You take your Bibles, turn to first Timothy chapter four. Because he lives, we're here tonight. Because he lives, we can praise and worship him and serve him, tell others about him, and the power of the Holy Spirit that he has sent to us. And look forward to the day when we will be with him and all those other things we talked about this morning. I showed Jules my outline from this morning.

Every now and then, I'll tell you how many points my outline has before I preach it. I didn't tell you how many points it was this morning because you'd have thought, well, we're not going be out of here till 03:00. So, but that that message this morning had 16 points about Jesus Christ and we covered them pretty quickly, but I think we covered them fairly well. And because it is all about who? It's all about Jesus.

Our faith is all about all about our savior, what he has done for us, what he will do through us, and one day the crowns that will have to lay at his feet. First Timothy chapter four, Timothy is a minister for Jesus Christ in the city of does anybody remember? Quiz time. Where's Timothy? Oh, come on.

Is he is he in Philippi, Thessalonica, Ephesians, yeah, Ephesus? Or where is he? He's in Ephesus. Okay. He is in the city of Ephesus.

Ephesus is in today what is the country of Turkey. I say this often enough, you all will remember. Okay? It is pertinent to know where Timothy is because it tells us a little bit about the area that he's ministering in and the area tells us a little bit give us a little insight into what Paul is telling him. So ministering in the city of Ephesus, and he is in a pagan society largely.

There was a Jewish community there as well, but largely pagan society. Many Gentiles had been saved through the ministry. So the church there was largely Gentile or at least a good portion of it was Gentile in nature. And so he was battling false teaching that we're going to look at this morning, just a little bit of it, this evening rather, that came from both sides, from Judaism and from pagan Greek Roman philosophy. And so these things help us to give us a little insight into the letter, into Timothy himself and the ministry that he was in charge of there.

So, first Timothy four one through six. Now, the spirit speaketh expressly. In other words, there's, you know, no no doubt here. That in the latter time, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies and heretics and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, Forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain for meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, nothing is to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

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. So this is instruction to Timothy. This starts a new section in the letter. We finished up a section concerning church leadership and men and women and other particularly groups in the church. And now we're moving to a warning here as we begin this section concerning apostates, false teachers and false prophets of which there will grow more and they will grow more and more in number as the latter days press on.

It has been nearly two thousand years since Timothy ministered in the city of Ephesus and the number of apostates and false prophets and false teachers as we were looking also at in Sunday school has not decreased. It has increased and will continue to increase until the day that Jesus Christ returns. So Paul's warning here to Timothy, the Holy Spirit through revelation by the mouth of the prophets recorded in God's word plainly and repeatedly warns of the coming apostasy which will permeate the end times. So it's not going to be that the church is planted in the days after the return of Jesus Christ and the church is not going to struggle. It's going to be one pure group of people who who never deal with false teaching, that it will not splinter, that there will not be many divisions, and we know sadly that all of that is true today.

And much of it is true because of false teachers and false and false prophets and because of apostates. There are some things we differ on in interpretation and application which do not rise to the level of apostasy. However, there is much that does and has robbed Christians of the unity that we could have had had we stayed pure to what? And true to the to the word of God. But yet many false teachers and false prophets have gone into the world.

The devil does not usually attack from without. He usually attacks from within. He doesn't come and say, hey, look at me. I'm the devil. I'm here to lead you astray.

No. He becomes, as it were, an angel of what? An angel of light. And he picks one off here and he picks one off there. And he's sometimes choosy who he picks off because he wants to pick off people that will, in turn, deceive other people and lead them further astray.

Often often, the apostates that turn from the faith are eloquent. They are charismatic in their not in their doctrine, but in their personality. They are smart. They are manipulative, and they're very good at what they do. And they often lead people away from God while saying they are leading them to God by the thousands, tens of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands.

And here we read Paul telling Timothy that as God word has clearly said, this would be the case, and lo and behold, we find that it is the case indeed. And we have been warned because we are not, as a church or a denomination, immune to this if we do not make it a point to stick with the word of God and allow the truth to expose the false teaching that is out there. And it is, sadly, in abundance today. In acts twenty twenty nine through 30, we read, for I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them.

