The Coming Plague

Throughout human history, deadly epidemics have ravaged whole countries and even whole continents. Probably the most glaring example of that was in the 14th century, mid-1300s in Europe. What was called the Black Death, we know as bubonic plague swept through the continent of Europe. Ravaging that whole continent, it is estimated that up to 60% of the population was destroyed by that epidemic. Since it came from Asia, it was over much more of the world and it is estimated that 25% of the world's population died in that plague. And it would take 400 years to rebuild the world's population back to the same level it was in 1350, incredibly devastating epidemic. There have been other epidemics, not quite so severe, but many from cholera, diphtheria, malaria, the great flu epidemic of 1918 that killed millions of people. AIDS, Ebola, most recently, all epidemics that have destroyed shattered, affected nations and sometimes even a whole continent. But there is an even more deadly plague that is threatening us today. And that is a plague that afflicts the soul. It is a spiritual plague. Throughout church history there have been plagues that attack not the body, but the soul that had devastated entire populations, countries, continents, in fact spread across the whole world. In moving toward the conclusion of 1 Timothy Paul warns of the coming plague. In fact, he says it is already present and it will only get worse as the decades go along, especially in 2 Timothy 3. He makes the case that this plague that he's warning about will get worse and worse and worse until the 2nd coming of Christ. So when we come to our passage today, 1 Timothy chapter 6 verses 3 through 10, we find Paul warning us of two deadly diseases that afflict the soul. Two deadly plagues that afflict the soul. The first of those is the plague of false teachers, which he deals with in verses 3 through 5. Now if that sounds familiar to you, then you've been listening. But first, Timothy deals a lot with false teaching and with false teachers. The entirety of chapter 1 was a warning about false teaching. Half of chapter 4 was dedicated to another warning about false teaching. And now before he closes the book, Paul visits this subject again. Is this overkill? Is he forgetful? I don't think so. This is being done under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. I think it shows how serious this danger is. How serious this plague is. He's already warned extensively, but he's going to take one last shot at it before he gets done with this book to warn Timothy of the plague of false teachers. Now let's notice how he warns of that plague. First of all, he warns about their teaching in verse 3. Notice how he describes their teaching. Verse 3, if anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, and then he goes on to describe more about them and what happens when this takes place. But you can see the description of their teaching here in verse 3. He describes it in three ways. Did you notice the first? He says they're teaching false doctrines. Now the word false doctrines is a word. We get our English word heterodoxy from which means another doctrine, a different doctrine, a variety of doctrine from that which is the standard. That implies that there is a standard that can be deviated from. So there is a standard and this, whatever these people are teaching, is a deviation from that standard. It's a departure from that. It's something other than what the standard would hold. So the standard is the word of god. The standard was the apostles teaching and Paul has called that in first Timothy the faith. It is that body of teaching that god gave the apostles to write down in the New Testament and pass along to the next generation. And that was to be passed along through the generations. Any departure from that, any deviation from that is another doctrine, a false doctrine. It may look like or sound like the real thing, but it is not. It's a deviation from the standard. In August of 2013, a public zoo in the third largest province of China temporarily shut down due to an unusual problem. Visitors discovered that the zoo's lion was actually a dog posing as a lion. According to the report and of Beijing newspaper, the fraud came to light when a mother and her young son were visiting the zoo. The animal labeled as an African lion started barking. The outraged mother said, this zoo is absolutely cheating us. I paid good money for the tickets and I feel defrauded. I guess so. But an examination proved some other discrepancies in that zoo. The zookeepers admitted that the so-called lion actually was a Tibetan mastiff, which is a large dog with a furry brown coat. I guess it could pass as a lion. But they also admitted that other zoo animals had been mislabeled. Apparently there was a white fox in a leopard's den. There was another dog being passed off as a wolf. Staff also swapped two snakes at the reptile house with two giant sea cucumbers. It's pretty elaborate. Helps. Designed to try to look like the real thing, but not at all the real thing. That's exactly what Paul is doing when he describes false teaching. This is not the standard set by the apostles. This is not the real genuine article. This is something that is being passed off as the real thing, but it's not the real thing. It sounds religious. It sounds very good and kind and gentle possibly. And these seem like wonderful people. But this is a deviation from the standard. This is another doctrine. So he describes it as false doctrines. Secondly, notice he describes it as they do not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ. So this is not sound instruction. The instruction