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Welcome to chapter four of First Timothy and Daily Drive Time Devotions. Day
one, we're going to take a look at verses one and two today. Remember that we
have been talking about how to live a motivated Christian life, a motivated life
of faith, and that the motivation doesn't come from us, it comes from God and
the power that he can pour into our lives.

But there are choices that he encourages. There are ways that he shows us to
live that can make a difference in living this lifetime of faith. Last week we
focused in chapter three on this choice of integrity and how you and I as we
live with integrity can live a life of faith.

This chapter, chapter four, is strongly focusing on Paul's encouragement to
Timothy, but it also is some encouragement to every one of us. It's a chapter
that focuses on those times when you feel like there is no way that God could
use you. You're willing, but you feel like I just don't have as much to offer as
all those superstars of faith or those older people of faith or those people
that have been so long in the faith that I see all around me and you're hit by
these feelings of inferiority.

How could God use me? Now when that happens, our task is not to learn to avoid
that feeling because the truth is we all have that feeling. Really our task is
to learn to handle the feeling in a way that it doesn't get a foothold in our
lives and keep us from living the life of faith that God has for us.

One of Satan's tricks is to make you feel inferior so that you won't live out a
life of faith. We gain a lot of personal insight from this chapter from the
Apostle Paul. He gives advice to a close friend, a son in the faith, who
struggled and sometimes was even paralyzed by feelings of inferiority, Timothy.

Timothy, just get this picture with me, he's struggling with his leadership as a
pastor and there are probably some even leaving the church because of some false
teaching and some people being drawn away out of the church. And so Paul begins
to go after what's going on in Timothy's life. As he starts this chapter, he
goes after one of the most important dangers in feelings of inferiority.

One of the problems with feelings of inferiority is it can cause a greater focus
on myself and that's the last thing that I need when I'm feeling inferior. I
need a greater focus on God because he's the one who's going to give me new
strength, give me new life. But I feel bad about myself so I focus on myself and
Timothy's going through this.

He starts to think, "Well, they're leaving the church because of me. " Feelings
of inferiority are Satan tempting you to focus on yourself because when you lift
your eyes beyond yourself, you're going to see the real truth. Now, Paul talks
about this to Timothy specifically regarding those who are leaving the church
and why they're leaving the church.

In verses one and two, here's what he has to say, "The Spirit clearly says that
in later times, some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and
things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars whose
consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. " Now, let's just walk through
what these verses mean because there are a lot of questions in these verses.

First, he says, "In later times," he's talking to Timothy. This is 2,000 years
ago and you're thinking, "Wait, this isn't later times, this is just after Jesus
died. This is just a few decades later.

" What does "later times" mean in the New Testament? It means any time from the
time that Jesus first came because the truth is, since Jesus was first coming,
he could come again at any moment. Now we know now that he's waited 2,000 years.

They didn't know that then. And we know now that he could still come at any
moment, any moment he wants. So that's why these times are in one sense later
times, that the times when we're waiting for Jesus Christ to come again.

And Paul writes and says, "This is no surprise that this has happened, Timothy.
You shouldn't look just at yourself or just blame yourself. The Spirit has told
us that this is going to happen, that some will abandon their faith.

" Now, who are these that he's talking about here? Well, he doesn't identify it
exactly so we're not sure. Are these Christians or just Christians in name?

They seem to be believers. They seem to be people who are in the church, but
somehow they've gotten caught up in going in the wrong direction in life. And
there's a great warning to that in all of us.

I can be a true believer in Jesus Christ. I can know him with all my heart,
mind, soul, and strength. I can know that I am saved.

But if I listen to false truth, if I let go of God's Word and begin to listen to
these false lies that these false teachers have, they can draw me away. They can
draw me away from the life of faith that God wants me to lead. They can draw me
away from the life of joy that God wants me to enjoy.

