0:03 4. 1 Timothy chapter 4 and let's begin with prayer. Heavenly 0:20 Father, I thank you for that you are speaking in these days, Lord. Thank you that your holy spirit is faithfully speaking. You have spoken in times past and now you're spoken through your son Jesus when he lived on this earth and in 0:36 today's age you're speaking through your Holy Spirit which is the spirit of Christ which reveals Jesus to us. I pray Lord that we will have ears to hear you speaking to us even this this morning Lord as I speak I pray that I will have 0:50 ears to hear what you're saying. That's what I care about the most, Lord, is what you are saying. That's what we care about the most is what you are saying. So speak to us. Help us amid the noise of everything going on around us to hear 1:03 your voice. Sometimes it's loud and clear. Sometimes it's just a still small voice, but we want to hear that. We don't want to be deceived, Lord. So help us to love the truth so that we might be saved in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. 1 Timothy chapter 4. I'd 1:22 like to read the first eight verses of 1 Timothy 4. 1 Timothy 4:1. But the spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons by means of the 1:40 hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron. men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. 1:55 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude. For it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer. In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good 2:12 servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following, but have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline 2:28 yourself for the purpose of godliness. For bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. If I started this message by 2:47 telling you that yesterday as I was preparing for the message, I spent the whole day fasting in prayer, locked in my room, meditating on God's word and fasting and prayer. I didn't eat, didn't didn't see anybody and I was locked in 3:00 that room and just went to God's word and prayed and went back to God's word and prayed and went back to God's word and prayed and then came and spoke my message this morning. Or I said, well, you know, yesterday I had a fun day. We 3:11 went out to the park and uh I played with my kids and um I just kind of sat around at home. We we had lunch and breakfast. We ate really well and uh and then in the evening we went went walked around town and and then we played some 3:24 some uh basketball in the park and and kicked around the soccer ball after that. We had a great time yesterday and I I did find time to study God's word and here I am. Would it make a difference in how you receive what I'm 3:36 what I'm about to say if you said, "Well, here's the one guy who fasted and prayed all day. He must have something more to say." You know how that's our mentality that I think that, "Oh, this man," and I hear stories of people 3:48 stayed up all night. And again, I want to make it clear that I'm not knocking that it's important for us to fast. But we automatically gravitate to thinking that holiness or righteousness or the most holy person is one who has fasted 4:01 the most or prayed the most or uh been a missionary in for 30 years. You remember that uh that video we saw on on Wednesday where David Posson was saying, you know, in the if you put the in Christendom, this totem pole or this 4:14 hierarchy of of who's important and who's not, at the very top is the missionaries. If you've been a missionary out somewhere, especially in Asia and Africa, you you get the most credit and most people are praying for you. And God wants to change our way of 4:26 thinking to realize that everybody is important. Perhaps that person who is doing a good work out there is among other Christians like he said, but the person who's working in a in a hostile environment and facing persecution for 4:39 their faith in Loveland where you might think, well, we're in a Christian country. There's no persecution here. And we might not think to pray for that person as much because we have this hierarchy and we divide people's work and people's lives 4:54 based on what we think about him. And so if I see that somebody he's a pastor. I know he's a man of prayer or he's a man who loves to fast and pray. He must be a holy man. That's what Paul is talking about here. That's that way of thinking 5:07 that he wants to get us out of where we see what true godliness really is. Now, I want you to remember that we're talking about godliness here. And he we he he started by saying, "What is the mystery of godliness?" Right? You 5:20 remember that 1 Timothy 3:16, the the last verse of the previous chapter, he says, "This is the mystery of godliness." What is it? You remember Christ manifest in the flesh, vindicated by the spirit, beheld by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed 5:36 on in the world, taken up into glory. That's a good verse to memorize. Let's do it. Well, I I don't have it memorized. I had to look at it, but I just thought of that. So, that's that's godliness that we're talking about. 5:46 Christ manifest in the flesh. And so, if you want to understand this mystery of godliness that he's still talking about here, he's saying like those that last verse we read that he says the last part of verse 7, on the other hand, 5:59 discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. So if I could rephrase it, discipline yourself for the purpose of the same that Christ was manifest in the flesh for discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. For bodily 6:13 discipline is only of little profit. But godlin bodily discipline is only of little profit. But godliness will profit you on this earth and in eternity. That's the difference. He's he's not saying that that u that you should 6:27 ignore bodily discipline altogether. He's saying it'll do you some good, but it's only on this earth. So if you want to go go to the gym, that's great. But remember, you can't take that benefit that you get from going to the gym with 6:37 you after you die because a fit body and an unhealthy body will return to the dust ultimately. And after about 20 years of lying under the grave, they'll look the same. Now, that doesn't mean that we should live unhealthy lives, but 6:48 he's saying here's what you can will benefit you on this earth and in eternity. That's godliness. Christ manifest in the flesh will benefit you on this earth and in eternity. Now, I want to Phil talked about the deception of or the uh uh doctrine of 7:05 demons, demonic doctrines last week, and I I want to uh just uh build on that a little bit more. See, he he presents this doctrine of demons that we heard about, you know, this