 Our scripture this morning is 1st Timothy chapter 6 verses 3 through 5 and the title of our sermon discern and depart and we are again We're walking through first Timothy Paul's letter to Timothy Verse by verse sometimes word by word clause by clause We've been in this letter for just the better part or over a year now And so Paul in this letter now in chapter 6 is beginning to wrap up this letter to Timothy And he changes focus he went from how we interrelate with people in the church now Specifically addressing false teachers and false teaching. This is something that is incredibly important for us to understand false teaching false teachers are addressed repeatedly in scripture So repeatedly in fact that it's something that we need to take very special heed to again here Paul begins his letter in 1st Timothy addressing the issue of false teachers and false teaching now We come to chapter 6 and he begins to address this issue again It is if you will book ends on this letter to Timothy he addresses false teaching throughout Specifically again here in chapter 6 false teaching corrupts the gospel false teaching corrupts holy living It leads to sin leads to disobedience it directly Impacts whether someone is saved or not for that reason it is so Important that we remind ourselves teach ourselves from the word of God how to identify it and how to protect ourselves against it It is a critical issue. It's a critical issue because souls are at stake Paul when he was in Ephesus he said he cried day and night for three years with tears Warning those in Ephesus that savage wolves will come in not sparing the flock leading away Disciples after themselves it is a serious issue at the same time in scripture that you have Paul addressing false teaching Throughout scripture you also have this other reality There is the other reality that there is a type of faith which does not save that there is the reality of Deception that regardless of what someone professes to be if they profess to be a Christian There is the very real possibility that they are not a Christian and so scripture repeatedly warns us of false conversion false teaching false doctrine that doctrine which does not accord with wholesome words the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and The fact that someone in their own heart in their own flesh can be deceived by false teaching Deceived by error and much many times error that arises out of our own minds out of our own deceitful hearts We are so prone to wander and so prone to being deceived and so scripture is replete with that warning replete with that Exhortation identify false teaching Understand error understand the truth protect yourself against false conversion. Listen This is what the Christian life looks like and align yourself with that don't be deceived So it's so important that we cover this and Paul again comes to it in chapter 6 He begins in verse 3 by saying this if anyone teaches otherwise Does not consent to wholesome words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which accords with godliness He's proud. He knows nothing but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words from which come envy come Strife come reviling evil suspicions 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 now We began last week looking at false teachers and the content of their message and as we go through these simple verses here These very profound verses. We're gonna look at several things one is discerning the content of what they're teaching All right next is going to be looking at the character of those false teachers who teach error There is a character there behind their teaching and we'll look at that thirdly will discern the Consequences of that in life Consequences of that false teaching in the church We'll see that as we get into verses 4 and 5 and then lastly We're gonna look at the exhortation that Paul gives here to depart to withdraw from those that teach So last week we began with step one step one here from verse 3 is Discerning the content of what is being taught the content of false teaching. Is it truth from the Bible or is it error? Is it biblical or is it unbiblical verse 3 said if anyone teaches otherwise Does not consent to wholesome words Does not consent to even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and not to the doctrine which accords with godliness Then he is proud knowing nothing We made the point last week you must Submerse yourself you have to be submersed in scripture to be able to discern That which is otherwise we have the biblical truth We have truth from God's word and then we have that which is taught that is otherwise They teach otherwise that marks the false teachers doctrine It is that which is otherwise that doesn't consent with wholesome words Doesn't consent with the words of Jesus Christ and doesn't consent with the doctrine that accords with godliness We've got to be able to discern that if you have enough Bible I think about it for a moment. If you have enough Bible running through your veins Then when false teaching comes along it gets filtered through all of that Bible such that you're able to discern truth from error if you don't have enough Bible running through your veins then Garbage is going to get in you have an untrustworthy Filter and you'll fall for anything. You're not able not as able to discern truth from error Think about it this way give me give you a very simplistic example, right very simplistic example Someone comes along to you and says maybe you're listening to a sermon and you hear if you confess with your mouth The Lord Jesus Christ and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead. You shall be saved That's that Bible. Yes, you better believe it is. That's Bible. All right, but now Here's how they're going to present that in a lot of cases The way that they understand it is simply if you make a profession of faith you confess the Lord Jesus And you believe in your heart I believe this fact that God raised him from the dead the Bible says you can be saved and here's how you do that You believe that and you pray Lord. I want you to be my personal Lord and savior You pray to receive Christ as your personal Lord and savior. That's how they interpret that but now if you know your Bible if you know your Bible then as that Scripture is presented to you then all of those texts begin to come to mind that add weight and Import to what the Bible says there in Romans chapter 10. You remember what the Bible says about repentance and What repentance is and how repentance is biblically defined the Bible defines repentance You remember what true Genuine saving faith is you remember how Scripture defines Genuine saving faith and you're not going to be duped into the fact that you can live however you want to live because you've made a sincere profession You're automatically a Christian. You're not going to be deceived by that misinterpretation You remember all those texts that discussed the high cost of discipleship and how it