Now, this is Luke writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and he is writing about Paul. Paul is on the way back to Jerusalem after his third missionary journey. On the way back, he decides he wants to have a quick meeting with the leadership of the church. Guess where? What church are we talking about?

In the passage. Ephesus. Okay. Y'all are not willing to go out on a limb, are you? When I was graduating, was just saying, I'm going to say the wrong thing.

Alright. It's okay if you say the wrong thing. So so as Paul is sailing past Ephesus, headed to Jerusalem, he's in a bit of a hurry. He wants to make it there for Passover. And so rather than going inland to Ephesus, Ephesus is on a river, it's a port city but it's in on a river off the coast of Turkey.

And rather than going inland to Ephesus, Paul stops at a port on an island off the coast and he asked the elders. He sends word to the elders ahead, to the elders, the leaders of the church at Ephesus to meet him at this place which is probably a day or so journey away from the city of So, would have taken them a little while to get there but not a long while and so the elders of the church meet with Paul and Paul gives them in Acts chapter 20 some instructions fearing that he will not have the opportunity maybe to ever see them again. Ephesus has become one of the most important churches in the days after Jesus Christ. You had the church obviously in Jerusalem and then you have the church in Antioch, Syria that becomes a pivotal church in the early days of the church. And then the church at Ephesus, which becomes another pivotal church.

And so Paul stops to give them instructions there before he moves on. And this is what he is saying to them. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock, he's speaking of the congregation, Also of your own selves of your own selves, I can't speak tonight, selves. Men shall arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. So Paul says don't be surprised, don't be shocked, and don't be led, what, astray because this is going to happen.

Satan does not want the church to grow. He wants to destroy it. We know, as Christ promised, that the gates of hell will not, what, will not prevail against it. Satan has been just trying to destroy the the church, the body of Christ, sound doctrine, the gospel, the Bible for two thousand years, and he has, what? He has failed and he will continue to fail.

God will continue to save souls and will continue to grow his church, his body a believers in this world. But Satan will keep trying and and and sadly, he will lead many astray because he's very very good at it. Second Thessalonians two three, just before the antichrist is revealed during the tribulation, something that is still a bit future for us but maybe not much. Let no man he says, let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first that the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. The antichrist won't come on the scene until there's this great falling away in apostasy.

No doubt, we are either in that day or on the verge of that day, this day. There are many who call themselves Christian who do not know what Christian means. There are many millions who attend church around this world who are not part of the true church because they are seeking to please God in some other manner, being led astray by false teachers and false prophets who have been around for way too long. But they will continue up until the day of the rapture of the antichrist, and then they will utterly be put down by the return of Jesus Christ. An apostate we use that term apostate.

An apostate is one who leaves the faith, who once seemed to be in agreement with it. Paul wrote to the the elders, he said, and also of your own, what? Of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away to draw away disciples after them. Paul says, there will arise people not from outside the church, but from what? From inside the church.

To lead others away from Christ and from the truth. John tells us about them here in first John chapter two. He writes in verse 18, little children, it is the last time. And as you have heard that antichrist shall come even now, there are many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us.

For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have, what? Continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. In other words, not everybody that professes Christ possesses Christ. And Paul writes and says here, the reason that some have departed the faith is not because they were genuine born again believers in Christ, but they were phonies and they were hypocrites.

And they themselves were may have been confused and deceived. And in time, it was exposed, made manifest who they really were. And they left us, John says, because they were never truly, what? Of us. Because if they had been truly of us, they would have what?

Continued with us. Now, why is that? Well, it's this person called the Holy Spirit. And when we're born again, we are baptized by the holy spirit into the what? The body of Christ.

And we are kept by grace through faith, by the power of God through faith, ready to be revealed, praise God, who we truly are in Christ Jesus at his his return. So these men existed then. These people, men, women exist now, and they give all appearance that they are genuine followers of Christ. However, in time, they expose themselves. And sadly, in doing so, some of them lead many others away from the Lord and bring much confusion in the church.

I I had a a lady come to see me this morning during the service, said, I would like to join the church. And I said, that is wonderful. And so I would like to give you we have a church constitution. It has a statement of faith in it. If you wouldn't mind, I'll give you one of the copies of this.