demonic faith and demonic doctrine that he Phil presented 7:17 so well last week. He he shows us though that it's a deception. There's a deception in this demonic doctrine. Which means it's not just obviously you can see a demonic doctrine and know well that's a de demonic doctrine. There's a 7:30 deception to it that it's easy for us to miss. See I I think of it this way. If you saw a demonic a demon-possessed person, I've seen a few actually when I was in India, I've seen many many demonp possessed people cast out. When you see 7:45 a demon-possessed person, your natural reaction is one of intimidation. You're not sure what's going on with that. Now, Jesus was never intimidated by by these spirits because he knew the authority that he had because of the purity of his 7:58 life and because of of the faith that he had and just the the authority that he had over those demons. But there's something about the outward appearance of a demonpossessed person that can be intimidating. They're like, you don't 8:09 know what crazy thing they're going to do. And um and especially if you're have a little bit of unbelief in your life, you can be intimidated by such a person and you kind of you know you you don't know what to do. That's demon 8:20 possession. But you know that demonic teaching, so I'm talking about a demonic possession is intimidating. Demonic teaching is actually very attractive. When you hear demonic teaching, it tickles your ear. It's quite different 8:33 from demonic possession. Demonic possession, you know, the demons, you there's something about their lust for possessing a body that they just love to grab a body and make it do all kinds of things that it doesn't want to do. But 8:43 demonic teaching is quite different. And the devil is a smart enemy. He knows exactly how to present himself in different ways for his evil purpose to steal as many of those who are in God's kingdom for his kingdom. To steal as 8:59 many who are in the world for his kingdom. And so some sometimes he'll present himself in the form of demonic possession with fear and scare you and bad dreams and uh just just scary stuff. But other times he'll come very sweetly 9:12 and tickle your ear with something that you really enjoy. And you might think, well that's the devil, you know, the little tail of the back and the horns on the head and I'm scared of that guy. But this guy who's standing there with the 9:22 tie and the suit and telling me that God wants to give me the richest life possible on this earth and wants to give me complete healing and wants to do this for me and do that for me on this earth because I I have these earthly lusts 9:34 that I don't want to give up. And so it tickles my ears and I think well that's not a demonic doctrine. I know what demonic is. I've seen demonic I've seen demonic possession but demonic doctrine this can't be demonic. This preacher 9:45 that I hear on TV telling me that if I send him $10 a month, he will pray for me and put my name on his billion dollar plane and all that. That can't be demonic. It sounds great because they sing, "Oh, oh, to Jesus I surrender." 9:56 And the music is so flowing. What's demonic about that? It tickles my ear. It feels good. It tells me what I really want to hear because I love money deep down inside. And when he tells me that this God named Jesus, if I really serve 10:09 him, he'll give me all the money I want on this earth and give me all the health I want on this earth and and raise me from the dead if I if I die because it's all about this. The Jesus will fulfate Santa Claus, if you will. That 10:24 desire that you have in your heart that you really want for Christmas, he'll give it to you. That's the message that you're hearing. It's a doctrine of demons. It tickles our ears and we like to listen to it. But the deception is 10:35 that we miss it. That we don't see that the two the demon possession that we immediately run from and think we confront it with the authority of God and then you hear the same thing the same demon or the same evil spirit 10:48 present himself in sweet talk that sounds good to our ears and we are we are deceived by it. So I'm I'm I'm stressing this point because there is a deception in this demonic doctrine that's easy for us to miss. I believe 11:01 that increasingly in the days to come, there is going to be um as time as as the time for Christ's return comes, the deadliest form of evil as I have written it up there to beware of is that which has the appearance of good. Listen to 11:17 that statement carefully. The deadliest form of evil is not the murder and the adultery and the and the uh and those bad programs and the pornography. That that's all bad. But the deadliest form of evil, especially as the time of 11:31 Christ's return draws near, is that evil which has the appearance of good. That demon when he comes as a in the form of a demon-possessed person, that I think we all understand is evil. I don't want to be I don't want to have anything to 11:44 do with that person. But when that demon presents himself in the form of good, something some form of godliness the New Testament talks about that is the mo that is the most dangerous deception because I'm I'm drawn to it. I'm 11:58 attracted to it. I stop and think, what is this now? Is this really is this a demon or is this an angel? How do you distinguish between an angel and the devil disguised as an angel of light? That's what Paul is trying to get us to 12:11 understand. If we miss the mystery of godliness, if our heart is somehow corrupt inside of us, I could look at two angels of light and think, "Well, which one is which? Which one is the devil?" I don't know. They both look the 12:22 same to me. They both sound the same to me. They're both reading from the same Bible. I mean, you look at all the televangelist preachers. They're they're using the same Bible. Some of them are using even the King James Bible, but 12:32 they're preaching doctrines of demons. How do we discern the difference between these two? We must understand the mystery of godliness. See, this deception appears to lead us towards holiness. And that's that's to me that's and I speak this from my own 12:48 experience. How often the Lord has tested my own heart and shown me how I've been deceived in so many different areas. This deception, the deception is that initially it looks like this message is taking me towards godliness. 