will cost you everything Even your own life to follow Christ and if you're not willing to give up all that you have He says you cannot might be my disciple you're gonna remember those texts You're gonna remember though all those texts that say that you cannot continue to live in an unbroken pattern of sin and call yourself a Christian and when that is presented to you because of your biblical intake and because of the biblical filter that you've Cultivated you're not going to be duped by a misinterpretation of Romans chapter 10 Many verses in Scripture say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand And so one might think to themselves all you have to do is repent change your mind. They think about sin That's all you got to do to be saved. What about all those passages that say believe are you gonna discount all of those? There are many put for all those that believe they will have eternal life and you forsake all those passages that speak of repentance You have to have a Cultivated biblical filter you have to be Submercing yourself in all of the word of God such that you understand the whole counsel of God so that you don't get duped Fooled deceived by false doctrine by error It is much often in false teaching what is not said that is drastically important to your spiritual health well-being where you go When you die If you are fooled by that misinterpretation who's responsible for that? You are you're responsible for it because you don't have that healthy biblical intake. You're responsible for your own deception Who else is responsible for it? That guy that sold you the bill of goods that scripture teaches both scripture teaches that it is you who is responsible Don't be deceived John little children. Do not be deceived. He who practices righteous righteousness is righteous He who sins makes a practice of sin is of the devil don't be deceived How much clearer can John be right? Don't be deceived But Peter also says it is by those who speak great swelling words of emptiness That people are overcome that people are led away in deception. It's both. It's that false teacher and it's you We must Submerse ourselves in the word of God learn the word of God so that we can discern truth from error And these false teachers become those in 1st Timothy chapter 1 verse 7 They desire to be teachers of the law, but they don't understand what they say They don't know when they don't know what they affirm and many that I've witnessed to witness the many false teachers Many people who teach that very plan of salvation if you will that simply Disregards much of scripture and they don't understand. They don't understand what they're saying. They don't understand what they're doing They don't understand what they're affirming. They simply don't get it I think about the motivation for a moment of that false teacher. What's his motivation? Wow, look at how many people I've gotten saved You go to a revival or a rally with a false teacher and they give some empty superficial Wrong presentation of the gospel and a wrong response to the gospel you get 300 people that come forward never mind You can't find one of them in the church a year later, right? But 300 people come forward Wow, look at all the people that I've gotten saved remember witnessing before I came found a good biblical church I was in a not so was in a false church in a bad church I remember going out witnessing and there was a guy that would come in every night after going out witnessing I got three people saved the night. I got four people saved the night. He's boasting in his results It's nothing more than covetousness doesn't Jeremiah say that from the least of them to the greatest of them They are all given to what? Covetousness covetousness boasting in their results entire denominations boasting I remember a while back a denominational slogan a million or more in 2004 just Go God is in charge of results and the glory of God isn't their aim It's in the collection of denominational statistics and numbers that it lends itself to pride We have to be like the Bereans in Act 17 the Bereans heard what was being preached by Paul That would have been new revelation to them at the time and yet they went back and searched the scriptures Daily to see if that which Paul said was true They searched the scriptures daily these false teachers think that they have a zeal for God But it's a zeal for their own pride a zeal for their own wallet a zeal for their own It's nothing more than prideful covetousness. Okay, the same principle now holds true with anything that you intake think about it for a moment It's true of scripture if you have a good healthy biblical intake of scripture Then when error comes along it gets run through that filter of Bible It rattles around there with all that other truth that you've got in your head in your heart And you discern truth from error and then that you protect yourself and you follow the Lord, right? Same goes true with anything else that you read if you have let's say you've got no books in your brain That was me through most of my high school years in college. No books in my brain. I don't know anything, right? Okay, so I pick up a first the first book that I'm gonna read as I pick up that first book that I'm gonna read I have nothing with which to interact with what's being taught to me The first one that comes along and pleads this case sounds right. It's what Proverbs says, right? So that book comes along I hear that argument. Wow, that sounds very compelling to me. That sounds right You know what? I'm gonna believe that I'm just spoon-fed theology got no Bible in my head nothing to protect me I just take whatever I'm fed. It's like a baby that puts anything in his mouth, right? but now if you've got Bible in your head and then maybe you've read 14 15 18 30 80 other books that draw you into scripture that are teaching you scripture You've heard these biblical arguments. You're studied and you're learning and you're studying and you're learning Then when you pick up that book when you pick up that book All that is being taught to you out of that book all that's being presented those arguments that are laid out for you There are now being engaged with all the other arguments and all the other truth and all of that Bible all of that thought All of that meditation all of that work all rattling around together Such that it engages with the text you have the ability then to discern what you are Hearing discern what you're being taught and you can discern between truth and error You've got to have Bible you've got to be taught the Bible That's why it's so important to get yourself especially new Christians to get yourself in a good solid Biblical church that's just gonna go verse by verse by verse through the word of God Such that you can for yourself not that you're gonna just be spoon fed by us so that you can see for yourself like a Berean I can look at the text. He's going verse by verse through that thing I can see those clauses so I can make a decision for