What do you have to do to be a good Christian? What do you have to abstain from to be a good Christian? I would be willing to bet that most of you have pondered these two questions before. So, allow me to answer them for you right now!
A good Christian goes to church three times a week, prays five times a day, and reads through the whole Bible every year! A good Christian never talks, laughs, or even smiles in church, and doesn’t do any work or go shopping on Sundays! Good Christian mama’s don’t dance and good Christian daddy’s don’t rock and roll, they only listen to classical music and only make love once a year!
Good Christians don’t drink alcohol (especially beer or whiskey), smoke cigarettes, nor chew tobacco, and they never use birth control (not even once a year)! They don’t go to the theater, watch movies, ride motorcycles, or get tattoos! They don’t eat red meat on Fridays and never consume pork products (bye, bye bacon). Good Christian men keep their hair cut short, faces clean-shaven, and they don’t were earrings. Good Christian women never cut their hair, but keep it tied up in a bun, they were long skirts or dresses (never pants or shorts), don’t wear make-up, and don’t work outside the home. Earrings are OK, but nose rings are definitely out.
Well, now that you know what a good Christian is and is not, let me ask you this: how many of you are good Christians? That is what I thought! Unfortunately, many Christians have been raised in contexts or have gone to churches that use rules like these to measure a person’s holiness. The problem is that the Bible doesn’t teach any of these things. They are all either personal or cultural convictions that get imposed on others and function as litmus tests for their relationship with God. And people in these circles usually believe that the more someone abstains from “worldly goods,” the closer they are to God. But this mentality is the heresy of legalism.
This was one of the major problems in the Ephesian church. There was a group of false teachers who were propagating legalistic doctrines, which the Apostle Paul essentially calls “the doctrines of demons.” They were polluting the gospel message and leading people away from the true faith. In the preceding passage, Paul used an ancient creed or hymn to affirm some of the clear orthodox doctrines of the church, and now in this passage, he goes on to warn Timothy about false doctrines, explain the source of these doctrines, and give a couple of examples of the doctrines of demons.
1.) The Warning against the Doctrines of Demons (1a)
Paul begins this section with a warning about the doctrines of demons leading people away from the faith. His opening statement “now the Spirit expressly says” is somewhat peculiar because he doesn’t tell us how or when the Holy Spirit” gave the warning about some people departing from the faith. It may have come through one of the Christian prophets, a private revelation to Paul, or it could be a reference back to Jesus’ warning about false prophets in Matthew 24. We simply do not know how this warning was communicated, but Paul makes it perfectly that it came from the Spirit.
The “later times” refers to the church age from the time of Jesus’ ascension until his return to earth. Throughout the history of the church, some people have abandoned the faith and this will continue until Jesus comes back. This was already beginning to happen in Ephesus. The Greek word translated here as “will depart” is avposth,somai, (apostomi) and literally means to apostatize, defect, desert, abandon, and revolt. It describes people who have made a commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Christian faith, but who later gave up on it and denied it.
We have been living in the “later times” for the past 2000 years and we have watched this prophecy come true over and over again throughout history. Thousands of people have been deceived by various heresies and philosophies have caused them to abandon the gospel of Jesus Christ. I think of the Arian heresy that was popular in the third and fourth centuries. Arias, an elder in the church of Alexandria, Egypt, denied the Holy Trinity and taught that Jesus was not God. Even though Arias was condemned as a heretic at the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325, this heresy became popular and a lot of Christians were led astray. This heresy has trickled down to modern times in the teachings of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons and the Unitarian church.
There are many cults and quasi-religious movements that say they are Christian, but that is the furthest thing from the truth. Although they share some beliefs with authentic Christianity, they deny or ignore core components of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So many people have been deceived by these unbiblical doctrines. It is estimated that there are 7 million Jehovah’s Witnesses, 14 million Mormons, and a half-a-million Unitarians in the world today.
Whatever you do, don’t be deceived by these and other false doctrines. We must heed the Spirit’s warning that some will depart from the faith! We must compare and evaluate every idea against biblical truth so that we will know the truth!
