 And our sermon title this morning is the Anatomy of Apostasy, the Anatomy of Apostasy. And this is our third part of this series as we've been walking through this paragraph in 1st Timothy chapter four verses one through five where the Bible says, now the Spirit expressly says that in latter time some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving for it is sanctified by the word of God in prayer. This is a serious issue, this issue of apostasy, very serious in Ephesus, serious issue in Ephesus and a very serious issue down through the ages in the professing church today. From the time of Adam and Eve, when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden there has been proven to be a tragic and horrific coupling of truths that has lasted throughout the ages. One truth, the constant presence of seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. From the time the truth was established you have Satan establishing seducing spirits and doctrines of demons but we also at the same time see the wickedly deceitful heart of man. Then the constant presence of seducing spirits and doctrines of demons that undermine the word of God, they undermine the truth of God using human agents as we've seen in 1 Timothy chapter 4 verses 1 and 2, hypocritical liars with the brand mark of Satan, a seared conscience spreading lies with a purpose of drawing away after themselves disciples. But also at the same time at the same time you have the desperately wicked and deceitful above all things heart within you. Your worst enemy, you have three enemies, the world, the flesh and the devil and the worst betrayer you have in your own chest that you have to contend with, the wicked traitor in your own chest, the enemy of your soul, your heart. This is a recipe for utter disaster and it's a consequence of the fall. From the beginning God's word was undermined and now this coupling of these two truths, the work of Satan, the doctrines of demons and the deceitful heart of man has provided a backdrop if you will for the constant and deplorable failure of man over the ages and not just among men in general. Most insidiously here is the failure of men and specifically professing Christians within the professing church, those that would attest to be or claim to be God's people and where there is truth you have the forces of evil arrayed against it. This is a spiritual war. Timothy says or Paul says to Timothy here earlier that we're to wage the good warfare. We're to fight the good fight. This is warfare but our enemy isn't wearing a different uniform. He's wearing the same uniform that you have on. He looks similar. He disguises himself as an angel of light as a minister of righteousness. He's in the trench with you supposedly and enticing you to turn your weapons on your own brothers, your brothers in arms. He pretends to be a brother in arms with you. These are hypocritical liars and they turn many away from the faith and we're to expect that. The spirit expressly says that it will be so and the longer that we go the farther we get toward that day this will abound more and more as the scripture says constantly turning people away from the faith to shipwreck. We have the story of God's people to attest to this. We look through our Bible and you read your Bible. You see the constant story of man's failure. You have the story of God's people Israel constantly turning to idolatry. Moses could barely get down the mountain before they were making a golden calf for themselves right? Constantly given to idolatry when they come into the land they fail to drive out false worship as the Lord had told them to do and when they failed to drive them out it's like well you can't beat them join them and so all those wicked nations drew the people into idolatry drew them into apostasy and they turned from God. Failure failure failure through the book of judges it is a repetitive pattern of sin and of judgment and then God's great grace is great mercy and deliverance despite failure after failure after failure God still comes and delivers and it's a repetitive failure even through the book of judges. Finally the Israelites they reject God as king over them and they request a king a rejection of God and then every king it seems as though is one failure after another. You have a couple of righteous kings and then you read of their sons they did evil in the side of the Lord. It's just a pattern a repetitive pattern of failure one king after another leading the people into idolatry and then the Lord again in his great grace and in his mercy sends the prophets. One prophet after another warning of judgment until finally Israel finds themselves in exile. Israel constantly turning away into apostasy from the beginning until now apostasy has been a great concern of God for his people of God for Old Testament Israel of God for the church today. It is a compilation of these apostates a compilation of compromises leading to a despicable departure from God and his truth however even within the confines of the visible apostate community of Israel the Lord in his grace and in his mercy again pervers preserves for himself a remnant God preserves his own elect saved by grace through faith in the Old Testament just as believers today are saved by grace through faith preserve them preserving them by his grace to the saving of their souls. You fast forward into the church age right and today we're in the church at the same time God saves his true the bride of Christ and at the same time that God saves his true his elect the bride of Christ Satan sets up his false and the false is a seductive and alluring whore and people fall headlong after the seduction God's truth is that which is perfect converting the soul the statue to the Lord are right rejoicing the heart the commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes while the doctrines of demons spouted by the whore are those by which Satan