myself. What is truth? What is error? Here's what the Bible teaches so that you begin to cultivate and build that good healthy Biblical filter got to have it the moral of that story is now the lesson we need to take from that is you must be Submitted to the word of God can't tell you how many times I just I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian You're talking to people. I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian and yet when you talk to them What are you doing with your Bible study? What are you doing with your Bible reading? I just you know Job I got other stuff going on and I just haven't gotten that sort of set Listen, this is life or death This is life or death apart from the word of God. Listen you in the Christian life is a slippery slope That you're climbing up Right, and you're climbing up this slippery slope. It's not perfection, but it's direction of your life You're making this climb up the Christian life. So to speak The world the flesh and the devil are so against you that if you stop Climbing you are already slipping backwards Understand you're already slipping down the slope. You've got to continually climb continually study Continually where we talked about it this morning that you've got to exercise yourself toward godliness labor strive toil. That means Gymnasticize yourself work labor agonize work yourself in the Christian life such that you can cultivate that godly healthy intake of God's word You can cultivate that filter you can rely on Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit in you to help you It's just building disciplines in your Christian life The word of God is critical for this if you don't have much Bible And you're not engaging enough with those errors that come along and just like a baby You'll be tempted to put that thing in your mouth, and it's not good for you Got to have Bible in our lives. You've got to put that discipline in place You should be able to say what are you doing for daily devotions? I'm doing this at this time and here's I'm doing it Here's what is right? Just that's in your life. It's just one of those things. It's in your life Christians have to have that have to have it. I can't exhort you enough on that point Get your time get your plan get your place study your words study the Bible God works through the word to sanctify you I don't know about you. It's happened in my own life I'm sure it's happened in yours too where you you know, you're in the Christian life You're trying to live for the Lord You know you sit and think for a moment you think wow, I mean, I'm really struggling having a hard time Maybe you're not having as much victory over that sin as you want or you're really struggling in a couple of your relationships Maybe you're discouraged at work or things just aren't going the way you think they should and just problem after problem after problem You think to yourself Last time I read my Bible Really really simple really really clear you in the power of the Spirit with faith in Christ Just put the discipline of daily Bible reading and study into your life and God will bless you through it God will bless your Christian life give you you will grow if you're not growing you need to look to that Potential cause you don't have it in your life like you should he's going to mature you the Bible says God It's the cry of the Christian sanctify me Lord sanctify me sanctify me by your truth What does he say? Your word is true We're sanctified by the Spirit of God through the word of God is so simple so simple and Christians Professing Christians don't do it Get a time get a plan Put it in place and don't compromise Get a steady intake of God's word. You must you must your spiritual health your spiritual vitality Depends upon it. It may be that your soul depends upon it because there are many who profess to be Christians who are not and by Slipping into sin That person apostatizes from the faith proving they were never Christian to begin with It ends up getting to the point where you pass a point of no return You must have a steady intake of the word of God now In verse 3 we're in step 1 here discerning the content in verse 3 We are discerning false teaching as being a different doctrine It says there in verse 3 teaching otherwise they teach otherwise all right, so it's different from the Bible Any teaching different from the Bible is a false teaching. It's a divergent doctrine It's another doctrine and because of that conditional statement there We know that this is to be expected among us the church should not be surprised when false teachers rise up teaching false Doctrine this is going to happen the enemy doesn't slumber. He's always plotting always attacking But those who know the word of God will be able to easily spot error in contradiction We must have the word of God now Next here in discerning the content of the false teachers message We find in verse 3 that false teachers do not Consent to wholesome words they do not consent to wholesome words Nor to the words of Jesus Christ nor to the doctrine which accords with God in his verse 3 if anyone teaches Otherwise does not consent to wholesome words Even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which accords with Godliness and you see the results there in verse 3 They teach otherwise that is a rejection of biblical authority to not consent with wholesome words Or the words of Jesus Christ is to reject biblical authority. Okay, that word there does not consent Literally means they don't occupy themselves with it It's a word that means they don't turn to a compound word in the Greek means one is toward the other one is to go to Or to go to come they don't go to it. They don't occupy themselves with it They don't give themselves to it. So it's listen. It's one thing, right to just reject it. You say not only that but it's another thing altogether with the Bible to Not consult it at all to not occupy yourself with it to not spend time engaging with it That's what they're doing here. They're not consenting But they're not occupying themselves with it They reject it now you can reject things in a couple of different ways one you can just reject it with your words I don't believe that In another way you can say with your words. I believe it But you reject it with your life, right? Both ways to reject that you can say I believe it and you can be a Hypocrite and don't live in accord with it You say you believe and you can reject the word of God with your life and we see that Exemplified throughout scripture. Just think about for a moment in scripture the numerous times if you read your Bible at all The numerous times in the Bible where someone failed to heed the word of God or seek the word of God or seek the counsel of God And the trouble that it got him into right many times think about Joshua Joshua man running strong doing well. They're going into the promised land fails to seek God before going into AI and 36 men are killed We later find out that we had some treasure hidden under