They can draw me away from the life of service that God wants to use me in to
make a difference in this world. And that's what's happening in this church,
following deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. That sounds almost
super spiritual to us, but it's not.

It's lies. What he's talking about here is lies, deceiving spirits. Every false
teaching is a lie.

And that lie is almost always, it is always, based on my pride. The false
teacher lies and based on my pride makes me feel better about myself if I do
this. If I follow that false teaching, I'm going to feel smarter than everybody
else.

If I follow that false teaching, I'm going to have more spiritual power than
everybody else. It's always me better than everybody else. It's always, it's
always my pride.

Whenever you follow your pride, whenever you want to feel better than everybody
else in comparison to everyone else, that is abandoning your faith. Now Paul
makes a distinction here between those who have been drawn away and those who
are drawing them away. In verse two he says, "Those teachings come through
hypocritical liars whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.

" He's talking now about the false teacher. He's talking about the one who is
leading other people astray. He says they're hypocritical.

They're not leading the lies that they say they're leading. They're liars.
They'll just say whatever they need to say in order to get you to follow the
truth.

It's amazing how a confident liar can draw so many people to himself or to
herself. The power of a confident lie is a terrible, terrible power. How does
somebody tell a confident lie?

Some of you might be thinking when I lie everybody knows. My face gets red. I
start to stumble in my speaking.

I know that everybody knows I'm lying when I lie. How do you tell a confident
lie? You do it by having your conscience seared.

Paul says their conscience has been seared as with a hot iron. They no longer
even know right from wrong. They don't care.

They just see themselves. That's how your conscience is seared. You don't see
other people.

All you see is yourself, so all you do is what's best for you. Really in one
sense these people aren't evil. They're just selfish, which is the greatest evil
of all.

We've seen these last couple of weeks walking through these chapters that
there's a lot about conscience and our conscience in the Bible, a lot in these
chapters. Last week we talked a lot about having a clear conscience before God,
and these verses talk about having a seared conscience. I can't be saved by
having a good conscience.

I can't get to a relationship with God by feeling good about myself, but the
idea of a conscience is there is something in all of us that knows right from
wrong. I can take that knowledge that I have done something wrong, and I can
take it to God, and I can accept His forgiveness, and I can make it right before
the other person. I can clear my conscience.

I can do the humble thing. Or in pride, I can ignore what I've done that's
wrong. In fact, I can pretend that it really isn't wrong because other people
have done worse things.

I can say to myself, "I would never ask another person for forgiveness. Never
show that kind of weakness. I could hide it with everything that I'm worth, and
as I do that, every moment I do that, I am searing my conscience.

" You can live life with a clear conscience or a seared conscience. You can live
life by the truth and be a pathway for other people to see the truth in Jesus
Christ, or you can live life with a lie and be a pathway for other people to be
drawn into that lie. How do you want to live?

Paul is talking here about living a kind of confidence before Christ, and in
living that life of confidence, you have to realize that there are those who
tell confident lies. And just seeming confident on the outside is not the key.
The key is knowing Christ and who He is and His love for you.

That is the focus. That's the center of our confidence. I'd like to take a
minute together to talk to Him.

And Jesus, as we talk to you, we realize that our confidence is in you and
nowhere else. Lord, help us to be humble enough to know that we can be drawn
into a lie. And so help us to be humble enough to spend time in Your Word so
that we can see the truth and see the lies for what they are to get to know You.

And Lord, help us to be humble enough to admit those times that we've done
wrong. That instead of our conscience being seared by our own selfishness, it
will be cleared by our humility, our willingness to admit wrong to You and to
ask for forgiveness from You. Lord, I know that my own pride is a terrible
thing.

Lord, help me never, never to think that somehow I can make myself right before
You. Help me to always realize humbly before You what You've done for me. I tell
You right now that I am grateful.

In Jesus' name, Amen. Tomorrow, as we take a look at the verses, Paul is going
to get specific about the false teaching that's stealing these people's faith.