Well, good morning, church. It's good to be here again as we continue our study through 1 Timothy. You can turn there, 1 Timothy chapter six. And we are gonna continue working through this. Instructions to those who are serving in the church. And I'm going to read verses three through 10 this morning. So 1 Timothy chapter six verses three through 10. Why don't we stand together as I read the text. 1 Timothy chapter six verses three, beginning in verse three through 10. If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited. in understanding nothing, but having a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. But godliness actually is a means of great gain. when accompanied by contentment. We have brought nothing into the world, so we can take nothing out of it either. And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. For those who want to get rich, fall into temptation and a snare, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge men into ruin and destruction. The love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, And some by aspiring to it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. You may be seated. Lord, I pray that you would be with us this morning as we look at your word. I pray that you would guard our hearts and our thinking in such a way that we are able to perceive what is true and what is right and we would grow in grace and knowledge. Lord, I pray for those who do not have a relationship with you this morning. I ask that your spirit would be working, convicting, causing them to come to an understanding of the greatness of Christ and how there is nothing in this life worth living for and that eternity is truly the aim because eternity is eternal. This life is temporal, Lord, and you have given everything we need in order to secure our eternal hope. We pray these things for your glory in your name, amen. If you think of an immune system when it is functioning properly. It protects the body with remarkable precision. It has the ability to discern between what belongs and what doesn't belong. It knows what to attack and when to attack. It identifies and expels threats. It maintains balance It promotes life, and all of this is working without you even understanding or knowing. It just does. But you will know when it is not working when the immune system is compromised, when there is disease, when there is neglect, when there is disorder. When your immune system breaks down, it no longer becomes a defense mechanism, it becomes a liability. The body starts to tolerate what it's supposed to resist. And what it should expel, it welcomes. And slowly, little by little, silently, the body begins to collapse, the immune system collapses, and once what was safeguarded and promoting life now brings destruction. I think it's a great illustration to describe our text this morning. The church, when it tolerates false teaching, is like a broken down immune system. When it welcomes heterodoxy, that's a word that we will see in a little bit here, in the place of orthodoxy, so false doctrine in the place of sound teaching, When godliness is treated as a strategy for personal gain, the immune system of the church is broken down, it becomes weak, it becomes disabled, the truth is no longer defended, the church becomes exploited, and what once was spiritual life is now a place of corruption and death. This is what happens when the church is not doing what the church is supposed to do. And I've titled this sermon, When Godliness Becomes a Grift. When Godliness Becomes a Grift. And that's exactly what we are seeing, the tendency of those who get into pulpits, or get into places where people have, are tolerating their teaching, regardless of whether it is sound or not, Verse 76 to the end of 10, it says, teach and exhort. I'm sorry, end of chapter two. It says, teach and exhort these things. There are things that must be taught and they must be exhorted. And when they are neglected, you have serious problems. And Paul will expose These problems, we'll see this in our text with clarity and force, he will show us what those who use religion for profit look like. And that's what I mean when I say when godliness becomes a grift, when religion becomes a means of gain, it's about profit. Those who discard the words of Christ, who plunge themselves and others into ruin, that is the inevitable outcome They caused the shipwreck of many, the destruction of homes. This is not just a distant warning to false teachers. Somewhere out there it is a warning to us here. It is a sobering call. for each of us to examine our desires, our doctrine, and our devotion to Christ. For me, as one who is teaching, am I exalting Christ in my teaching and proclaiming the truth? And for you, as those who are listening, are you tolerating false teaching? So this hits all of us. Because the grifters are able to take advantage of only those whom are deceived. and this should not be you, it should not be me. When godliness is used as a means of gain, it becomes a tool of deception rather than a pursuit of holiness, and we must guard against this corruption. The love of money distorts doctrine, it defiles the heart, and it leads to destruction. So that's the essence of our text this morning. We're gonna dive right in. and hear what the serious warnings of Paul and what the Bible has to say. And first, we are going to see in verses three through five, there are peddlers of piety, peddlers of piety. When preachers become predators, when preachers become predators, Paul is going to lay it out so that you are not deceived about the predatorial preachers and the peddlers of piety. Paul says in verse three, if anyone teaches a different doctrine, Timothy is to be on