And if you could look, kinda just glance through that doctrinal statement and see if, you know, we're in agreement because that is what? That's important. Why is it important? Because we are to be moving together as one body in proclaiming the gospel and serving the Lord Jesus Christ. We can't move together as one body in service to Christ if we don't believe the same what?

The same thing. And many of church has been torn apart and destroyed and many people's faiths have been destroyed because of apostates that have risen in the the church. And so Paul warns them, John warns them, the apostles warn them, these people will appear. So be aware, this is particularly important for Timothy because Timothy, as the pastor of the church at Ephesus, is responsible to help his congregation to see the difference between the false and the true and to warn them against the apostates that will come in and seek to lead them astray. Who having been led astray by deceitful or demonic spirits, either directly or indirectly, embraced the false doctrines of God's enemies.

Hence, they become themselves deceivers of other men leading them from God without remorse, having their conscience, what, seared. Having their conscience seared with a hot iron. What does that mean? That they are beyond feeling. They are beyond conviction.

Even though in their heart they may realize at points that what they're doing is not right, that it is not true. They lack a conscience. They lack conviction, and it does not bother them. It does not bother them. Thus, they can stand up in a pulpit or they can stand up in a classroom or they can look you straight in the eye and tell you something that is completely false because their conscience has been what?

Their conscience has been seared. If you if you have a take a hot iron and you sear some of your skin. It's going to hurt when you do it, but when you do it, you burn all the nerve endings in the piece of skin. And now, after it heals over, those nerve endings no longer work, and so it doesn't feel anything. And that's what's happened with these, Paul is saying.

Therefore, they have no conscience. They show no remorse, over the false teaching that they give. And so they're very confident in it and they're very convincing. Romans sixteen eighteen, Paul writes, for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. Jesus warned about them in Matthew chapter seven if you want to turn back to Matthew chapter seven.

It's too bad Ashley's not here tonight because she had a question about this this morning. She's watching on the livestream. Okay. Matthew chapter seven. Jesus addresses this as well.

Verse 13, enter ye in at the straight gate for wide is the gate. Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. Because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. So there's the broad way that leads to destruction. Many on that, many different teachings, many different people on that broad way.

Some call themselves atheists, some call themselves Christians, some call themselves Buddhist. But they're all on the broadway together. And there's a narrow way that leads to what? Life everlasting. As we mentioned this morning, who is the narrow way?

The narrow way is Jesus Christ that leads to life everlasting. It is straight. It is singular. It is narrow because it is there's only one way, and that is through Jesus. And sadly, few there be that find it.

And praise the Lord for us that know Christ. We're part of the few. Verse 15, beware, he continues. He put these two passages together. Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly, they are ravening wolves.

Let's give the idea of a, you know, wolf in what? In sheep's clothing, alright? You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits, you shall know them. Now, I don't believe as some use this that God is telling us that we need to go around being fruit inspectors all the time and and making our responsibility to judge everybody as to whether their fruit is good or their fruit is bad. We're primarily to be concerned about whose fruit, our fruit.

Okay? But as it regards false teachers, those that stand up and say, I am speaking for who? God, I have the truth. I have found something new. Particularly, Jesus calls us to inspect their fruit to see if they practice what they what?

What they preach. If their life is at all in line with scripture. And many and so many times, if you dig in to some of the TV evangelists and the popular leaders and those particularly that are leaders of cults and this sort of thing, they are anything but godly in their lifestyle. Obviously, for many of them, money, the love of money is a major factor in their life. For some of them, immorality and adultery abound in in their life.

Some of them are caught up in fraudulent schemes and many other things. By your fruit, you shall what? Shall know them. These apostates and these false prophets, if you inspect them close enough, you'll find out that they do not practice what they preach. And the main issue with them is not what they do in regards to us, it's what they preach, but you are forewarned.

If you doubt what they say, then take a look at how they what? At how they they live to see if it matches at all what they say. Thus, Paul warns Timothy, and Jesus warns us. These will and do abound. They teach he goes on to give some examples of what they teach and what should be avoided in verse three.

