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Amen. Thank you for the reminder of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you thankful for the Lord,
His sacrifice, His death, his burial in His resurrection this
morning? If you have your Bibles, if you
would go ahead and turn to First Timothy chapter 1 and you can go
ahead and put you a bookmark there in First Timothy because
we were going to be here for quite some time.
Today we will embark on a new journey through the Word of God.
And this journey that we are going to embark on is a journey
in looking at what has been dubbed or titled Paul's Pastoral
Epistles or the shorter abbreviated version of that,
simply just the Pastoral Epistles.
Any of these letters, what the apostle Paul is doing, those
letters would be First Timothy, Titus, and then Second Timothy.
What he's doing is he's giving instructions to the pastors of
those churches. We know today we'll be looking.
At A man named Timothy. When we get to Titus, we'll be
looking at a man named Titus, both of them real men, receiving
a message from a real man, the Apostle Paul.
So many times when we talk about the Bible, we talk as if this
this was just some kind of folklore or some kind of fairy
tale that these people really didn't exist.
I don't want us to take that viewpoint.
I don't want us to even gravitate toward that viewpoint
because when we do, we miss the reality of what's actually going
on here. And so I want to give you a
little bit of backdrop as we begin these pastoral epistles
and namely this first one, First Timothy, as we'll be looking at
that today in the 1st 11 verses. Let me give you a little
backdrop so that you understand. Most of you are familiar with
the Apostle Paul. He, of course, was raised up by
Christ himself there at his Damascus Rd. experience where he
came to know Christ. And we know that he was
commissioned as the apostle to the Gentiles.
Now Paul has done what we all ought to be doing.
He has made disciples as the Lord has commanded.
Us to do and in making disciples, he's trained the next
generation of believers. Not only has he made disciples,
he's also mentoring, and he's making young pastors.
And so this first example that we're going to see as we begin
the pastoral Epistles is a man by the name of Timothy.
I want to give you a little history lesson so that you get
who he is, because often we open the book and say, OK, a guy
named Timothy. Great.
I would encourage you to go back in scripture.
I'm going to give you some references.
Just trace the steps and and just see his life and how this
was all developed. Because in that you see the
reality and this was a real guy who really came to faith in
Christ, who God had a sovereign plan for his life and he
executes that plan in obedience as the apostle Paul is collabing
alongside of him and encouraging him as an apostle to the church.
We look at Timothy's life and we look at his early life.
And this was before AD 47, because we believe that
somewhere around AD 47 he would have encountered the apostle
Paul. We know this from scripture that
Timothy was raised in a place called Lystra, which is in
modern day Turkey. You can see this in Acts chapter
16 if you want to go back and reference that.
And we see there in Lystra, he, he, he was a part of a family,
his mother named Eunice. Eunice being a Jewish believer,
this woman who was raised probably a Jew who then
converted to Christianity, she was there and we know that she
taught him scripture from his youth that when he was an early.
Child, he was already learning the Old Testament scriptures.
We also see that another influence in his life was his
grandmother Lois, probably doing the same thing.
We also find out about Timothy from the accounts in Acts, that
he had a father there in Lystra as well, who was an unbelieving
Greek. And so interesting enough, this
pastor that we're going to see of this church called Ephesus.
He was raised in a home where his dad was not even a believer
in Christ at all. However, God used his mother
Eunice and his grandmother Lois, as Paul testifies to and will
testify to when we get to second Timothy to raise him up knowing
the word of God. And so Timothy being taught the
scriptures from his childhood by his mother and his grandmother.
Many believe that Timothy became a follower of Christ during
Paul's first missionary journey where he would have found
himself ministering the gospel in Lystra.
Timothy being a very young man there, possibly hearing the
truth of the gospel and then following the Lord Jesus Christ.
That was again in 47 to 49 AD during Paul's first missionary
journey. He would have went to Lystra
there in Acts 14. You can go back and you can read
that account verses 6 through 23 if you want to document that in
your mind. Again, Timothy likely personally
met Paul, then likely personally heard the gospel from Paul and
actually saw Paul being persecuted and even healed by
God there while he was in Lystra.
So a very interesting encounter in the early life of this man
called Timothy. And then we know this in 8049 to
52 during what we know as Paul's second missionary journey,
Timothy joins Paul on this journey.
So if you will just picture Timothy coming to faith in
Christ as a young. Man.
And then there in Lystra. He sees the Apostle Paul.
He hears the gospel. He sees the Lord working in the
life of the apostle Paul. And then on Paul's second
missionary journey just a few years later, this young man is
now going with Paul. Paul taking him under his wing,
seeing that he's useful for gospel ministry, and he's taking
him out on his second missionary journey.
Paul then in that journey goes out and Timothy with him.
They travel all across to the known world of the day, Regia,
Galatia, Troas, Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens,
Corinth, all those places we see documented in Acts chapter 16,
verse 16 through verse chapter 16, excuse me, to chapter 18
where we see Paul and Timothy working together on that second
missionary journey. It was interesting when Paul
before that journey began, he went back to Lystra and he heard
about Timothy and Scripture says that he heard that Timothy had
an excellent reputation. You see that in Acts chapter 16.
And I find it amazing that Paul heard about his excellent
reputation. And Paul being the man of God
that he was, I'm sure to thought to himself, that's the kind of
guy I want on my team. A guy who lives it, a guy who
doesn't just talk it, but he has a reputation in the community
and in his world where he lives as a person of true faith.
And so again, Paul taking Timothy under his arm and
bringing him on that second missionary journey, That
wouldn't be the extent of Timothy's mission work, though.
We know that Timothy was actually sent out on mission in
50 to 52 AD Somewhere along those lines, Paul sends Timothy
to Thessalonica and he sends him to Thessalonica for a purpose,
and that was to, as the Word of God declares, to strengthen the
believers there in Thessalonica. First Thessalonians chapter 3
documents that, and then Timothy brings a good report back to
Paul about the fact that the Thessalonians were doing what it
is that Paul had left them there to do as far as spreading the
gospel and teaching the truth concerning Jesus Christ.
So Timothy going out on mission for himself.
Then we also see this, that he's reunited with Paul again.
We see him in Corinth, 8051 to 52, Timothy's with Paul, and 1st
and 2nd Thessalonians are written.
We see that Timothy is with Paul again on Paul's third missionary
journey and 53 to 57 AD. And Timothy travels with Paul
again to Ephesus, Ephesus, Macedonia, Akaya.
We see all that in Acts chapter 19, chapter 20.
So I want you to understand this is a real guy who was doing real
gospel work with a real apostle. He's also there with Paul at his
side during many of the letters that he's written.
Now, I hope that you're thankful for the apostle Paul and how God
used him to write the New Testament because there wouldn't
be much to it were not for the apostle Paul.
Pretty much the the last half of the book of Acts would be
obsolete and the rest of the New Testament, save the things that
Peter and John wrote, we wouldn't have those things.
And what's interesting is Timothy was right there with
Paul, as Paul would have written many of his letters, those
letters to the churches. He was there zero to second
Corinthian letter, Colossians, Romans, Philippians.
We see Paul and his associate Timothy then during Paul's years
under house arrest there in Rome, Timothy right there by his
side, assisting him, taking care of him, ministering to his
brother in Christ. In fact, Paul describes him to
the Philippians as being a person who I have no one like he
says, I have no one like him. There's there's no one who I've
seen in all these years of ministry who, who emulates
Christ as Timothy does. He, he, he is striving to be a
good minister of the gospel. And again, that shows they're
deep in their personal bond that they have in Christ, to which we
will talk much about in just a moment.
Then after Paul's first Roman imprisonment in 62 to 66 AD,
Paul and Timothy then travel again.