alert. For anyone who teaches what is heterodox, that's the word in the Greek there, heterodox. Hetero in the Greek means other or another, and dox is actually the word for gloria doxia. What is another glory would be a literal wooden translation of this. Or you could say another, teaching. God is seeking his own glory, and the way he does it is through true teaching. And there is only one way, and it is the way that God has laid out in his word. Anything else that is not accord to the word of God is what we would call heterodox. The biblical concept of heterodoxy is not a minor difference. It is a violation of apostolic teaching. Anything that does not accord with what the apostles or what is apostolic in its teaching is heterodox. In other words, truth matters. Truth matters. To follow Christ and uphold his teaching we need to know what is orthodox. An orthodoxy is that which is faithful, that is a confession and a defense of apostolic doctrine and of the scripture. Heterodox then is not harmless error. It is the opposite of what the Bible teaches, therefore it is a rebellion. And so we are called to guard against it, against the heterodoxy, to guard the gospel, to reject anyone that departs from it. And so Paul says if anyone teaches what is heterodox, this is the beginning that we need to be aware of. The thing that we need to be seeking out, what are people teaching? And is it according to the scripture? Because if it is not, then there are principles that need to guide us in order to guard the church from the gangrene of the grifters. And from those who would come in and bring disease. There are those who teach a different doctrine that does not agree with sound word. And Paul says, if anyone teaches a different doctrine that does not agree with sound word at the end, second part of verse three, the word for sound is the word healthy. So those words that are not healthy. And so you can see the medical illustration that it began with Paul is actually leaning into. A number of times he uses words that are medical terms here in this text. And I think to illustrate the dangers of heterodoxy, it's like an invader. The false teaching comes in and it is not healthy. It is unsound. Sound words produce spiritual health in the hearts and lives of the Christian. Unsound words introduce disease and unfruitfulness and unhealthiness into the hearts and lives of Christians. And so those who are teaching then need to be able to stand on sound and healthy words. And so if anyone teaches heterodoxy, that is not healthy. The one who is teaching needs to know what is healthy and what is not. You can think of it like a medical doctor making sure to understand the things that are true about the human body. If you have a physician who does not understand how the body works, that's not a very good physician. In fact, that is a physician who could be accused of malpractice. He doesn't know what he's doing. You do not want a physician who doesn't understand how the body works. Misdiagnosis of symptoms of disease, prescribing wrong medications. This is not merely academic error or agree to disagree, right? This is life and death, isn't it? You have someone who misdiagnoses you because he doesn't understand what he's doing, he's not good at his practice, is not a doctor that can be trusted, and in fact, the consequences for such a person is literally death. He can kill somebody, in fact, probably has. I'm sure we all have illustrations or stories of and who didn't know what they're doing, and the results. I have a brother-in-law who died because of this kind of situation. It's serious stuff. And so what Paul is describing is the same kind of thing. If you have a doctor that you expect who is going to, that you expect that he would understand how the body works, you should expect the same for the ones who are teaching. If you value the physical life, you should value the spiritual life even more because spiritual life produces life into eternity. And you can live a healthy life in the flesh, but the Bible says it is appointed unto man once to die. Your day of death is coming. There's no doctor in the world, no matter how good he is or she is, that is going to prevent you from eventually dying. But there is sound doctrine that if you believe and you live it out, that will preserve you into eternity. And so the stakes are even higher. If it's true of the body, it is so much greater of the spirit. And so when a shepherd teaches what is false, when they trade apostolic doctrine for innovation, for what works, for heterodoxy, because people have itching ears, as Paul will tell Timothy in 2 Timothy, that there's a day coming when the people will align for themselves, surround themselves with teachers, because they have itching ears, wanting to be told what they want to be told. When you have that kind of thing, they are not offering harmless alternatives. They're actually prescribing poison to your soul and to your family. And we need to see it like that. It's poison. The people of God, God's people, are being poisoned all over the place. And it is a slow, systematic poisoning that is happening over time. And it produces horrible consequences. You can see that in Titus chapter one. Titus chapter one, Paul warns about this kind of thing. He says in one verse 10, there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families. Teaching things they should not teach for the sake of dishonest gain. So they're grifters. They're peddling piety. And the result is entire families that are being destroyed. And so Paul is saying, look, if anyone is teaching these things, you need to recognize the seriousness of it, and you cannot tolerate it. It is poison, and it is absolutely guaranteed that their outcome is going to be destruction. Whole families. A false gospel is not a slight deviation. It is a terminal disease, and so just as a surgeon must be precise with his scapel, so the preacher must be precise with how he handles the scripture. 