of Christ. Now the instruction of Christ is not just quotes from what Jesus said. That's not the idea. This is a phrase used several times by Paul and his epistles. The word of Christ, the message of Christ, for instance in Colossians 316, he uses this expression. The message of Christ or probably you have a translation that may say the word of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another and then he talks about we can do that through our singing as well. But it is the word of Christ. The message of Christ he repeats that same phrase in first Thessalonians 1, second Thessalonians 3 says, when I came to you, I preached the word of Christ, the message of Christ. It's synonymous with the word of God. So it's the Bible. This is not just special teachings of Jesus from the sermon on the mount or whatever. This is the message that Christ left us. It is the word of God. Any deviation from the word of God is not sound instruction, but it is also instruction that centers on Christ. Indivation from the gospel of Christ that minimizes or denies who he is or what he has done for us on the cross. Anything that minimizes that or denies that is not sound instruction of Christ. We must always stress the person in work of Christ. Whatever we do, the very core of everything we teach and we seek to teach the whole Bible, everything that's in it, but everything ultimately comes back to who Jesus is and what Jesus did for us. He is the God-man, fully God who took on a human body and a human nature became fully man and did that for the purpose of giving his life on the cross for our salvation. He came to die for us to be resurrected from the grave, to ascend back to heaven and will come back for us someday to join him in heaven. That's the doctrine that focuses on Christ. Any deviation from that is not sound instruction. So he describes it as false doctrine. Does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then the third way he describes it is it does not agree with Godly teaching there at the end of verse four. That's obvious. I mean, if it's a deviation from the Word of God, a deviation from the message of Christ, then obviously it's not going to result in godliness or holiness. It can't. It's going to result in something else and we'll see what it results in later, but it will not result in holiness and godliness. Now folks, there are many forms that false teaching takes today, many forms. Some people deny the very existence of God. Some people deny his nature and his attributes, his characteristics. Who he really is. Some people deny very important truths about Jesus Christ, his virgin birth, his sinless life, his substitutionary death on the cross for our sins, his bodily resurrection, his literal second coming. Any denial of those basic truths about Christ is what Paul's talking about here. That's false teaching. Some people deny the basic truths of salvation and try to add some work to it. Something that we have to do to contribute to or to earn our salvation. Paul would call that in Galatians another gospel, a totally different gospel. It's not what the Bible presents. Some people would deny the very truthfulness of the Bible itself, would deny that it is God's Word, pinned by human authors without any error. Everything it says is fully truthful and it is the ultimate authority over our lives. There are people who deny that too and deny the Word of God. Any denial of those cardinal, basic foundational truths of the faith is false doctrine, not sound instruction, and does not promote godly teaching. Paul's pretty serious about this. He warns about their teaching, but secondly, he warns about their character, not only the teaching of false teachers, but the character of false teachers. And now he's really going to get to the core of what's wrong here. This is pretty serious stuff. He doesn't pull any punches here. Verse 4, he is conceded and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words. And then we'll get to the rest of that statement. This is all three verses, just one long sentence by the apostle Paul. He's noted for those long sentences. But right now he's describing the character of these false teachers. The first description of them is their arrogant. You see the word conceded. Same word he used back in chapter 3 verse 6 of pastors. He says they shouldn't be new converts so that they won't be tempted like the devil was lifted up, conceded, and tempted like he was with pride. This is arrogance. Interesting word here translated, conceded or arrogant. It's a word which has as its base meaning the word smoke. And the idea of the word literally is to puff up like a cloud of smoke. What we would say today if we were to communicate the same word, same concept, Paul's communicating with that word. What we would say today is these people are just blowing smoke or they're just full of hot air. Literally Paul is saying they are arrogant. They have an overinflated sense of their own importance. He's referenced that back in chapter 1 when he was warning about false teaching. Chapter 1 verse 7 he said they want to be teachers of the law but they do not know what they're talking about or what they so confidently affirm. Eregants, promoting themselves as some kind of important teacher, leader of some kind of church or movement or whatever but arrogant. Just full of hot air, blowing smoke. The second thing Paul says about them is not only their arrogant, they're ignorant. Wow, look at this. Verse 4 he's conceded and understands nothing. He fancies himself to be a teacher, a religious leader but he really understands nothing Paul says. All of his imagined intelligence, all of his pretended scholarship, all of