blinds the minds of those who don't believe they are as the Bible says destructive heresies that bring swift destruction they're marked by philosophy as Paul says in Colossians by empty deceit according to the traditions of men according to the basic principles of the world and not according to Christ and those that are not genuinely and truly wed to Christ those that are not among the bride will eventually run off after the seduction to the whore little by little compromise by compromise one piece at a time drifting away J Gresham Machen said this what is today a matter of academic speculation begins tomorrow to move armies and pull down empires and that is true of think about it for a moment the theory of evolution and I'll imagine if you can the damage caused by that wicked the start of one theory and the damage caused by that wicked theory in the minds of people who will embrace that doctrine of demons and go to hell it is a wicked deceitful spirit and that is Satan's purpose for the church it is to tear down that empire it is to tear down God's people and using hypocritical liars to do it Paul begins in 1st Timothy chapter 4 verse 1 with a well-defined warning he says in verse 1 of the spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith and I think this is analogy is helpful for us to think about you have in the church those that we could illustrate as being live wires so to speak wires with an electrical current running through them connected to a power source which is God that is the true current the Holy Spirit running through them right we analogize them to an electrical wire that wire connected to the source and there's a current running through it that wire is strongly and inseparably linked in this case to God they're connected to the source but now Hebrew 6 verse 4 talks about those who are enlightened they've tasted of the heavenly gift they become partakers with the Holy Spirit they've tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come but then they fall away those that fall away aren't true Christians they're like a second wire running parallel to the true that picks up this second hand current if you will they have the notions of the heavenly gift they sense the powers of the age to come they've been somewhat enlightened by being around the true wire connected to the true source but because they're not connected to the source themselves that fake power if you will as quickly exhausted dies and they fall away is nothing more than fake second hand electricity if you will they're not connected to the source and so the second current has no power and they depart from the faith the warning here in this is for you in verse 1 we're given a warning by paul the timothy here to us are you true are you connected to the power source are you connected to God are you one of the true wires you have the current of the Holy Spirit running through you or are you just a fake second hand wire picking up on a second hand current what are you if you are not connected to the source you will fall away you'll eventually be judged it's that second wire that's a hypocritical fake the hypocritical fake one of the tests of this is what you'll do how you'll respond how you'll react when one of those that you thought was a real wire connected to the source when one of those fake hypocritical wires next to you running parallel to you falls away what will you do will you trail off with that one and fall away just the same will you remain steadfast through that and stay connected another is are you simply going to obey God or will you give in to self-will will you give in to sin will you give in to self-indulgence will you give in to that seducing spirit and doctrine of demons that well-defined warning by the spirit in verse 1 is followed up by what we see as a dangerous devotion point 2 on your notes verse 1 goes on to say giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons apostasy begins by giving heed by giving heed the soon to be apostate by default stops heeding scripture stops heeding godly counselors stops heeding accountability stops heeding godly brothers and sisters who care for their soul stops heeding wisdom from the word of God stops heeding accountability and they start heeding their own desires their own opinions their own preferences their own self-will they start heeding the seduction of some sin or some error some worldly reasoning someone the world comes along and rises something up against the knowledge of God and they start heeding that we were witnessing to a young lady yesterday got to a point here is what the word of God says and yet here is what you ignorantly and willfully want to continue to believe and ultimately there's a self-will associated with apostasy the word of God says this and I choose to believe this I choose to do this simply not conforming themselves to the word of God it is a dangerous devotion but all this we're gonna we're to understand is by means of point 3 by means of hellish hypocrites in verse 2 we saw speaking lies in hypocrisy having their own conscience seared with a hot iron the ultimate cause of all this is Satan doctrines of demons deceiving spirits lying spirits however the means of this the proximate means of it is human agents very natural these are hypocritical liars the falling away will not be because they heated the council of their elders or pastors the falling away will not be because they sought and followed the biblical council of godly brothers or godly sisters in the church who love them in desire to faithfully look out for their soul the falling away will not be because they sought to faithfully obey whatever the Bible clearly says the falling away will not be because they labored with all-long suffering to strive for peace to work for peace the falling away will not be because they patiently and humbly considered their actions under the spotlight of God's word the falling