Tradition says that they went to Macedonia, Ephesus, and then
other regions. And where we pick up in our
letter today, Paul is going to leave Timothy in Ephesus on the
3rd missionary journey. He leaves them leaves him there
in Ephesus and he leaves them there to take on the role as the
Bishop or the pastor there in Ephesus.
We find ourselves opening this letter today.
First Timothy verse one and it says this.
It says Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the command of
God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope to Timothy, my
true son in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the
Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Verse 3 says, as I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay
there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach
false doctrines any longer, nor to devote themselves to myths
and endless genealogies. These promote controversies
rather than God's work, which is by faith.
Verse 5 He says the goal of this command is love, which comes
from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless
talk. They want to be teachers of the
law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what
they so confidently affirm. We know that the law is good.
One uses it properly. We also know that the that law
is made not for the righteous, but for the law Breakers and
rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and the irreligious,
for those who killed their fathers or mothers, for
murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and
liars and perjures, and for whatever else is contrary to the
sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious gospel of the
blessed God which he entrusted to me.
Let's pray together. Father, in the name of Jesus, we
come to you, thanking you for your word.
Lord, I pray as we open up this letter of First Timothy, Lord,
as we read the greetings and as we read the intro to this, Lord,
that you would answer the questions that you want us to
know from the Scriptures today. That in answering these
questions, we would understand why we would even take the time
to read this portion of Scripture and why it is so
important to us. And I pray that you use it in
our lives to continue to conform us into the image of Christ, to
make those of us who were pastors more effective in our
role as pastors, and to take those who are ministers in this
church as laypeople, as believers and Saints.
Now that you would show them their role and how to live this
out according to Scripture, they would be obedient in that Lord.
We also ask that as we study Your Word, that as the gospel
goes forth, page after page after page, those who are here
who do not know Christ, Lord, that by Your mercy You would
quicken them, that you would awaken them to the truth.
That they would see their need for Your grace and Your mercy.
They would see their need for Jesus as Lord and Savior, and
they would be brought to a place of surrender and humility and
brokenness where they cry out to Jesus to save them from the
wrath that is to come. Lord, we know that You will be
as always, faithful to save those who call upon Your name.
Holy Spirit, we invite and we ask you to teach us your word
and to give us insight today. And we pray these things in the
mighty name of Jesus, Amen. So as we embark on this journey,
on this study today, as we begin, I want us to answer or to
ask first, because it's impossible to answer a question
that we don't first ask, to ask three questions and then to
answer those three questions. And the first one is this.
What is the reason for this letter?
I want us to understand what the reason for this letter is.
Because if there's no point to this, we're simply wasting our
time, aren't we? We're just reading words.
We might as well just be reading Shakespeare, or we might as well
well be reading the the the newest.
New York Times bestseller list. However, there is a reason for
this and we're going to answer as to what this reason is as we
walk through this. Secondly, I I want us to ask the
question, what's the relationship between Paul and
Timothy? What?
What is this all about? Why is this relationship what it
is? Why is it so strong?
Why is there so such a bond here?
Why is there so much love involved in this passion,
diligence, hard work? And thirdly, I want to ask what?
What were the pastoral responsibilities that Timothy
received? Paul is going to give him some
responsibilities. I want us to answer the
question, what are the responsibilities that that Paul
gave as an apostle to this young pastor?
Because I want us to all to understand this before we ever
get there. Our responsibilities as pastors
are still the same today. The responsibility that Paul
gave to Timothy, that also falls on the shoulders of all who
stand in the pulpit as pastors today.
Many have forgotten that. We're going to see that.
It's very important that we understand that what the
responsibilities of a pastor really are.
The reason that I want you to understand that is so that you
can hold me accountable to being the pastor that I need to be
biblically. The reason that I need to
understand that is so I will find myself being the Good
Shepherd that God has called me to be over His people, leading
them and guiding them through the Word of God.
Paul wanted the same for Timothy that he would.
Be that Good Shepherd to the people of Christ, and he gives
him some responsibilities. And sadly, as we are going to
see, we see many so-called pastors in today's time shocking
those responsibilities for the things of this world.
And it should not be so. In fact, even a comrade of
Paul's, Demas, we'll see in the second letter to Timothy, he
forsakes the ministry and forsakes the Paul himself
because he loves this world. A guy who was at one time
ministering right alongside of the apostle Paul.
He was opposite. Of Timothy we're going to see
Timothy was a faithful servant and a Co worker a Co laborer for
the gospel of Jesus Christ. So let's answer those questions
in this intro message today. I know what you're thinking an
intro message that is 11 versed as long Kirk, we we have heard
you preach. For over an hour on one verse.
What are we going to do with 11 verses?
I'm just going to tell you this, don't watch your clock today.
Don't even look at it. In fact, I'm not only going to
preach that I practiced it in the first service.
I didn't even look at the clock. I looked up, it was 1041 and I
panicked and I said, Oh no, the Lord only gives us a certain
amount of time for him to work and he's got to work.
No, I didn't do that. I said, Oh well, as we look at
the word of God, I want us to look first at the reason.
The reason. What is the reason for this
letter? Why did Paul sit down and why
did he pin this to Timothy? Yeah, and we know ultimately
because it was the plan and the will of God.
We know that the Spirit breathed these words into Paul, Paul then
being an instrument in the hands of God as he pinned these things
down, as he was carried along by the Holy Spirit.
However, we also know that there is that human side of it that
God had orchestrated inside of Paul, that there was a reason in
his mind and in his heart to write this letter to Timothy.
What is that reason? We see this in the greeting
here. Paul says, Paul, an apostle of
Christ Jesus, by the command of God our Savior and of Christ
Jesus, our hope. Now I know what you're going to
ask Kirk. You're going to read that one
verse and you're going to think that that gives us the reason
for the letter. And I'm going to tell you, yes,
it does. What we often do is we read a
scripture and we don't study Scripture.
There is something that Paul is saying here.
He's not just wasting words. He's not a guy who does waste
words. He's getting to a point here.
And he begins by addressing them with his name, Paul.
They knew immediately That's Paul who was Saul, who was
converted on the road to Damascus, who once persecuted
the church, who was converted to Christ, and who is now the
apostle to the Gentiles. That's what he says next, an
apostle, apostle of Christ Jesus.
Paul's not just stating his name here for the sake of stating his
name. What he's doing is he's giving
his credentials. He is laying his authority down.
I know in the day and time where where people aren't interested
in being vetted in the church, right, a 16 year old kid will
will surrender to Christ one Sunday and the next Sunday
they'll throw him up in the pulpit.
And try to let him preach. There shouldn't be.
So there should be that time of vetting.
There should be that time of proving Paul's giving his
credentials, he's saying to the church, because he knew more
than Timothy would read this letter if Timothy was going to
do what he was supposed to do. And he's laying out those
credentials. He's saying, I'm coming to you
with authority. I'm coming to you with the
authority to write this epistle and to give you these
instructions on behalf. Of what I have received from
Christ himself. And I'm going to pass these
things on to the pastor there who I left there, Timothy.
And then he in turn is going to teach what Christ told me to
that congregation there. It's very important.
That you see how this works in the life of an apostle.
Since there are no apostles in the true sense of the word left,
we have to go all the way back to the apostles who who they
have established their credentials as having authority
in Christ as an apostle. I don't care what people try to
tell you, there is no more. Apostles.
When the final one, John, passed from this earth, the office was
closed. And so in the true sense of the
word, there's no one who can even meet the criteria.
And Acts gives us four of the apostles, Paul here simply
giving his credentials, saying that I am coming to you in
authority, and my authority is my apostleship in Christ Jesus.
He's coming for a reason. Why would an apostle write to
the church? Well, first to equip Christ
Church. That was their duty.