13:03 That's why godliness is a mystery. But I hear this doctrine of demon let's say and it looks like I listen to that message and says hey I I think that's godliness and I I start to go in that direction but the switch is that as I 13:14 start to move in that direction I I get shifted off course and it doesn't really take me to that destination. So this is the deception of the doctrines of the doctrines of demons demonic doctrines is that it presents it to itself to me as 13:28 if I'm pursuing godliness. Presents itself it says if you do this you will become like god. Does that sound familiar? Who said that? Who said if you do this, you will become like God? Satan. Remember Genesis chapter 3? Let's 13:41 go look at that. That word, if you do this, you will become like God. If you do this, you will have godliness. Famous words said by the prince of darkness. Why would the devil want us or at least present himself in such a way that he 13:56 says, "Hey, you can become like God." What interest does the devil have in telling us you can become like God? Does he really want us to become like God? Absolutely not. But he's going to tell us if you do this, if you walk down this 14:10 path, you will pursuing godliness. If you walk down this path, you will become like God. But because we're not sure because we haven't uh understood the mystery of godliness because we haven't surrendered our lives and our self will 14:24 completely to God, we're misled by that like Eve is. And Paul is so concerned about that that he writes to a spiritual church in 2 Corinthians. He says, "I'm concerned that as the devil deceived Eve, he didn't present Eve with this 14:41 blatant evil. Satan didn't come." Now, I think, you know, this is probably taking a little bit of literary license, but I think this the serpent in the Garden of Eden was actually quite attractive. We don't know what he looked like because 14:52 there was a curse that came upon him. Um, he was able to be in a tree. I don't know if the serpent actually looked like snakes now, but I think I I want to say that there was something attractive about the serpent that then got changed 15:03 when God cursed the serpent because God did curse the serpent and said, "You have to crawl on your belly." Now, maybe the serpent had legs that I don't know. But either way, the the serpent certainly was the craftiest. And I think 15:14 if I'm thinking that that the serpent is full of the spirit of Lucifer, he's the most attractive, the most beautiful because that's who Lucifer was, beautiful and attractive and wise and um just the perfect guy. And he comes into 15:26 the tree and starts talking to Eve. Sweet talking. This is the serpent. Sweet talking. And and Eve is drawn to this personality. Says, "Wow, this person, he he knows so much about about God. He seems to know about how I can 15:42 become like God and he's explaining things to me and it's appealing to my logic." Let's look at that. Genesis Genesis chapter 3. This is the original demon doctrine, if you will. The original demon doctrine was this doctrine that the serpent, the 15:56 first the highest of of demons, the devil himself came in the form of a serpent and presented Genesis chapter 3. Uh you know the story. I won't read all of it but well I'll just look at show you in verse four. Uh I want you to 16:11 notice the lie that the serpent told and the truth that the serpent told. The lie and the truth both are there in this story. The devil doesn't always tell lies. He's a liar from the beginning. And now in the sense that even the truth 16:23 that he says, listen to this carefully. Even the truth that the devil says is a lie because he's got a wicked purpose behind it. You see what I mean? He'll tell you the truth, but his purpose behind it. We were talking about motives 16:35 earlier. That's why the motives are so key that a truth can be spoken with this lying motive and it's still a lie in God's eyes. Because the the devil, he's just a liar from the beginning. Everything he does is lie. So even the 16:48 truth that he presents which is factually correct is a lie because he's got a lying deceitful wicked purpose behind it that undermines the authority of God that undermines God's kingdom. That's why it's a lie and that's that's 17:02 why it's a deception. So listen to the lie that the devil he did tell an outright lie here and that's in verse four. The serpent said to the woman, "You surely shall not die." Was he just acting out of ignorance? Absolutely not. 17:13 The devil knew that if they eat out of the tree of knowledge of good. The devil had served God almighty God for we don't know how long many many millions of years perhaps before that before he became Lucifer and became the devil. And 17:25 so he knew God is a man of his word and he knew when God said because the devil was listening when God told Adam and Eve in the day that you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall die. The devil heard that too. And then 17:36 he came to Adam and Eve and said no you shall surely not die. That was a lie. Flatout lie. The devil knew it because he knew God is a man of his word that God is someone of his word. But he lied to the Adam and Eve and said you're not 17:49 going to die. But then after telling them that lie, starting out laying that foundation with lie, he told them the truth. Where is the truth? Verse 5, God knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be 18:03 like God, knowing good and evil. Was that true? What do you think? After they ate the tree, Gabriel thinks it's true. After they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, did they become like God in knowing good and 18:18 evil? Absolutely. Show Let me show you in verse 22 because later on the same chapter, God himself says, "Then the Lord God said, behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil." And then that's why they had to 18:34 put the the wall of fire on the tree. So they did become like God. The de the devil did tell him that truth but there was a deception behind that. He said you know what ultimately lured Eve and then by as a result Adam into that because he 18:47 followed his wife's leading was that Eve said really I can become like God. This makes sense. If I eat out of the tree of knowledge of good and evil I guess that's why they call it the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because I'll 18:58 get knowledge of good and evil. If I eat out of that I'll become like God. Sure enough she did. And there is a becoming like God that will kill you. That's the deception of the doctrine of demons. There is a becoming like God that Adam 19:13 and Eve experienced in getting the knowledge of good and evil that killed them because that knowledge of God was trapped into a body that now needed to be redeemed. that had disobeyed that a a body a being that had disobeyed God that 19:28 had rejected God's authority that was now outside of God's authority in choosing not to submit to him now had this knowledge and that knowledge was going to kill them did kill them that's why you and I died that's why Adam