a tent and he can get in all kinds of trouble, right? But he didn't seek the Lord before hand and 36 men are killed think about ahab ahab reluctantly seeks God's counsel counsel through Micaiah the prophet and Rejects it out of hand does not consent to it and then they suffer defeat God judges them But just rejects God's word out of hand. We see that happen throughout scripture Because the Bible is the doctrine which accords with godliness To reject it out of hand or to disregard it or to neglect it or to avoid it Results in sin it is sin to reject it and it results in sin as a consequence rejecting biblical authority Obviously leads to sin as we've seen in 1st Timothy so far this sin can put you on a Slicker slope leading toward apostasy. We see those there that suffer shipwreck of their faith They become apostates and eventually become false teachers It all begins so that you understand with not consenting now think about your own life for a minute You may say with your mouth. I believe in the word of God. I trust in the word of God I depend on the word whatever you say with your mouth is one thing How are you living? How are you engaging with the word of God? How does the word of God impact your life because to not consent with wholesome words means not to occupy yourself with them If you say the scripture are the literally that word wholesome They're the being healthy words of God if that is scripture to you if you value scripture and then yet you're not Occupying yourself with scripture such that you are applying it to your life and living according to it Then you're not consenting you're rejecting it, right? It's you know, we can say with our lips we can profess with our lips, but our hearts are far from him It's the same kind of thing. You must occupy yourself with scripture consent to wholesome words Which means to follow them to apply them to obey them, right? It's a very slippery slope when you don't do that I want you to see this progression You're in first Timothy chapter 6. Just flip back to second Thessalonians one more letter back second Thessalonians Chapter 3 and I want you to see this slippery slope that it places you on This should be a very fearful thing If you don't feel or you don't perceive in your own Christian life that you're zealous for the Lord And you're sliding down a very slippery slope If you don't have a steady healthy intake of God's word You're on a very slippery slope and it's a dangerous position to be in and it does have consequence in your life I've talked to people Regularly right that we've seen this in our church people that slip away slip away slip away and in part They begin simply by not consenting with wholesome words and that has a bear's consequence You face the consequences of that that compromise and it ends up in sin and you become Hardened and you reject a good conscience and before you know it you're out the door This is a very slippery slope. We need to take Heed to this warning and what the instruction here is look at 2nd Thessalonians chapter 3 and look beginning in verse 6 Okay Says here in verse 6 we command you brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you withdraw from every brother who walks Disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us Okay, what they're doing here in verse 6 is this brother who's in trouble here is Rejecting biblical authority rejecting. He's not consenting with wholesome words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ He's rejecting those right now drop down to verse 14 verse 14 Here the Bible says if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle in other words, they reject it They don't consent to it. They're not gonna live by it. They don't obey it Right, you're not to keep fellowship with that person Rather you are to note that person verse 14 says and do not keep company with him in order that he may be ashamed now rejecting the word of God is Sin and here in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 3 we see another example of church discipline This is church discipline in the Bible It gets to a point where we're not to associate with those who reject biblical authority That's the instruction from the word of God here. Now. That's not to be cruel But that's with the intent that the purpose that here in 2nd Thessalonians 3 that they may be ashamed So they can come to their senses over their sin turn back to the Lord be restored to God's people that'll be restored Okay, it's not to be cruel They might come to their senses and repent and the purpose that what we're to do to cause that to happen is to note them And to not fellowship with them. Okay That this person here 2nd Thessalonians 3 is Rejecting not consenting with biblical authority and that's demonstrated by their life of disobedience Demonstrated by their life here. That's very interesting. I want you to see this in verse 15 The Bible says in verse 15 don't count them as an enemy But admonish them as a brother So here in verse 15, you've got someone that we're the posture were to take toward them Is that their brother? We're simply to admonish them as a brother in hopes of regaining our brother to us Notice the slippery slope look at 1st Timothy chapter 1 now and go to the right 1st Timothy chapter 1 beginning in verse 5 The posture that were to take toward those in 2nd Thessalonians 3 is that we're to admonish them as a brother Don't count them as an enemy but this person Who rejects biblical authority is on a very slippery slope look at verse 5 1st Timothy chapter 1 The purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart from a good conscience and from a sincere faith now That's the purpose of wholesome words the words of our Lord Jesus Christ the words the doctrine that accords with godliness The purpose of those words is from our standpoint love from a pure heart Okay, a good conscience that only comes from obeying the Lord you have a bad conscience when you disobey, right? You disobey disobey disobey eventually your conscience becomes seared then it's an unworking almost worthless conscience, right? You've got to have an informed conscience and we have a sincere faith We're to have integrity in our faith. We're not to be hypocrites. We're to have integrity look at what it says in verse 6 from which some Having strayed now they're not just not consenting with wholesome words now they've strayed and they've turned aside to idle talk One point on the slope you simply reject wholesome words. I'm not gonna obey it. You're in sin. We'd monashu as a brother I hope to get you back But then in rejecting that biblical authority now they've strayed Now they've turned themselves aside to idle talk. Listen, if there's a vacuum of truth, it's gonna be filled by what? error lies Right demonic influence all kinds of things if you have an absence of the truth You're gonna have worldly reasoning you have an absence of the truth You're gonna get philosophy psychology a bunch of nonsense right a bunch of garbage Here they have rejected biblical authority