his supposedly deeper insights into the Bible are only foolishness to God. At the University of what I'm saying anytime you deny the basic truths of the Bible. I don't care how educated that person is, how many degrees they have by their name. I don't care where they teach or what they're the leader of. God says they know nothing. They're ignorant. Paul will repeat this again in 2nd Timothy chapter 3 since we're close. Flip the page over to 2nd Timothy 3. Look at verse 7 where he's describing these false teachers again. He says in verse 7 always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. Always pushing for that next degree, that next academic training but don't know the truth. Verse 8 just as Janice and Jambri's opposed Moses. So also these men oppose the truth. Men of depraved minds who as far as the truth or the faith is concerned are rejected but they will not get very far because as in the case of those men they're folly will be clear to everyone. Just foolishness. That's what God calls it. Every learning ever educated, more and more degrees, more and more supposed intellectual brilliance and eloquence but in God's sight absolute foolishness. The New English Bible where Paul says here he's conceded and understands nothing. The New English Bible translates this. He is a pompous ignoramus. Okay. J.B. Philips and his translation translates that a conceded idiot. Wow. I mean that really gets to the point of what Paul said. He's not he's not being gentle or kind here. He's being truthful. He's emphasizing how dangerous this is. How damaging it is but he says not only are there arrogant ignorant in their character. They're also divisive. Look at the end of verse 4. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words. Unhealthy. Literally sick interest. Literally craving a sick craving for controversy and word battles. You give a clear statement of scripture and they will twist it with fancy words and controversies about words to end up making it sound like it's saying something totally opposite and end up denying everything that's core to the word of God. That's what he's talking about here. A sick craving for controversy and word battles. I love what Kent Hughes in his great commentary on first Timothy says he says this. He says apostasy departure from the faith brings what he calls oppositional perversity. In other words you bring up anything from the Bible and this person is going to oppose it in a perverse and twisted way to try to twist what the scriptures are really saying. Apostasy brings oppositional perversity. I have spent countless hours. Hughes says with such people who cannot or will not grasp the plain meaning of a sentence or paragraph in its context but rather fix on a word or sound bite and give it a definition that defies lexicon's that's biblical word study books. History and logic. Nothing just wades them. Nothing informs them. They understand nothing and they enjoy it. Why? They dislike the fight. They just like the controversy. They don't really believe what the Bible says. They just like to argue about it. So Paul's pulling no punches here. This is strong language. They are pompous ignoramuses. Conceited idiots. Paul says he's impressing on us that false teachers are guilty of the most serious error you can possibly imagine because this is not just a deadly pandemic that afflicts people's bodies. This is something that afflicts souls and leads them away from the truth directly to hell to an eternal place of darkness isolated from God. That's how serious this is. That's why Paul is not going to put on kid gloves here. He's going to call a spade a spade and say exactly like it is their character. But notice their results. Their results of false teachers. First of all in their viewers. The middle of verse four, he has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in. Okay, here's the result of their false teaching in their hearers. Result in the strife malicious talk evil suspicions and constant friction. Stop right there in Paul's thinking. Notice these five characteristics. Results of false teaching. They're all flexibly. They're all carnal. They're all simple. But I want to hasten to say this. They're not only true of false teachers and their followers. These same things are used in other contexts of the dangers that may come to believers. The dangers that may come to us. It is possible for any of us to be afflicted by these same fleshly carnal attitudes. And so let's understand what they are because if you're living in this verse, you're living a fleshly carnal sinful life. First of all, envy. That's resentment and jealousy over the gifts of others, the success of others, the opportunities. God has given others or the praise that comes to others. Resentment, envy. When you see something good happen to them, when you see God may be blessing them, you're envious of that. You're resentful over that. That is fleshly, my friend. That is carnal and sinful. But then that leads to the second attitude that have strife. That's a spirit of competition, a spirit that promotes yourself by criticizing others. So whenever you see a person that's being blessed of God or has attained something in life that you feel like, you know, I should be getting that notoriety. I should be getting those comments. Then you will inevitably develop a spirit of competition, competing against them, promoting yourself by wanting to make them seem lower or more little or worse. That's strife. That leads to malicious talk, the third characteristic, which is any kind of slander or insult or gossip or insinuation about that person you see as arrival. If you're living in that world, you're living a fleshly carnal