He mentions two groups of false teachers or at least two false teachings. Number verse three, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats. Forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats. This applies to a philosophy or slash religion called asceticism. Asceticism is the idea that I am going to impress God, that I am going to gain favor with God by abstaining from normal, healthy activities.

Okay? Like eating. Okay? Like marriage, things that God has created and ordained for our good. Asceticism teaches that if you just deny yourself these good things that somehow that will endear you to God.

We see this in Judaism to a point in the Judaism of Jesus' day that was had listed all these hundreds long list of things that they couldn't do. Okay? And they felt that they were okay with God because they had this long list they could check off and say, I didn't do this and I didn't do this and I didn't do this. And and sometimes as Christians, we do have to be a little bit careful about judging our spiritual growth by the things we don't do. Okay?

Now, obviously, there are many things we should not do that are explicitly recorded and declared in scripture. However, there's more to the Christian life than what you don't do. But here specifically, we're talking about things that God said are good and yet people think, well, if I don't do if I starve myself, if I if I if I deny myself these good things in life, then that endears me to God. And that alone does not in any way endear you to God. Avoiding things that are evil, yes.

Avoiding things that are good? No. And so Paul deals with two of these things. First one is marriage, forbidding to marry. This was a doctrine going around in certain groups within the church that, hey, you know, marriage is a bad thing.

You shouldn't be married. You shouldn't participate in marital activities. They are fleshly. They are wrong. They're not good.

And there is much spiritual exaltation to be found in the denial of these things. Well, what does Hebrews thirteen four say? The writer of Hebrews addresses this issue. He says in Hebrews thirteen four, marriage is honorable and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers, God will what? Judge.

So writer of Hebrews say this is simple. This isn't hard. Okay? It's easy. Marriage is honorable.

Marital relations within marriage is honorable. What does that mean? That means it is good. It is good. It is given by God.

It is for our good. It's not wrong. There's nothing wrong with it. However, these same interactions outside of marriage is what? Is evil and bad.

There's a very clear distinction drawn between that which is good and that which is evil. Marriage is good. It was created and ordained by who? By God. It is a good thing.

And everything that goes along with marriage and that is ordained of God is good and it is not wrong. And you do not gain a spiritual advantage over everybody else by choosing not to be married. K? Now, not everyone is married. Not everyone should be married.

God hasn't called everyone to marry, but he has called most in general to be married and marriage is good. Look, if you would, in first Corinthians chapter seven. So turn over to first Corinthians chapter seven and we'll deal with this. Was Paul married? No.

Paul was not married. Therefore, some have assumed that since Paul was not married, that none of us should be married, particularly in the ministry. Okay? That that was the example Paul set. However, that is not what Paul had to say.

So if you don't wanna know what Paul believes, guess what? Read the Bible. Okay? So first Corinthians seven, now concerning things to whereof, ye wrote unto me, it is good for a man not to touch woman. Evidently, the Corinthians were dealing with such a doctrine that was saying that was evil to partake in marital interactions.

And so Paul writes back, they had asked him. He said it is good for a man not to touch a woman. Verse two. Okay? Remember, the verse divisions were added by men.

So don't don't let that trouble you. Sometimes, we take verses out of context and if we just stop after verse one, then he would say, oh, I guess they're right. Good for men to untouch a woman. Okay. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife.

Let every woman have her own husband. Let the husband render unto the wife, do benevolence. Likewise, also the wife and the husband. The wife hath not power of her own body but the husband likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body but the wife. Defraud not one the other except it be for consent for a time that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer and come together again that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.

And so then you go down to verse 25. Go down to verse 25. We're skipping a bunch if you want to go back and catch all that, you can. Now, concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord, yet I give my judgment as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. I suppose therefore that is good for the present distress.

I say that is good for the a man so to be. Art thou bound into a wife? Seek not to be loosed. Are there loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife.

But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she hath not sinned. Okay? Does the Bible have to be any clearer? No.

Marriage is honorable, the bed undefiled. If you're married, great. If you're not married, great. If you should decide to marry, guess what? You have not what?

Sinned. Okay? That is not a sin. There's nothing wrong for that. Does he say it's good for it's it's a sin for this group and it's not a sin for that group?