died 19:40 even though he lived till about 950 years old Eve died until she lived however long so there is a knowledge listen to this we're talking about godliness here I want you to think back to what we've been reading in 1 Timothy 19:50 3 and 4 there is a knowledge and a pursuit of godliness that will kill you spiritually. It will kill you. And I'll tell you this, I speak from experience that I experienced spiritual death in my own life because of pursuing the 20:05 knowledge in this way. Pursuing that godliness in a way that I was in control of it. That's what Paul is addressing here. So he mixed it with this truth. So the lure of the devil is ultimately this that he presents a way to 20:22 godliness. He presents a way to godliness. And this is the difference that when the the deception of the devil is essentially this that he presents a way to godliness that doesn't deal with myself. The way to godliness that 20:36 doesn't deal with myself and capital S there. That means me and what I want and what's good for me and always thinking about me and my family and my children and me me. The way to godliness that doesn't deal with myself, my proud, 20:49 stiff- necked self, will kill me. So, there's two ways supposedly to godliness. Now, one of them is actually the way to godliness. The other is this facade that it looks like it's going to take me to godliness, but it's a side 21:03 road, as you will. You remember if you've read uh Pilgrim's Progress at one point I forget at which point in the story because it's been a while since I read the book there is um some one of a preacher comes to to Pilgrim and tells 21:15 him to Christian he's at that point he's called Christian says hey here's a shortcut to heaven here's a shortcut you can get to heaven like this a shortcut to godliness if you will and and essentially the shortcut to godliness is 21:26 this you can become godly without giving up your selfish desires without dying to yourself without taking up your cross daily and dying like Jesus Here's a shortcut. You can become like Jesus without walking the way that Jesus 21:38 walked. You can end up where Jesus ended up without dying to yourself and taking up your cross daily and being and pouring out your life as a suffering for others. That's the deception. Does it sound good to you? Do you want to become 21:49 like Jesus without the suffering? Bypass the suffering somehow? And the Lord says, "No, my purpose for your life is that you're going to experience loss. You're going to experience pain. You're going to experience uh sickness. You're 22:00 going to experience death. You're going to experience all this stuff." But that's my way to take you into my presence and to conform you into the image of my son Jesus. And our reaction because we like our self so much and our 22:12 feelings and our bodies and our souls. We like it so much that we say, "Lord, no, really, how about this way?" We try to convince the Lord of another way that I can get to that same destination. It's a deception. It's a doctrine of a demon. 22:25 And we ought to be as uh we ought to bring uh steer ourselves as far away from this doctrine of the demon that sounds pleasing to myself as you would from a demon-possessed person where you don't have the authority to cast them 22:39 out. That you look at that and think resist it in the name of Jesus Christ. That's the authority we have over demons. And that's the authority we ought to have over this doctrine that's from the same demon that says without 22:50 all this suffering, the easy way to heaven, the easy way to become like Jesus and make it to heaven and still have all the money you want on this earth and live the way you want and uh spend your money the way you want and be 23:01 accountable to nobody. Just be a lone ranger. Live this life and still make it to heaven and say, "Thank you, Lord, for dying for me that I could have a comfortable life." That's not the personal life. The Christian life is for 23:13 those who say, "Lord Jesus, you walk this way. There's no other option I have but to walk the same way." Whatever that calling might be, suffering, pain, uh, humiliation, reproach, scorn, rejection for my family, whatever it might be, 23:27 Lord, is that if that's your will for my life, I'm going to do it. And sometimes we might say like Jesus did, Lord, if it's your will, take this cup away from me. I I I hope that I don't have to go through this because I don't know that 23:38 I'll be able to, but your will be done. Not my will but yours. And ultimately when we can finish all our requests and our petitions and our supplications with but not as I will your will be done and embrace that cross and embrace that way 23:51 of suffering gladly. We have understood that is true godliness. So the lure is to present a way to godliness that doesn't really deal with myself. And if we believe the lie we are rendered powerless. I'm going to use a little illustration here. What 24:07 does this look like? It's a sword. Yeah. Would you be afraid of it if I came at you and swung it at you? I don't think any of you would. Well, it might hurt a little bit, but it's not going to kill you. It's a sword made of uh mostly cardboard. I 24:20 think there's some wood. So, I was actually hoping to bring like a paper sword really to you to illustrate the point. But let's pretend this is this is not going to hurt you. You know, I could cut myself and I wouldn't dare do this 24:31 with a real sword. But you know, I believe most Christians are trying to fight the devil with swords like this because they have bought into the lie that I can somehow have power and authority in my life by pursuing a godliness that doesn't really deal with 24:44 myself. But the only power that I can have in my life is by getting being on the cross. If I die to myself daily, take up my cross daily, then I have power. Then I have a real sword in my hand. But unfortunately, the reason that 24:57 most Christians live defeated lives, addicted to pornography, uh speaking evil against their neighbors, gossiping, uh fighting with their husbands and wives, unable to love their children, dishonest in their workplace, is because 25:09 they have powerless against the devil. We're powerless against the devil. If we are choosing this way in every circumstance, I I I come to the fork in the road and here's the way that Jesus says, "Take up your cross and follow me 25:20 daily." And here's the devil's says, "Well, don't really take up your cross, but you can still get to heaven." Oh, yeah. I pick that way. Then I come to another fork and there says take up your cross daily and become like Jesus or uh 25:30 don't take up your cross and become like Jesus. So I I pick this and no wonder our lives are so powerless because