life. There's nothing spiritual about that at all. But then that leads to the fourth one, evil suspicions. Evil suspicions is the rush to think the worst of that person and accuse them of evil motives. Then you begin to attack their motives. Evil suspicions go for the motives. Well, he does this or says that or whatever because and there you are rushing to think the worst. Obviously, when you feel like you should have been honored rather than that person, you're going to do everything you can to dig up dirt on them. Evil suspicions. Then that leads to inevitably constant friction. That is the result of this fleshly spirit always stirring up trouble creating discord, always critical of others. This, and folks, this kind of spirit is fleshly and carnal to the core. And if it exists to whatever degree it exists in my heart or in your heart, then it is something that we need to earnestly plead with God for to get us over that spirit to fill us with his holy spirit so that our character will be different and the results in our lives will be different. That's the results of this false teaching in the lives of the hearers, but notice the results in their own lives, the end of verse five, constant friction between men of corrupt mind who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. Let me just paraphrase that quickly for you. He says the real root problem of these false teachers is they have a sick and rotting mind. Why? Because they've lost the truth of scripture. They've been robbed of the truth. So their own thought, they let it go. They've willfully departed from it in their own belief system and teaching and so they no longer have the truth of God. So what are they left with? A rotting sick mind. That's exactly what the word means. Corrupt mind, rotting sick mind. So now what's left? Well, all that's left is for ministry to become another job, a way to make money. That's why he says they think that godliness is a means to financial gain. That's all that's left. Ministry just becomes a commercial enterprise, a way to make a living because there's nothing else left. Once you abandon the truth of scripture, you have no capacity to any longer have an eternal impact on the life of another individual. So what's left? What's this another job? It's a way to make money. I love John Piper's book to pastors entitled, we are not, brethren, we are not professionals. Is the title of the book. And he doesn't mean by that that we're not to do things with excellence and professionalism. He's not talking about that. He's modeled that and his own life in ministry. What he means is that the ministry, the pastorate is not just another profession that you use to make money. That's not the purpose of the ministry. This spirit that godliness is a means to financial gain. And that's all it is. Nothing else is to be concerned about. The eternal destiny of people is not important. It's just a way to make money. That has a flick to the church all through the centuries. Go all the way back to the book of Acts. And you find in chapter 8 a man by the name of Simon when he sees the miracles that Peter and the other apostles are doing, he challenges Peter. I'll pay for that power. I got money. I'll pay for that power. I want that power. You know what Peter told him? You're money perished with you. This is not for sale. The power of God and the work of God is not for sale. It is not a means to financial gain. But from then on down through the middle ages where indulgences were sold. Pieces of paper that promised you forgiveness of your sin if you would give money to build the cathedrals of Rome. Particularly it was being built in the 1500 St. Peter's. If you would give X amount of money then we'll give you this certificate that X amount of your sins have been forgiven. It's played to church all through the centuries right down to the day to cult leaders that extort money from their followers and some TV preachers who lived the lifestyles of the rich and famous and extortion and illegal business activities on the backs of widows who have sent their 20 and 25 dollars to their broadcast. This spirit has afflicted the church all through church history and Paul says it is one of the results of false teaching. It's a plague. The plague of false teachers that Paul warns us about. But then he shifts to a different kind of plague and at first it seems totally different if it weren't connected with what he just said. The second plague that he warns us about is the plague of materialism. I'll show you the connection in just a moment but let me state this right up front. I think this is the most serious plague we face as a nation. Now there are lots of problems we face and there are lots of things we talk about. Lots of issues that we hear about on the news and we think are troubling our country. I think problem number one in America is materialism. If we are honest the problem the biggest problem with most of us is materialism and Paul takes this yet on. It is a plague. It is dangerous epidemic just to illustrate. Do you know what is the most visited tourist attraction in the United States of America? Probably many of you are your first thought as a Disney World. You would be wrong. Oh, Grand Canyon? Still wrong. David Henderson in a book entitled Culture Shift writes this, America's favorite tourist attraction beating out Disney World and drawing nearly 10 times as many people as the Grand Canyon is drumroll. The Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A shopping mall complete with more than 400 stores and amusement park and a full-size roller coaster. In 2011 what some have called and this is the nickname for that mall the Mecca of materialism. What