154-2 Demons in the Latter Times
September 8 1974
Henry F. Kulp
I Timothy 3: 15, 16 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
God has told us in Verse 15 that we are members of the house of God, the church of the living God, and we should know how to behave ourselves in the house of God!
1/ This is a very remarkable verse, for there are some other 3:16’s that are outstanding. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
II Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
2/ The word, mystery, means A BODY OF INFORMATION WHICH IS KNOWN ONLY TO THOSE WHO ARE IN THE FRATERNITY. Something that has not been revealed before. Not in the Old Testament, not in the Gospels, not in the General Epistles, only in the writings of Paul, and the word mystery is used quite a few times in Paul’s writings, and it always refers to some aspect of truth for the Body of Christ.
3/ The theme in chapters (2 and 3) is Christ the Mediator, and Christ the Mediator presents us with imputed Godliness. We must remember that Christ is the means—and how is He the means?
4/ MANIFESTED IN THE FLESH, (birth, life) Jesus Christ is God. He is deity. And He is deity manifested in human flesh.
John 1: 18 No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
Notice, first of all, that God is invisible to the human eye—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Man cannot see deity. That includes believer or unbeliever. But Jesus Christ, He hath declared Him. He hath revealed Him, and it means to bring out the hidden meaning. That is, His humanity. So, He became man to reveal God to man. But, Jesus Christ came mainly to die. Jesus Christ as deity, as God, could not come into this world and die for our sins. Think about this for a moment. He is not only invisible, but He is omnipresent. So, He had to reduce Himself to one place, literally, to one point of geography. First of all, this earth, then a place on this earth called the Holy Land, then to a city called Jerusalem, then to a place just outside the city, a hill called Golgotha. How can a God Who is omnipresent and fills this whole universe, reduce Himself to that one point? He had to be the God-man, He had to take upon Himself humanity. And this humanity died on the cross for our sins. Deity cannot die. So God became humanity to take our place. As a matter of fact, if we go back and think of His birth, no one else was ever born that way. He is unique in birth, life and death.
5/ No one else ever died that way. No one else ever commanded His Spirit to leave the body as Jesus did.
6/ In the second place, we read that He was justified in the Spirit. JUSTIFIED MEANS VINDICATED, and it is aorist and it means once for all vindicated. He is the only human who was vindicated in this way. Notice He was vindicated in the Spirit.
John 1: 32 And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.
Here we have the testimony of the Holy Spirit to the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Matthew 3: 17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Here the Father says, This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found all my delight. It matters not what the agnostics, or infidels have to say, it doesn’t change one thing
the Holy Spirit has testified and justified the humanity of Christ.
7/ In the third place, and this to me is most interesting, He was seen of angels, and the word, seen, to look at intently. Remember, God is invisible. When Jesus Christ became incarnate, He was visible to created eyes, but prior to this He was invisible to all created eyes. Angels could look only upon the glory of God. But they could not see the invisible one. But then He became a Babe, He became visible, and the angels hung over that crib and gazed upon the face of that little Babe, because they knew they were looking at the Face of the God Who created them and they watched Him all through His life.
8/ The word, seen, means TO LOOK AT A THINGS INTENTLY, TO LOOK AT A THING WITH INTEREST. There are three or four different Greek words that could have been used.
9/ Of course, the angels watched over Him. Watched over His humanity.
Luke 22: 42, 43 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
Here we have an angel strengthening Him. They watched every move He made and strengthened Him every time He was weak physically.
Psalms 91: 11 He shall give His angels charge over Thee to keep Thee in all Thy ways.
This is a messianic Psalm. I do not believe there is a moment that the angels of God were not watching, waiting, willing to help Him if they could. WATCHED OVER BY ANGELS is true, but that is not the thought that is here. Here they were intent in seeing God in Human Flesh, and the Bible tell us, angels are constantly watching us, learning from us, and angels are blessed as we are filled by the Holy Spirit.
10/ PREACHED UNTO THE GENTILES Perhaps you do not think that is a very remarkable thing, and you wonder why that is in this verse, from the tower of Babel, up to the blinding of Bar-jesus, in Acts 13, God did not have a message for the Gentiles. The word, Gentiles, here is nations. There was a middle wall of partition standing between the Jew and Gentile, and now Paul reveals God has a message for the Gentiles, Christ died for them—they can be saved.
11/ BELIEVED ON IN THE WORLD Is that a small thing? Well, it is still not believed everywhere. We have believers all about us, but there are still millions who have never heard His Name. That ought to stir our hearts to missionary activity and fervor.
12/ II Thessalonians 1:10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
Here He shall be haloed about by believers. All believers will admire Him.
13/ The last phrase—received up into glory. Who received Him? A person is not received unless there is someone there to receive him. You go to visit someone and they are not at home, you say, there was no one there to receive me. The word, received, means reception. Did He have a reception when He went to Heaven? Yes, He did.
Mark 16:19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
Here you have the same word. It doesn’t simply say, He went to Heaven, but that He sat on the right hand of God.
The Holy Spirit speaketh expressly—all prophecy is by the Holy Spirit. He alone can see the future.
Every once in a while I will go on visitation and I’ll ring the doorbell, knock on the door and no one will show up. Why? There is no one at home. No one at home. There’s no one there to receive me. Now, when Jesus Christ died, was buried, and resurrected and ascended into Heaven there was someone there to receive Him. Who was there to receive Him? God the Father. And now you have Mark 16 and He is now seated at the right hand of God the Father. He is our Mediator and through this Mediator we have fellowship with, we have communion with God as we are made God-like in God’s eyes the moment we become a believer in Jesus Christ and He wants us to be Godly in our actions. But now go back to I Timothy again, and in I Timothy notice the 4th Chapter. There should not be a chapter break because the same theme is being studied.
