WWUTT 631 Put These Things Before the Brothers?

A good servant of Christ is trained in the words of the faith and the good doctrine that we have in the Bible, and we will likewise tell others about good doctrine and warn them about false teachers when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text as an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty, visit our website at www .utt .com.

Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Paul’s Charge to Timothy in 1 Timothy 3:16–4:10

Thank you, Becky. We continue this week with our study of 1 Timothy chapter 4, but in our reading today, I actually want to go back to chapter 3, starting in verse 16, and I'll read through chapter 4, verse 10.

The Apostle Paul to his servant Timothy writes, Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness. He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.

Have nothing to do with irreverent silly myths, rather train yourself for godliness, for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

Sound Doctrine Versus Deceitful Spirits

So in our study we're up to verse 6 where Paul says, if you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.

Well what are the things that Paul is talking about when he says, if you put these things before the brothers? Well it's exactly what we read from chapter 3 verse 16 through chapter 4 verse 5. Paul gives Timothy a contrast between sound doctrine and false doctrine.

So first of all he's got sound doctrine in kind of that creedal form or that confession form that we have in verse 16 of chapter 3. That Christ was manifested in the flesh, which is speaking of his incarnation.

He was vindicated by the Spirit, talking about his being resurrected from the grave. He was seen by angels. He is seated right now at the right hand of the throne of God, being praised by those who are in heaven.

He was proclaimed among the nations. The message of this gospel has gone out into the world just as Christ has commissioned that it should be. This is in obedience to the command of Christ. It is believed on in the world.

So it's not just being shared in the world, there are people who believe it. Again, a testament to the power of the Holy Spirit of God. And then finally, taken up in glory. So not just Christ seated at the right hand of the throne of God, but that all of his kingdom will be presented to him in glory.

And this is the presentation of sound doctrine that Paul gives in 1 Timothy 3, 16. Then he goes on in chapter 4 to say that there are going to be those who are going to depart from this. This sound teaching, which I just presented to you, this confession of the faith that we have, people aren't going to listen to that.

They're going to depart from the faith and devote themselves instead to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons. Not that which is confessed by the Holy Spirit of God, but the things that are confessed on by deceitful spirits.

They don't even want to listen to sound teaching. They don't want to hear about good theology, which is the study of God, or seek after Christology, which is the study of Christ, or devote themselves to pneumatology, which is the study of the Holy Spirit, or even be interested in soteriology, the study of salvation itself.

False Teaching, Asceticism, and the Goodness of Creation

In his book, The Truth of the Cross, R .C. Sproul shares the following anecdote. He says, while I was waiting for my wife Vesta in a shopping mall, I noticed a bookstore and I stepped inside. There were counters and counters of books in that store with the various categories marked prominently fiction, nonfiction, business, sports, self-improvement, marriage, children's stories, and so on.

In the very back of the store was the religion section, and it consisted of only four shelves, making it one of the smallest segments of the store. The material on those racks was not what one would call mainstream Orthodox classical Christianity.

I wondered, why does this store sell fiction and self-improvement, but place no premium on the content of biblical truth as part of its program? I realized the store wasn't there as a ministry, it was there for business, to make a profit.

So I assumed the reason there were no solid Christian books was that there weren't a lot of people asking, where can I find a book that will teach me about the depths and the riches of the atonement of Christ?

Even when we go to a Christian bookstore, we find little evidence that people are seeking in-depth understanding of something as central as the atonement. I thought about these things, and I came to the conclusion that people are not concerned about an atonement.

They are basically convinced that they have no need for it. They aren't asking, how can I be reconciled to God? How can I escape the judgment of God? If anything has been lost from our culture, it is the idea that human beings are privately, personally, individually, ultimately, inexorably accountable to God for their lives.

And people are simply not asking about that. So when you go into a bookstore of any kind, as R .C. Sproul points out here, either a secular bookstore or a Christian bookstore, what you see before you is a barometer of the kinds of questions that people are asking.

Even when you go in a Christian bookstore, the reason why you don't see books about the atonement in the front when you walk in is because even a Christian bookstore is a business. Yes, there is some ministry that's being done there, but it's primarily a business.

If they're not making a profit, that store isn't even going to be there. So they put things out front that they know people are going to buy. And what people are buying pertains to the questions that they're asking.

The questions that they're walking in that store and asking are not about the condition of their soul and how I'm a fallen creature before God. What can be done to save me from this body of death that I'm in?

That's not the question people are coming in and asking. Rather, they're devoting themselves to books that will help them forget about that kind of stuff that's kind of therapeutic or even like a drug that will so that they don't have to think about how wretched they are.