The duty of the apostle was to equip the Church of Christ, to
build for them a foundation, and he establishing his Apostolic
authority then qualifies him to give instructions that would
equip the Church. He's giving them what we know is
Apostolic insight. He received insight from Jesus
Christ himself. He received this insight.
Those scholars debate and scholars argue somewhere in
Arabia when it was a period of time, 9 to 11 years, where the
apostle Paul was not seen nor heard from, and he testifies
that he was receiving teaching and instruction from the Lord.
I know what your next question is.
How does that work? I don't know.
I'm not going to get up here and speculate about that.
I know if it's God's will, God's going to provide the means for
it to happen. Paul said that it happened under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
I'm going to just accept that it happened and so it happened that
way. And now he's in a position to
equip Christ Church as an apostle.
In fact, Ephesians 2 verse 19 where Paul is reminding the
church at Ephesus. That their relationship as
Gentiles and Jews, that there is no longer this barrier there, he
says in 19. Consequently, you are no longer
foreigners or aliens speaking to the Gentiles, but fellow
citizens with God's people members.
Of God's household. But watch what he says next.
He says built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets
with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
Paul is teaching the church at Ephesus the role of the apostle
and the role of the apostle is much like the role of the
prophet, and that is to establish the foundation that is
built on the chief cornerstone of Jesus Christ.
And he says in verse 21, in him the whole building is joined
together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
And in him you 2 are being built together to become a dwelling in
which God lives by His Spirit. And so the foundation of the
apostles to those in the New Testament would carry
substantial weight. So when Paul says I'm an apostle
of Christ Jesus, he comes with the weighty claim.
Their ears are going to perk up. They are going to realize that
he is writing this to equip the church for that which Christ
wants to equip the church. Again, Paul passing on to
Timothy what he has received from the Lord.
He's letting the readers of this letter, along with Timothy know
exactly where his insight came from.
He's not saying that he read something in Reader's Digest
Christianity Today. He's saying I am an apostle of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as John testified that he
was an eyewitness of the Lord and that's what gave him his
authority. We saw him, we lived with him,
we touched him, he touched us. This is real, Paul, letting them
know this is real. These instructions that I'm
giving you real. And I have authority to give you
these instructions so that you will be equipped.
As a church, as the foundations of the Church now are being
built since Christ has ascended into heaven and the Church was
born there on the day of Pentecost.
Now we see the foundation being established by Apostolic
insight, that which Christ gave to the apostle to give to this
pastor, who would then give it to those congregants in that
local body of believers so that the Church would be equipped.
Equipped to do what? Exactly what the church should
be equipped to do, that is as we see in Ephesians chapter 4, we
see it. He says this and talking about
the speaking gifts in the church in verse 11, he says it was he
who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be
evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers.
And here's the reason why we have those speaking gifts in the
church to prepare God's people for works of service so that the
body of Christ may be built. Up.
Here we have Paul doing just that.
What is he doing as an apostle? He's equipping the pastor, who
will then teach what the apostle has equipped him with to equip
the church for what? To serve in ministry.
It's a cliche that we used to hear a lot.
You don't hear it very often anymore.
The church is saved to serve, and that's what we ought to be
doing. And if these offices that we see
in the church, the apostles, the pastors, the teachers, the
evangelists, if they're doing their job in equipping the
church, the church will know exactly what they are supposed
to do. But because we have so many
people who are posing as pastors in churches and apostles and
evangelists, the church is ill equipped.
Because these people are not properly suited to do this job.
Paul simply not the case for him.
Yes, I am suited to do this job because Christ has suited me to
do this job. And what I am doing is I'm
building a foundation. I'm building a foundation on the
truth of the Word of God. I'm giving you Apostolic insight
in order that the Church would be equipped, and I'm giving you
Apostolic instruction. Why?
Because that is my job, to teach the Church.
And how is he doing this? He's teaching directly to this
pastor, and he's teaching to that pastor who is then going to
directly teach to those in that local body.
That's how it works. That is God's design so that the
church will be equipped. Timothy then passing on the
instructions that he received from Paul, encouraging the
people to serve in ministry, preparing them for the good
works of service that Christ died for us to fulfill.
In fact, first Peter. Peter says this in chapter 4,
verse 10. He says each one should use
whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully
ministering God's grace in its various forms.
If anyone speaks, he should do it as one, speaking the very
words of God. If anyone serves, he should do
it with the strength God provides, so that in all things
God may be praised through Jesus Christ and him be the glory and
the power forever and ever. Amen.
What do we learn there? And none of you were saved so
that you can sit in a chair on a Sunday morning and just soak up
air conditioner with the rest of us.
And we're all saved to serve. And it is the duty of the
pastor, as has been taught to him through the instruction of
the apostles, that you serve the Lord with diligence, that you
give your strength and you give your energy and you give your
time and you give it your resources, and you give your
giftedness to the Lord in the local body.
I don't apologize for telling you that.
I'm not saying that to beat you up or to get on you in any way.
I'm saying this is part of the reason that Paul is writing to
Timothy, who is the pastor at Ephesus, to tell him, equip the
church and equip the church with the things that I am going to
give you as an apostle that I have received from Jesus
himself. So that the church will serve,
but not only so the church will serve, but also so that the
church can stand. They can stand.
They can stand in maturity, not tossed to and fro from every
wind and doctrine, from everything that comes along.
I don't really have enough things coming along these days
in the church. In fact, when I go back to a
2000 year old letter and I just start reading it, people look at
me as if I'm obscure, right? Because what I'm supposed to do
is I'm supposed to pull something out of here that I
give some kind of personal insight to that will somehow
entertain you, make it interesting.
Well, you know why this is very interesting?
Because this is not a fairy tale.
This is not a movie. This is not Hollywood.
This is real life. This is Paul riding to this
young pastor saying here you're you're given the responsibility
by me, an apostle, to equip the church, to equip them, to serve
in ministry, to equip them to stand and sound doctrine.
I'm giving you this responsibility because it's a
serious responsibility. I don't want them to be.
Tossed to and fro, in fact, what I want, I want you to teach them
so that unity will happen in that church.
In fact, Ephesians chapter 4 verse 13, he says, until we all
reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God
and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the
fullness of Christ, he says, then we will no longer be
infants tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and
there by every wind of teaching. Here we have Paul again riding
to the church at Ephesus. We're looking at First Timothy,
the letter written to the pastor of the church at Ephesus.
He's saying the same thing, that we have a duty that is to equip
Christchurch. Paul taking the responsibility
that he's been given by Christ, passing that responsibility on
to the leadership in the church, the leadership in the church,
then passing that on to the sheep so that they will be
equipped, equipped to serve and equipped to stand against
unsound doctrine, quick to stand against all the lies that are
being cast out of pulpits even in this time that we live in.
In fact, I'll just stop for a minute and just give a shameless
plug to our men's Bible study on Thursday nights because a lot of
what we're going to be looking at in the Pastoral Epistles is
going to go hand in hand with what we're looking at in our
men's Bible study. That was not my intention.
It just happens that way. Isn't it interesting how the
Spirit always works those things out?
On Thursday night Bible study, the men are looking at ancient
heresies and how they still exist today and how we can stand
up against them. What is the truth in regard to
these things and why it's important to stand up against
them? Paul giving this Commission here
as an apostle to the church. The Apostle Jesus Christ
pointing Timothy to do just that, Equip the people to stand,
to grow up in the faith, to be mature, not give in to unsound
teaching. The reason, the first reason
that we see is to equip Christchurch.
The second one is this, to encourage Christchurch.