away will not be because of their love for the brothers the falling away will not be because they faithfully held their post to serve as they were called to serve the falling away will be because of the opposite of every one of those the falling away will be because they are wrapped in self-will and rebellion and sin shrouded in some self-righteous excuse stuffed in the skin of a superficial godliness all to the tune of some hypocritical liar some deceiving spirit leading them astray a pawn of Satan they twist their thinking and while their thinking is being twisted they sear their conscience Peter says in 2nd Peter 3 17 you therefore beloved since you know this beforehand beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness being led away with the error of the wicked this is a warning given throughout scripture we've got to heed that warning it's a serious warning it's not a hypothetical warning we've got to be very conscious of that we need to fear God in this as we move to verse 3 this morning we see beginning in verse 3 both the fruit of apostasy but we also see those doctrines of demons that produce it one example here given in Ephesus so for this in point four on your notes we see a ghastly exchange in verse 3 a ghastly exchange verse 3 goes on to say forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth the ghastly exchange here is this it's exchanging the truth for a lie it's exchanging true godliness for a wicked worldliness it's exchanging the gospel of grace for a fake gospel of works righteousness ultimately it's exchanging Christ for pagan religion just like every other religion in the world and this is a masterful work of Satan to do this masterful work of Satan beginning in the first century as the church is being established a masterful work of Satan throughout the ages and a masterpiece of Satan in our day and age today this is a masterpiece that comes from hell and there are in Ephesus at this time several strains of influence that gave rise to this apostasy in the church this difficulty one in Ephesus at the time you had what they called the sect of the Essenes the Essenes of kumran the Essenes of kumran taught that it was virtuous to reject any kind of physical pleasure so that's going to do away with marriage it's gonna do away with those foods you like you may eat those that you don't particularly like but to do away or reject all pleasure even in marriage they taught their followers that it was a virtuous that it was virtuous to neglect the marriage altogether in addition to the Essenes and that what the Essenes were teaching you had the seeds of what would become in the second century eventually a Gnosticism the Gnosticism taught that the human body and all of the functions of the human body were evil so to be godly you had to live above the physical and do away with the physical to reject the physical it was a fake superficial kind of spirituality that the Gnostics taught and you had here in Ephesus the seeds of what would eventually become a full blown Gnosticism but also in Ephesus you had those in Ephesus at the time that were living what we would call an over realized eschatology eschatology is a study of last things those last things are that the kingdom is coming the kingdom of God the kingdom of God is here but the Lord will set up his kingdom and will rule and reign from Jerusalem there is a kingdom that will be established those that have this over realized view of in times would say well because the Lord is about to set up his kingdom we might as well go ahead and start living like we're in the kingdom now and so those things that Jesus taught like those angels in heaven we're not going to be married nor given in marriage and so we might as well not be married now we might let's just forsake marriage altogether they knew that in the kingdom it's not like we're going to be killing animals to eat meat and so we need to stop eating meat now we need to live now like we're in the kingdom the problem with that is that the kingdom is not in that sense now and that contradicts the word of God but they had those that were living out this over realized exotop eschatology let me give you one example of that just flip the page to 2nd Timothy chapter 2 2nd Timothy chapter 2 and look down beginning in verse 16 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 16 here Paul says to Timothy but shun profane and idle babblings for they will increase these are profane and idle babblings that we see represented here in verse 3 they're just profane idle babblings they will increase the more ungodliness verse 17 and their message will spread like cancer hymen eis and phyletus are of this sort who have strayed concerning the truth saying that the resurrection is already passed in other words is an over realized eschatology and they overthrow by teaching this they overthrow the faith of some they cause some to plunge into shipwreck shipwreck their faith nevertheless verse 19 says the solid foundation of God stands having this seal the Lord knows those who are his and let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity you want to boil it down your Christian life if you name the name of Christ depart from iniquity depart from iniquity here they're those who are teaching that which they ought not for dishonest gain and they're leading away disciples after themselves in addition to that you have the escenes and that heresy that was being spread you had the seeds of a noses and that was being spread you had those that were mixed up about end times and about the kingdom of God and you still had in Ephesus at this time those Jews or those coming out of Judaism who are caught up in the dietary laws who are having real difficulty with this if you can imagine you remember Peter and the sheet coming down with all manner of animals in it right and that sheet had to come down three times take up Peter and eat before Peter