Faithfulness Amid Spiritual Deception - 1 Timothy 4:1-5

We’re living in a time where distinguishing truth from lies is getting increasingly difficult.

In nearly every sphere of life, people are attempting to deceive you. The church isn’t immune to this reality. We live in a world full of spiritual deception, but it’s not anything particularly new. It’s always been there. Paul warned Timothy of false teaching in this passage, but he also discusses it in chapter 1 as well.

In fact, Paul told Timothy in chapter 1 to, “charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine…”

And so after laying out the qualifications for elders and deacons, and sharing the mystery of godliness, he’s now returning to the subject of false teaching.

In this passage Paul both warns against false teaching and then gives its remedy. We’re going to look at four things this morning: First, Paul tells us he results of false (v. 1), second, he shares the motives for false teaching (v. 2), third, he shares the doctrine of false teaching (v. 3), and lastly, he outlines a defense against false teaching (vv. 4-5).

Now it’s important to understand that throughout the history of the church there have been all sorts of false teachings and doctrines. And in this particular passage, Paul isn’t just addressing false teaching in general, he’s actually addressing a certain type of false doctrine, but we’ll get into that more in a moment.

But let’s remember where we are in the book of 1 Timothy. Paul has abandoned his conversation about church organization and government to return to a topic he addressed in chapter 1: false teachers.

The results of false teaching (v. 1)

Notice in verse one that Paul lays out the results of false teaching. He wrote,

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons…”

Paul shares with Timothy that the Holy Spirit has revealed something important to him: “that in later times some will depart from the faith.”

Some of you may remember the King James Version of this verse because it says, “in latter times some will depart from the faith.”

When Paul refers to the “later times” or “latter times” he isn’t talking about some sort of tribulation right before Jesus returns. Rather, he’s talking about people abandoning the faith during the church age - the period of time between the cross and Jesus’ second coming, which is of course the time in which we are currently living.

Paul isn’t referring to a particular catastrophic event, rather, he’s referring to what many of us have witnessed firsthand: people abandoning the faith. Or as Paul puts it, folks who have departed from the faith.

These are the people who outwardly looked like Christians. They knew how to act and the right things to say. Which is why it’s so shocking when they say, “I don’t believe this anymore.” Perhaps they appeared to be genuine until they simply walked away from the faith.

John very helpfully says in 1 John that, “they went out from us but were not of us.” In other words, they may have outwardly appeared to be genuine believers, but inwardly they were never truly born again.

In case you’re wondering, Paul isn’t saying people who departed from the faith have lost their salvation. He’s in agreement with John, they never had it to begin with, even though they may have outwardly appeared to have been a man or woman of faith. They never experienced the grace they claimed to have.

And whenever someone departs from the faith, our first reaction is to rationalize it. They didn’t understand this theological point or they just became indifferent and no longer cared.

We tend to try to rationalize it before we spiritualize it. Because the reality is, it is a spiritual issue regardless of the circumstances.

Paul describes it as a spiritual issue. He says that people are led astray by “deceitful spirits and teachings of demons.”

That sounds a little dark and harsh doesn’t it? The guy who now rejects “institutional religion” is being influenced by “deceptive spirits and the teachings of demons?” Yes. In fact, when you really begin to think about it, it’s the only logical conclusion you can come to!

How irrational and nonsensical is it to reject a Savior who says, “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die?” Or says, “come unto me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.”

How can someone hear those glorious words and simply say, “that’s good for you, but I don’t want that?” That has to be, “deceptive spirits and teachings influenced by demons.”

Spiritual warfare exists and people are being led astray.

I don’t know about you, but the classic apostasy case that pops into my mind whenever I think about someone who has “departed from the faith,” is the guy who wakes up one morning and decides, "I’m not a Christian anymore.”

He’s a professing believer one day and an atheist the next. But the reality is, it almost never happens in that way! It’s almost always a slow progression that takes place over the course of months and years.

They stop going to church during COVID, which frees them up to run errands, Sundays turn into errand days, over time, Jesus becomes a total afterthought, next thing you know they haven’t been to church in four years and then they renounce the faith.

That’s how it typically happens! It’s almost never an overnight thing. It’s a slow progression. Wormwood from C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters makes the exact same point. He wrote,

“Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts…”

Deceptive spirits and demonic teaching wants you to believe that everything is fine. That you need to do these things for you. It’s really no wonder Paul calls them deceptive spirits, right?

The classic apostasy, at least in my mind, is the person who walks away from the faith altogether. They profess faith in Jesus Christ, only to renounce it later. That’s the classic apostasy case, but interestingly, that’s not what Paul has in mind in this passage.