You can bet on this. Every time the Apostle Paul
spoke it was to encourage. Now I want to help all of you
Americans here today. To encourage does not mean to
ingratiate. Y'all know what ingratiate means
right? Or you tell someone what they
want to hear. Sometimes they refer to your
nose as a certain color that would be brown.
We've gotten mixed up in our culture.
We think that to encourage someone you, you have to
ingratiate and, and, and just tell them what they want to
hear. That's not what Paul does.
He gets real encouragement. Real encouragement is the truth
in love. Don't forget that.
When you get the the truth in love, then you understand
accountability. You understand what real
encouragement is. And you can bet he is
encouraging Christ Church because that's what Paul did.
That was what his life was all about.
And we see his words of encouragement here.
Don't miss them. Don't think that Paul is just
chaining a bunch of Christianese together like we see so often
and and and so-called pulpits and so-called preaching, right
where they just chain things together, though, talking about
faith and glory and and it's like, stop, say something.
You're just saying words. It's a big word salad.
He's not giving us word salad here.
There's a point to every word that he.
Says Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus.
By the command of God our Savior, he is encouraging these
people at Ephesus, first to Timothy, so that he can then
encourage the other believers there to remember the source of
their salvation. Isn't there great encouragement
in that? That's why I don't understand
how someone, someone who claims to be a Christian, gets
irritated if you preach the gospel all the time.
I just want to hear something different.
Why? Because every time we hear the
gospel doesn't mean we get saved again.
What we do, we rejoice in the fact that what God saved us, he
didn't have to save us. Paul here reminding Timothy and
then in essence reminding all those at Ephesus to remember the
source of salvation, and he names him properly God.
Our Savior, he's agreeing with what Isaiah documented there in
Isaiah 4311 when he when he says this and quoting the Lord, I
even I am the Lord, and apart from me there is no Savior.
He's giving them encouragement. You have the right Savior.
In fact, you have the only Savior.
Trust in him. Trust in him alone.
You need not go anywhere else. Why is this important?
Because they're in Ephesus and there is paganism rampant in
Ephesus, all kinds of idols and false gods and false goddesses
being shoved down their throat. And Paul here reminding Timothy,
stand firm. Stand firm in the one true God
who saves. He's the only one who saves.
Hosea agreeing with Isaiah. He says this in Hosea 13-4 But I
am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt.
You shall acknowledge no God but me, no savior except me.
It's important that we be encouraged by the fact that
those of us who have been saved by God, that is the only
salvation for man. He is the only one who saves.
You did not save yourself. A preacher did not save you.
You walking an aisle, praying a prayer, none of those things
will save you, or Paul would have said that.
But in giving encouragement to Timothy and to the church, he
says of God. Our Savior.
It is God who saves. Let us not forget that.
Let us be encouraged by that. And He graciously saves.
He saves us by the gracious gift of salvation.
First Peter chapter 1 verse 3, it says praise be to the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In His great mercy He has given
us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can
never perish, spoiled or fade, kept in heaven for you who
through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of
the salvation that is ready to be.
Revealed in the last time. What a glorious thing.
But let us not forget who gives that salvation graciously.
It is God the Father. For Himself sovereignly gives us
by his grace salvation. In fact, Jesus himself said, No
one comes to me, John 644 unless the Father who sent me draws
them, Paul. Encouraging, Timothy.
Encouraging. The Church here with those very
words. To remember the source of
salvation. It does us good.
It is very encouraging for us to stop sometimes and remember the
source of salvation. Please know this key Life
Fellowship didn't save you. Kirk Hall didn't save you.
None of the pastors on this staff save you.
Your works don't save you. Your church attendance doesn't
save you. Your baptism doesn't save you,
Only God save. Let that be an encouragement.
Why? Because what God does last, it's
eternal. And if God has saved you, your
salvation is eternal. You have an inheritance that is
kept in heaven for you that will never perish, spoil, or fade.
That's why it's important that we see the source.
Paul here in this greeting, giving the source of salvation,
reminding them that, reminding them of that so that they will
be encouraged, encourages them to remember the source of
salvation and then to rest in the hope of Christ.
He says by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus
our hope. Let's just stop and talk about
that for a second. Christ Jesus our hope.
If we don't have Christ, we have no eternal hope.
None. There is no other name given
under heaven whereby men must be saved.
Jesus himself said, I am the way, the truth and the life, and
no man comes to the Father but by me.
So I want you to understand, though the Father is the giver
of salvation, drawing you out of darkness and in delight, it is
Christ who paid for your salvation.
And it is through Christ that we are saved and we have eternal
hope. Paul reminding him of that.
What an what an encouragement to them who are in Christ.
As they read these letters, yes, yes, I know that God is my
Savior. And then they hear that Christ
is our hope. Yes, Christ is my hope.
In fact, without Christ I'm completely hopeless.
I have nothing to rest in. Hebrews 4 refers to Christ as
our Sabbath rest. It isn't interesting.
While Jesus was here on this earth, he gave this invitation.
Come unto me. All you who are weary and heavy
laden, I will give you rest. I'll give you rest.
They're resting from what? They're resting from the burden
of the law, never being able to attain righteousness no matter
how hard they tried. Paul reiterating that to Timothy
so that he can reiterate that to the church to just rest in the
hope of Christ. I don't know what many of you
say because I've heard it from some of you.
Well, there's got to be something more I can do.
No, there's not. Christ has already done it all.
Rest in the hope of Christ. He's encouraging Timothy to
teach the church that. And because I see that, I'm
going to in turn teach what the apostle has taught Timothy.
And I have received from Him, and I say to you, rest in the
hope of Christ. That's the only hope you have.
What He did for you 2000 years ago through His death, burial
and resurrection. That is the only hope that you
have. That is the only hope that you
have of forgiveness of sin. That is the only hope that you
have of eternal life. That is the only hope that you
have of a right relationship with your Creator.
It is only in Christ that we have hope.
He's encouraging them. Remember as He wrote to the
Romans, in this hope we are saved.
Romans 824 the hope of Christ. He wants them to never return to
the curse of the law resting in their useless and feudal works,
but to rest in the hope in Christ, in Christ alone.
Who, Peter declares, is our living what?
Our living hope. So in Christ we see that we are
to never return to the hopelessness of our sin.
We don't have to. Why?
Because we have hope in Christ. What do I mean by that?
When you fully trust in the work of Christ alone, you have hope.
When you try to insert any of your efforts or any of your
deeds in that, you're going to fall extremely short.
But when you rest in the hope of Christ, knowing you've got
nothing to bring to the table, isn't there great encouragement
for that or in that? I remember as I was growing in
the Lord, unfortunately around a bunch of people who promoted
legalism not by intention but but just by ignorance.
I remember from the pages of Scripture where I finally
realized that I am instructed to just rest in the hope of Jesus
Christ for my righteousness. That was the most encouraging
news that I had ever received. Why?
Because you know what I thought? Like many of you unfortunately
think, yeah, Jesus saves me, but I got to keep helping him out
for this thing to stick. That's not hoping in Christ.
That's hoping in you. And if you're anything like me,
I'm going to let myself down and I'm going to let myself down a
lot. And so are you because you're
imperfect and Christ is perfect. And so when we place our faith
in Christ, we've placed our faith in perfect hope.
Paul's reminding them and encouraging them of that,
reminding us of what the hymn writer said when he said my hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus
name. Paul desires that the church
that Timothy they understand to wholly lean on Jesus name.
Their only hope. The holy lean on that.
I do not trust in anything else. In fact, he's going to address
the law and what these Judaizers were actually attempting to
teach in just a moment, but he begins with the reason that
reason is to quit Christchurch and to encourage Christchurch.
Secondly, let's look at the relationship.
It's a very important relationship in verse 2 that we
see to Timothy, he says, my true son in the faith, grace, mercy
and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
A very common greeting that Paul used.