Instead, devoting themselves to just enough religiosity to think that this is me being saved by walking in a Christian bookstore and buying the Christian fluffy books rather what you probably have as a person who's devoted themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared rather than holding firm to the true faith according to the confession of the Holy Spirit of God.

And Paul provides an example of false teaching. So he provides an example of sound doctrine in chapter 3 verse 16, the confession that he outlines there. And then he gives an example of false doctrine in chapter 4 verse 3.

The example, it's really two examples, those who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods. Here's examples of false teaching. So rather than holding true to the true confession, instead, they're they're practicing asceticism a punishment of the body.

If you do this thing and you feel feel miserable doing it, well, this is what being saved feels like. That's kind of the the approach of these false teachers. It's it's you make yourself miserable and and pitiful and foolish.

And then you know that you are saved when you suffer in your body. That's how you know you're saved. And so you deprive yourself of things that God actually created to be good, like marriage and food.

Marriage is a wonderful thing. It is a picture of the relationship that Christ has with his church and all the wonderful intimate enjoyments that come with being married to another person. Food. Likewise, this is something that God has blessed us with to enjoy.

We can enjoy this with Thanksgiving. And it's even a small picture in our physical bodies as we enjoy good food sitting at a table. It's a small picture of something we're going to enjoy for all eternity when we sit down at the spiritual wedding feast of the lamb with Christ, our bridegroom.

So there you have the connection to marriage again, even so you can enjoy good food even in this life. And it rolls up into praise to God. Thank you for this meal. Thank you for the fellowship that I have as we gather at this table and eat this food.

God, how great that wonderful wedding feast is going to be on the day of redemption. I can't wait. And so good food makes us look forward to those kinds of things. But rather, these false teachers are trying to say, you know what?

God didn't make that good. It's not really that good. He didn't actually make it that way. This thing, marriage that you enjoy so much. Well, what about this young man over here who has same sex attraction?

He can't enjoy marriage the way that you do. He's not attracted to a woman. So shame on you for not letting him enjoy marriage the way that would make him happy. You can't enjoy your marriage if he can't have marriage the way that he wants.

So let's redefine it. We'll allow him to get married to a man. A man and a man can be married to each other. A woman and a woman can be married to each other. And hey, the Bible says that everything created by God is good.

So they're married to each other now. Therefore it must be good. Instead, they've taken something that God created. They've given it their own definition, which is sin. And they call that sin good. And this is the rebellion against God.

And this is the very thing that Isaiah spoke up against in Isaiah 5, 20 and 21. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and shrewd in their own sight. They think they're doing something smart. They think they're even doing something affectionate for another person. Well, I want to help out this guy with same-sex attraction, so I'm just going to redefine marriage.

That way he can enjoy marriage the way that he wants to enjoy it. And instead, what they've done is devoted themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons and are leading people astray who are chasing after their own fleshly passions rather than doing things the way that God has said they are to be done and enjoying it the way that he has created it to be enjoyed.

When it comes down to it, all sin is the product of ungratefulness. We're not grateful to God for who he is and what he has created and the way that he's defined those things. And instead, we shake our fist at him.

We claim to know better than him. We claim to know better than God who created time and space and the universe and everything, which is absurd. But that's sin for you. Sin makes us declare absurd things.

And so it's of little wonder why we are worthy of being destroyed because this is the rebellion that we perpetrate against God, desiring our own way against God's way. We're ungrateful to him, who he is, what he has done, what he's created.

And we rebel against him and decide to go our own way. Romans 1 19 begins this way. For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made.

So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. But they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened, claiming to be wise.

They became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. The stuff that deceitful spirits and demons teach is stuff that is an imitation of what God has created to be good and received with thanksgiving.

They will take that and they will do just as the serpent did in the Garden of Eden, saying to Eve, did God really say that? God didn't really make it this way. He actually made it this way. And this is the way that it's meant to be enjoyed.

And so these are these are the teachings of demons and deceitful spirits. They forbid marriage. They require abstinence from foods, those things that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

Those who do not know the truth, they enjoy their sin just fine. Sin is pleasurable. That's why we sin if it wasn't. If it didn't make us feel good, you wouldn't do it. So people chase after sins. They chase after the passions of their flesh because they like the way it feels in their flesh.

But a person who doesn't know the truth, though they enjoy the sin that they are indulging in the book of Hebrews chapter 11, it says to us that sin is fleeting. It is pleasurable, but it's fleeting. So while they enjoy that for a time, eventually the effects of that sin that they are enjoying, the effects wear off.

And so they do it again and they do it again. And the next time they do it, they even have to accumulate a greater quantity of it to get the fix of the feeling that they got the first time that they indulged in that sin.

And then when that doesn't work, when that doesn't feel good, I need even more of it. Or maybe they will abandon that sin for another sin to get a different fix or a different pleasure. But all of these things they do with no thanksgiving.