2 Corinthians 2.17, Paul says this, we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, in the sight of God, we speak Christ. We are not peddlers of piety. This is not promoting ourselves. The call of the preacher, of the teacher, of the scripture, is someone who is called to say, thus says the Lord. Well, how do you know? Well, let's look at the scripture. What does it say? Well, what is the language? What is the grammar? What is the context? What is the author's intent? These are all the things that you have to work through. Because you've got to believe that this was inspired by the very Spirit of God, therefore, it's authoritative for life. And it is consistent. And if we apply it, we are going to find healthy lives as a result, that produce healthy spiritual lives. This is the inevitable. And Paul will give us now as we work through this pastoral diagnosis of the man who peddles unsound word. How do you know what he looks like? Paul's not gonna pull any punches here. He's gonna make this clear. What does it look like? The results are tragic. How do we make sure that we avoid this peddler of piety? Well, number one, he abandons Christ, but he still invokes the name of Christ. Oh, don't be tricked. He abandons Christ, and yet the whole time he invokes the name of Christ. They are sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ. If anyone teaches things that are other than or heterodox, then the sound words of those of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is not merely wholesome sentiments of what the sound words are. When we speak of sound words, they are words of our Lord Jesus Christ. This makes them authoritative. They are words of the one who says, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. He is the risen Lord. He is the word that became flesh and his word has been handed down through the apostles and from the prophets. And so to depart from these words is not simply to prefer a different style or emphasis, it is to contradict Christ himself. It is to contradict Christ himself. And so they stand up and they teach. Well, how did they get there? Well, because they're claiming to have knowledge about Christ. And so they're invoking the name of Christ. And people, they hear, oh, here's a fellow teacher who believes like I believe. He's talking about Jesus. But does he? Well, how do you know? Are the words in accordance with those of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just because somebody says that they believe in Jesus, doesn't mean that they believe in the words of Jesus. And just because somebody says, invokes spiritual and pious sounding words, doesn't mean that they are spiritual men or women. There are all kinds of peddlers of piety. It is quite the grift. It is a money making of all the rackets that have ever existed in human civilization. The peddling of spiritualism is the greatest and the one guaranteed to produce the most success and it has been peddled throughout the ages. Over and over. These peddlers rise up. They sound spiritual. They talk about spiritual things, but they deny the very words of Christ with their teaching. They use his name as a banner while contradicting his message. They stand in the pulpit, open a Bible, speak as though commissioned by the Lord, but then they deliver a message that the Lord never gave. They deliver a message that does not flow from a proper application and implication of the scripture. It's full of theological error. And it is not merely theological error. It is spiritual treason. This is what Paul is saying. It is taking the Lord's name in vain in the guise of ministry. It is not a minor deviation. James warns this, James 3.1. Do not, many of you, become teachers knowing that we will receive a stricter judgment. This is a very, very scary passage, but it's only if you have spent enough time in the scripture understanding the nature of God and the nature of Christ. We have a view of God that has been brought so low and so therapeutic in our day. Yes, God's grace has come and the grace of Christ is incredible, but he transforms us, he changes us so that we become like him. He does not leave us in our condition. He does not condone our sinful behavior in our lifestyles. We are being transformed, we are being changed. God's standard does not change. Grace does not make sin of nothing as if sin doesn't exist. Grace enables us to obey. And not only that, it gives us a heart to obey. This is the beauty of the gospel. But those who stand up and teach some sort of therapeutic, deistic view of Jesus, as if the word of God and the laws of God don't matter, they're gonna stand before God someday. And they're gonna give a stricter account and it is a scary thing. In fact, Matthew 7 describes this, that many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, and then they'll describe the things they did in the name of piety, casting out demons, doing many good works, and Jesus is going to say, depart from me, I never knew you, you workers of lawlessness. So we must recognize that whoever speaks is to do so as one speaking the utterances of God, 1 Peter 4, 11. So we need to be like the Bereans that Paul talked about who were investigating through the scripture whether the things that Paul said were true or not. So that we do not have the case of someone invoking the name of Christ but not teaching the sound words of Christ. Secondly, his teaching does not produce godliness. He says these sound words are