But again, we're going to see that it's not just thrown out
there uselessly. There's a point in it, but it
begins by revealing to us this relationship.
He says to Timothy my. True son, my true son.
Again, in Philippians chapter 2, he says I have no one else like
him who takes a genuine interest in the welfare of the church.
No one like him, he says, my true son, Now I know this
because I've studied the Scriptures.
I pray that you would do the same.
But if you study any of Paul's writings, usually at some point
in those writings he's going to name members of those churches
specifically by name, and he names many of them.
In fact, in Romans he goes and he gives a laundry list of all
the people at the end there. Greet them, greet them, greet
them. But there are very few that we
see in Scripture who received the title son from Paul.
The three, of course, is this one being Timothy Titus.
We'll be covering him. We'll get to the next part of
this. And then Onissimus, who we
talked about just a few weeks ago, who was a slave to
Philemon, and he calls them all his son.
Many scholars believe, and I would happen to agree with this,
that he calls them true sons because I think he was probably
involved in sharing the gospel at their conversion.
I don't know that to be factual information, but I find it
interesting that he refers to them as his true son.
Now we know that that doesn't mean that Paul was his actual
earthly father because he had an earthly father who was an
unbelieving Greek and actual mother refers to him as true
son. It's hard for us to understand
in this generation of Christianity.
And unfortunately, and the reason that it's hard for us to
understand this statement that he's making is because with this
generation that is coming up, there seems to be no thought
need for these kinds of relationships in the church.
The father teaching the Son spiritual things and the son
maturing and growing in the spiritual things until he's
raised up to be a man who would then disciple others and he
would become the Father and then have other sons.
We don't see a need for that in the.
Church any longer, unfortunately.
Because we have all these YouTube experts.
The sad thing about these YouTube experts that all these
Christians are following these Christian celebrities.
People follow them and they don't even know who they are.
They never sat down. They've never had a meal with
them. They've never had a real
conversation with them. They've never had these guys who
they follow on all these social media platforms ever come over
to their house and pray with them when they're going through
a difficult time. They don't know the names of
their family members, nor have they ever held one of their
children or joined in the Lord's Supper together.
Baptized one another, they don't know these people at all.
And so in our generation, it's really foreign to us to see a
father son relationship spiritually in the church.
And I say that's sad. It's sad.
Well. Part of that reason is because
of this idea that all these people on YouTube are experts
and we can just trust everything that they say, even though we
don't know who they are, only to find out that there's always
some real person there and we just don't know.
But also, I think it has to do with the fact that we don't see
this father and son relationship in the church any longer because
it's not important to us. We don't see the importance of
what's going on here when Paul and his father son relationship
refers to Timothy as his true son, Paul being the older and
wiser mentor, teacher and that son submitting to his leadership
and his instruction, right. We, we can't see that in today's
church because people think that when they're 23 years old, they
know everything. They got it all figured out.
It's interesting to me that these guys who come right out of
seminary, man, they, they know everything.
They've never had a father in the faith to teach them.
They, they just know because they've got all this head
knowledge is what a father does that's different than just head
knowledge. Doesn't he teach by example and
Timothy respects? Paul as a father because he took
him alongside of him. He taught him how to share the
gospel. He taught him how to minister to
other people. He taught him how to suffer for
the Lord and to do it with joy in your heart.
This was a real relationship. And it's sad that we've reduced
relationships into the church, to social media and live feeds.
You know, it's about doing live together.
It's Paul being that older and wiser mentor, pouring into that
young man, that young man being willing and passionate to learn
from his leadership and his experience and his knowledge.
Not being boastful or prideful or arrogant about it, but simply
learning from those who God puts in their path.
Let me just say this. I've had both in the faith,
fathers and sons. I'm so thankful for those
relationships. I'm going to say this at the
expense of all of you gasping. Those relationships to me are
more important than even my relationships with my earthly
family. Go ahead and gasp.
But I know for the American. Church that's hard to.
Understand, because we accept the temporal over the eternal,
we shouldn't be. So Paul is valuing this eternal
relationship that these two share in Christ, knowing that
God put them together, knowing that God put them together to
accomplish gospel work and it means something to him.
This wasn't a guy who just was alikes and subscriptions to his
YouTube channel. He did Christian life with this
young man. And he meant something to him.
The same went from the other side.
You see this as a father and son relationship that develops later
into Co laboring together for the gospel.
I'm going to try to hold it together here, but I have the
privilege of working with sons in the Lord constantly.
We're like minded and like hearted and we pour into each
other and we Co labor in Christ together.
There is no jockeying for position.
We are doing the work of the Lord together.
Yes, I have been given a greater responsibility.
You think that's cool, don't you?
But that means I'm going to give a greater account.
It's not that cool. I'm thankful for the sons that I
have in the Lord and I can spend my life pouring into them so
that the next generation. That we taught properly the word
of God how important the gospel truly is.
So this relationship that you see on this page is not just
something that you just passed up.
Oh Timothy, my true son in the faith.
No, Paul meant this. There was a bond and there was
love in Christ. Paul, the cycling, this young
man, just as Christ commissions us to do now, this young man
leading that congregation there at Ephesus, you know what?
He didn't tell Paul when he got this letter.
I don't need to hear from Paul anymore.
I'm the senior pastor of Ephesus.
No, that spiritual, familial relationship was continual.
Again, it's eternal. God put Paul into Timothy's life
so that Timothy could pass. I mean, Paul could pass on to
Timothy that which was passed on from Christ to Paul.
John Owen said it best when he said it like this.
Paul gave instruction unto Timothy that he might teach
others also, and therein the. Rule.
Of the ministry is established for all generation, I said it's
a shame that we don't see it in the church any longer.
Fathers are pouring into sons and mothers pouring into
daughters. Did you know that's the way that
it's supposed to be? That's by design how God wants
the church to be. Family who's pouring Christ into
one another. Relationships that are beyond
even our earthly family. Again, to which I'm very
thankful for those fathers who took me under my wing when I was
ignorant and immature, who were patient with me, and who taught
me the word of God, who lived it before my very eyes.
And we'd be the same to others. You see, this relationship is
father and son, but of course, it's founded upon God the Father
through faith in Christ. Paul doesn't leave that out.
He says to Timothy, my true son in the faith.
He's not his true son in the faith just because he likes him.
It's because he met him in Lystra, became familiar with the
family. He's his true son in the faith
because the relationship was founded upon God the Father
through faith in Christ Jesus. This is my true son in the
faith, the only faith, the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He says grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ
Jesus our Lord. Again, he's not just chaining a
bunch of Christian words together.
He's giving the reason that their whole relationship exists.
Says you're my son in the faith. And we're in the faith because
of grace and mercy and peace. That we received.
From God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord, that's the bond
that holds us all together. Did you know that in a Father
and a Son relationship, right? In our earthly relationships,
the bond that holds us together is the fact that we're blood
kin. And that can be broken, right?
We can just say, you know, we're blocked in, but I'm never
talking to you again in the church.
You know what? A father and son, you know how
this happens. We're bound together not by our
own blood. We're bound together by the
blood of Jesus Christ according to the will of God.
That's a bond that can't be broken and should never, ever
even be thought of as something that we would enjoy breaking.
So he's reminding him of this, that that relationship is
founded upon God the Father through faith in Jesus Christ,
and that alone, the basis for all of our Christian
relationships should be on this. Love for Christ, love for one
another in Christ. Is that what Jesus said, that
the outsiders will know us because of our love for one
another? They'll know that the love that
we have, the bond that we have, is deeper than just a regular
family bond that you see in any family.
It's deeper than that. It's the bond of Christ.
You see this in the life of Paul toward Timothy here as this is
revealed, but it be the model for all of us to be the basis of
all of our Christian relationships.
