a new list of teachings. And if you're really spiritual, if you're really dedicated, you'll embrace embrace our teachers. He wrote a book.

Usually somebody wrote a book. And we follow those teachings. The problem is, there's not a thing before the scripture in most of it. And then that fades away. Then there's another wave that comes through. So now you got to do these things if you're really going to be spiritual. And on and on we could go. And in these things, I think there's some very good and godly people that get caught up in them. But here's the difference. They don't stay caught up in them.

They catch themselves and come back into a proper balance. But these false teachers, having never been cleansed by the gospel and the power of the Spirit, they walk in these lies and they teach these lies of external religion and they force it on everyone else. And like I said, and this is true of your pastor, I have struggled with balance here myself. I've had to humble myself and repent. In my phrases, I was more conservative than God. And God sometimes has to look at us and say, well you shut up. I know what's good and bad and right and wrong.

You didn't need to make anything up. You just follow my book. Now let's not be deceived into thinking this is the only way false teaching manifests itself. That is by externalism and legalism.

But that's a prominent way. And again, I don't mean to pick on the Roman Catholic system. Yeah, I do mean to pick on the Roman Catholic system. I actually do because I'm not picking on Roman Catholics. I think there's some genuine Christians in that system. If they are, they're grieved. But the system, the system is wholly built on legalism and control.

Holy. And naturally men flock to that. We want to feel like, tell me something I've got to do about it. So, while a child of God, a true child of God can get led astray, God will pull them back. But these false professors and those who full bore fall in with them, they don't just go away for a while. They saddle up on their horse and they ride forever.

They don't get off. They're the ones 1 John 2 19 speaks of. 1 John 2 19 says, they went out from us, but they were not really of us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us.

But they went out so that it would be shown that they are all not of us. Pastor, how do you know if you're in a true church? Well, one characteristic is God removes those from it who are not truly His. You've been in a church very long and God's not purged it, it's probably not God's. He cleans everything He owns. And by the way, while He may remove some, He's purging our hearts. Can I get amen there? He purges, He cleans His children up, but sometimes He has to clean some false professors out. Sometimes pastors will tell me when I'm teaching them on some of these things, but wait, we don't want to lose any members.

I said, of course not. We don't want to lose any unless God wants to remove them. Now He goes on to argue against this particular false teaching of legalism about marriage and abstaining from certain foods. And He says the last part of verse 3, to be greatly shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good and nothing's to be rejected if it's received with gratitude. Let's talk about that thing received with gratitude. What He's saying is, when we look at these things God's given us, in this context marriage and food. God's given man marriage and food. We're not to look at things like that with fear, we're to look at things like that as a gift and with gratitude. All of God's original creation are gifts to mankind and they're still good and they're proper.

They fit into the spiritual life of a follower of Jesus Christ. Do not let someone impose on you man-made rules when God's given you these things to enjoy. I Corinthians 3 21, Paul writes, so then let no one boast in men for all things belong to you.

They're putting their confidence in a man's teaching. He said, you think that's something? I'm Christ the Lord God of all. I own everything and I'm giving it all to you. So boast in me and all that I've given you because it's all yours. Have I told you before that every single thing that's ever happened in time and space history has happened, is happening and is going to happen to the end of the benefit of God's church?

It's all for you. Since all things are Christ, then all things are ours to enjoy in Christ. All of these things in the world, and I'm not talking about sinful things, I'll address that in just a moment, but all the things in the world that God's given me in foods, marriage, and on and on we could go, are gifts of common grace that always point us to the greater gift, redeeming grace and the gift of Jesus Christ. For illustration, there's a man who gets up in the morning, he eats a good breakfast, he feeds his dog, he gets in a nice automobile, he drives to work, he works hard all day long, he takes a lunch break, has a good lunch, he works that afternoon, he gets off work, he comes home, he plays basketball in the driveway with his kids, he eats supper with his wife, he watches Fox News, he goes to bed, and everything he did all day long was sin. Everything was sin. Everything was rejected by God. Then there was another man, he got up in the morning, he had a good breakfast, he fed his dog, he got in a nice car, he drove to work, he worked hard that morning, had a good lunch, he worked hard that afternoon, he came home, he played basketball with his kids in the driveway, he ate supper, he watched Fox News, and then he went to bed, and everything he did was good and acceptable to God. Now what's the difference? Well, the first man views all that he did that day as saying to God, I'm a good guy, I'm a good husband, I'm a good father, I'm a good worker, I have good ethics, so God will surely accept me. That's wickedness. Or he gets up and eats his breakfast, and he goes to work, and he does good moral things, he's an ethical guy, and he's good to his kids, and he's good to his wife, and he pays the bills, but he has no thought of God, no gratitude to God, no thanksgiving to God.