the devil knows this that if I choose that way of suffering and choose the cross consistently in my life now I have a 25:43 sword in my life that I I can do damage to his kingdom. I've got a sword that's got that's that's metal if you will spiritually. I have power over the devil. I have authority in over him. I hope that we're choosing this way. And 25:55 this is the secret to having authority over demonpossessed people as well. I'll just mention this in passing. I heard of a a young child in Africa somewhere, the son of a missionary who the missionary was traveling and this demon-possessed 26:06 uh person was brought brought to the home and he cast out the demon because he had sincere faith. I'm not I don't think he was very young, but he was certainly not an adult. But that's it. It's not about it's not in us. It's not 26:18 that I I've walked with the Lord 50 years, so I have the authority to cast out demons. I'm not saying that we should go out looking for demons to cast out, but I'm saying that when when that situation presents yourself, if you're 26:27 presented with the forget about demonpossessed people, what about the authority that Satan wants to have in our homes by bringing disunityity between husbands and wives or bringing disunityity between parents and children? How are you going to deal with 26:40 that? I'll tell you, that's more difficult to deal with than a demon-possessed person. Because a demon possessed person in the name of Jesus, it can be cast out in a moment. In a moment, a demon can be cast out about a person. But what about this disunityity 26:53 in your home? It's not going to be cast out in a moment. You know what it's going to take, my dear friends? It's going to take my denying myself and saying, "Honey, I'm sorry. I said that word and and it was wrong. I shouldn't 27:03 have spoken to you that way or I I I did this and I was thinking only of myself or I um I I wasn't considerate of your needs and and why you would you when I came when I came back from work, why you would say something to me because you 27:16 had a rough day with the children. I'm not thinking about those things, honey. I'm sorry. And if I forgive myself and die to myself, then I've chosen the way of the cross. And guess what? Sharpening my sword. Now I have authority over the 27:27 devil. Now when the devil tries to bring a situation of conflict between me and my wife, I have authority. I say in the name of Jesus, get out of here, Satan. You're not going to come between me and my wife because God has called us to be 27:38 together. That's the secret to have authority is that I'm choosing the cross. The power of this daily taking up the cross is what the devil doesn't. Could you imagine if I was it was if I was fighting we we had a war going on 27:52 and I was fighting with somebody and uh they said well there's a way that you can trick Santosh into taking accidentally picking up a plastic sword or a paper sword and forgetting to pick up the real sword. Of course they're 28:04 going to want to choose that because this does no harm. And here I am getting beat by the devil who has real power and has some authority that the that God has allowed him to have while he's still free and before he gets locked up 28:14 forever. One day he'll have no authority at all and no power at all. But for now, he does have some power that within the circle that God allows him to have. And here he's fighting me with all these doubts of these arrows of unbelief and 28:25 and all that. And I'm trying to fight him with this plastic sword because I've not chosen the way of the cross. I'm not willing to die to myself. I'm not willing to take my personal walk with God seriously, my thought life. When I'm 28:37 there in the car driving and and there's a pretty woman walking down the street, I'm not careful with my eyes. The devil says, "Yeah, this guy's one of us. He's trying to fight me with a paper sword. is not serious about it, right? Or when 28:48 he when when there's a situation where where God calls me to to forgive my wife, let's say unforgiveness, the shest way to lack authority in your home, lack power in your home by not forgiving your wife or your husband, not forgiving 29:01 somebody, holding a grudge, taking getting offended at others. These are sure ways to carry a paper or a cardboard sword. Useless against the devil. The devil is afraid of those who say, "I'll die to myself." Sure, they 29:14 have spoken all these things about me, done all these things uh against me. Father, forgive them. They don't even have to ask me for forgiveness. Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. The way of the cross is 29:25 the way to power. If we believe this, if we believe the lie, we're rendered powerless. But we don't want to believe the lie. Turn back to um you know, in um in uh second Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3. I want to show you this verse. This is 29:44 the verse that triggered uh the thoughts I've been sharing with you so far. Again, I I I tell you my dear brothers and sisters, this is very important in the last days because wherever it seems like wherever Paul talks about this, he's saying in the 30:01 last days, this is really important. In the last days, this in the last days this, in the last days, this we saw that in 1 Timothy chapter 4. In the last days, these demonic doctrines will be very active. And then he says the same 30:13 thing in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse one. Realize this that in the last days difficult times will come. What kind of difficult ways Paul skip down to verse 5. This is the difficult days that are coming in the last days. Yes, there may 30:25 be tribulation and and there will be tribulation I believe and there will be persecution in different forms. Some of us may have to go through it. Some of us may not. Like Jesus told uh Peter, what is it to you if John lives to to li die 30:37 of old age? You follow me. And in Paul Peter's case, it meant he would be u crucified upside down for his faith. In John's case, it meant that he lived up till he was 90 plus years old. What is it to you? You follow me. So the the 30:50 last days, the difficult times, listen to this. In the last days, difficult times will come. If you're like me, when I just casually read the Bible, I think, "Oh yeah, there's going to be persecution. Difficult times. I stock up 31:00 some extra food and I I do this and make sure all my things are in order. I'm ready for the last days." the difficult times that are going to come, my dear friends, he says in verse 5, one of the ways is that people are going to hold to 31:10 a form of godliness. They're going to hold to a form of godliness. Again, this is this presentation of godliness that