Paul says to the Corinthians and 1st Corinthians chapter one
verse 9. God who has called you into
fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ.
Our Lord is faithful and I appeal you brothers in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ that all of you agree with one
another. He's calling for unity.
He's calling for unity in the body of Christ, not based on
whether you agree with someone, but based on Christ.
Paul and Timothy agreeing on Christ, the foundation of this
relationship and the foundation of all good and true Christian
relationship. Reminding Timothy simply of
this. The blessings that God has given
to all of us who are in Christ, grace, mercy, and peace.
I'll make note of this. God did not have to give you any
of those things, but in Christ He gives you all those things.
Please reminding Timothy of this, that that's what this
relationship is built upon. You're my son in the faith, that
faith that is made-up of grace, mercy, and peace that comes from
God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
How important it is that we remember those things.
We all need to have these relationships in our Christian
walk, don't we? Those mentors, those leaders,
those who spur us along, those who teach us because we love us.
So let us intentionally cultivate relationships like we
see Paul intentionally cultivating here.
Let us enjoy those kinds of relations because it's by the
precious blood of Jesus Christ that those relationships were
paid for. That's why we exist.
How many of you come in every Sunday morning, you sit in the
same chair and you never talk to a single soul?
It may not be, so I would just encourage all of you under the
sound of my voice today, find someone here today that you
don't know and at least go introduce yourself to them.
They may actually be over here in the South side.
You can't come over from the OR the north side.
Yeah, you can come over. You can come over and you can
shake their hand and you can introduce yourself.
You don't know, there may be this lasting friendship, there
may be this great discipleship that happens because of that
relationship. It's never going to happen.
If you don't see the importance of it, Paul is seeing the
importance of it. You see that relationship, that
father and son relationship founded upon God the Father
through faith in Jesus Christ. It is the model that we have
been given in the church. That's how you make disciples.
You don't make disciples on YouTube.
You hear me? You don't make disciples on
YouTube. You don't make disciples on
Facebook, you don't make disciples on TikTok.
You know how you make disciples? You invite somebody over and you
open up the word of God and you start talking about the great
things that God has done. You invite somebody to lunch and
you sit there after lunch, not talking about how bad my sermon
is, but maybe there's one. Good thing that you could get
out of this today. Talk about that one good thing.
Encourage one another with it. Before you know it, you have
these relationships spring up in the church.
Fathers and sons, mothers, daughters, the church becomes
what the church is supposed to be.
Oh, we'll talk more about that as we uncover the pastoral
epistles. So we see the relationship.
Thirdly, lastly, responsibilities.
What were the pastoral responsibilities that Paul is
giving to Timothy here? What are they?
Now, the reason that this is interesting to me because I
don't think those things have changed.
I think that whatever Paul told Timothy as a pastor he is
supposed to do. I am supposed to do the same
thing. And the pastoral staff here at
Key Life Fellowship is to do the like.
I don't think it's changed. In fact, you're going to see
there are lots of things in these writings that I'm going to
cover that many people think they've changed.
But God hasn't changed anything that he said in his word.
What are the responsibilities? He says this in verse three.
If you're still here, say Amen. He says this as I urge you.
When I went into Macedonia, Stay there in Ephesus so that you may
command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer in
order to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies.
These promote controversies rather than God's Word, which is
by faith. I want to take those first 2
verses, and I want to look at those real quick before we move
to the next. But I want us to do that so that
we can see His first responsibility.
His first responsibility is this.
Serve the local church. Don't miss that in this.
He didn't say, Timothy, go wherever you send out a resume.
Go wherever you want to go. If you get tired of doing things
in Ephesus and things don't go your way, or the deacons vote
against you or the elders vote against you, pack up your stuff
and move somewhere. But just don't put up with that
stuff. That's not what he says.
He says I left you there for a purpose, and that purpose is to
serve the local church. You know how he's how I know
he's telling him to serve the local church because he names
it. Because I left you there.
Stay there in Ephesus. Why do I hammer this point that
we're to minister where we're sovereignly planted and we are?
You're never going to bloom if you're being uprooted all the
time. I say this to young ministers.
I say this to the church members who hop from church to church to
church. Please listen to this.
You need to root where you have been sovereignly planted, and
the only reason that you should ever leave a church is if they
become unsound doctrinally or if they distort the gospel and will
not repent of those two things. But I don't like that Lady in
that third Pew because when I was pulling in, she got my
parking place. That's not a reason.
In fact, all that does is reveal that you're immature and God
needs to deal with your heart. You need to humble yourself and
stop being so petty about things.
There's bigger things at stake. He says.
Stay there in Ephesus. Don't bounce from church to
church. Now, I can tell you this, I can
speak from experience. I'm the guy who got mad at my
first pastor. I didn't understand anything
about being a pastor. I only thought I did.
I thought I knew a whole lot. You know what I realized?
I know nothing. I got upset with him.
So what did I do? What?
What all good Southern Baptist boys do in that situation?
Put out my resume, right? My resume.
I've been at one church for like 7 months.
What kind of resume do I have? But oh boy, I'm God's gift to
ministry. God sentenced me to Arkansas
doing something that's stupid, you say, Kirk?
Would you really admit that you were wrong?
Yeah, I was wrong in that I was where I was.
Supposed to be, he said. Why don't you believe that God
worked it out in the grander scheme of things?
Yeah, God wasn't surprised about it.
He knew that he was going to teach me a huge lesson that the
next time I plant you somewhere, you bloom right where I plant
you and you don't leave until I move you.
Some lessons learned the hard way.
I can testify to that. Stay there in Ephesus.
Don't bounce around from church to church.
Don't become dissatisfied. Don't go looking for greener
pastures. Because he knew.
He knew Timothy's going to face the same thing everywhere he
went. Paul had already established
most of the churches that he writes to.
You know what he knew? People are fickle.
People are mean. You got true believers in the
church and you got only professors who are really false
believers in the church. You're constantly being attacked
from the enemy. You're constantly being attacked
from heretics. It's work to pastor church.
And so, Timothy, don't think for a second that you can go
somewhere else and it not be as difficult as it is there in
Ephesus where everybody's inundated with paganism.
Stay there. Stay there and be faithful.
That's what Paul is teaching Timothy, faithfulness and
ministry. Minister where you sovereignly
planted, but also minister with purpose, minister with a
purpose. He gives him purpose here.
He went on just flouncing around, just doing whatever he
had a purpose. Defend the true gospel, teach
town doctrine. I know we have forgotten that in
our day and age, right? Where the pastor's job is to
entertain the people so that they'll stay, so that we'll have
more people, we'll have more money, we can build a new
building. No, his responsibility was to
stand for sound doctrine, to teach the Word.
We're going to see that very clearly when we get to Paul's
last address to him. Stand for sound doctrine, teach
the word of God, preach the gospel.
Stand for sound doctrine, preach the Word of God, preach the
gospel. Every day.
Same thing over and over and over and.
Over again. Sometimes, Timothy, it is going
to discourage you. You stay right there in Ephesus.
You keep doing what you're supposed to do as long as God
has you there. Stay there in Ephesus, minister
where you have sovereignly been planted planet and minister with
the purpose that I'm giving to you.
Don't lose sight of that. Defend the true gospel, teach
the Scriptures and the whole counsel of the Word of God.
Defend against unsound biblical teaching and shepherd.
Christ flocked faithfully, he tells Titus.
Very similar thing as as we're going to get to that he says in
Titus chapter one verse 9. We he talking about the pastor
must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has
been taught, so that he can encourage other by others by
sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
Many times I get accused of just beating up the heretics.
Why does he always have to talk about unsound doctrine?
Because the world is inundated with false teaching, there are
movements in this country that call themselves Christian.