2.) The Source of the Doctrines of Demons (1b-2)
After Paul expresses the Spirit’s warning that some would depart from the faith, he goes on to affirm the source of these heresies that lead people astray. Paul begins by affirming that the ultimate spiritual source of these teachings is Satan himself. Just as Satan deceived Adam and Eve into disobeying God in the Garden of Eden, he uses “deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons” to trick people into departing from the true Christian faith.
Now Satan is so deceptive about this that he uses human agents as the face of these falsehoods. Paul calls these false teachers “hypocritical or insincere liars” whose consciences have been seared.” They spread lies that are contradictory to the gospel of Jesus Christ and God’s Word.
These false teachers were so engrossed in falsehood—that is they had believed and told so many lies—that that “their consciences had been seared.” The conscience is that God-given inner sense that enables humans to distinguish right and wrong. Like a cattle rancher uses a hot iron to brand his seal on a steer to mark its ownership, Satan branded his mark of ownership on the consciences of these false teachers. Their moral compasses became so confused that they lost the ability to distinguish right from wrong and truth from falsehood.
Do you know anyone like that? Do you know anyone who is so engrossed in falsehood that they have lost the ability to distinguish right from wrong? There are many people in our world today who bear Satan’s brand on their consciences. They have been deceived by deceitful spirits and have adopted the doctrines of demons, and they cause others to fall away from the true faith.
The doctrines of demons are all over American culture. They are spread both inside and outside the church. Any belief, philosophy, idea, or practice that does not line up with biblical truth is ultimately of Satanic origin. We must remember what Paul said in his letter to the Ephesians that he wrote a few years earlier: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12)
3.) Some Examples of the Doctrines of Demons (3-5)
Paul finishes this whole section by presenting two examples of the doctrines of demons: the false teachers in Ephesus were forbidding people to marry and ordering them to abstain from certain foods. These teachings may seem strange to us today, but many forms of asceticism were popular in the first century. Asceticism (or ancient legalism) was the belief that matter is evil and that the body needs to be subjected to harsh discipline to purify the soul. Things that brought pleasure to the body were looked down upon. The issue with the prohibition to marry had to do with abstinence from sexual activity, which the false teachers saw as evil. Likewise, the prohibition against certain types of food refers to those regarded as unclean by Jews.
Paul calls these teachings demonic doctrines because they betray biblical truth. Back in the Book of Genesis, God created food for the nourishment and pleasure of human beings. God also created the institution of marriage so that a man and woman could enjoy sexual intimacy. After God created these things, he declared them as good. Indeed, everything that God created is good, and it should not be rejected if it is used the way God intended it and if it is received in a spirit of thanksgiving.
Just as Paul pointed out some of the doctrines of demons that were affecting the Ephesian church, I would like to point out some demonic doctrines that affect the modern American church.
1. Legalism- this heresy reduces the gospel of Jesus Christ to a set of extra-biblical rules and regulations.
2. Antinomianism- the opposite of legalism. This is the idea that there shouldn’t be any rules or laws. These are the people who say, “If it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad.”
3. Moralism- this is the belief that people get to heaven by living good moral lives.
4. Pluralism- this is the belief that all religions are equal and basically the same and that there are many different paths to heaven.
5. Universalism- the belief that everyone ultimately gets to heaven.
6. Narcissism- the egotistic belief that you are the most important thing in the world. (You’re so vain, you probably think this sermon is about you!)
7. Materialism- the belief that your worth is determined by what you have. (Do you ever say, “I am living in a material world, and I am a m-m-m-aterial girl?)
8. Prosperity gospel- the doctrine that financial blessing is the will of God for Christians, and that faith, positive speech, and donations to Christian ministries will always increase one’s material wealth.
These are just a few of the many philosophies that are popular in America today. Don’t be deceived by them! They are all perversions of biblical truth and they are demonic at their core. They are the lies of the devil and cause people to depart from the true faith.
It is my deep hope and fervent prayer that none of you will ever be led astray by any of these or other demonic doctrines. Let us evaluate all of our beliefs and behaviors in the light of God’s Word!