isn't really godliness. When he says a form of godliness, it means that it it looks like godliness. It sounds like 31:25 godliness. It feels like godliness. It's not godliness. holding to a form of godliness which might have all the outward appearances of godliness such as fasts three times a uh a month or prays four hours every day spends two hours 31:43 reading his Bible form of godliness. Now there is a real godliness that might lead you to live such a life where you you have time to spend 2 hours in the word and fasting three times a week or whatever all that but if you assess 31:54 godliness based on that you may be taken up with a form my friend he says they will hold to a form of godliness but have denied its power they're holding to the form and says look at this sword I have authority before the devil but 32:09 there's no power in it they're fooling only themselves and perhaps the other people who who are fooled by such people. The devil's not fooled because he sees that the the thing they're holding in their hand is doesn't scare 32:18 him one bit. It's paper. It's cardboard. And the devil sits there and laughs at such Christian says, "Really? You think you're going to fight me with that? You refuse to forgive your husband, your wife. You refuse to take that area of 32:29 your secret life seriously. You refuse to uh humble yourself in the situation. I ask you to humble yourself and you think you have authority. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. And in due time, he will lift you up. He 32:41 will give you that authority." So they will in the last days this will be the difficult times that will come is that the the deception will be more rampant. You will find that more churches than not are chasing this form 32:54 of godliness. I believe that's the days we're living in. I I say this to my own uh with carefulness and and soberness that as I listen to the preaching that's out there as and I do I I I'm interested to hear what is it that these other 33:08 churches are preaching and I'm not thinking of anyone in particular here. I'm just thinking in general. I hear the most of the messages that I hear are a form of godliness. And I hear that after they preach like that for 10 years, they 33:19 found out that the guy was living in adultery for five of those years. Form of godliness. It doesn't matter. They preach good sermons and people are helped by it. But their secret in our lives are a mess. They're married. 33:30 They're divorced and then they get remarried and they divorce again, get remarried, and all this stuff is going on and it's becoming more and more rampant. And that's why it's difficult times. I'll tell you, I'm more afraid of 33:41 that than of somebody coming and saying, "Uh, deny Jesus or I'll shoot you." I said, "You can shoot me. I'm not going to deny Jesus. I I what I have to live for is eternity anyway. So, I'm already living heaven on this earth." But this 33:52 deception that I might continue to live on this earth and buy into the deception and somehow allow this secret love of money to reside in my heart or the secret area of lust or the secret area of anger that I refuse to let the Lord 34:05 deal with or the secret area of unforgiveness or unsubmission and the Lord I refuse to let the Lord deal with it. That's what I'm more afraid of because I could continue to live the rest of my life on this earth and miss 34:16 heaven alto together. I fear it for my own life. I really do. But I have this confidence that if I love the truth, like it says in 1 Thessalonians 3, so as to be saved, I will not be deceived by this. The Holy Spirit, God doesn't want 34:29 you to be deceived. He's not playing this game where he's like, "Well, let me see how many people will get deceived and he's sitting there." No. God is working more actively than the devil. Do you believe that? I hope you do that. 34:37 God, the Holy Spirit is working more actively than the devil because he's greater. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. So the power of the Holy Spirit to prevent us from buying into this deception is 34:48 greater than the power of the deceiver himself. But the choice is ours. Will we choose to take up our cross daily and die? Then we will be saved from that deception. And that's why, like I said, the the the difficult times that are 35:03 coming. I'm not thinking about the persecution and all that. I know the Lord will give me words to say when I stand before the judge and he says, "Give me a good reason why I shouldn't shoot you because you're a Christian." 35:13 He'll give me words to say and I'll have power and authority in that situation. Jesus said, "Don't even plan ahead." The Holy Spirit will give you words to say in that situation. I'm not as afraid of that persecution as I am that I take my 35:24 personal walk with God so carelessly that I become deceived. And I could get up here and preach and you guys could tell me that was a great sermon you preached. And I could be living a deception where I fool myself where I 35:35 think that I'm really wholehearted and following the Lord and man so many people were said what a good message it is. And if I don't take my personal relationship with God seriously and live before his face in fear and reverence, 35:46 I'm in danger of being deceived myself. Like Paul said, I buffet my body. 1 Corinthians 9, lest after having preached. Paul, this is the great Apostle Paul. He wrote scripture. This is the man who wrote scripture says, I 36:00 buff it. I treat my my body. I take up my cross. That's what he was saying. I take my my physical and spiritual body seriously, especially my spiritual body. I beat it up. I allow the Lord to beat it up. I allow the Lord to crush me 36:13 through those circumstances. Why? Lest having preached to others, I myself might be sorrow. He had that fear. And I I'm starting to have it that having preached to so many, my judgment is going to be greater. My judgment is 36:25 going to be greater than most of you. Bills and I, our judgment is going to be greater because we got up and preached. And I live in fear of that when I get up here and speak because I say, Lord, you're going to judge me more than any 36:35 of these ones who have heard it. I want to live in fear before you. I want to take my walk seriously with you, Lord. Give me grace. This is a This is a loving father I want you to see. Not a not a a God who's scary uh or or or to 36:47 be feared in a human fear like we heard in that in that video we watched. The fear of God is one that will cause me to run right into his presence and say, "Hide me, Savior. Rock of ages cleft from me. Let me hide myself cuz I'm safe there. I 37:03 have nothing to fear when I'm enveloped in his arms. a form of godliness