some have called the Mecca of materialism drew over 40 million visitors. I know some of those are locals, shoppers and so forth but still 40 million. Disney land just 16 million. The Grand Canyon 4.2 million. David Henderson says in his book America is a land of compulsive shoppers. The Mall is our home away from home and our national pastime. Now I'm not trying to send you on a guilt trip if you go to the mall today or tomorrow. In fact, I don't want anyone if you see me at the mall tomorrow to say aha, you materialistic preacher. That's not my point. My point is I think that's just a symptom of a deeper problem of materialism in our culture. So what Paul does is he picks this head on and he does it while we have a contrast. It's a fascinating contrast. On one side he posits this is great gain and on the other side he posits this is great loss and he juxtaposes those two against each other presents them that what one is and what the other is. Notice this amazing contrast which serves to highlight the plague of materialism. He begins with what is great gain? Verse 6. But godliness with contentment is great gain. Now it's an interesting twist, a subtle twist on where he ended verse 5. Verse 5 he says one of the results of false teachers is they begin to think that godliness is a means to financial gain. In verse 6 he says godliness is gain. But only if you're talking about spiritual gain notice he drops the word financial in verse 6. Only if you're talking about spiritual gain and only if you add contentment. So yes godliness is the greatest gain you can possibly have in your life. But when it is spiritual gain you're looking for and when it is coupled with contentment, contentment being that peace and joy deep down in your heart that is not dependent on external things. Contentment is not a self-sufficient attitude. It's not like I can handle anything that comes my way. That's not contentment. It's not what Paul means by it. Contentment is Christ focused. It is focused on being right with the Savior content with your relationship with him that it is growing not there yet but it's growing and you're putting your life into that and into loving him and growing in him and serving him. That is godliness, the pursuit of Christ-likeness and contentment. Contentment comes with that. That is great gain. Notice how Paul says it that he learned this. It doesn't come natural. He learned it. He says this in Philippians chapter 4. Look at these verses on the screen. He says I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content. Notice I've learned it. It doesn't come natural. I had learned this. I've learned the secret of being content in any and every situation whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. Here's the secret. I can do all this through him who gives me strength speaking of Christ. Now we often rip Philippians 4.13 out of its context and it's kind of a proof text in favorite life verse for many people. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me and what we're typically thinking of is the challenges of the day and what I want to do with my life and the obstacles and I can do anything. It's really not what Paul's talking about. Not in this context. He's saying I can be content in any circumstance. If god has given me plenty, and that may be the harder of the two to be content with, it's part of our problem. We have so much compared to most people in this world. We're all very rich. We have so much that we are not content with what we have. We want more and more and more and more. Paul says I had to learn to be content when I had much but I've also learned to be content when I have little because why? How do I learn that? I can do all things. I can do all this through the one who strengthens me. I draw strength and sufficiency from Christ. That's where the contentment comes from. That's its attainment. That's how to pain. The attainment of contentment is I can have peace, enjoy, and whatever god has given me whether much or little because my life is not really focused on that stuff anyway, it's focused on Christ. That's the attainment of great gain. Notice the realism of great gain. Its realism is described for us in verse 7. Boy, this is this is a heavy dose of realism. For we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it. Wow, think about this. Birth and death are the book ends that provide a realistic view of possessions. On the one end you come into this life, you're born, you have nothing. On the other end you leave this world in the same condition. You don't take anything with you. I like what one author said. He said that which is in the middle between those two are only it's only the travel luggage of time. It's not the stuff of eternity. Our entry and exit are the same. Everything we have in between is just our suitcase, our luggage of traveling through time. We're not going to keep it. It's just the luggage of time, not the stuff of eternity. Paul is only mirroring what was found in the Old Testament. Remember what Job said in Job chapter 1 after he had lost everything. All of his possessions, his means of employment and even his family at this Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. That's a sign of genuine mourning and grief. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said, Naked, I came from my mother's womb and Naked, I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. May the name of the Lord be praised. Solomon would say the same thing. It ecclesiastes five. Everyone comes naked from their mother's womb and as everyone comes, so they depart, they take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands. You know, I've seen this played out so many times in my own family and in the families of many of you sitting here this morning. We come into this world obviously all of us with nothing. And I've seen my own parents and many of your family members lying under deathbed. Maybe in a nursing home and there's one chair, maybe a chest of drawers. That's it. That's all they have left. Of all the possessions they had had through all of the years, I've seen rich people, very wealthy people. I have one in my mind right now I'm thinking of dear, dear person, very wealthy. When I visited that person in nursing home, it was one chair and that was it. It was all there was. Now friends, that's not depressing, that's realistic. That is a heavy dose of realism. We don't bring anything into this world. We're not going to take anything with us. John D. Rockefeller, one of the richest men in American history, when he died, one of his, someone asked one of his aides how much did he leave behind? And the aide quickly said he left all of it behind. And so will all of us. The realism of contentment is that contentment is not found. Gain is not found in stuff. Gain is found in our relationship with Christ and in what we do with our lives for him. That's its attainment. It's realism. Look at its simplicity. This is where life gets very simple. And most of us could stand a lot of simplifying in our lives. Verse 8 says, but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Contentment comes when you are focused not on the luxuries but on the necessities. And some things are necessary. Paul mentions two of them. Food and clothing. I mean, you're not going to stay alive or be able to function in life, unless you have some food and some clothing. Actually, there's a third one and it's implied in the word clothing. The word clothing comes from a word Greek word, which means covering. And most times in the New Testament is used of clothing, but it can also refer to shelter, housing, that kind of covering. And so really three necessities in life. Food, clothing, shelter. It's fine to have more than that. Again, I'm not trying to shame any of us here this morning. It's fine to have more than that. Back in the early part of this book in chapter four, he has talked about some false teachers who try to forbid people to marry, order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving. He's not saying get rid of everything you have. And he'll say later in verse 17 of chapter six, command those who are rich in this present world, not to be arrogant, not to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. So there's no shame here. If you have whatever possessions you have, God's given them to you to enjoy them. So don't feel like, oh, maybe I should go out and buy an old stutabake or something. You know, if I can find one, maybe I shouldn't drive my new car. Now, I'm not saying that there's none of that here. It's fine to have more than basic necessities, but you shouldn't be, we shouldn't be covetous for them, focused on them. If we have the necessities, we can be content. Whatever else God gives us, we're grateful for and we enjoy that. But if he takes it away like Job, blessed be the name of the Lord. I came into this world with nothing. I'm going to leave with nothing. Blessed be the name of the Lord. That is the simple life. The simple life is not necessary. Okay, I got to go out in the woods, build me a little cabin, you know, grow my own food and just, you know, not do away with all of society's stuff. No, that's not necessary in the simple life. The simple life is in your heart. The simple life is I'm not focused on anything else except the necessities that I must have to live food clothing shelter with that I'm content. That's great gain, but quickly, let me show you the great loss. He compares this to in verse 9. And there's a there's a progression here in the verbs that Paul uses, the descriptive words that Paul uses as a progression here. The first one means a desire for material things. Notice it's desire verse 9, people who want to get rich. That's the desire. That's greed. That's covetousness. And greed and covetousness are not just the domain of those who have a lot. This is a heart issue and a person can be greedy or covetous who covetous who has very little of this world's goods. It's not how much you have, it's how much you want. How much you want. I want I would love to live like that. I would love to have the want, the desire. Notice if that desire worms its way into your heart. If that becomes your desire in life, notice what happens. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap. This desire will ultimately lead to temptations like dishonesty and theft, cutting corners with your employer until finally you are trapped in hopeless levels of compromise in your integrity. Trapped. Leads to falling into temptation or trap and then notice this and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. This is so descriptive in its terminology. This is desire breeding. This is desire multiplying, reproducing until it becomes addiction, irrational, destructive addiction. You know, people can be addicted to more than drugs and alcohol. People can be addicted to self-importance. People can be addicted to their possessions. That's the kind of addiction Paul's talking about here. These desires that multiply and grab a hold of your soul and drag you down plunge you literally submerge you in ruin and destruction. Ruin of your integrity, loss of your family, maybe even the loss of eternity. If you've never come to Christ because your whole life has been focused on material things, remember the warning of Jesus in Mark 8 and verse 36, what good is it for someone