now They have strayed from the truth strayed from that biblical those wholesome words and now they have turned themselves aside to idle talk Now listen to in verse 5 and 6 here in rejecting biblical authority You reject what that biblical authority produces. It doesn't just stop there. You reject love from a pure heart You reject a good conscience and you reject integrity in the faith you become a hypocrite You reject all of that and not consenting with wholesome words. You are rejecting all of that You're right a very serious thing now Let's go a little bit farther down the slippery slope drop down in 1st Timothy chapter 1 to verse 19 Having rejected a sincere faith a good conscience love from a pure heart now in turning aside from the truth and turning aside To idle talk you suffer shipwreck look at verse 19 Having faith in a good conscience, which some having rejected concerning the faith now they've suffered shipwreck They suffered shipwreck farther down the slippery slope the next verse down. They become blasphemers They they're put out of the church. They may be taught not to blaspheme So now turning aside to idle talk Now you're a shipwreck of your faith and you become a blasphemer Further down the slippery slope Those that reject the faith become shipwreck apostates that now open themselves up to demonic influence Speaking lies and their hypocrisy their consciences are seared beyond recovery and they teach Otherwise look at 1st Timothy chapter 4 1st Timothy chapter 4 and look there at verse 1 The spirit expressly says that in latter time some will depart from the faith not consenting with wholesome words Giving heed now to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons You have rejected biblical authority not consenting with wholesome words now you've turned aside Rejecting a love from a pure heart rejecting a good conscience rejecting sincere faith just living in your sin You have turned aside from truth and now you're turned aside to idle talk worthless talk You've suffered shipwreck of your faith and now in 1st Timothy chapter 4 You you're giving heed to deceiving spirits doctrines of demons He goes on to say verse 2 speaking lies and hypocrisy having their own Conscience seared with a hot iron listen you reject a good Conscience you will dull your conscience Render your conscience less and less effective and eventually you will sear it Oftentimes in the heart and mind of a false teacher or someone who's just Delivered over to a debased mind delivered over to their sin. They have no conscience left They just sin with impunity believe any filth trash that comes along because their consciences have become seared They have rejected a good conscience by obeying the Lord Then what do they do they forbid to marry and command abstinence from foods they become the false teacher This it's amazing to me right at first we are to admonish them as brothers and it's here They become hypocritical liars enemies of the cross of Christ whose God is their belly whose end is their destruction, right? Overthrowing the faith of many go another page to the right go to 2nd Timothy chapter 3 2nd Timothy chapter 3 And look there beginning in verse 6 This describes them now I think about this the slippery slope Verse 6 describes them for of this sort these false teachers are those who creep into households Make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins led away by various less. You know I was witnessing one time Speaking in the front yard with the lady It was myself and two other folks with me speaking to this young lady in her in her front yard And she became very convicted over her sin the law of God had its effect on her heart She saw her sin she started weeping weeping over her sin in the front. I need to be saved Lord I want the Lord to save me This conversation. Okay, you need to cry out of the Lord to save you you need to turn from your sin We gave her the gospel and then said you need to be in church Where are you gonna be in church on Sunday? You need to come to church You need to be around God's people you need to hear the word of God preached you need to now Turn from your sin and follow Christ and so I'll be there. I'll be there I'll be there. We left on the way out of the neighborhood. I remember I need to get the number from her house I need to follow her up So I turned around to go back to the house and get the number off the house and as I get to her house Up her driveway to Jehovah's Witnesses So what ensued after that was me getting out of the car and there was a war for her soul basically behind the scenes I Never saw her never saw her again followed up cold and indifferent Swade pulled away as a battle for her soul you mind you this is Right overthrowing the faith of many This is not a light matter. It's a very serious matter false teaching false Theology false doctrine false teachers so serious because souls are at stake and just to reject the truth You'll be pulled to pull the straight of error led away. There's much more on this that could be said in 2nd Timothy chapter 3 Verse 7 he goes on to say always learning never able to come to the knowledge of the truth He says in verse 8 now as Janice and jambbers resisted Moses so do these also resist the truth They're men of corrupt minds disapprove concerning the faith concerning the faith But they will progress no further for their folly will be manifest to all but listen what he says in verse 10 listen Here is the exhortation. This is what you need verse 10, but you But you have carefully followed my doctrine my manner of life Purpose faith long suffering love perseverance Persecutions afflictions which happen to be an Antioch and Iconium at Lystra following the word of God following his faith Following his example right living for the Lord. That's the glorious, but you Out of them all the Lord Paul said delivered me Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution Evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse deceiving and being deceived 14 but you But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of where does that come from? Knowing from whom you have learned them. Well, who is that from childhood? How you have known the what? the holy scriptures Got that from the Bible you learned that from the word of God and those holy scriptures Which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for rip proof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete preserved persevered sanctified Protected matured grown strengthened Hope-filled right all the word of God does that so that the man of God may be complete Thoroughly equipped for producing fruit For every good work right so what the word of God does for us. We must you and I we must Submerse ourselves in the word of God. There's great protection here It's a progression. It's a progression is slippery slope That happens so you understand as we've talked about before it happens by small degrees over time, right? Small degrees of compromise small degrees of willful sin over time