joined with the doctrine conforming to godliness. The teaching of Christ, the sound words of the Lord Jesus Christ is a doctrine that produces godliness. And so whatever, if anyone is teaching heterodoxy or another doctrine, you will know by the fruit because the results of that teaching will not produce order in the life of those who hear and those who receive it. It is a doctrine of sound words that transforms us. Sound doctrine doesn't just inform, it transforms. True teaching leads to true worship. Truth believed rightly always leads to holiness lived out faithfully. And so doctrine is never, ever neutral. It is never neutral. It either conforms the heart to Christ or it corrupts it with pride. The test of true teaching is godliness. Jesus himself said this in his high priestly prayer of John 17, verse 17. Sanctify them by the truth, your word is truth. So it is the truth then that is sanctifying God's people. Or we could say that is conforming their lives toward godliness. There is a power. that happens, that the Spirit of God uses with the true teaching. And so anyone who teaches, if the results are not sound words and if the results are not conforming to godliness, they are a false teacher. They are peddlers of piety. Number three, such a person is arrogant. and ignorant, verse four. He is conceited, understanding nothing. This is the character of a man who teaches unsound words. The imagery behind this word for arrogance is an interesting imagery. It comes from the root word that means to be enveloped in smoke. to be so clouded and blinded by smoke that you can't see clearly. So you can kind of picture standing in front of a campfire. The wind shifts, the smoke comes into your eyes and it stings and now you can't see. This is this idea of this word for conceited here. Your vision blurs, you're instinctively turned away, you're blinking, you're disoriented. This is the man who has been blinded by the smoke of his own pride. I mean, he just blows smoke and it's just smoke. There's no substance. He stumbles in confusion and he produces stumbling in confusion, but all the while he is insisting that he sees clearly. He knows what's right. He's groping in theological darkness while claiming to possess spiritual light. This is a very arrogant kind of ignorance. He understands nothing, but he thinks he knows everything. He thinks he has a light and he presents himself as a guide, but he's groping about in darkness. And this blindness here is not merely intellectual, it is moral and spiritual. This word here for conceited and understanding nothing, this word for conceited here has come to carry the connotation of someone who is mentally deranged. So it's the idea of smoke, but it's come to mean somebody who is mentally unstable. And so it's a medical term. I think Paul is continuing on this medical imagery here. This idea of somebody who is so consumed by pride and disillusion that they're blinded by the smoke of their own pride, that they cannot see reality. In other words, he can't see anything, but he's so mentally deranged that he thinks he can see clearly. This is mental instability. He is a blind man. But he doesn't know that he's blind. Matthew 15, 14, Jesus described this. If a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit. This is the picture of this man. He is blind. But it is the blind people who follow him. And where is he going? Well, to destruction. To destruction. This is the tragedy of the heterodox teacher. He's not merely misunderstanding, he misleads. And he doesn't merely fumble in the dark, he insists on leading others into it. He is puffed up with self-confidence. It's kind of like following a guide on a trail somewhere in the middle of the forest where you can't see anything. You don't know where you're going and you trust in this guide and then you find out as you're lost after wandering around that this guide has no clue where he's going. And so you end up wandering in circles. And then you look at him and you say, I trusted you, man. He talked so confidently. He seemed to know what he was doing and where he was going. But it's proven that he knew nothing. He was puffed up and so mentally deranged as to think that he could lead to safety. This is the false teacher. Spiritually sick, doctrinally dangerous, and utterly unqualified to teach. He's a peddler of piety. Number four, he manufactures conflict to monetize religion. He manufactures conflict to monetize religion. Ignorance always creates a vacuum. Ignorance always creates a vacuum. When truth is absent, there's always something else that will rush in. You mark it down. This is a truism. There will always be something that people gravitate toward. Some kind of teaching. And it is because they are ignorant of the truth. According to Paul, this void will not remain empty for long. It is filled with a morbid obsession with controversy. This is what is filling the void of this man who understands nothing. He fills that vacuum with a morbid interest, a morbid obsession in controversial questions and disputes about words. This is how he exalts himself. He exalts himself with this morbid interest. This word again means to be diseased, another medical term. It means to be sick. He's sick, that's what Paul is saying. He's got a sickness. I mean he is so deranged that he has a morbid sickness. He's diseased. This is what is operating in this guy and this is a contrast to the sound words, to the healthy words. The man who rejects sound doctrine is spiritually sick. His condition then is not neutral, it is toxic. He doesn't just ignore the truth, he feeds on the error. He is sick, literally. The text is he's sick about controversies. He has a sickness. He's obsessed. He's