got the idea that those dietary laws weren't in effect any longer and that Peter could eat that food so in this context I think about it for a moment the escenes and their asceticism the nostics and their asceticism the tendency toward this kingdom mentality that was unbiblical and then those that were still caught up in dietary laws what does Satan do Satan hits them where it hurts Satan hits them where they're most vulnerable he doesn't introduce to them a seducing spirit with the doctrine of demons of easy-believe-ism he doesn't introduce to them antinomianism or lawlessness you can live lawlessly and still be a Christian he doesn't introduce to them a dead orthodoxy now don't worry about obeying what does he do in their context Satan and again a masterpiece from hell introduces to them asceticism law more law a different law additional man-made laws asceticism is an avoidance of self-indulgence for religious reasons it's denying yourself those things which God has said is okay it's denying yourself those indulgences for the sake of being more religious or more spiritual or more favorable toward God here it was just more law that he was introducing and that was where they were most vulnerable the mileage that Satan has gotten out of this error is staggering the amount of damage that he has caused is staggering it's avoidance of self-indulgences this avoidance here is focused primarily toward two glorious gifts from God food and marriage marriage and food and here is the ghastly exchange on this issue of marriage and food those that followed this seductive spirit into this heresy trade their standing in Christ for foolish ascetic pursuits they trade the freedom that they have in Christ for this yoke of bondage and this fake standard of spirituality they depart from the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints to take on this form of self-denial which becomes the sum of their religion in order to be right with God I have to deny myself certain things in order to be right with God I need to deny marriage deny intimacy and marriage some were married and they denied intimacy inside of their marriage for the sake of being spiritual some would deny the foods that they eat as it's still going on today yes it is yes it is in taking on that fake false superficial lying hypocritical religion they displace Christ the Bible clearly teaches that Alexander McLaren wrote this any asceticism is a great deal more to men's taste than abandoning self they will rather stick hooks in their backs and do the swinging puja then give up their sins and yield up their wills listen to this there is only one thing that will put the collar on the neck of the animal within us and that is the power of the indwelling Christ ascetic religion is godless for its practitioners essentially worship themselves and as such we are not to be intimidated by it wherever you encounter this false religion rebuke it expose it for what it is it is a doctrine of demons expose it for what it is it is a fake hypocritical spirituality that does not save that person is still in blindness what contributes to this I mean why is it that those who are not connected to the source would go headlong after some seductive spirit like this some doctrine of demon rather than connecting themselves to the source what is so seductive one contributing factor is the nature of the apostate isn't it just like the apostate or the hypocritical liar who's teaching this nonsense to take something that is commended by God or commended by Christ and twist it and pervert it into something that is destructive in 1st Corinthians 7 Paul clearly commends singleness right but Paul also clearly commends marriage and so what is the hypocritical liar do what is that deceiving spirit through the human agent spread he twists that to say let's not be married at all if singleness is commended then marriage is evil let's do away with marriage at all if you're already married well too bad for you do away with intimacy and marriage in Matthew 6 Jesus Christ commends fasting under certain circumstances under certain conditions he commends it so what is the hypocritical liar do the hypocritical liar forbid certain foods all the time he twists it into some super spiritual thing that's going to gain merit with God he turns it into a man-made law so you have those that believe this to their own destruction there were those in Ephesus that preached that future kingdom living in that sense they were preaching that we should live otherworldly and in preaching that we should live other worldly they became completely worldly themselves let me give you an example of what that looks like look at 1st Timothy just go back to chapter 6 chapter 6 they are preaching that we should live otherworldly and yet they are completely worldly themselves in 1st Timothy chapter 6 beginning in verse 3 Paul says to Timothy if anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent a wholesome words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which accords with Godliness and that's the key there what you say what you believe how you think how you feel how you act and react every bit of it should be submitted to the word of God it doesn't matter what you think yourself it doesn't matter what you believe it matters with the word of God says it doesn't matter how you think that somehow it's going to work out for you on judgment day when you stand before God and give an account for your life and you're judged according to your works it doesn't matter a hill of beans what you think it matters with the word of God says it matters what God thinks you're coming to salvation on his terms it doesn't matter what you believe out of your own heart to be true it matters what the Bible says is true and there are many who will hold on to in grasp their own feeble attempts at imagining what is true or false and they will follow that doctrine all the way to hell