to gain the whole world? Yet forfeit their soul. If your life is focused on the drive to make more stuff, get more stuff, make more money, and you've forgotten God and pushed him off to the side and giving him no time. You're going to lose your soul, the only eternal possession you can take with you into eternity. That's the desire, but notice the desire then leads to a devotion. Notice the devotion of this great loss, percent, for the love of money. There's the devotion. Now you love it. You're devoted to it. The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. It's a great translation of this phrase. It's often misquoted. Money is the root of all evil and that's not what this says. It's not money that's a root of it. It's the love of money. It's not only those who have money that have this trouble. It's those who love money. And love is not the only root of evil. It is a root. No definite article in the original No. V. It's just a root. It is a root. One of the roots of many kinds of evil. Not all evil is prompted by love of money, but a lot is. That's the love of money. But then notice it moves on to a drive for material possessions. The desire cultivates a devotion to which then leads to a drive for verse 10, middle of verse. Some people eager for money. There it is. That's the ambition to drive. Money becomes your ambition and there are two disastrous results of that. Some people eager for money have wondered from the faith. I've seen it happen. I've seen it happen where money becomes number one. Success becomes number one. And the faith, your faith is tabled. Now obviously this means even people who are believers can put their faith on the shelf and begin to push away from what they've always believed, what they've been committed to. Once money becomes their ambition faith is pushed to the side. I've seen it happen where people get so involved in the success syndrome pretty soon. You see their faithfulness to the things of God begin to waver. And now they're pushing their kids to just make money, make money, make money, make money. And a child wants to go to the mission field or wants to serve the Lord and they're being talked out of it by their parents. The drive, wonder from the faith, but then notice the last expression and pierce themselves with many griefs. This is gruesome language. Pierce themselves literally is impaled. We're talking about the old ancient way of impaling a body on a wooden spike. But these are spikes. These are stakes that don't go through your body. These are spikes that go through stakes that go through your soul. This is the stake that penetrates your soul with worry or remorse or the stake impaled on a broken family or the realization that you missed what was really important in life or the stake of despair. In 2014 software giant Microsoft paid two point five billion dollars to acquire Mojang AB, the sweetest company that created the Worldwide Gaming Sensation Minecraft. The deal made the owner of Mojang AB Marcus person, an instant billionaire worth according to Forbes magazine over $1.3 billion. He immediately began to spend money appropriate with his gains. He promptly outbid Beyonce and Jay Z for a Beverly Hills mega mansion, $70 million dollar home that had been described in the promotional information online as an overwhelming sensory experience. That's what the listing read. It was outfitted for instance with insane amenities like M&M towers. Cool. Vodka and tequila bars, not cool. A movie theater and 15 bathrooms. Each equipped were told with toilets that cost $5,600 each. 15 bathrooms, $5,600. What do you do with a $5,600 toilet? You know, don't you? $5,600 toilet. But on August 29, 2015, person posted a series of tweets. He was out on the town with some friends. Posted a series of tweets early in the morning that captured his gnawing sense of unhappiness and dissatisfaction. Four tweets in five minutes listened to them. 458 AM. The problem with getting everything is you run out of reasons to keep trying. And human interaction becomes impossible due to imbalance. Two minutes later, 458 AM hanging out in a visa with a bunch of friends and partying with famous people, able to do whatever I want. And I've never felt more isolated. Two minutes later, 452 AM. When we sold the company, the biggest effort went into making sure the employees got taken care of. And now they all hate me. 453. Found a great girl, but she's afraid of me and my lifestyle and went with a normal person instead. Wow. 1.3 billion. And that's what's on his soul. His soul has been impaled. He has been impaled on his own greed. Listen, folks, these are serious warnings. These are plagues that attack the soul. And they are the worst kind of plagues, worse than the black death, worse than Ebola, worse than AIDS. These are the worst kind of plagues. Don't be seduced by false teaching. Don't be seduced by materialism, the material stuff of our culture. Either of those plagues will rob you of everything that is important in life. Keep your life focused on the true Word of God, on Christ, on serving him. That is what life is all about. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for the strong warnings. Help us to realize how serious you are about this. And yet for most of us, how easy it is to be attracted either to false teaching or especially in our culture materialism. Lord, if Timothy needed to be warned about this, I need to be warned about it. If Timothy's church needed to be warned about it, we all need to be warned about it. So I pray that you will protect us from these plagues by keeping our focus and our heart centered on you and your Word in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.