mentally deranged. All he can think about are things that are controversial. His mind is drawn to endless speculation, disputes over words, theological rabbit trails, doctrinal disputes that serve no sanctifying purpose. This is not a person who is seeking careful, reverent inquiries of the scripture. It is somebody who's gravitating toward the next trendy thing, the next dispute, the next thing that he can show there, lift up, that sounds pious, but is controversial. This is symptoms of someone with a, instead of a longing to know God, there is a sickness, a deep pathology that is operating in him. A mind that is turned away from the truth, become addicted to noise, nonsense, absurdities, useless speculations. He does not hunger for righteousness, he hungers for conflict disguised as theology. He masks his pride as discernment. And he has a fascination with novelty. And it sounds so, so deep to him. These speculative nonsense. This is harmful. Paul has given us this spiritual version of a biological truth. If the body, unhealthy body, craves what will harm it, so an unhealthy mind will crave what will deceive it. When a man abandons the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ, he doesn't just drift into neutrality, he descends into a state of moral and mental sickness. And Paul continues the diagnosis of this man. the deadly symptoms that follow the end of verse four and into verse five. He says, out of which arise envy, strife, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth. Men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth. This is the result. It's flowing out of this and it is producing this. Paul says that envy arises. This is a jealousy that corrodes the heart. It sees God's blessing on others as a personal offense. It is all about what you can get. This is the product. Instead of selflessness, it produces selfishness. Instead of I want you to be blessed by God, it's I want what you have and I hate that you have what I want. And this is the product, envy, jealousy. strife, a quarrelsome spirit, conflict everywhere. False doctrine never cultivates peace. It always produces conflict. It always will. Instead of coming to understand and think the same, that is where we find peace. It is producing strife and conflict and then blasphemies. The word slanders there is a word for blasphemies. Speech that reviles and tears down both man and God. When truth is gone, character assassination fills the void. And so you have all these ad hominins. You have people attacking each other. This is the result. And this produces evil suspicions, wicked conjectures. It's a mindset of a people who are assuming the worst in each other. Instead of love believing all things, it is I don't believe it, and I suspect that you've got evil motivations, which oftentimes is just projection, imputing motives, sowing distrust. A diseased doctrine breeds diseased relationships, chaos. constant friction, ongoing irritating conflict, not an occasional disagreement, chronic doctrinal hostility, chronic confliction in relationships, fighting everywhere. This is a mark of those who fight truth and feed on division. And this all comes from men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth. Men have corrupted mind. They are corrupted in their mind. They are mentally deranged. The mind has become defiled. Its conclusions are twisted. They've become deprived of the truth. This word deprived here is a word for robbed or plundered. They don't merely lack truth. They've been robbed of it. They've been plundered of it. And not only have they been plundered of truth, but they're plundering others of truths. They have been robbed of truth, and they become thieves and robbers, plundering others. These are not simply misguided men. They are morally bankrupt, spiritually diseased, doctrinally dangerous, and this has nothing to do with building up the body of Christ. So this is a great evaluation, isn't it? When you look at your family, or you look at the church, and what you see is chaos, and friction, and fighting, and lack of peace, what do you think is behind it? It isn't a people who are interested in the truth, in upholding the name of Christ. There is false doctrine that is operating under the surface, guaranteed. This is what the result is, a vicious cycle of unstable people who end up biting and devouring each other. And such a person, number five, turns the pulpit into a platform for profit. He turns the pulpit into a platform for profit. Look at the motivation. Verse six. At the end of verse five and into verse six, well at the end of verse five here it says, they suppose that godliness is a means of gain. Paul will then describe how godliness is a means of gain, but not the way that they are using it. They are using piety in order to promote themselves. They are using godliness as a grift. It is a means of gain for them. These men, corrupted in mind, robbed of the truth, They have not only lost their grip on sound doctrine, they have weaponized it. They have weaponized religion for personal advantage. The godliness is not a path to Christ, it is a platform for profit. And listen, I recognize that I am describing many, many, many, many churches. There have been so many who have been given over to these kind of things, these kind of men. They suppose that godliness is a means of gain. This word suppose implies a belief based not on revelation, but on self-serving speculation. This is the conclusion that they've come to through their speculation. They have decided that if they want to gain, the best way to do it is to pretend to be godly. Godliness for them is not a path to Christ, It's a platform for profit. They've done the math. In their minds, ministry is