1 Timothy Chapter 4

¹ Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

The Holy Spirit showed Paul that, later on, there is coming a time when some believers are going to depart from the faith because they listen to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. This seems like Paul is talking about end times, and he is, but not exclusively. False doctrines have crept into the church since the Lord established it…. Paul confronted Christians who were trying to make a religion that was partly following the Law of Moses and partly following Jesus and the Law of Grace. We see this same thing happening again with the Hebrew Roots Movement. People who depart from sound doctrine to follow these demonic perversions of the Gospel are giving their ear over to listen to seducing spirits. These spirits can seduce the believer who has a shallow root in the word of God…. the seduction happens like it did in the Garden of Eden when the serpent tempted Eve Gen 3:1 “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?“. He got her to start considering what he was saying Gen 3:4 “⁴ And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:“, then questioning what God said, Gen 3:6 “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.“then presenting a false true that was plausible, but in direct contradiction to what God said. Gen 3:5  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.“
The goal of false doctrine is to cause the person to depart from the faith and following the truth. Jesus’s name isn’t removed from the false doctrines… meaning they still claim to follow Jesus and may even claim to believe some of the same things as the true believers, but there is a perversion of doctrine there. Like in the Garden of Eden, the devil didn’t claim that God wasn’t real, instead he perverted the truth and caused Eve to believe a lie.
People depart from truth and sound doctrine for a couple of reasons. They aren’t firmly planted in the Word of God. They seek doctrine not for it’s truth, but for permission to do what they want to do like with the prosperity gospel. They don’t understand the plan of salvation through grace and by faith so they develop a doctrine of works. Every single false doctrine comes about when a lie is embraced and the truth is rejected.

² Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

³ Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

False religions sometimes try and control marriage and foods. Catholic priest and nuns are not allowed to marry, for example. Other religions don’t eat pork, some don’t eat meat on a certain day… they make their food into a component of their religion.

⁴ For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:

⁵ For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

⁶ If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.

Paul instructed Timothy to remind the brethren of their liberties in Jesus Christ, keep them fed on the Words of faith and the teachings of the sound doctrine that he was taught. This is how to be a good minister of Jesus Christ.

⁷ But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.

Old wives fables are silly stories filled with myths…. these are non-productive things that draw the attention away from sound doctrine and godliness. The current application of this would be a story I covered a month or so ago about Laminin. A preacher named Louie Giglio came up with this and many fell for it. Louie Giglio is a known seeker Preacher who features known false teachers from Steven Furdick of the Elevation Church. His teachings about Laminin were also false, but he managed to seduce people into believing the teaching. The main problem isn’t the fact that the teaching is in error, it’s that it became the teaching at all…we are to present the Gospel, not old wives fables.

⁸ For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

⁹ This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.

¹⁰ For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

¹¹ These things command and teach.

¹² Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

Timothy was a young man and probably did face older men who looked at his youth and thought he was too young to lead them. Paul admonishes him to be an example of the believers in his conversation, love, spirit, faith and purity. Hold fast there, Timothy, let Jesus shine out of you.

¹³ Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.

¹⁴ Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.

¹⁵ Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.

¹⁶ Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.