In fact, most movements that call themselves Christian are
heretical in this country. And again, a shameless plug you.
Want to find out more about that?
You come on Thursday nights and you'll see the truth.
That's what the real men are on Thursday nights. 7:00 We'll be
right here. Take your wife to eat Chinese
food and get her nails done another night.
So Fridays are 4. Gives them the responsibility to
serve the local church. Straighten out false doctrine.
He says that in verses 5 and 6 as we continue to read, he says
the goal of this command is love.
The command to do what? Straighten out their false
teaching. But here's the goal of it.
Love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and
a sincere faith. Some have wandered away from
these and turned to meaningless talk.
They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what
they're talking about or what they so confidently affirm.
He's telling Timothy to straighten out out false
doctrine, to stand for the true gospel, but he's going to tell
him how to do. This he says the goal of the
command. The goal of the command to
straighten out those who would believe all these false myths
that he's mentioned in the prior verses and all these
controversial things, all these conspiracy theories, says the
golden straighten these out is love.
Right. It's not to chop off the head of
the heretic or to burn them at the stake.
It is to lovingly come alongside of them and to teach them sound
doctrine, Not to berate them or belittle them for the unsound
doctrine that they have believed, but to simply say.
This You know that's not quite true.
Isn't that a nice way to say you've believed a lie?
That's not quite true. Let me show you what the word of
God has to say about that. Have you ever contemplated this?
And then lovingly began to teach them the truth.
Why? Because he says that's the goal
of this. The goal is to find out maybe
these people who are teaching these false things are true
believers, but they're just in ignorance teaching false things.
Well, you definitely don't want to do what's contrary to the
ministry of Christ. And what was the ministry of
Christ? It said that Christ would not
snuff out the smoldering flats, nor would He crush the bruised
Reed. What does that mean?
That Christ would use enough wisdom to say this.
If there is any hope at all to blow on that smoldering flax,
and that Wick would then ignite to a flame, I'm going to gently
blow on that Wick so that the flame happens.
And if there's any hope for that bruised Reed to stand up again
and to flourish, I'm going to prop that bruised Reed up
lovingly and I'm going to pour the truth into that bruised Reed
so that one day it can stand on its own.
As to what is Paul doing here? He's telling Timothy, look, I'm
telling you to confront these people, but I want you to
confront them in love. Love and we know love is what an
external action. It's an external action that is
stimulated by the internal, isn't it?
Our internal stimulates the external.
That's why you can't never do anything for your wife and
expect her to know that you love her.
Love is something that we see, but Paul is going to say this.
That this love that is external, and that is the goal of this
command. It comes from the inside.
It is propelled by what Christ has done in your life.
Pay attention. He says the goal of this command
is love, which comes from a pure heart.
You don't have a pure heart unless Christ doesn't work in
you. He said love that comes from a
pure heart and a good conscience.
You don't have a good conscience unless there's an internal work
of God in you through regeneration.
He says in a sincere faith, you don't have sincere faith.
Unless God has wrought a work of faith in you, your faith is in
vain. So what is he telling Timothy?
He's saying, yes, Timothy, I want you to stand for sound
doctrine, and I want you to straighten out these false
teachers. But I want you to do it with
love that comes from the fact that you have been changed by a
work of Christ. And in doing it like that,
you're going to point others to Christ.
They're going to see that your love comes from the right place.
Your love comes from the fact that you have been changed
internally. He says that's the goal of this
command, that you be motivated by love for others.
Again, that's what Jesus said we would be known by.
So he's saying you stay in Ephesus, you confront these
false teachers who are teaching myths and genealogies and
controversies, but you confront them, yes, with the truth, but
always in love. You make sure that they know
that you're doing this out of love.
Why? Because of our Scripture reading
today. You remember what it said,
right? If I speak in tongues of men and
of angels but have not love, I'm only a resounding gong or a
clanging symbol. If I have the gift of prophecy
and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and I have a
faith that can move mountains, but have not love.
I am nothing if I give all I possess to the poor and
surrender my body to the flames, but have not love.
I gain nothing if I correct unsound doctrine with a mean
attitude and a mean spirit, not from a good conscience and a
pure heart. True faith.
I'm not doing anybody any good. You know what I come across as?
I know it all. Who has all the answers?
Who thinks everybody else is stupid?
And boy, haven't we seen enough of those guys in churches?
No, he's reminding Timothy there's a way to approach this.
The goal of this is love. Why?
Because love covers a multitude of sin.
Perhaps by lovingly persuading them and teaching them, you will
bring them back to the truth, correcting their error.
We can have all the sound doctrine in the world, but if
our goal in living it and in teaching it is not love, useless
knowledge. I've met many theologians who I
wonder, do they love anyone at all?
They're harsh, they're brash, mean, condescending.
That's not what Paul tells Timothy to do.
He says correct them lovingly and then he leaves him with
this, his last responsibility. Verses 7 through 11, he says
they want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what
they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.
He said these people, these Judaizers coming in, they want
to be teachers of the law, but they're not.
They don't know what they're saying.
He says we know that the law is good, one uses it properly.
We also know that the law is made not for the righteous, but
for the law Breakers and rebels, the ungodly, the sinful, the
unholy, the irreligious, for those who kill their fathers and
mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for
slave traders and liars and perjures, and for whatever else
is contrary to sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious
gospel, the blessed God which he entrusted to me.
What is Paul telling Timothy to do?
He's telling him to secure the sacred gospel, the glorious
gospel. He uses that term, the gospel of
God's glory, his glorious gospel, and he's saying secure
this gospel. And how do we secure the gospel
from these Judaizers that he's talking about?
Well, first we have to, as he's instructing here, we have to
define and to distinguish the law from the gospel.
And so we take the gospel and we distinguish it from the law.
What I mean by that is many people think that the 10
commandments are a set of rules, that if we just live by this set
of rules and we get it right, then we're going to, in the end,
inherit eternal life. That is the farthest thing from
the truth. Please pay attention to me
because this is part of my job and I will do this every time I
stand in the pulpit because someone this week heard someone
who claimed to be a Christian tried to teach them that our
salvation is based on our own works keeping the law, whether
that be keeping the law of God or some man made law that you've
created in your mind. What I mean by this is some of
you think you're in good standing with God because you
came to church on Sunday morning.
You coming to church or you staying in bed does not affect
your standing with God one iota. If you need an English
translation for that, that means it doesn't affect it at all.
Paul is distinguishing and wants Timothy to distinguish for the
church the difference between the gospel and the law.
And to do this, he's defining and he's teaching the good
purpose of the law. What does Romans 7 tell us the
good purpose of the law is? You'll turn over there in your
Bible. We'll see this.
We'll see. In Romans 7 verse 7 it says,
what shall we say then? Is the law sin?
Talking about the commandments of God?
He says, certainly not. Who would dare say that the 10
commandments are sinful? Indeed, I would not have known
what sin was. Except through the law.
Oh, now we're seeing the purpose of the law.
Jesus for for I. Would not have known what
coveting really was if the law had not said do not covet.
He's saying the law let me know that I am a law breaker, that I
am a Sinner. That's why the law is for all
that laundry list of sinners that we just read a moment ago
in First Timothy, he said, but sin's seizing the opportunity
afforded by the commandment produced to me every kind of
covetous desire for apart from the law, sin is dead.
And once I was alive apart from the law.
But when the commandment came, sin spring to life and I died.
What is he saying? When I heard the truth of the
Word of God about His commands, I realized that I am dead in my
sin and I'm dead in my transgression.
I wasn't alive at all. Verse 10, he says, I found that
the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually
brought death. That is God's purpose in the
law, to show you just how dead you are in your sin and in your
transgression. He says for sin, seizing the
opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me and
through the commandment put me to death.