it matters with the word of God says and if your beliefs aren't rooted and grounded in scripture you're in big trouble we were speaking with a lady witnessing to her my brother and I and again just believing what she believes doesn't matter what you believe matters with the word of God says what if your belief contradicts what the scripture clearly says what are you going to do with your belief you need to drop that and submit yourself to what the word of God says your belief doesn't matter it matters with the word of God says we're to believe that we're told what to believe here these are wholesome words these are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and here it's the doctrine in scripture which accords with godliness how can you tell a doctrine of demon doesn't accord with godliness it accords with godlessness it leads to error it leads to sin here this is the doctrine that accords with godliness but he goes on to say anyone who teaches other than that is proud at verse 4 knowing nothing but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words from which come envy strife reviling evil suspicions bring up the truth of God's word in opposition to someone's foolish belief and you're going to cause contention there's going to be strife bring up the truth of God in the face of someone's firmly grasped opinion or preference or belief and you're going to see sparks fly verse 5 there are useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth who suppose that godliness is a means of gain from such withdraw yourself how many godly godless money grubbing TV preachers have you seen who believe that the word of God is a means to gain it's common in our day today as well isn't it we see it all the time others you got the nature of the apostate others may be trying to play cater guilty conscience they cannot attain to a true level of spirituality themselves to the true level of spirituality to a true standard of spirituality and so they create for themselves their own and they do that through this through asceticism through all kinds of things they can't attain to forsaking their sin because they have no spirit they're not connected to the source and so they settle for a man made a made up a fabricated standard of holiness a standard of their own choosing and they mask their own inner wickedness by an outward observance or an outward morality an outward conformity to what they think is truth in other words when you being false not being true when you are that hypocritical fake second parallel wire that doesn't have the current running through it when you're not connected to the source then you cannot forsake your selfishness when you can't forsake lust you can't forsake your greed you can't forsake your anger you can't forsake your pride you can't forsake your covetousness you can't forsake gossip you can't forsake divisiveness you can't forsake malice you can't forsake murder in the heart right you can't forsake adultery in the heart you can't forsake your thieving you can't forsake anger in traffic anger toward your spouse anger on the job you can't forsake your discontentedness you can't forsake your discouragement or despair or depression you can't forsake your sin then you attempt to acquire righteousness by abstaining from those things that God has left you free to do and you call it righteousness you know what I can't forsake all of this so I'm going to forsake lasagna on Fridays and that makes me holy I'm gonna forsake I'm gonna be I'm gonna be single but I'm lusting constantly you can't forsake the sin so you do something that you call holy and you make up your own righteousness you can't forsake those things because you're not connected to God you're not connected to the source you're not empowered by the spirit you're not saved if you are floundering in your sin you are in a pattern of unrighteousness a pattern of sin a pattern of anger a pattern of lust a pattern of greed a pattern of covetousness if you're in that pattern of sin a pattern of no interest in the things of God a pattern of indifference a pattern of apathy a pattern of no hungry and thirsting for righteousness a pattern where you just sort of go through the motions a pattern of enjoying your sin not loving Christ and you're lost the Lord has not changed your heart you're not connected to the source you're not indwelt by the spirit the Lord has to change who you are from the inside out and if you haven't turned from your sin and put your faith and trust in Christ alone to save you you've not submitted to the Lordship of Christ you've not sold out for Christ because of all he's done to save you if you've not turned from your sin and put your faith in Christ then you're hopelessly lost you're hopelessly lost to stand before God one day in your own righteousness and all of that effort on your part to establish a fake hypocritical righteousness that is made up it's gonna be good for nothing it won't fly on judgment day it's not gonna last one second Lord is gonna see you for the hypocrite that you are and you're gonna spend eternity in hell paying for your own sin flee to Christ when you flee to Christ God will change your heart when you flee to Christ God will empower you with his indwelling Holy Spirit when you flee to Christ the Lord will credit the perfect righteousness the perfect obedience of Christ to your account and he will connect you forever as a child of the kingdom to the source of life which has got himself and it'll empower you to live the Christian life he'll empower you to overcome covenants this and greed and anger and sin he saves us from sin you've got to be connected to the source this is wicked self-righteousness wicked hypocritical fake fabricated righteousness this is not the righteousness of Christ and remember no matter how nice no matter how humble how self-effacing how friendly these people are they are hypocritical liars and pawns of