No. He says it's not a sin for either group. A matter of fact, when you get to qualifications that we looked at in first Timothy chapter what? Three. For deacons and pastors.

It is not required necessarily that a deacon or a pastor be married, but it is assumed generally that they likely would be. And yet, there are many denominations that have or some, not many, some denominations that have leaders in the church, particularly those they have called priests that are not allowed to what? Marry. Does that turn out good? No.

Not at all. Why does it not turn out good? Because God did not create men and women that way. And should one, for the sake of the calling of God or other particular reasons in life, choose not to marry, to devote oneself further to the study of scripture as Paul had done, that's fine. But it's not expected of pastors, it's not expected of deacons, and there is no New Testament priest unless you're referring to every single believer in Christ Jesus.

And by the way, the priests in the Old Testament, they couldn't marry. Right? How did one become a priest? What was the qualification? First qualification for being a priest.

You had to be of the lineage of a particular person. Who is that person? You may help me out? Starts with an a. Aaron.

A priest had to be a descendant of Aaron. If priests were not allowed to marry, how does that work? How do you have descendants of Aaron if the descendants of Aaron are not allowed to marry and have kids? No. The descendants of Aaron were expected to what?

To marry and have children so there would be the next generation of priests to to minister after them and after them and after them and after them. You see, even the priests, the true priests of the Old Testament were actually expected to marry and to have children who could thus fulfill that particular ministry. There is no indication in the New Testament that God expects his preachers, his ministers to be unmarried, but rather the latter. And so this teaching that you are spiritually superior to others or that is a requirement of God to minister that you must be unmarried is a doctrine not of God but a doctrine of devils to fit the context. And so this is one that Paul wants Timothy to be clear on, thus he mentions it.

The next the second one here was what? And commanding to abstain from meats. Okay. Now, in this context, the word meats probably primarily is speaking of meats. But when you read meats in the New Testament in your King James Version, it's just the word food.

Okay? It's just the word food. So it could be read, commanding to abstain from foods. In other words, from certain foods, in particular, certain meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, nothing is to be refused of it to be received with thanksgiving.

So Paul writes to Timothy and says, one of the things they're teaching people is that it's not that you shouldn't marry. Wrong. Not what God God expects the other, generally speaking. And number two, they're teaching that God expects the members of his church to abide by some form of dietary restrictions not allowed to eat these things and allowed to eat these things. Now, where would that doctrine have originated?

This isn't easy. No. It originates in the what? In the Old Testament. Right?

Did Israel have dietary restrictions? Yes. Were there things they couldn't eat? Yes. There were several things they couldn't eat.

A pork bean, the one that everybody knows. Okay? But there were dietary restrictions that the children of Israel in the Old Testament were supposed to abide by. But we are not Israel. We are the church.

We are called to follow and serve the Lord Jesus Christ as the Lord guides by the Holy Spirit and speaks to us through his word, primarily the New Testament of God's word because there is a good bit of the Old Testament that was specific only to the Israelites, the Jews. They had to, do certain washings, ceremonial, if they touched a dead body, if they did other things, they had to wash it. They were required to not eat certain meats. They were required to eat certain things at certain times. They were required to fast on the day of atonement.

By the way, only the day of atonement, one day in scripture is a day set aside to fast. Just just that just that one day. Some people kinda go to town on fasting. Fasting is a good thing if if you are fasting for the purpose of prayer and not just fasting to, you know if you're fasting to lose weight, that might be okay too if you're careful, But there is no spiritual necessarily, spiritual significance to fasting to lose weight, and you must be careful with that or you'll well, not help your health, but harm it. But I I get off track a little bit, so let's get back.

So the Jews required to eat certain things, to not eat certain things, to do things at certain times of the year, to celebrate certain fasts, to go to Jerusalem, to keep the Passover, Pentecost, the Feast of Tabernacles. Those are not for the church. They were specifically for the nation of Israel. They're not for the new covenant. They're for the what?

For the old covenant God made between him and the nation of Israel. It is somewhat understandable that there might be some confusion on this matter in the early church because many of the believers in the early church were what? Were Jews. They were Israelites. And so they were trying to to figure out what God desired for them and what God desired for the believers who were not Jews.