So then the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous
and good. Did that which is good then
become death to me? By no means.
But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced
death in me through what was good, so that through the
commandment sin might become utterly sinful, Paul said.
The law shows me how despicable I really AM, and that's the
purpose of the law. It shows me that I am a person
who covets and steals and lies and commits adultery and
murders. It shows me exactly who I am
and, and so that in seeing that, I can see my great need for the
gospel. However, what has happened in
this church at Ephesus, what they were doing is they were
taking the law, they were taking the gospel.
And we see this so many times in the New Testament and they're
trying to intermingle the two. Paul is teaching Timothy to
distinguish the gospel from the law.
By defining and teaching the good purpose of the law.
What's the purpose of the 10 commandments?
To show you God's standard. You look at God's standard,
right? I make it to like 1.
Don't have any gods other than me.
I've done it. I'm guilty.
Well, if I'm guilty of that one, I'm guilty of the other 9.
So we need not go down the list to know that I'm a transgressor.
He says that's the purpose of the law.
The purpose of the law is not to give you a set of rules to which
you can try to attain salvation by.
You know, there are many people who are doing that, many people
in this room who do that. If I, if I were to ask you, are
you going to make it to heaven when you die, you would say,
man, I hope so. I'm doing my best.
Well, your best won't cut it, Jack.
Your best is not going to cut it.
You won't make it to heaven doing your best because at your
best, God's word says it's still filthy rags.
It's not acceptable to a holy God.
That's where we insert the gospel.
But we have to distinguish the gospel from the law.
We have to define the good teaching and the good purpose of
the law. The good teaching, the good
purpose of the law, is that we are all.
Sinners and we are in need of a righteousness that is greater
than any righteousness that we can produce on our own.
Paul goes on and he teaches us in Romans chapter 3 that there
is a righteousness that comes from God, righteousness that is
apart from the law. It was made known.
The law and the prophets testify.
This righteousness comes from God through faith in Jesus
Christ to all who believe. You know what Paul's teaching
there? Grace alone through faith alone
in Christ alone. That your works won't save you.
That observing the law won't save you.
That observing a law that you create in your mind won't save
you. The only one who can save you is
the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the true gospel.
Grace alone through faith, alone in Christ alone.
For it is by grace you have been saved through faith.
This is not of yourself. It is a gift of God and not of
work. So that no man can what?
Boast. This is all God's grace.
He's reminding Timothy to stand for the gospel, to secure the
glorious gospel. You do that by dismantling the
idea and the possibility of works based salvation
constantly. Why do men and their depravity
continue to gravitate toward work salvation?
Well, it takes on various shapes and forms.
You know why? Because at the end of the day,
you want to take credit for it. And if it's grace, no one can
boast. But the sad news is what Paul
says in Galatians chapter 2 verse 16.
Know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by
faith in Jesus Christ, because by observing the law, no one
will. Be justified.
You were justified by grace through faith in Christ and that
alone you say, yeah, pastor, we know that you preach it every
week, and I'm going to continue to preach it week after week
after week because some of you have forgotten since last week.
So I remind you again, why? Because the pastor has the duty
to secure the sacred gospel, to never let you think that there
is one ounce of good in you that will somehow attribute to your
salvation, but to know that it is only the grace of God through
the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ that saves the Sinner,
and to put your complete trust and faith in that and that
alone. Paul's telling Timothy, defend
the gospel, secure it, defend it against all who falsely teach
it, all who would corrupt this glorious truth that we have been
entrusted with. You know why that's not
important to so many pastors nowadays.
They don't see the gloriousness of the gospel and what we have
truly been entrusted with. We have been entrusted with
delivering the only message that brings forgiveness and
righteousness to sinners from the hand of God through the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We have the only message of true
hope. So Paul charges Timothy with
these great responsibilities, doesn't he?
Do not let these people be burdened with the law again, but
to keep reminding them of the glorious gospel.
Why? Because Romans 8 says this.
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are
in Christ Jesus. Well, there's always
condemnation for those who try to attain salvation by the law,
he says. Because through Christ Jesus,
the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin
and death. What the law was powerless to
do, and that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by
sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a
sin offering. And so he condemns sin and
sinful man in order that the righteous requirements of the
law might be fully met in US who do not live according to the
sinful nature, but according to the Spirit.
That is the true gospel, he says.
Remind them of that glorious gospel.
Why is it important? Because Paul knew that if
Timothy failed to do this as the pastor of that church, that
church would fail. And we see the responsibilities
and we embrace the glorious gospel and sound teaching.
We wrap up with this. I told you we would answer these
questions. I told you we were going to go
along. There's been no dishonesty here
today. I hope that it's worth it to
you. I told the men prior to the
service, I asked them the same question every week.
I say, you know what today is? They answer back and 1 accord
the Lord's Day. I said, aren't you thankful that
the answer is not the Lord's hour?
I would be in big trouble and we take this first day of the week.
Maybe we give him the whole day, this first fruits for all the
grace that he has given us. It's not going to hurt you.
Talk about him all day long. Share the gospel with others who
are in need. What's the reason for this
letter to equip and to encourage to produce biblical ministers
and biblical ministries. What's the relationship between
Paul and Timothy? The importance of this so that
we would see the importance of using deep Christ centered
relationships. We see those relationships as
valuable. We would seek those
relationships among other believers, and we would
appreciate what God does through those relationships and
sharpening us as iron sharpens iron.
What were his responsibilities? Serve the church.
Straighten out false doctrine, Secure the gospel.
You know why I like that? It makes my job simple, doesn't
it? Not easy simple.
I know all of you have your idea about what my job is.
Doesn't really matter what you think matters what the word of
God says. And Paul teaching Timothy, I see
even more clearly what my job is.
May you see yours. May you understand the
responsibility that you've been given.
May you emulate those who have been placed in your life to
reflect Christ to you, as Timothy does in his relationship
to Paul. He's the unbeliever.
As I close, I say this to you. None of this applies to you.
In fact, it doesn't make any sense to you.
The natural man doesn't understand the things of the
Spirit. Everything that we have read
from Scripture today has been breathed by God.
You're not Privy to this information.
I don't say that to be mean to you.
I say that just to simply tell you the cold, hard facts.
You're not a part of Christchurch.
These things don't apply to you. You have no eternal hope that we
talked about in Christ. You have no grace, you have no
mercy. You have no peace.
You have no hope. Now remind you of that, because
you're dead and your sin, you're dead and your transgressions.
You're dead and your unbelief. You were outside of
Christchurch. I know you came through the
doors and you're in the walls, but you're outside of
Christchurch, the unseen church, and you're outside because of
your rebellion and your sin and your unbelief.
And I would encourage you today to repent of your sin, repent of
your unbelief. Turn to Jesus Christ, a loving
Savior who rescues all who come to Him.
Come to Him today, broken and humble, crying out to Him as
your only hope to rescue you from your sin, to wash you, to
remove your despair, and to grant to you forgiveness and
eternal life, to remove the wrath of God that is already
upon you, that you deserve to free you from the wrath that is
to come. Let's pray together.
Father, in the name of Jesus, we come to you now, thanking you
for your word, thanking you that it is true.
Lord, may we be spurred, may we be encouraged, may we even be
ignited by these truths that we've seen today.
God, I pray that I would be exactly what Your Word declares
me to be, that I would do this by your strength.
I would do this propelled by your love.
It's pure motives, pure heart, clear conscience.
This is dear faith. God, I pray for those who are
lost today that you would spare them by your mercy, as only you
can draw them unto yourself for salvation, bringing them to
repentance and faith today. And we pray and we ask these
things in Christ. Amen.
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teaching from God's Word.