Satan pawns of deceiving spirits spreading doctrines of demons they propagate a false spirituality they call it real and they're acting in accord with Satan is secondly another contributing factor here is the nature of satanic attacks against the gospel Satan has his purpose to attack the gospel that which saves all false religion all false religion those doctrines of demons all false religion is made up is devising human means by which people are saved the one true gospel the one thing that is true that we can take to the bank that we can believe and hold heartedly because God is true God does not lie the one thing that is true is Christ's gospel that by grace and grace alone through faith and faith alone in the person and finished work of Christ and Christ alone may we be saved and there is no work of righteousness that you can do you can't help enough old ladies across the street you can't take out your neighbor's garbage frequently enough to make up for all the sin that you've committed you can't do anything to save yourself you can't do anything to roll off the offense that you personally have caused before a holy God that created you you can do nothing the only true religion that there is is a religion of God did it all and saved my wretched soul all wicked false religion all hypocritical lying doctrines of demons all of that made by seducing spirits spread propagated by seducing spirits is all human achievement is all human achievement what men devise for themselves in order to save themselves in order to placate a guilty conscience in order to self justify and I'm telling you you talk to just a few people you witness for any length of time how doggedly and persistently people clutch to that lie it's the lie in this life that gives them comfort it will be the lie in the next life that causes them to burn and this here this asceticism is just an example of that it communicates a false spirituality a false means of attaining holiness and this is something that is so clearly so repeatedly taught in scripture to believe it really is staggeringly ignorant because it's taught so clearly in the word of God Paul in Romans 14 verse 17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit Paul obviously as we said commends marriage in first Corinthians chapter 7 listen to Mark in chapter 7 verses 14 to 19 when Jesus Christ had called a multitude to himself he said to them hear me everyone and understand okay we're going to preface this statement with a Jesus Christ God in the flesh saying hear me and understand this there is nothing that enters a man from the outside which can defile him can that be said any clearer no but the things which come out of him those are the things that defile a man if anyone has ears to hear let him hear pretty clear in other words the dietary laws are gone there's nothing that goes into a man that defiles him it's what comes out of a man that defiles him what comes out of your heart through your mind out of your lips in your actions that's what defiles you before God and outside of Christ you are a constant defilement inside of Christ you can't do anything righteous on your own all of your righteousness is because of Christ all of the good that you do is as a result of the Holy Spirit at work in you he goes on to say in verse 17 when he had entered a house away from the crowd his disciples asked him concerning the parable so he said to them are you thus without understanding also do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from the outside cannot defile him because it does not enter his heart but it enters his stomach and is eliminated thus purifying all foods as this error of asceticism gone away or Satan still getting mileage out of this today now he's still getting mileage out of this today the scripture can be let me give you another example go to Colossians chapter 2 Colossians chapter 2 scripture cannot be any clearer in Colossians chapter 2 look beginning in verse 16 here Paul says so let no one judge you in food or in drink or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths which are a shadow of things to come but the substance is of Christ in other words do not sacrifice freedom in Christ for man-made rules don't substitute freedom in Christ for man-made rules the shadow is the thing that is not isn't real it has no reality the reality is Christ the shadow simply points to the thing that is real the reality here is Christ don't substitute freedom in Christ for man-made rules here it says verse 18 let no one cheat you of your reward taking delight in false humility and worship of angels intruding into those things which he has not seen vainly puffed up this is a result of pride puffed up you get you know I fasted three days this week it was like are you kidding me false humility worship of angels intruding into those things which he has not seen vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind and not holding fast to the head from whom it's a capital H there that's Christ from whom all the body nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments grows with the increase that is from God therefore if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world why as though living in the world do you subject yourself to regulations do not touch do not taste do not handle which all concern things which perish with the using according to the commandments and doctrines of men these things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion false humility and neglect of the body but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh Galatians chapter 5 verse 1 says to stand fast therefore in the liberty that we have in Christ by which Christ has made us free do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage but despite that despite how clear it is in scripture look for a moment at what Satan has accomplished through this exchange one he has them in Ephesus believing that