a business model. Theology is a tool. Preaching is a performance. Godliness is a gimmick. This is their whole goal. The church is their stage. The church is their platform. And the people are their customers. If anyone teaches false doctrine, this is who they are. This is what they're aiming toward. Because somebody who is driven by the glory of Christ is not going to be using the platform for profit. And they are going to be seeking what is actually true. And what will come out of their teaching is what is orthodox, what accords with scripture. This is the essence of spiritual grifting. Paul is showing us that behind the disease of heterodoxy is not just pride or ignorance, it is greed. It is greed. The sacred has been turned into a scheme. Well, they use the vocabulary of the church. They know how to do that. But they have a salesman's tongue. It's all about getting their next customer. Jesus warned of such men, Matthew 7, 15, beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Oh, they look godly, they speak smoothly, they know just enough truth to be dangerous, but underneath is a heart that does not treasure Christ, it treasures gain, and for them ministry is a ladder, God is a means and not the end. And so these are those who peddle piety. They peddle piety. But Paul is not content to merely expose the greed of the false teacher. He now turns to correct the record. There are those who have been in the church and have been affected and seen their senses of such men have been correct. That man, he's just in it for gain and they've faced the abuse and underneath, they've seen the consequences of such teaching and they will just run from the church. And Paul says, no, that's not the answer. That's not the answer. See, godliness is a means of great gain. It is. Don't react so that you throw out what actually will produce gain in your life. Don't deny that godliness leads to gain. You need to understand what true gain is. And so secondly, we see the lie exposed. So first, the peddlers of piety, number two, the lie exposed, and why godliness cannot be bought. Godliness cannot be bought. There's a contrast here. genuine godliness finds satisfaction in Christ alone. Where false teachers see godliness as a way to acquire more, the true Christian sees godliness as a life that requires less. In other words, it is not about what I can gain in this life, because we come to understand that Christ is enough. That what Jesus has given us is truly life. It is all satisfying. That I don't need to gain the whole world. That I have Christ, which means I have gained everything. I've gained eternity. This is the pivot here. From greedy godliness to contented godliness. From using religion to gain the world to treasuring Christ as gain in himself. That's where true godliness finds life and where it is true. This is the path to true wealth, not through manipulation, but through worship and through contentment. Paul says that godliness actually is a means of great gain. In verse six, when accompanied by contentment. So real wealth can't be bought or sold. Real wealth can't be bought or sold. Paul gives us a true equation for spiritual wealth. The formula is not godliness plus money equals gain. The formula is godliness plus contentment equals gain. This is where true godliness is. It is not having everything your flesh could want. It is wanting all that God has given you through Christ. He is the source of all life. It's not a measure by abundance, but by our affection. It is not about how much we possess, but how much we prize the one who possesses us. This is all centered around the supreme sufficiency of Christ. It is a heart that looks at the world, and looks at all that it has to offer, and it says, I already have better. There's nothing that you can offer me. There's nothing that you can promise me that compares to what Christ has already given me and what Christ has promised me. This is real wealth. Paul expressed this in Philippians 4. Not that I speak from want, for I've learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means. I also know how to live in abundance. In any and all things, I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. What's your secret, Paul? What is it? Well, I've learned that I can do all things through him. who strengthens me. That is gain, brothers and sisters. That is life. That is power. That is the aim of all sound teaching, to point to the sufficiency and the greater value of Christ above everything in this life. He is your greatest gain. Godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by Contentment. Wealth. This is the kind of wealth that the false teachers cannot comprehend. They don't understand. They don't know what you're talking about. They preach gain in the form of gold, and their godliness is a mask for materialism. They peddle religion as if it is a product, and faith as if it is a transaction. But Paul preaches something far greater. He says there is a godliness, there is a life, there is a fruitfulness, there is a way to live, there is a truth that is so much greater that it satisfies your soul, your deepest longings within. That it frees your heart from the greed and all of that that it brings you to, the destruction that greed inevitably brings you to. Well you never have enough. and you're never satisfied. There is a kind of life and godliness that accords with what Jesus has given us that produces real life, that anchors our life in eternal joy, and there is nothing that the world can promise you that compares to this kind of living. It is a kind of wealth that cannot be bought, because it is infinitely valuable. You don't have enough money. And the world and all of the resources could never come