They're not grateful to God for any of it. Rather, they have this attitude that God owes it to them. You owe me this. You I deserve this and you need to give it to me. This is the great blasphemy that all of us have at some point in our lives committed against God, pointing the finger back at God and saying, you owe me rather than worshiping God and honoring him because only he is holy and only he is righteous and only he is worthy of such worship.

Instead, we exalt ourselves to the place of God and think that God is there for our good rather than doing the things that delight God. We're not trying to please God. We're trying to please ourselves.

And so this is the person who does not know the truth. They enjoy sin. They take something that God created to be good. And instead, they manipulate it or twist it to satisfy the passion that they have in their own flesh in rebellion against God.

And they call the sin good rather than the thing that God created to be good because they're not grateful for the thing that God created to be good. They're satisfied with their own stuff rather than doing what God has commanded and doing that with praise to his glorious grace.

Whereas the person who knows the truth, they receive those things that God has created to be good, and they enjoy them according to the way that God has said they are to be enjoyed because they are grateful to God for who he is and the way he has made things.

A person can enjoy a good meal. God has created food for us to enjoy, and he has created our bodies to be able to enjoy that food. But a person who enjoys a good meal, a person who knows the truth and enjoys a good meal, their satisfaction is not limited to that experience.

It's not just a product of my taste buds. Enjoy this. The neurons in my brain are firing and telling me that this tastes good. Rather, I know I'm going to receive this food and enjoy it in the moment in which I'm receiving it, but I know that it's not going to last and it's not going to sustain me.

My hope is not in this food. My hope is in Christ who does live forever, who is eternal, and my ultimate satisfaction is not in this moment here or the quantity of moments that I have here on this earth.

Rather, my hope is in the eternal moment that I'm going to live in with Christ, my Savior, when he takes me from this life into the next. That's receiving something with thanksgiving. When we enjoy it the way that God has meant for it to be enjoyed, we receive it with thanksgiving.

It's made holy by the word of God because the word of God declared that this thing is good. This which God has made is good. And this way that he's meant for it to be enjoyed is good. And so you give thanks to God with prayer.

God, thank you for this thing that is to be good. And therefore, it's good. The whole thing is good and far be it from anyone to try to define it according to their sin or try to deprive us from those things that God has created for us to be good.

That's deceitful. It is a deceitful spirit. It is the teaching of demons when the world tries to redefine it or say that we shouldn't enjoy it. Know what God's word says and give thanks to him for all those things that he has given to us to be received with thanksgiving.

It's made holy by the word of God and with prayer. And Paul says, verse six, if you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus. You'll be trained in the words of the faith and the good doctrine that you have followed.

Another way Paul puts this with Titus in Titus one, nine, that an overseer of the church must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught and be able to rebuke those who contradict it. Here, Paul is just provided some examples.

The trustworthy word as taught is given to us in first Timothy three, 16, and those who contradicted are exemplified in chapter four, verse three, hold fast to sound teaching. Watch out for those who are false teachers.

Enjoy those things that God has given to us to be enjoyed and received with thanksgiving. Encourage the brothers in those things. This is not about depriving you of those things that are pleasurable. God has given us things that are pleasurable.

Just be sure that you are enjoying those things according to the way that God made them to be enjoyed. Not chasing after the passions of our flesh, but chasing after Christ, exalting him, giving glory to him for all things.

God, I thank you for this time together. I thank you for friends and family. I thank you for good conversations. I thank you for a good ride in the car, for the sunshine, for the air we breathe, for clean water to drink, for the daily bread that you will provide us with today, for every opportunity that we will encounter today.

I thank you for these things and I pray that we would receive them with thanksgiving and we would know exactly how to respond to each thing that is set before us or every opportunity that comes our way.

How do we know the truth of how we are to enjoy these things? According to what is said in your word. And as we cling to this and we present this before the brothers and sisters in the Lord and we follow according to what your word says, then we can receive all these good things with thanksgiving and we can enjoy them to the praise of your glorious grace.

May it all be about Christ. Our focus is entirely on Christ. For the kingdom of heaven is not about the material things that we enjoy in this world, but it is by the power of Christ that sustains us and will deliver us from this life into your eternal kingdom.

These bodies that you have given to us, even these bodies are fleeting. They are not going to last. The physical enjoyments that we partake in, we should know immediately that they don't sustain us because the body is not sustained.

But Christ is forever. He is eternal. And so let us place all our hope upon him. We enjoy the small things that we enjoy in this life as but tiny glimpses into the greater picture of your glorious kingdom that awaits us if we endure to the end.

Keep us steadfast in the faith. For your namesake, in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

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