I Timothy 4: 1 Now, the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times, (and we will talk more about that Latter Times later on.) some shall depart from the faith giving head to seducing Spirits and doctrines of demons.
Now right here at this point I want you to see something, Jesus Christ as Mediator is being contemplated and the Holy Spirit brings in the ministry of demons. Now what do demons have to do with the ministry of Jesus Christ as Mediator? Well, to the unbeliever, they are the Mediator. They are the Mediator...Demons. What’s the ministry of demons? Mediatorship to the god of this world, satan. That’s the ministry of demons today...teaching, doctrines of demons. But right at this point, I want you to see the first part of this first verse of the 4th Chapter. Now, the Spirit speaketh expressly— Now listen to me carefully, the only one who can foretell the future is the Holy Spirit...man never can. We have men who make wild guesses and sometimes they are partially correct, but the only One Who can prophesy is the Holy Spirit. He’s the only One Who knows the future.
Turn with me to John 16: and read the description Jesus Christ gives of the Holy Spirit. Now listen to it.
John 16: 13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
He’ll show you the future. Who is the One Who can prophesy? It’s the Holy Spirit. In I Timothy 4: 1 ...that in the latter times...it’s the Holy Spirit. You say, can’t man prophesy?...no way. Sometimes he guesses and sometimes he might get it but you say, What about demons? Can’t they foretell the future? I’m going to shock you again...absolutely not. Oh, you say, Can’t they foretell the future? Only one way, Demonism...there is a vast network of demons...an underworld of demons from the Heavenly Places...they are all under their head, satan. Now, how can they foretell the future? Let’s use an illustration...He’s the President of the United States...he plans to visit someplace and the demons in that area notice the activity, because they can see what’s going on...and they see that there is a plot, a plot to assassinate a President... now they watch intently, they listen as the plans are made they know all that is going on and what do they do...all throughout the demon world the communication is active about what is being planned...and so demons can reveal this to people who are under their control...completely under their control...what do these demons do?...well they indwell a body and they reveal to that person in their mind (that’s how they captivate and control a person is through the mind), and that’s how God controls you through your mind...when you are filled with the Holy Spirit you are Spirit-filled and he controls your mind... this is how demons control you...in your mind and so they tell the soothsayer, A President is going to be assassinated...they even know the time of the attempt and they even know the place...and so this person immediately becomes alarmed. Did that information come from God, not at all...it came from demonism.
Now, you say, How can you be sure? Because these teachers who claim to be prophets...how many times are they wrong? They are many times more wrong than they are right. Why? Because demons really can’t control things the way they would like to. Sometimes there can be a plot and God can intervene and stop that plot from happening and then the demons are wrong and the prophets are wrong. But the only way they can prophesy is when they see things and reveal it to those their control...and it’s the only way and it happens. So you see, the only One who can tell the future is the Holy Spirit. And here in I Timothy 4: He at that time was telling about the Latter Times. Now, there is a difference between the Latter Times in I Timothy 4: 1 and the Last Days in I Timothy 3: 1. Now, listen carefully, the Holy Spirit is the Revealer. Go with me again to I Timothy 4: 1 and let’s see the important part of this first verse.
I Timothy 4: 1 Now, the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith giving head to seducing Spirits and doctrines of demons speaking lies in hypocrisy.
Now, these demons, because they control the individual, they control the mind and they teach them in their minds. Now the word hypocrisy is an interesting word, in the Greek it is really an actor, an actor, a hypocrite. Now, why not, he is playing a part. In the time that Paul was writing the hypocrite, the actor, would put on a mask and behind the mask he would play a part. If he had a happy part, he would put on a mask with a smile. If he had sad lines he would put on a mask that had a frown, his mouth would go down. He filled a part, he would be a hypocrite...actually that’s the thought of the theater...hypocrite. And so he’s the actor and so it means the actor is putting up a front as he speaks from behind a mask. So what’s the word, hypocrite really mean? It means to speak from behind a false front, a make-believe front. He is a hypocrite.
Speaking lies in hypocrisy...now here’s the way the Greek really reads it...through the hypocrisy of men who speak lies. Now what happens? These demons control men... they cause these men to be hypocrites to put on a front that’s not true and to speak lies. Now that word lies is very interesting....Soto logos. Right away you say I know that word logos...that word logos means what? It means word. In John 1: 1 In the beginning was the word and the word was the logos. Here it is Soto / cancel logos. Soto means false. So what does it mean? These men through hypocrisy speak the false words. What is the false word? The false word is...you can be in right relationship to God...you can be pleasing to God through religion and religion is human activity. By teaching this...the false word. Man in hypocrisy...they put up a false front and they say look at me...look how my life’s been changed...I was a drunkard and now I am no longer a drunkard. I was a dope feign and now I am no longer a dope feign. And how did I get that way? Well, beloved, I went to an altar and I prayed, and I prayed, and I prayed and I prayed and finally I prayed through...now look at me. Speaking lies in hypocrisy through the false words. It is not the way you get Holiness, not the way you get righteousness...it’s not the way you get God-likeness. It’s by believing, but here through demons it’s...you must do something, you must see something, you must trust all this activity and we will see this clearly the next time we talk about this.
Beloved, don’t you ever turn from the faith because seducing spirits have gotten a hold of men who put up the false front and human endeavor, rather than the Mediation of Jesus Christ. The only way you can know God, the only way you can be where you need to be in relation to God is through Jesus Christ. He is the Way, the Truth, the Life, no man cometh unto the Father but by Him.
AMEN
Ref: 09/08/1974 / 154-2 Demons in the Latter Times / 03/23/22