holiness comes through asceticism that is a wicked lie the holiness comes through asceticism holiness only comes through faith in Christ by the work of the Spirit of God to they are actually practicing this and they're doing it with zeal you have leaders in a church that are practicing this and teaching this look at what Satan has accomplished here this masterpiece from the pit of hell three he's managed to separate professing Christians from God they're those who are falling away and they're falling away from God who is true and the righteousness that is theirs by faith in Christ and they're turning away to this stupid ignorant asceticism they're falling away from God for they place their own supposed spirituality in this in a position that goes beyond what God has said is spirituality in other words it's almost like Eve in the garden God said do not eat of the fruit of this tree Eve told the serpent we're not to eat it nor are we to touch it going beyond the command of God this these man-made rules this asceticism going beyond the command of God in some sense that this is some hyper spirituality and it's just a lie it's going to send them to hell verse five it separates Christians from one another it creates a two-tier Christianity if you will you've got those elite who can do without marriage and without eating meat but us mere mortals we got to eat meat and get married right so you know you can't handle the heat oh you're are gonna be a second-class Christian go ahead and eat your meat creates two classes of Christians six it separates the whole assembly from those outside in terms of the gospel in other words there is no longer any heart transformation associated with the gospel it's just a list of do's and don'ts like every other wicked religion in the world in other words it strips the miraculous power of God out of the gospel you don't have to have that life-changing transformation to give evidence that you are of God or have been born again the gospel is no more than another list of do's and don'ts just like every other world religion is just another list of do's and don'ts in other words you can live the pagan would say you live just like me you live just like me you look no different than me you do the same kinds of things that I do to be spiritual so we're just spiritual together wicked false separation here Satan has got a lot of mileage out of this we can't make barriers that God has not made ultimately it is demonic the mileage is still being continued today the Catholic Church continues to forbid marriage and forbid food you know it was said at one point the Catholic Church put into their teaching so many days of the year that a man and woman in marriage could not be intimate that eventually it encompassed half the year and I wonder there's a Reformation half the year it's wicked is that it is an asceticism you have st. Simeon stylized the elder who sat 37 years on the top of a pole because it was spiritual you have nuns throughout history that have encased themselves and closed themselves in the cathedral walls because their isolation was spiritual being fed through little hole you know stuff and stuff through little holes to feed them ridiculous the the moral to take away from this is they cannot attain to the truth and so they create for themselves a falsehood what about you have you attained to the truth the only way that you will is to turn from your sin and trust Christ the only way that you will is to place your reliance trust faith in him alone cry out to God who is the source of salvation and plead with him to change your heart change your nature change your mind and put you on the right path cry out to God for salvation instead of blindly accepting that which is false as a substitute for that which is true you'll stand there one day with your substitute little fake truth and you'll be dropped into hell the answer to apostasy here is given us given to us in verse 3 and in verse 4 and 5 here goes on to say forbidding the Mary and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with Thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth for every creature of God is good nothing is to be refused if it is received with Thanksgiving for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer here in Ephesus asceticism is an example it's an example of what those that fell away were being led away by what those that fell away were producing but you can substitute that example in our day and age today apply it principally to our situation with just about any heresy that we've got easy believism the grace of God into licentiousness dead orthodoxy baptismal regeneration I'm gonna walk this little I'm gonna say this silly little prayer I'm gonna go out live like I want to live and call myself a Christian whatever heresy being taught today you want to substitute for asceticism you can it is the same thing it is a lie that is substituting for the truth and here the Lord says about this that there in these two verses here four and five specifically there are basically six statements that makes up Paul's argument for us to avoid apostasy to avert apostasy one God created food good he created it good secondly prayer of Thanksgiving gratefulness to God is what affirms it as good confirms its goodness says in verse three that God created it to be received with Thanksgiving in other words he created it good in verse four every creature of God is good verse five it is sanctified or separated by the word of God in prayer it is separated to be good but then notice the second part of the argument that it is thankfulness that confirms its goodness in verse three it is to be received with Thanksgiving we receive it with grateful hearts to the Lord in verse four nothing is to be refused if it is received with Thanksgiving verse five it is sanctified by the word of God in prayer that prayer of gratefulness to God here notice that the food isn't