The Spirit Speaks Expressly. Liars, Not So Much - Tuesdays with Timothy #38

1Ti 4:1-3  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;  (3)  Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly,

There is no debate about this, the Spirit of God is speaking to us definitively. This is a good reminder to us all - God speaks expressly. I find comfort in the fact that God has spoken to us and we can understand what God has told us. You'll find that false teachers in the subversiveness of their agenda against truth, will have more questions than answers. No question, there are some things that are easier to understand than others (2 Peter 3:16), but God gave us the book to read, understand and profit from (Revelation 1:3).

that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith,

The Spirit tells us that some will depart from the faith. The latter times are the times in which we live and the longer we live, the later the times are. It is a way of describing the era between Christ's accession and His return. We do not know the day or the hour of our Lord's return and we look for the soon coming of our Lord and Saviour. As time goes on, some will leave the faith, the mystery of godliness (I Tim 3:16). Will these lose their salvation? No, it will be made evident that they never truly believed the gospel to start with (1 John 2:19).

Nevertheless, these gospel warning are real. There are some who make professions of faith and then later, leave and never again follow Christ. God's people will persevere in the faith. These warnings are given to the people of God that they may persevere in the faith. There is a balance in Scripture teaching both the perseverance of the people of God as well as the preservation of the people of God. The warning passages, speak to our need to cling to Christ Jesus the Lord, knowing that we are kept only by Jesus clinging to us.

What draws these individuals away? False doctrine.

 giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;  Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

False teachers do not come out and say "I've got some damnable heresy for you today!" You won't get a knock on your door Saturday morning and have some nice looking couple say "I've to deceive you to leave Christ and become a child of Hell. Come, join us in eternal damnation." No, they will deceive and seduce, looking like angels of light. In fact, they will provide a lot of Scripture and quite a few clever questions to get you thinking and questioning the truth of God. It may even make sense to you at first. The Spirit tells us that these people are speaking demonic doctrine.

People say that they don't like doctrine. What foolishness. Of course they like doctrine. People love doctrine and they love preaching. Why else will countless numbers of individuals turn on cable news religiously to be indoctrinated? Why else will they listen to a person go on for hour after hour, preaching to them about how they should live and how they should think? Or, if not on cable news, how about talk radio? Or, how about in sitcoms and movies? Certainly people love to be preached to, as long as they like the doctrine.

If it were doctrine that people despised, then Satan wouldn't use doctrine to draw people away. It isn't doctrine that people hate, it is true doctrine that people hate. It is doctrine about the sovereignty of God. Doctrine about man's depravity. Doctrine about salvation by grace, through faith. Doctrine about justification through faith. Satan leads people from Christ, through seductive and deceiving doctrine.

Hypocritical liars with seared consciences

You don't have to spend too much time wondering about the souls of false teachers. The Spirit says that these false teachers willingly seduce and lie to people. They are not deceived, but they have so long lied to people that it doesn't bother them anymore. Their God given conscience no longer functions and they can lie to people and willingly and maliciously deceive people and have no problem doing it. The longer they lie to people, the easier it becomes. Their heart becomes hard as a rock and they no longer feel guilty about deceiving people.

Do you regularly push the bounds of your conscience? Behind the pulpit, do you stretch the truth a little in illustrations? Do you preach what people want, knowing that you are not giving them what they need? You are on dangerous ground. The more you inch this direction, the easier it will be to go against conscience and the more you play with fire, the more likely you are to sear. 

Fleshly sermons.

These men draw people away through asceticism. Ironically, false teachers can draw people away just as easily by telling people what they cannot do as they can by giving them permission to dive into sin. There are some who want to hear that they can sin all they want and want people to lead them into hedonism. There are others who would prefer to be told what are not allowed to do, to deny the flesh. Both are opposite sides of the same coin of self-righteousness. One, desires to fulfill their inner self and desires the other deny themselves to get what they want. Neither will bring salvation. Neither hedonism nor asceticism will bring salvation. Legalism and libertinism are cousins. They both focus too much on the law, either in hatred of it or looking for deliverance in it.

In the last days, individuals won't want to hear gospel preaching. They won't want the Bible expounded. Faithful Bible exposition won't be enough for them, the'll need something else and there will be someone around to give them what they want. Would you rather someone tell you the truth or someone to tell you what you want to hear?

Another irony is that often when faithful Bible preaching is going on in the church, and people start to leave, all eyes go to the pastor. If only the pastor was a better speaker. If only he was more dynamic and if only he had better programs, then these people would have never left. Sometimes, we need to realize that people who don't want the true are not going to stick around to hear the truth when there is not anything in it for them. When people leave the church, we should sorrow for their souls, but we shouldn't be surprised.