and rejection of God's word in your life and your obedience followed by small degrees By which your conscience becomes dulled and then senseless and then seared in Mere Christianity CS Lewis said this if you examined a hundred people who had lost their faith in Christianity They understand doesn't mean they lost their salvation These are people who are never saved to begin with never saved to begin with okay If you examined a hundred people who had lost their faith in Christianity I wonder how many of them would turn out to have been reasoned out of it by honest argument Do not most people simply drift away? It's a rhetorical question the answer that question is yes most people just simply drift away in other words What's being said there is that okay? I profess to be a Christian. I'm studying the word of God I'm following Christ on my doorstep shows up a Jehovah's Witness. I listen to a 30 minute argument from a Jehovah's Witness And now I'm an apostate Jehovah's Witness Generally doesn't happen that way generally it happens by a subtle and slow Drifting away you profess one thing with your lips profess one thing with your mouth and in your life you compromise and you compromise and You allow for sin and you allow that to linger a little longer and a little longer and then you're not Availing yourself of the means of grace that God makes available for your perseverance for your growth for your maturity for your Sanctification and you continue to sin and you continue to sin By small degrees over time by small compromises over time do not most people drift away You can look at many who have drifted away, right? We've seen that happen many who have drifted away There but by the grace of God though you and I It is going to be the grace of God in Christ Jesus our Lord that preserves us in the faith And if we're going to be preserved in the faith We must avail ourselves of the means of grace that God gives us. It is simple, right? Why is that such a struggle sometimes in our Christian lives to instill those disciplines? They are life and death. We just don't value it the way we should and we need to cultivate a healthy value of the word of God now After digging to the bottom of that well in consent in discerning the Content of a false teacher's message. We're going to see three things here in verse 3 1st Timothy Chapter 6 verse 3 Three issues here with discerning the content of their message one is that false teachers and their message Do not consent with wholesome words They do not they do not consent with wholesome words To they don't consent with the words of our Lord Jesus Christ Three they forsake or do not consent with the doctrine that accords with godliness all of those things Wrapped up in in describing the teaching otherwise the false doctrine Okay, they don't consent false doctrine doesn't consent with wholesome words Doesn't consent with the words of our word Jesus Christ and doesn't consent with the doctrine that accords itself with godliness Think about it this way in verse 3 you see the substance or content of false teaching unwholesome words You see the source of false teaching not the Lord Jesus Christ and you see the standard of false teaching It accords with ungodliness you see the substance of godly biblical truth Wholesome healthy words you see the source of godly biblical truth the Lord Jesus Christ And you see the standard by which we judge the doctrine that comes to us Godly living holy living. Okay, so think of it substance source and standards. Let's look at the substance The truth is made up of wholesome words that word wholesome is healthier sound speaking of spiritual health Literally, it's being healthy words. You're consenting with being healthy words. Okay, these are healthy words Which will result in a healthy life. Do you believe that Christian? Do you believe it if you give yourself the healthy words if you've got the spirit of God in you you give yourself the healthy words You will have a spiritually healthy life, which I know is what you want if you're a Christian you want that So give yourself the healthy words. It's not rocket surgery. We this is simple stuff, right? Give yourself over to the word of God. You will have a spiritually healthy life These are literally being healthy words We must have a steady diet a full diet of wholesome words that lead to spiritual vitality, right spiritual health Fervency faith. These are the words that in a Christian will lead to Inevitably inexorably will lead to growth and maturity is That kind of sanctification something that you value. I heard one amen Is it something you value amen, so what it don't let anything get in the way of that I was we would desires Christians that gives us great joy Lord. Thank you I mean you see so many impacts that the word of God will have in your life. God. Thank you You see progress in your Christian life. God. Thank you. I mean, I it's one of the great grounds of our assurances We see that work of grace in our hearts and we can say God Thank you it assures us of our salvation Assures us that we are in him his spirit witnesses with our spirit. We're children of God and we're like amen So we desire that sanctification It will happen if you have the spirit of God in you and you give yourself to the word of God You devote yourself occupy yourself with God's word and allow the spirit of God to be at work in you The Lord says so If you say that is something that you value then where are you now when the word of God is being taught? We have Sunday school classes being offered. Are you there? We have small group where brothers and sisters mature brothers and sisters in the faith are teaching Are you there? The word of God is being taught being preached being talked about over fellowships. Where are you? If you say that you value it that don't let anything get in the way Don't let laziness or apathy or all that other garbage get in the way of your sanctification The Lord holds that out to you as a great blessing. What are you gonna do about it? Are you gonna continue to? reject those wholesome words Is that what you want to do? No, that's why you've got to value the word of God and get yourself under the word of God God works through means Do not reject the means of God to have his way in you You need to occupy yourself with them if you get yourself in there God's gonna bless Okay, as opposed to spiritual health at these wholesome words bring false teaching will produce spiritual sickness and disease False teaching will produce spiritual sickness and disease the effect of false teaching is a spiritually unhealthy life And they're described here in the negative of not consenting with wholesome words So we have the substance the substance the truth is made up of wholesome words the source of these wholesome words is The Lord Jesus Christ himself what we need for spiritual health are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ It doesn't simply mean there that those are quotes about him or things said about him These are the words of Jesus