up with enough money to purchase this kind of life. You can't buy it. And so if anyone's selling it, run. Run. Because he's a grifter. He's a liar, he's a robber. This is a kind of godliness that has been freely given. It is hidden with Christ in God. A spiritual grifter promises you everything and delivers nothing. Christ demands everything and then gives you everything. And Paul says, that we came naked, you'll leave with nothing. Verse seven, we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. And Paul is, he's pulling the curtain back, and he's revealing the reality as God sees it. And this is the only way to see it. There's something we all know but seldom live by. We enter life with nothing. And you wanna know what else? You're gonna enter, exit it the same way. You can't take it with you. We come with nothing, we leave with nothing. This is what Job said. Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh is taken away. And then he says, blessed be the name of Yahweh. This is after he has lost everything. And he comes to the right confession. But none of this stuff, I can't take it with me. God is the only one who produces real life. Death is the great equalizer. The billionaire and the beggar lie in the same dust. The self-made man dies just as helpless as the newborn. No title, no trophy, no treasure is gonna follow you into the life that comes. If your life is defined by what you can't take with you, then your life is a lie. If you're living for things that you can't take into eternity, then you're living for all the wrong things. This is what Paul is saying. You never really own anything. It's all borrowed. It's just for a time. And then he says in verse eight, if we have food and covering with these, we shall be content. This is the doctrine of contentment down to earth. He lifts our eyes to the eternal realities of verse seven, and he returns to daily provision, the bare necessities of life, the things that God provides. It is to say that God gives you everything you need to live if he so desires you to live in this life, and that's enough. You don't need anything more. You don't need to lust after the things of this world. You don't need to try to make yourself look better because you want to follow the greatest trends. You don't need to seek after treasures as if those things are going to make you satisfied in your soul. They won't. There's always going to be the next trend. There's always going to be the next thing. What you accumulate, where you live, and what you wear, this is what our culture defines as value and success. Paul draws a line far below that, and he says, are you fed? Are you clothed? Then be satisfied. This is the one who is content. This verb here, content, we shall be satisfied. We shall be content, at the end of verse eight, it's future passive. indicates not only our decision, but an orientation of the heart, a disposition that is satisfied in what God gives, and it promises a future hope. We can be content now, but we will be content. That God is bringing contentment. We shall be content. There's an absolute here. God is going to provide everything we need for life and godliness, and he will bring us to a place that everything we desire He will give us, the Lord gives us the desires of our heart when we make Him our desire. And so we shall be content. This is the opposite of worldliness. A discontented heart feeds on what it doesn't have, while a contented heart gives thanks for what it does have. This is not natural. This is why Paul says, I've learned to be content. And he knows what he's talking about. He's been in extreme circumstances, and he has been able to say in all of those, whether in prison, or whether free, whether with wealth, or whether with nothing, he's learned to say, hey, it's enough. God has a purpose and he's enough. If food and clothing are not enough for you, you are already poor and there's nothing you can do to find true wealth because you cannot buy and sell true life and true contentment and satisfaction in Christ. And until you recognize this, until we come to understand this, we will live in complete poverty. But if we come to understand that Christ is our sufficiency, then we will come to a place where we are rich beyond measure, and our soul is satisfied, and the world might call us poor, but we'll know better. They've got nothing. We've got everything. And then Paul says, number three, the suicide of the soul, when desire becomes a death sentence. The suicide of the soul, when desire becomes a death sentence. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and snare and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge men into ruin and destruction. It's not just a warning against materialism, it is spiritual autopsy. You want to know how to die? This is how you do it. You make your life all about getting rich. The get rich gospel is a gateway to hell. The prosperity gospel is one of the greatest evils foisted on the culture by the church. It is destructive. It is a temptation and a snare. This is language of premeditated ambition. There is a predator. It is predatorial. It's like an animal that falls into a trap. This is what is being set up. There are people who have set their heart on becoming wealthy and they use spiritual language. Oh, God is gonna bless me. I'm just being a good steward. I'm just claiming his promises. but underneath is a desire that demonstrates dissatisfaction. You are greedy. You're not satisfied in Christ. Jesus isn't enough for you. You aren't trusting in his provisions. you fall into a temptation and snare. This enticement, the hook hidden in the bait, in a trap, the snare, laid by the hunter, designed to capture and to kill. And those