The apostasy that he warns Timothy about, isn’t the kind of apostasy that just walks away from the faith. The apostasy that Paul warns Timothy of is a kind that disguises itself as a form of spiritual enlightenment. It’s a form of apostasy that claims to make you more spiritual, more faithful. It’s people “departing the faith” for a form of higher spirituality that Paul is concerned about.

In many ways it’s more insidious because you’re abandoning the faith under the pretense that you’re becoming more spiritual.

The reason for false teachers (v. 2)

But before we dive into the false doctrines they were teaching it’s important for us to first consider the reason for false teachers.

Whenever you read or watch something from the mainstream media, what’s the first thing you consider? You consider the source! You’re asking, “why are they presenting it this way?” But even more fundamentally, you’re asking, “what motivates them?”

When you understand the answer to that question, well, that tells you everything you need to know, right?

In many ways, the same is true for the church. We shouldn’t automatically assume the worst in people, but at the same time we shouldn’t be naive. We should be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Because the reality is, there really are false teachers out there intent on destroying the church.

Which is exactly what Paul was warning Timothy of - he was warning him against false teachers. Men he said were, “insincere liars whose consciences are seared.”

The word for ‘insincere’ in the Greek literally means “playacting.” These false teachers were imposters who wanted to appear genuine. When in reality, they’re consciences have been seared to the point they’re morally desensitized. They don’t ask themselves, “is this right or wrong?”

Because how wrong is it, to stand behind a pulpit or be in any other authoritative teaching position in the church and intentionally lead people astray? Your conscience has to be seared, you have to be morally desensitized if you knowingly and intentionally promote false teaching.

Paul’s point is that false teachers don’t care about teaching the truth. They’re not worried about the fallout of false doctrine because they’re more interested in things like money, influence, and power.

The only explanation for that behavior is that your conscience must be seared. Your moral compass must be broken. Which is why Scripture regularly warns against false teachers:

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1)

“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)

Notice that Paul is warning against false teachers because false teaching will always impact the way people live. Your beliefs will always impact how you live your life. That’s true for orthodox Christians and for those who fall into false teaching. It will show up in how they live their lives.

The doctrines of false teaching (v. 3)

But again, notice how these false teachers are leading people astray: they’re not encouraging people to abandon their faith by switching their religious beliefs, rather, they’re claiming to have knowledge of a pathway to deeper spirituality.

What was that pathway? Paul says in verse 3 the false teachers, “forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods…”

According to these false teachers marriage and eating certain foods was tantamount to sin. On the surface that sounds rather odd, doesn’t it? How or why would marriage and food ever be sinful? It was what marriage and food represented. A key feature of these false teachers' doctrine was that the physical and material world were sinful.

And that in order to grow spiritually you needed to deny the physical and material world. Which is why they were teaching that sex even within the context of marriage along with certain foods, probably meat, were sinful.

It was ascetic gnosticism. Asceticism is, “The practice of rigorous bodily self-denial as an aid to spiritual growth.” Probably the simplest way to define gnosticism was the idea that through secret knowledge one could attain salvation and overcome the material world.

Both asceticism and gnosticism have an incredibly negative view of the physical world. Because in their view, true spirituality came through rising above the physical realm.

These false teachers were teaching that if you really want to be a man or woman of holiness, then you should deny yourself any physical pleasure, because that is the secret to spiritual growth. That was the false teaching that Paul was warning Timothy against.

This false teaching caters to a temptation that most believers have faced, which is a desire to reduce the Christian faith to a list of dos and don’ts. Think about the pitch: do you want to go to heaven and grow spiritually? Then don’t get married and avoid certain foods.

We might sit back and think, that’s absolutely ridiculous! How could people fall for something like that, but I’m here today to tell you that sort of thing still exists. It may look a little different but it’s still out there.

Have you heard the old church saying, don’t drink, don’t smoke, and don’t chew or go with girls who do? It’s an old church cliche, but it does capture a legalistic mindset well. Because in some circles that’s what they’ve reduced the Christian faith to: avoiding vices and licentious people. Isn’t that a modern form of asceticism?

Even more modern movements, like the social justice movement that made their way into the church had a distinctly gnostic flare to them. The truly spiritual people could see the systemic racism and were willing to repent of white privilege. And if you weren’t comfortable with those things then your faith was called into question. They had secret spiritual knowledge. It was gnosticism.

But what does Paul say in the rest of verse 3?

He reminds Timothy that they’re abstaining from food that, “God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.”