without power. He says in 2 Timothy 3. So this, you know, back in first, let's turn back to 1 Timothy chapter 4. And he's saying that these these these doctrines of demons, 37:20 this deception will advocate a an external self-denial or aestheticism. And you you know aeticism, you you look in every other religion, they have it. The Hindus are great at it. The Buddhists are really good at it. this 37:32 aestheticism where the holiest man, the man who's closest to Nirvana is the one who has separated himself outwardly from all the things of this earth. And so he lives like a monk and walks around with barefoot and they bear very little and 37:46 eat very little and they go on fast for days on end and they're able to do it somehow. Is that godliness? Absolutely not. You know that. You know that the only way to the father is through Jesus Christ. And these are people who deny 37:57 Christ and yet they are far greater aesthetics than any Christian I've ever met. They they can go for they can fast for more than 40 days. I've heard of people fasting for months on end. I mean, you thought 40 days. I've never 38:10 done anything close to 40 days of fasting. But if if if if the way to godliness was through fasting for 40 days and you thought, well, I'm going to go on this 40-day fasting. Lord, you're going to give me godliness at the end of 38:20 it. I sad news for you that that's not the way to godliness. It is a it is a you being in control of your circumstance and saying Lord if I do this 40 days of fast you better give me godliness doesn't work says I have a way 38:35 there's a way that seems right to you or like we read in that proverbs it's like this way might seem right to a man but it's the Lord who judges the motives is the Lord taking you that way the way that the Lord takes you where you submit 38:46 yourself completely to his will lead you to godliness Romans 8:29 that promise there is absolutely true that He will. This is the destination he has made for us to conform us into the image of his son Jesus. And he will fulfill it. I 39:01 stake my claim on that promise every day as often as I remember. Lord, you're going to conform me into the image of your son Jesus no matter what circumstance I go through on this earth. And help me today, Lord, to walk that 39:10 way and conform me more into your image, Lord Jesus. From glory to glory, we are being transformed in. And this the these, you know, I was talking about paper sword series. gives the impression, this deception gives the 39:24 impression that it will make us holy. It gives the impression that if I do this, it will somehow make me holy. But it doesn't. We find ourselves powerless time after. And if you're sick and tired of the devil wreaking havoc in your 39:37 life, as I got to the point where I was sick and tired of the devil wreaking havoc in my life in in the way I talked to my wife or the way I uh treated my children or the way I uh thought about my work or the way I thought about 39:50 others who spoke evil of me or all these things and if you're tired of the devil having power over you, take courage, my dear friend, that it says in Romans 6:14, "Sin shall not have power." That unforgiving attitude shall not have 40:05 power over you. That lust shall not have power. That anger, that way your tongue just seems to come out in anger shall not have power in you because you're not under law but under grace. Who does God give grace to? You don't submit 40:19 themselves under the mighty hand of God. Humble yourself take. That's what it means to humble yourself. You take up the cross that God has given you. When you say, "Lord, I don't understand the reasons why you're allowing me to go 40:28 through this and why you want me to take up this particular cross. that other cross seems a little bit more tolerable. But he says, "No, I want you to take this is the way out of control." And those who humble themselves under his mighty hand will 40:42 find that they get grace. And so sin does not have power over them. Now, the devil thinks twice before he comes into your home trying to pick a fight with get a get you to pick a fight between you and your wife and your husband 40:55 because he knows you have a real sword and you're ready to take it out and scare him away from that situation of conflict and and uh trying to undermine the work of God. That's why Jesus Christ came under this word to destroy the 41:08 works of darkness. It says in the New Testament to destroy where the devil every area that the devil had control over your life or my life. Now Jesus Christ has come and excuse me given you a real sword so that you can destroy the 41:20 works of darkness. We need a sharp sword for that. We need a sword that comes as a result of a sword that has power which comes as a result of my taking up the cross and done. See, the reason that this is serious is because I believe that if we if I think 41:38 that somehow my coming to church or being a committed member of the church or fasting or thinking that somehow this outward thing or I dress modestly or I um I do this and I do that and I um I you know some I've heard people say well 41:50 I I need help in this particular situation maybe if I get some accountability have some brothers come and really keep me accountable that will help me. It doesn't work. No, ultimately the only way to salvation is you have to 42:00 take up your cross. Accountability might help in some situations, but that's not the way. And if you think that that accountability is somehow going to help you because you really don't want to give up yourself, the sad the sad news 42:11 or the good news depending on how you look at it is give up yourself. You you'll get the help. But the reason this is important is and the reason that God rejects all these other ways of trying to attain godliness is because it's like we're trying to come 42:26 up with a replacement sacrifice. God has said in Romans 12:2, I have given you a bond. Let me read that verse. You probably know that already, but Romans 12:1 actually. I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God to 42:41 present your bodies, that's the same thing. taken up your cross and bag, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service to God. This is the sacrifice God wants. He wants you to 42:54 take up your cross, put yourself on the cross, and present your whole body to him as a sacrifice. If you find something else to give God, he says, "Lord, I'll give you I'll give you 20% or how about that? Or I'll give you I'll 43:06 be there every Sunday and every Wednesday. How about that? But just not my body as a living. Just not I have to control my eyes and control my tongue." No. No. No, no, not that, Lord. Um, okay. Let's um I'll give an extra I