who desire to be rich, they're not just falling into it, they're walking willingly into it. They fall into it, but they're not tripping. It is an actual desire that they're aiming toward, which produces This snare, chasing wealth, open eyes and deaf ears. The Get Rich Gospel promises freedom, but it delivers bondage. And then he says it will produce many foolish and harmful desires. Many lusts, many foolish, many senseless, many irrational, many morally, many stupid, harmful desires, poisonous, This is the result, foolish cravings, promises that can't actually deliver, harmful cravings, they destroy what matters most, they rot the mind, they plunge into many pains. It's a word there, they're pierced by pain, they're plunged into this, they're drowning into this pain, into ruin. This word here, plunge, means to sink like a ship being swallowed by the sea. Greed doesn't just trip you, it drags you under. It's a man weighed down by his gold. And then he becomes pierced, impaled, stabbed through, not just minor discomforts, but intense torment. This is misery. This is intense language here. There's no escaping this. Riches do not rescue, they ruin. And a man sells his soul and buys misery in bulk. And then Paul brings it all to a head in verse 10. Love of money is a root of all sorts of evil. He does not say that money is evil. Money is neutral. Money is not evil. It doesn't have moral ability to choose right or wrong. It is the love of money. It is the root. It nourishes the sin. It breeds the evil. It corrupts the soul at its core. And those who long for it have wandered from the faith. They have pierced themselves with these griefs. In other words, this is what is driving the false teacher. It's a love of money, you can mark it down, you can bank it on it. This is what's driving them. When you hear someone who's getting up and they're producing content that is not in accordance with the word of God, you can say, hey, that guy is greedy. There's something else driving him. It is not a love for Christ. He's greedy for money, he's greedy for ambition, he's greedy for gain, and he thinks that godliness will produce it, but he's not pursuing the kind of gain that true godliness truly produces. He's not content in this life. And so the goal of the false teacher is not Christ, no. I'll close with this. It's not Christ, it's cash. But we need to beware. We need to watch out. We need to hold a high standard. That we need men who tremble at the word. Not men who are trafficking the word, men who tremble at it. Men who are driven to serve the church, not to use it. And so what are we to do? Well, first, guard your doctrine. Guard your doctrine. Don't let the words of Christ be tampered with or twisted. Hold fast to sound words. This is good for your soul. This is good for your children. This is good for your life. Guard your doctrine. Guard the doctrine. Know what is true. It will anchor you and it will anchor your family and it will produce real life instead of conflict and chaos. And if the doctrine does not conform to godliness, reject it. Number two, examine your desires. Cravings are not neutral. And what you want most will shape who you are becoming. If you find your joy in wealth, in recognition, in trends, in power, in applause, repent. That's a dangerous road. That's a destructive road that you're on. These are not light temptations. These are snares, they are traps, they are weapons in the hands of the enemy. Don't fall into these snares. Learn to be content with what Christ has given you. Number three, fear the Lord, not the loss. Fear the Lord, not the loss. You came into this world with nothing, you will leave with nothing. Don't fear what decisions you make for the glory of God that brings loss in your life. Think about the gain that you have in Christ. Let your treasure be in heaven, where Christ is. Let your contentment rest not in what is temporary, but on what is eternal. Let your measure of gain be not what is in your bank, but what is in your soul. Do not fear the Lord. Fear the Lord, don't fear the loss. And then finally, number four, love Christ more than gold. Love Christ more than gold. You cannot love them both. You cannot. It cannot happen. You cannot serve God and mammon. One will rule you. One will consume you. One will pierce you. The other will heal you. Christ brings life. Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth, but store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So set your mind on things above where Christ is seated in the heavenly places, and that will produce life and joy and peace and true gain and true godliness. Guard the gospel, flee the grift, treasure Christ, and teach the church that true wealth is not what you can hold in your hand, it is who Christ is and what he's doing in our hearts. Lord, help us because we are so prone to these kind of temptations. We look at our life and there's so many things that we find not satisfying. and then it leads us on a dangerous road. I pray that you would help us to treasure Christ and not to use Christ as an excuse to justify our love of money. In the name of piety, we claim to be doing it all for Jesus, oh, to be good stewards, all of these things. Instead of trusting in you, instead of finding our satisfaction in you, We fear loss instead of you. I pray that you would convict. I pray that you would cause us to repent. And I pray that you would help us to walk in a way that demonstrates true contentment and true godliness and real gain in our life. And Lord, may this pulpit be a place where that kind of teaching is being taught always. Those who are putting out healthy, life-changing words that produce real gain for your glory. I pray this in your name, amen.