good because of the prayer when you sit down at the table to eat and you say your blessing the food isn't good or isn't acceptable or isn't okay because you prayed over it it was already good it was created good but what the prayer does what the thankful heart does is put that in its proper perspective is that it comes from God who created it good who gives it to you as a loving father that supplies everything that you need it affirms and confirms its goodness as coming from God and the prayer puts that in the right response look at notice in verse four nothing is to be refused if it is received with Thanksgiving it's a conditional word there and this is the point I think from that God designed food designed food so that his people could express their thankfulness their gratefulness to him through this the Lord gave food for our good gave food to supply our need and in turn we are to receive that as from God's gracious hand as good and it's from him it is to be received with gratefulness Romans one says of the apostates as of the pagan that they weren't thankful they weren't grateful here Christians are thankful to God for supplying their needs so the interesting connection here so the antidote to averting apostasy here given in three four and five is certainly that we can receive these things and do these things because we have freedom in Christ to do it but that reception is with a grateful heart is with Thanksgiving to God very quickly another way to avert apostasy Jeremiah 32 verse 40 says a fear of God God says I'll make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from doing them good but I will put my fear in their hearts so they will not depart from me where to take these warnings very seriously a third and final way to avoid apostasy is the perseverance of the saints maybe more appropriate way of saying that is the preservation of the saints by God we must fight we must wage the good warfare to persevere in the faith to be saved we are not of those who draw back to perdition to judgment to condemnation but we are those that press on in believing to the saving of our souls we're to persevere to the end be saved first Corinthians chapter 15 verse 1 says this moreover brethren I declare to you the gospel which I preach to you which also you receive and in which you stand by which also you are saved if you hold fast that word which I preach to you unless you believe in vain you go off you come into the church you say I want to follow Christ I want to flee the wrath of God I want to be saved I want to go to heaven when I die I want to be forgiven of all this sin so you come into the church and you start what is supposedly your Christian life and then you start drifting start trailing off into this error into this sin start trailing off into self-will start drifting away from the truth that we have from God's word the truth that we have in Christ all of your belief all of your effort all of your hypocritical self-righteousness all of that belief all of those opinions all those preferences all that sin all of it is in complete vain you will not attain to that which you seek and in hypocrisy you on judgment day will be revealed as a liar hold fast to that which is true run hard after that which is right run hard after Christ clean to the cross he's done it all he's done it all just abandon yourself for him give up living for yourself give up that wicked lifestyle turn to Christ and serve him with all your heart all your soul all your mind all your strength and the Lord Jesus Christ will give you his perfect righteousness he'll take that penalty that you deserve and he took it on his own body on the tree so that you might have heaven you might have God as your inheritance that you might have Christ for all eternity is that a glorious promise why would we ever go after the fake why would we go after the counterfeit seek hard after Christ and persevere to the end to be saved let's pray together father in heaven Lord and we pray to you in great need we pray to you acknowledging our great need we need help in this Lord our hearts which are desperately wicked deceitful above all things what are so susceptible to being drawn away after some trinket of deceiving spirits some wicked lie and those temptations are often alluring they're often tempting because they feed our flesh feed our self-will they feed our pride or help us to stand fast against those wiles of the wicked one or help us to stand fast in the freedom that we have in Christ help us to stand fast or clean to the cross and persevere to the end to be saved protect your church Lord from those wicked seducing spirits protect your church from doctrinal error that Lord grant us faithfulness to the doctrine that accords with godliness or grant your church faithful brothers and sisters that look out for one another or that we might together persevere to the end be saved we pray all this Lord for the good of your people but certainly God for your glory for your namesake you have saved the people to be your own treasured possession zealous for good works and so for your name for the greatness of your name that your name might still among this wicked and pagan generation in which we live got your mate name might still be made famous that you might be seen as holy and just and righteous and good and yes Lord is merciful and it's loving and it's forgiving we love you and we praise you or want to see you worship in this we Lord one day unfettered by sin want to worship you as you are worthy to be worshiped we love you Lord and thank you for this time thank you for this paragraph of scripture that you've been so gracious to allow us to study together I pray Lord that you would by your spirit deeply apply this to our hearts that we might live in a healthy fear of you we might live in a healthy universe understanding of our own weakness Lord that we might cling to you we love you Lord in Jesus name amen