The rich irony is, those who truly trust in Christ can look around at our world which is marred by sin, and still say that God is good. God has bestowed immeasurable blessings upon us and we should receive gifts from his hands with thankfulness in our hearts. Marriage is a good thing. Food is a good thing. For some of us it’s too good.

We can say that these things are good because God said that these things are good. That’s God’s recurring refrain throughout the creation narrative. It was good. Nowhere in the creation narrative does God say, “whoops!”

Which is why no one needs to apologize for the way God made them. No one.

God says it was not good for man to be alone, affirming his blessing upon the institution of marriage between one man and one woman. God created and loves marriage. Additionally, Adam and Eve were instructed to tend the garden. God created food as both a source of sustenance and enjoyment.

Paul’s broader point is that ascetic gnosticism is inconsistent with the God it claims to serve. Because it teaches that in order to become more holy, you have to reject what God says is good. Think about that: your holiness is dependent upon you denying what God says is good! It makes no sense!

Which is of course the problem with all false teachers. Their teaching, their views, their beliefs, take precedence over God’s Word. After all, they were calling bad what God says is good!

That’s the ironic twist isn’t it? The pathway that claims to lead you to super-spirituality actually leads you away from God. False teaching always complicates, obscures, and confuses the plain teaching of God’s Word!

A defense against false teaching (vv. 4-5)

So how do we spot, recognize, and protect ourselves from false teaching?

Paul tells us in verses 4-5.

“For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.”

Well for starters, the things that God says are good, we too should say are good. So if someone comes along and says, “you know what? You should reject what God calls good.” Your false teaching alarms should begin to sound in your head! Rather than denying and rejecting the good things from God, we should receive them with thanksgiving.

Paul says that the good things God has given to us are “made holy by the word of God and prayer.” In other words, the blessings and gifts that we all experience in this life are good because the word of God declared them good, but also, we make them holy when we thank God in prayer for them.

Each week, we recite the Lord’s prayer which is where the Lord Jesus explicitly reminds us to ask God and for our daily needs to be met when we ask him to “give us this day our daily bread.”

In question 104 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks,

Q. “What do we pray for in the fourth petition?”

“In the fourth petition, which is, “Give us this day our daily bread,” we pray that of God’s free gift we may receive a competent portion of the good things of this life, and enjoy His blessing with them.”

In other words, when we pray “give us this day our daily bread” we are not just praying for God to put food on our tables, we’re asking the God of the universe to give us a “competent portion of the good things of this life.”

Which is of course, why we pray before we eat! It’s not an American tradition that we’re perpetuating, it’s a thoroughly Christian practice that Jesus did. We’re simply pausing to thank God for who he has provided for us.

We must cultivate thankful hearts even for the things that we so often take for granted: clothes on your back, a roof over your head, food in your stomach, all of those basic necessities are gifts from God, amen?

This is an important point because sometimes people act like the Christian life is an endless cycle of pain, misery, and suffering. Don’t get me wrong we’re called to take up our cross and follow him, we’re called to follow Jesus no matter the cost.

But God is a good father.

“What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

God gives good gifts. He takes care of his children. He takes care of you.

And you know what? Sometimes, despite living in a fallen world marred by sin, life can still be good. It’s not unchristian to laugh and have fun. Fun isn’t bad.

I know that sounds silly, because we’re all like, well of course, Jake! But in some parts of evangelicalism you’re treated skeptically if you say your life is generally going well. That doesn’t mean it always will. That’s not to say you won’t struggle.

But at this moment, things are good. I bet most of us have had a well-intentioned Christian friend ask, “how are you doing?” And you reply, “I’m doing well!” And they’re response is, “but really how are you doing?” You’re like, “I’m still well…”

Or even worse I’ve seen a couple about to get married say, “yeah, this is going to be hard, but we’re going to grow through it.”

And I’m like, “no one is forcing you to get married! You should be excited!” Marriage isn’t supposed to be a drag on life, it’s supposed to be one of the glorious gifts of life.

I certainly don’t want to minimize the pain and suffering many of you have faced.

But my point is that Christians need to cultivate a spirit of gratitude and thankfulness for all the good gifts that God has given to each of us. Especially the things that God calls good, believers must call good as well.

When you think about why you should be grateful I hope the first thing that pops into your mind is what Christ purchased for you on the cross! Your salvation was accomplished and you didn’t contribute anything to it, which should only further your gratitude and appreciation for all the good gifts that God has given to you.

And when your heart’s desire is to love what God loves, suddenly it becomes easier to spot false teachers and false doctrine. Because they’re always going to be there, which is why we must take Paul’s guidance to heart. Let’s pray together.