The Dangers of Erring From The Faith

Temple Baptist Church - 4-14-2013

 

1 Timothy 6:20-21

 

Introduction:

A. We certainly live in the last days and they are characterized in many ways of which I will not deal with all tonight but, one of the most prominent is that of the “falling way.”

1. Most of the modern day churches that are springing up on every street corner are not a part of the apostasy because you cannot fall away unless you stood for something in the first place. These non-denomination churches have never had standards, godly traditions, or “old paths” to follow.

2. They are the come as you are, do as you like, and leave just like you came churches that have “cool” pastors who can relate to the worldliness of their congregations. They have never “erred” from the faith because they never stood in the faith. I still believe that God’s way is a straight one, the gate to heaven narrow, and there are only a few that find it!

B. I do care that these men have been exposed to truth and rejected it but my main concern lies in our local church.

1. Yes, it does bother me when men reject Christ; it does bother me when men that I once revered have progressed into sinfulness; it does bother me when everything that we fundamental Baptist stand for is under attack; it does bother me that America is no longer classified as a Christian nation; it does bother me that the faithful are fewer in number every day; it does bother me that churches now believe that they must go the way of the world in order to attain their numbers.

2. Though I do care about these things, what bothers me most is the possibility of Temple Baptist Church changing. If it does, the pulpit will have to change first! Our people understand who I am: an old fashioned, fundamental, independent, Bible believing, saved by the good grace of God, called of God to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, Baptist preacher!

3. Our Bible needs to be unchanging, the preaching needs to be unchanged, and the message needs to be unchanged, because if they change—then the church will change. Paul is admonishing Pastor Timothy to remain faithful to God’s Word and the local church.

C. Paul, in the last two verses of 1 Timothy, admonishes him to keep that which he had been entrusted with: biblical truth!

D. Biblical preaching is not always exciting as it is the “line upon line,” “precept upon precept,” feeding of God’s sheep. Biblical preaching is doctrinal truth! Biblical preaching is the rightly dividing of truth! Paul deals with two areas in these verses that God’s men are to avoid:

1. Profane and vain babbling. Much to do about nothing is a good definition of such “babbling.” Profane means “heathen:” preaching and saying things that are contrary to God’s Word. Vain means to no avail or ineffective. Babbling means to utter a meaningless confusion of words or sounds. They may sound good to the natural man but are ineffective in the edification of the believer. For years, I sat under biblical, doctrinally straight preaching. Dr. John Waters used to day, “Keep the main thing the main thing!” Pulpits today have become:

a. Political – I too am concerned about the condition of our government and nation. I too believe that God’s people need to stand up for right and make a difference. But, the pulpit is not the place to address these issues. The preacher is to preach the Word! Then the Word will cause God’s people to politically make a difference by being good citizens which involves voting right.

b. Pharisaical – I too am concerned about the lack of sanctification found in most churches. They treat the church like another area of worldly entertainment. We are not here to entertain but neither are we here to place God’s people under a system of “do’s and don’ts.” I believe that, if we preach the whole counsel of God, God’s people will fall in love with God and then the Holy Spirit will make a difference in their lives.

c. Pleasing – I too am concerned about the shallow, ear-tickling preaching that is found in most churches. Worldly people can feel comfortable on the pews of the church because there is no conviction because of the “buffet” style preaching that goes on. I call it “around the world preaching.” It goes around the world and touches nothing! God’s men are to preach in such a way as to please God, not men.

2. The oppositions of science falsely so called. Biblical truth has been attacked in these last days in many ways but one of the most effective attacks has been that of “science falsely so called.”

a. Science is defined as: a branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws. True science is the knowledge of facts, not theories! Theories are not experiential and, therefore, involve speculation, not truth.

b. Though the advancement of science has rapidly escalated in the past 100 years, for the most part, it is true science. We have seen such wonderful changes in our lifetime: electricity, the light bulb, telephone (from the first to the cell phone), automobiles, airplanes, space travel, television and radio, medical advancements that have brought about cures for diseases that once plagued us, and the list could go on.

c. Some advancements in science have been detrimental to God’s people because they are based upon false assumptions and are only theories. Two of these areas of concern have been the Big Bang Theory and the Evolution Theory. They have caused much confusion among believers because these theories cause some to think that they must defend the biblical account of Creation and humanity.

d. I do not have a problem with apologetics though I personally do not either preach or write in such a way. I choose to just preach the truth and let the “chips” fall where they may. Men either believe or they choose not to believe. The problem with apologetics is when men began to apologize. Apologetics is a biblical explanation of doctrinal truth given to answer questions that are asked.

e. For generations, the public school system has used curriculum which teaches these false theories and we have all been affected to some degree with their false teachings. Thus, men have introduced such theories as the Gap Theory in order to reconcile the Creation account with the large expanses of times taught by theorists.

1 Timothy 1:4 Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.

f. As fundamental Baptists, we need to continue to preach the Bible and allow it to do the explaining. It takes a lot less faith to believe in determination than it does to believe in randomness. Determination means that all things were made with purpose and design. Randomness means that everything that we see is the result of a series of accidents. Sure were a lot of accidents if that is the case.