Christ. It's not simply limited to the red words you have in your Bible All of this is the word the words of Jesus Christ Okay, the Bible Colossians chapter 3 verse 16 says let the word of Christ This is the word of Christ let the word of Christ dwell in you richly and all wisdom Teaching admonishing one another psalms him spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord the source of wholesome Words is Jesus Christ himself the source of unwholesome words are the false teachers themselves None wholesome words leads to sin look at 2nd Peter quickly 2nd Peter chapter 2 2nd Peter chapter 2 This is why it is so critical to be in a good church be Taking in wholesome words There is a consequence for not doing that chapter 2 verse 12 Consider the slippery slope We had once admonished them as brothers and now look how we talk about them in verse 12 But these like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed Speak evil boy. We were talking bad about those nice guys You don't know that how wonderful that Catholic priest was to me when he sat there in the hospital and consoled me while I was going through that Or how nice that pastor was it went over to his house for lunch and he told me all those good things and Does it matter how nice they are if they are luring you away by their deceptive words dripping honey in your ear all the way to hell No, it's nice as you may think they are temporally They are brute beasts because souls are at stake They are made to be caught and destroyed because they're leading people to hell They speak evil of the things they do not understand and will utterly perish in their own corruption And will receive the wages of unrighteousness as those who count it pleasure to corrals in the daytime They are spots Blemishes corousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you having eyes full of adultery now look how their doctrine leads to their life Right what ends up to be the truth in their life. They're full of adultery. They cannot cease from sin Enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practice this practices and are accursed children They have and here it is Forsaken the right way They've rejected wholesome words the words of our word Jesus Christ and the doctrine that accords with God in this They don't consent with it any longer. They've followed in the way of Balaam the son of Beor who loved the wages of unrighteousness Balaam taught the people of Israel to sin as Jesus Christ said he led them in idolatry and fornication he Couldn't get God to curse them Through with his prophecy and so he went around side take a flank if you will to Balaq and showed Balaq how to get Them to sin Introduce them to pagan wives that they will commit fornication with that will lead them into idolatry and then God will judge them Right, it's the lie of Balaam the doctrine of Balaam teaching them to be ungodly leading them into sin Here you let him in a way of sin he Balaam loved the wages of unrighteousness But he was rebuked for his iniquity a dumb donkey speaking with a man's voice Restrained the madness of the prophet verse 17 These are wells without water clouds carried by a tempest for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever said the same way in Jude 13 right reserved for the blackness of darkness forever Verse 18 for when here's what they do they speak great swelling words of emptiness They allure through the lust of the flesh through lewdness the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error While they promise them liberty they themselves are slaves of corruption. Let me remind you false doctrine unwholesome doctrine does lead to ungodly living unholy living so no matter how Godly that false teacher may sound in the prophet in the pulpit. You don't know his life How many how many false teachers have we seen? Teaching their error in the pulpit every Sunday on TBN every hour of the day just filling up the airwaves with garbage That eventually fall It's like they're fall and fall and find there's that guy and that guy you almost can't keep up Right, you know, it's like one after the other like dominoes just fuck because of their ungodly lives unwholesome words produce unwholesome living ungodly living Here they are slaves of their own corruption by whom a person is over overcome by him Also, he's brought into bondage thrift after they have escaped the pollution of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ they are again entangled in them and overcome the latter end is worse for them than the beginning for it Would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness Now here it is again then having known it to turn from the holy commandment again They reject wholesome words. They reject the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. They reject the doctrine which accords with godliness And it happens to them according to the proverb dog returns to his vomit This is why we're so adamant to speak against heresy because false teaching spreads spiritual disease spiritual sickness and death We're not just out to pick a fight This is a matter of life and death. They're spreading a sickness and it's a sickness that kills bottom line False teachers are not committed to God's word. They reject it They may use it and they may use it frequently simply as a springboard to Support their false theology like the Romans 10 example that we used It's nothing more than just a springboard It's like a hen pecking you can almost say anything from the scripture if you try hard enough It must be the whole counsel of God a faithful Interpretation of it a faithful use of it rightly dividing it. They don't love it. They don't devote themselves to it They if false teacher will add to it They'll subtract from it. They'll change it. They'll delete certain things They'll interpret it wrong. They won't stick to it. They'll deny it In this next we have the standard we saw the Substance of those words as being wholesome the source of those words being our Lord Jesus Christ Lastly the standard. This is the doctrine that accords with godliness God Hear me now never Intends doctrine scriptural truth to be separated from how you live your life Never, you know all those two things always go together Teaching should be tested by whether or not it produces holy living now think for a moment You're in a church many of you come out of churches like this I came out of a church like this where you're hearing doctrine now at the time Biblically, they're it frankly unsaved didn't know the word of God at all I'm listening to the preaching that's coming out and pretty much. I'm taking that teaching if I looked around me with any discernment whatsoever at the church that I was in at the time you have adultery fornication divorce divorce divorce This guy believes in evolution this one over here believes there are many paths up to the mountain This one over here denies God's word altogether. I don't even know he's there This one over here, you know, and that's deacon, you know, and this guy