And Paul dealt with this in the book of Acts to great degree, even went to Jerusalem for a council to deal with this particular issue because there were those that were teaching this very thing that the Gentile believers who got saved had to abide by these restrictions. And Paul says several times that is not the teaching of Christ nor the teaching of the church. So, well, let's look at the verses. Here we go. First Corinthians eight eight, but meat commendeth us not to God, for neither if we eat it are we better, neither if we eat it not are we the worse.

Romans fourteen seventeen, for the kingdom of God is not meat or drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the holy ghost. Let's look here at Genesis nine three. So the law came with who? Who was the person attached to the law? Moses.

K. So the law came with Moses. Genesis nine, does it precede Moses or come after Moses? Which is it? It precedes because Moses is actually in the book of Exodus, not not Genesis.

So so Genesis nine three, we read this. Every moving thing that liveth shall be, what? Meat or food for you, even as the green herb have I given you all things. So before that, they understood that all the plants were for food, but God is now telling them explicitly that not only can they eat plants, but it is okay if they eat what? Meat.

And there are no dietary restrictions given until the law of Moses for the nation of Israel. Okay? All the way back Genesis nine three. If you want to be a vegetarian, that is fine. I don't think there's anything wrong with being a vegetarian.

However, it doesn't make you more spiritually superior to anybody else because you don't eat meat. Okay? Some people we had a a teacher, an evangelist of sorts named Delma Lowry. And some of you know Delma well. Most of you probably don't.

Brother Delma used to come. He was a member of the church. We supported him. He held Bible conferences across the country. He was a very unique bible teacher and a very good one.

He went word for word through passages of scripture and he did it quite fluidly so you could get through a whole book of the bible in four or five services and there wasn't much anything in if each verse that he did not explain particularly as the vocabulary went. But evidently, at one point, brother Delma was fairly heavyset but he came upon hard times health wise and his body would no longer digest meat, proteins, or fats or something. So, he and his wife became vegetarians and when they came to visit and they stayed with us two or three times, we had them there for a week, we got to be vegetarians for a week. Now, if we could eat meat if we wanted to, they didn't care. But it was kind of fun to try to eat like they ate for a few days and and they were very strict vegetarians because of his health condition.

Is there anything wrong with that? No. Nothing wrong with that at all. Matter of fact, it might do me some good to be a vegetarian every now and then. However, it doesn't endear me to God because I choose to eat just vegetables.

And Paul makes that Bible makes that point here. In Acts chapter 10, Peter's sitting on a roof in Joppa and he's up there. It's lunchtime. He's hungry. Falls into a dream state of some kind and and God shows him this this sheet, tablecloth coming down from heaven and it comes down in front of him.

And Peter looks at it, and there's stuff there that Peter's not allowed to eat, not according to the what? Not according to the law. And Peter says, I can't eat this. It's unclean. And it goes back up into heaven.

And three times, God brings us down. Peter says, I can't eat that. And it goes up and down. Comes down again, Peter. I can't eat that.

And finally, God says, he says this, the voice spake unto him again the second time, what God hath cleansed, call that call not what? Thou common or unclean. What was God telling Peter? You can eat the things forbidden in the law because we're no longer under the old covenant. We're under the what?

We're under the new. And just then, he gets a knock on the door because really the lesson is not about meat or food. The lesson is about the Gentile centurion who has sent messengers to Joppa to find Peter who were just about to knock on his door and ask Peter to come and bring the gospel to a Gentile Roman soldier. And so Peter got the point, and he went with them, and he gave the gospel to this Gentile who ate pork or whatever else stuff he ate, and he got saved because God saves Gentiles the same way he saves what? The same way he saves Jews.

And eating the meat this way or that way was not to be an issue. And so understandably, there were some who were confused about this, and there were those Paul called Judaizers who were going around teaching people, you just can't be a Christian if you don't follow all these dietary restrictions in the old covenant for the Jews. But Paul is saying that is not what? That is not correct. That is not correct.

We can eat whatever is good for food. You shouldn't eat, you know, poisonous things. That's kinda dumb. Okay. But anything is good for food.