It's all sin. The other man is different. When he gets up in the morning, he says, God, sustain me through the night. When he goes to eat breakfast, he says, God provided this food. When he goes and gets in his car, he says, God has given me this as a wondrous gift, praise his name. When he goes to work, he says, God's given me this job. When he goes to lunch, he says, what a gracious God to give me this food to eat. When he goes back to work, he says, God gave me my hands, my eyes, my brain, my body, to work these works and feed my family. When he goes home, he says, thank God I've got these kids and even a game called basketball that we can enjoy, and he eats his supper, and he says, thank God for a good supper and a good wife.

He watches Fox News, and he says, well, I like their positions, but some of them are crazy. And he thanks God that even though the world's going to hell, God's still in control, and he goes to bed, and he praises God for all of those gifts God gave him, and all through the day it reminds him, but the greatest gift is redemption through Jesus Christ, and everything he did that day was good and acceptable to God. What's the difference? The condition of the heart. There was no difference in anything they did but the heart. One was a heart of thanksgiving and gratitude, and one was not.

It's the condition of the heart. Now look at verse 5. Well in the flow of the context, verse 4, everything created by God is good and nothing's to be rejected if it's received with gratitude.

That means your heart's been changed to see God behind all of it because he saved you by grace. Verse 5, for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer. And when it says sanctified by the word of God and prayer, a lot of differences of opinion there, so I'm going to tell you what it really means. First of all, I think he understands that when God made Adam and Eve, and God made the Garden of Eden, he told Adam and Eve, everything here's for you.

Enjoy it. It's a gift. And so this man from the word of God knows these things, this world is ours to enjoy, but also his heart's been changed so he'd never want to misuse the gifts of the world in a sinful way. So it's sanctified by the word of God.

It's his to enjoy but never sinfully. And then by prayer. What does it mean by prayer? It means that acknowledgement that God made this, and God in love I can't comprehend, made me his own, and gave me these things, and above and beyond all of these things, he's given me redemption through Jesus Christ.

It's the heart difference. Now don't you take verse 5 as some sort of superstitious mantra whereby you can say, well I'm going to say this word over it, I'm going to have a rote prayer saying over it, then I can enjoy these sinful things in the world. That's not, this isn't some sort of superstitious cleansing seance. It means your heart's changed whereby you honor the word of God and are grateful for all God's given you. It's a regenerate heart that desires to use the earth according to God's word for God's glory, including your own pleasures and with the prayer of thanksgiving. Apostasy. We are in an age of apostasy. Those who will fall away from the faith and those who will teach false doctrine. There are apostles of apostasy.

I was going to name names, but I won't do it today. They teach the false, they're Satan's envoys to teach false doctrine and pull folks away from the truth. And there's the axiom of apostasy and that is, it's all about pride, me getting glory and having control. That's what motivates the false teacher. From our text, we understand that often false teaching is in the form of legalism and external religion. We know that false teaching and apostasy will continue. It will accumulate until the day it culminates at the second coming of Christ. And matter of fact, before that when the redemption or rather the rapture of the church occurs, there'll be left on the earth a one world organized religious apostate church. And we are protected by it by staying under faithful shepherds who are faithful to follow the scripture attended by the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul's writing to Timothy a pastor to guard the sheep from false teachers and ultimate apostasy.