got 43:19 a bonus and I'll give an a little extra to to the church. And I what I'm what I'm trying to give God is a replacement sacrifice. Lord, I'll fast if you'll give me victory over internet pornography. I'll fast, Lord. I'll get 43:31 on my knees and I'm fast and you give me give me victory. Then he says, I want you to give me your body as a living sacrifice. You the fasting and all that's good and the praying and all that that's good, but give me your body as a 43:41 living sacrifice. See, what this reminds me of is imagine when God said to the Israelites, you need to cut up the bull, you know, the uh the uh the sin offering. You come there and you cut up this animal into different parts and 43:51 then you take it all and put it on the on the altar and then the fire comes. But let's say I I decide, you know what, this bull is a little bit precious to me. I I use him for uh for all he's very useful for me. I he helps me out in my 44:04 work and so I don't really want to give up that bull. But how about Lord, I'll tell you what. I will give you this other thing, this other whatever. I mean, I'll give you something else and I'll put it there and I'll cut it up 44:14 just like the way you want and I stand there and wait for the power to come and it doesn't come cuz the Lord is waiting for me to give up that thing that he says I have asked of you. Your body as a living sacrifice that has nothing to do 44:26 with Sunday morning. It has everything to do with Tuesday afternoon, Thursday evening and Friday evening when you're there in your home and you're working. That's where he says, "Were you giving your body as a living sacrifice?" 44:36 Instead, you can come here and sing on Sunday morning, all the Jesus I splendor and you're worthy and all this stuff. It's meaningless. If throughout the rest of the week, you're not willing to give up that sacrifice which I have required. 44:48 After you give that, then sure, bring the sacrifice of praise into my presence and it'll come like an altar like uh like a like an incense into my nostrils. The praise will come into my nostrils. But that's only meaningful if I have 44:59 first given my body as a living sacrifice. No, it's a tempting word trying to offer replacement sacrifice. But God can only accept the perfect sacrifice to Jesus. So I finish my time. Let me take 45:19 you back to uh 1 Timothy chapter 3 as we close. He says 1 Timothy 4:7, "Have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for all women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. For bodily discipline, fasting and and doing all 45:37 this outward things. That's what that's what I think of when I think of bodily discipline. All those outward things you think you do which make you a good Christian and pleasing in God's sight is only of little profit. All those outward 45:50 things that you do that you think qualifies you as a good Christian is of little profit. But godliness, Christ manifest in the flesh, Christ manifest in your flesh, the the life of Christ coming out through Santos, the life of Christ coming out 46:06 through put your name there, that is profitable for all things. If you do that, if you allow the life of Christ, if you take up your cross and die so that the life of Christ can flow through you, it will take care of your 46:19 problems on this earth as well as your problems of eternity. takes care of both. Godliness is profitable for all things since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. Let me read this paraphrase of of 46:37 Colossians chapter 2 that I have there at the bottom of the screen. Just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust him for each day's problem. This is the message paraphrase of Colossians 2:6. Oh, no, I'm sorry. The Living Bible 46:51 paraphrase. Just as you trust, listen carefully. Just as you trusted Christ to save you when you needed forgiveness from your sins and all, just as you trusted Christ to save you, you were there at the bottom of the pit says, 47:01 "Lord Jesus, help me." And you trusted him. You you held his hand and he pulled you out of that pit and forgave your sins. Just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust him, too. Now for each day's problems. Live in vital I think that's 47:14 powerful. live in a active vital full of power union with him and you will have authority over the works of Satan on this earth and you live in vital union with him but don't don't you know what he's saying here is that when you needed 47:29 forgiveness for your sins you didn't think okay Lord I'm going to go go on a pilgrimage see the other religions say if you want forgiveness for your sins go on a pilgrimage Muslims do it the Hindus do it most of the religions do that go 47:39 on a pilgrimage and just like you didn't try to go on a pilgrimage when you needed forgiveness for your sins don't try to go on a pilgrimage for your everyday living. That's what he's saying. You trusted Jesus Christ just 47:49 completely saying, "Lord, I have no way to pay the penalty for my sins. I trust your penalty, the price you paid, the the precious blood of Jesus Christ. I claim that my sins are forgiven." Now, as you walk in every day uh in your 48:03 everyday journey, don't revert to this penance mentality. That's what he's saying. Don't think that somehow the fasting and and abstaining from marriage and not playing sports and not having a TV or or this or that the Lord will lead 48:15 you on whether you should or shouldn't on those matters. But that is not your penance to a life of God. He says you still have to trust Christ for godliness in the same way that you did for forgiveness of sin. It's exactly the 48:27 same faith, a simple dependence of God. Say Lord, I've tried all these things. I've tried to work up victory and I've tried to pray for victory. I've tried to fast for victory. I've tried accountability for victory. None of it 48:37 has worked. Help me, Lord. Give me your grace. When we have that attitude, you will see the Lord give you godliness. It's a gift. Godliness is a gift. It's not something. It's a gift from God. But he'll give it to you if you walk the way 48:51 of being taken on the cross. Not the labor of my hands, you know, can fulfill thy laws demands. Could my zeal no respit? No. I had all zeal. Could my tears forever flow? I should call. Okay, maybe I'll 49:09 cry and somehow I'll get victory. Try that. I have it. I think I'll cry. I'm crying. Cry and somehow the problem will resolve itself. Yes. All of this for sin could not atone. Thou must say, thou alone. So nothing in my hand I simply to 49:27 thy crossover. Naked come to thee for dress. Helpless look to thee for grace. Fall to the fountain flying. Watch me savior or I die. Rock of age. Let me hide this.