over here, right? If you're honest with yourself, you look at the center remember witnessing to a young man one time on the praise team Playing guitar at a very large charismatic church not far from here Who was put in that position on the worship team? While they knew it living in sin with his girlfriend It's that teaching if that teaching is producing unholy living ungodliness in the church and that's the cut then that is a false church and they're preaching false doctrine Wholesome words is going to produce obedience in God's people and it will produce godly living It is the doctrine which accords with godliness if there is doctrine being taught that is according itself with ungodliness It's not God's doctrine We have to I have to often talk to people they just they don't know enough to know what they need to know Right, and so you tell elixin just look around your church I remember witnessing to a guy he asked me about church discipline I explained it to him and he said if we practice that in our church, it would clear out our entire church Like that should tell you something that should be enough that even though you don't understand everything right now That should be enough that you would run from there and get yourself to a biblical church, right? This concept godliness draws a sharp contrast between the genuine Christian life and the empty profession of it Godly doctrine in the life of a true Christian is going to produce holy living Christian teaching is that which produces godly living false teaching falls short because it doesn't result in godliness False teaching will result in an unholy life The Bible says of false teachers that you'll know them by their fruit right Matthew chapter 7 beware of false prophets who come To you in sheep's clothing Inwardly, they are ravenous wolves. You'll know them by their fruits Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles even so every good tree bears good fruit But a bad tree bears bad fruit a good tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a bad tree bear good fruit Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire Therefore by their fruits you will know them There's simply no power in the false to change a life. There's no power there Holy Spirit's not at work in it. No power to make a change. What about you now this morning? Is your life getting increasingly holy? It's not perfection you understand it's direction. Are you making progress in this Christian life? Do you? There are many times in your Christian life where you won't always be able to sense that progress really clearly Ask someone ask your brother or sister, you know, you see me making progress Do you see more and more victory over sin more and more? Consistency with those spiritual disciplines that are so necessary to live the Christian life Do you see progress? If you don't It may be that you Have the right doctrine You're a Christian and you have the spirit of God in within you But you're not applying that doctrine the way that the Bible would have you apply it You're not availing yourself to the means of grace that God gives you You're not submitting yourself to God's word and faithfully obeying it faithfully living it out Or it could mean that you're not a Christian that you don't have a spirit of God in you But you don't have your strength and power in and of yourself to do anything And so you fail and you fail and you fail you need a new heart you need Christ You need the spirit of God in you. You can't do it on your own If you're a Christian and the right doctrine is not having the right effect in you why Will you diagnose yourself think about it for a moment now? What is hindering you what is getting in the way between you and that Christian life that I know you want? What stands in the way? Are you allowing work to interfere? Are you allowing hobbies to interfere? Are you allowing Downton Abbey to interfere? What is it? What is it? What is it discern that whatever it is and get that out of the way, you know Is is your soul worth changing jobs over? Yeah, is your soul worth I've thought of many people you know out of state we have many of you have moved here to go to church here Is it worth moving to get in a good shirt? Yes There's nothing worth claiming to And give up your soul over So what is getting in the way of your sanctification? Diagnose that and then the instruction we need to take here from 1st Timothy chapter 6 Is avoid that slippery slope? Don't allow garbage and filth of false teachers to come in Allow the word of God to sanctify you protect yourself Avail yourself with the means of grace the Lord may preserve you in the faith And live the Christian life don't compromise Don't stop striving and toiling don't stop exercising yourself toward godliness And it is this word that accords with godliness will you put the word of God into your life? Will you discipline yourself in the word of God? This is a necessary discipline Just can't be any more clear from scripture. You must have it devote yourself to the word of God God By the spirit of God in you God will see to it that you're grown see to it that you're matured see to it that you're preserved You're in his hand. Nothing. No one will snatch you out of it. You've got to be in his hand. Amen Let's pray father in heaven. Thank you God for your word Lord, thank you that it is wholesome Thank you Lord that it is from you our Lord Jesus Christ Thank you that it accords with godliness when we see the Effects of the spirit at work in us through the word of God to sanctify us to grow us to mature us and God What a what a glorious blessing that is what a glorious joy that is for the Christian Lord forgive us for our flesh and our Worldly reasoning sometimes just our deceitful hearts and how we would take that for granted or neglect it how Immeasurably foolish it is of us Lord to do that forgiveness of that great sin Convict us God of that great sin We might repent and turn to you Christ living by faith in you studying your word Taking in those wholesome being healthy words by taking in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and Seeing you work in us Lord to make us more and more godly Thank you for this instruction God. I pray for everyone here that there would be nothing that would hinder Nothing that would stand in the way We wouldn't be ensnared or entangled by sin or distractions or whatever it may be whatever comes Then what we would be faithful to apply these truths and put this Great means of grace this great Christian discipline in place in our lives Such that God we protect ourselves from false teachers false teaching and that we can live this Christian life and one day Lord be taken home to glory and worshiping you in heaven for all eternity. We love you or thank you This time together. I love my brothers and sisters here and I please just continue to bless and protect our church God may we hold in very high regard very high esteem these wholesome words the words of our Lord And thank you for this time in Jesus name