You're free to eat it. And no, Paul is not talking about illicit drugs or hallucinogens like certain mushrooms. I never heard of that when I was a kid. And now every now and here, these these kids in college, they ate hallucinogenic mushrooms. Who knew that there were mushrooms that could make you hallucinate?

Who thought up that crazy thing? But anyway, who was the first person to eat that ugly looking mushroom and it made them see things? But Paul's not talking about illicit drugs or hallucinogen or the like. I don't think I I know so. As these things clearly damage our body.

And what is our body? It is the what? The temple of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit. They alter the state of your mind, making you more susceptible to evil and wicked suggestions and temptations. Therefore, be not drunk with what?

With wine, whereas excess, but be filled with the spirit. Why not drunk with wine? Because it is one of these substances that alters your inhibitions and makes you more susceptible to temptation and to sin. Because these things are extremely addictive. In first Corinthians six twelve, Paul writes, all things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient.

They're not beneficial. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the what? Under the power of any. So, Paul is not talking about those things. Those things are not rightly what we would call food.

Okay? Food is something that nourishes you, not something that poisons you. Okay. So Paul isn't talking about poison. He's talking, generally speaking, about food.

And we are not to be judging others or ourselves by the things we eat, whether we follow certain dietary restrictions of one sort or another. In both of these cases, self denial of food or marital relationship does not endear one to God or earn for yourself some special grace or favor with God. Such teaching does not come from God's. It focuses once again on the physical and not the what And not the spiritual. They that worship the Lord will worship him in what?

In spirit and in truth. The focus under the new covenant is not the physical. The focus is on the spiritual. We are to nourish our what? Our spirit and our our mind.

And if we nourish our spirit and our mind to become more like Jesus Christ, the things we do with our body will fall in line with the things that are pleasing unto God. But the emphasis is on the mind and the heart more than how many times you wash your hands in a day. This was a problem, obviously, with the Pharisees. Not only that, but it is self discipline. Not self denial, but self discipline in the life of the believer.

That is the fruit of the spirit called temperance, that is constructive, more than the denial of those things which in themselves are not evil. Temperance is a fruit of the spirit. That is learning by God's grace to discern good from evil. It's also learning to use our time to redeem our time wisely. Okay?

To discipline ourselves in what we eat, in where we go, in what we say, to line up with those things that please God. Not self denial, particularly of good things. Okay? Now, we to deny bad things? Yes.

We're not to get drunk with wine. We're not to commit adultery. We're not to be crude in our language. We are not to do these things that are explicitly listed in scripture. They should be denied.

But the good things like eating and those who are not to practice self denial were to practice what? Self discipline. And don't get the two the two confused. But you, Timothy, he goes on last verse six here. He says, if thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shall be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine whereunto thou hast attained.

So he's telling to Timothy, now it's whose responsibility? It's your responsibility to study this, to know it, to be able to discern, and to teach others the same way, which brings us back to Acts chapter 20. Again, Paul is speaking to the elders at the church at Ephesus. This is before he sent Timothy there. Verse 28 of Acts 20, he says, take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood.

Timothy, this is your responsibility. You are to teach to feed the church of God that they might grow and mature in the spirit and be able to make wise decisions. You are to protect them from the apostates and the false teachers by warning them, verse 29, for I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. And thus, that is our responsibility today and particularly the one standing in this in this pulpit. For God will hold me accountable.

God will hold me accountable. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you, Lord, for your word, for what it teaches us. Lord, give us wisdom and discernment. Lord, help us to rightly divide the word of truth, to take time to read it, to study it, to meditate upon it, to deny those things which are not pleasing in your sight, and to live a self disciplined life, choosing to be temperate in all things that we might use the time that we have been given to focus on those things which are most important, which do indeed help us to grow spiritually and in our faith and make us better ministers and servants of Jesus Christ.

Thank you, Lord, for your word and for the wisdom that it imparts. May we grow each day to become more like our savior, Jesus Christ. And may we have the discernment to know the truth, the true from the false, the apostate from the teachers of the word, that we might be to the praise and honor and glory of the one who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. In Jesus' precious name, we do pray. Amen.