1 Timothy 4:1-6

This morning we are going to be starting the 4th chapter in the Book of 1 Timothy.

Paul has moved away from instructing Timothy about the roles and responsibilities in the church to now tackling an issue that was happening inside the church that was creating issues.

The issue Paul addressed had to do with false teaching. Apparently, some in the church had been lured away from true doctrine and had devoted themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons.

Paul warned Timothy that this was going to happen, as the Spirit had stated that in later times that people would fall away from the faith. This is a clear example of the Spiritual warfare that is happening all around us today.

In our text Paul will address two main areas that he already saw in the church, from which, the enemy had begun to use to twist doctrine and lead people astray. The two areas of concern that Paul mentions in our text is that some people were advocating abstaining from marriage and abstaining from certain foods.

Abstaining from marriage and abstaining from certain foods does not seem to be so bad at first glance. You might think that these demons would go bigger and get people to start worshipping other gods, or deny the deity of Christ. However, the demons used these two seemingly innocuous things to get people to start believing that by abstaining from these things that they were more spiritual. Which led people to judge others that were not abstaining from these things as less spiritual. It also made them believe that Jesus's death on the cross was not enough and needed something more to save us and to be considered righteous before God.

Saints, there is lots of false doctrine and false teaching out there today. It is both inside the church and outside of the church. We, like the early church, are facing spiritual warfare and we need to be ready and prepared to do battle.