SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, good morning, church family. Great to be back with you as always. If you would open your Bibles to, as you may have guessed, the book of First Timothy. We are not in Nehemiah any longer. I um have kind of decided, whenever we do these uh books, that we're gonna jump between Old and New Testaments. And so we are back in the New Testament this Sunday morning, beginning a new journey through the book of First Timothy. Um 1 Timothy falls into, just gonna introduce this book somewhat, especially being the first week. It's what we call uh the collection of the pastoral epistles, which include 1 and 2 Timothy and then also the book of Titus. Uh just so if you don't know, Timothy is the elder or pastor in the church in Ephesus. That's where uh Paul writes to Timothy, and much of this book is specific instruction to Timothy regarding the church he leads, how he should lead, the character he should have. But because of that, I think often, even myself included, can look at this book that's something that's not as relevant as maybe some of the other epistles might be. Something that we think is valuable, it's obviously in the Bible, so there's value to it, but I don't need to read it. The pastors need to read it, right? First, 2 Timothy, and Titus are for the pastors, that's that's for them. But I feel like I need to explain why I uh I was I just couldn't get this book out of my mind. Um I really do believe the Spirit has this book for us. And and while it is true that this book is written to a pastor, Timothy is a pastor, its value is for every church member, because the instruction Paul gives to Timothy is for the entire church, for its mission, but also, and more importantly, arguably, its identity. You see the identity of the church all throughout the pages of 1 Timothy. This book is not instruction on how Timothy should organize his calendar, or what he should spend his mornings doing, what he should spend his afternoons doing, about the instructions for hospital visits. That's not the stuff you will see here. He gets to the very heart of the church's identity and practice. And that's why I believe it is valuable for all church members. And I think you'll be surprised at how relevant it is, especially today. Just uh again, a brief piece of introduction. This book was written, it's one of the latter books uh written in Paul's life, one of the epistles, roughly mid-60s A.D., we don't know exactly when, but this would have been a very turbulent time within church history, to say the least. This decade, the 60s A.D., witnessed the first instance of really intense persecution under the Roman Empire. They had already been experiencing uh tension and persecution from their Jewish brothers and sisters, naturally. But now the Roman Emperor Nero, he intensifies this persecution because he blames this famous fire in Rome on Christians to mainly deflect suspicion off himself. So this time period marked a shift in how people viewed Christianity. No longer was it some maybe small Jewish sect that was growing. Now this was something that, okay, now it's it's pushing into our lives. Now you guys are pressing in ways that you shouldn't. But also, at the same time, not just in the Roman Empire, in Jerusalem, there was still a major tension. The Jewish revolt against Rome was growing. This was about to reach its head in the 70s, building momentum, but that placed pressure on Jewish Christians. So now they're facing suspicion from their Jewish brothers and also from the Roman Empire. Nobody likes Christians at this point in time. I shouldn't say nobody, but not a lot. Roman authorities, Jewish brothers and sisters, Jewish leaders. But also because of that, you see the theological landscape is just in a weird spot. Not just for Jews, but also for Christians. They were wrestling with fundamental questions about the identity of Christianity. Is this just another branch of Judaism? Is this just just kind of a breakaway? Or is this its own movement? Is this something new that transcends cultural and ethnic boundaries? How do the Gentiles relate to this? How do we interact with the law? These were all questions that the church didn't have answers to necessarily. And all of this is happening in the background of 1 Timothy. So do not forget, there is a tremendous, tumultuous issues happening in the life of the church in Ephesus, but also in Christianity abroad. There are a few other books that are written around this time. You see, Mark's gospel is usually dated to this area, so this would have started being in circulation, the Gospels. Most of Paul's other epistles were already in circulation at this time. It had been nearly a decade, so lots of them were already in circulation. But this was a transition point in the church history, in the church's period, where it received relevant, you know, somewhat tolerance from their Jewish brothers, but now we're moving into an era of really systematic persecution, intense persecution, and predominantly from the Jewish movement with inside. And that's where Paul's greeting finds us in 1 Timothy. Lots of issues to cover, lots of ground to cover. And there's a lot of ways that Paul could have started this letter. There's lots of things he could have included in this letter. But we know this book, along with every other book in Scripture, is written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Paul's writing matter for us today. And his writing is intentional, and that's what I want us to notice. So if you would, I'm going to begin in 1 Timothy chapter 1, all the way through verse 11. This is 1 through 11. I uh am quite pleased I didn't have to practice any names this week. So it'll be a nice break from Nehemiah. But would you read along with me? There should be a Bible in the pew back in front of you. Always, it's always up on the screen. 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus our hope. 2 Timothy, my true son in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father in Christ Jesus our Lord. As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus that you may instruct certain people not to teach false doctrine, or pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These promote empty speculations rather than God's plan, which operates by faith. Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. Some have departed from these and turned aside to fruitless discussion. They want to be teachers of the law, although they don't understand what they're saying or what they are insisting on. But we know that the law is good, provided one uses it legitimately. We know the law is not meant for a righteous person, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly, sinful, for the unholy and irreverent, for those who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral, males who have sex with males, for slave traders, liars, perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which was entrusted to me. Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We simply ask this morning that you would reveal your word to your church by your Spirit. We pray all of these things for Christ's name's sake. Amen. One of the very interesting, and I'm certainly preaching to the choir here, but just things about living in the age we do is that everybody has an opinion. I uh probably spend too much time on social media. It's hard to argue that you you spend, you should spend more time on social media. Um, and often I'll come across a take and I'm like, how could you possibly think that? This isn't just like life things, especially, Curtis, this one's for you. The basketball season is just triggering me to no end. People's opinions on players and winning games and just basketball in general. I just I need to take a break, to be totally honest with you. People just have an opinion, whether that opinion is founded or unfounded, and they will say it with their full chest. The issue is many, many, many issues with that. People have a platform they've never had. Social media just is a place where you can share your thoughts with relatively no consequences. You don't have to be, you don't have to put your name out there. You can simply be anonymous. All you need is a phone and a lot of confidence, whether misplaced or not misplaced. And because of that, we live in a world that is literally flooded with voices. People are finding voices they want to hear, voices telling us what truth is. Again, it could be valuable things like good or bad things, voices telling us who God is or who God is not, voices telling us what the shirt the church should or should not do. Those are all the types of voices that are happening. Some are helpful, some are foolish, some are just outright dangerous. But here's the reality while the platform is new, the issue is not new. People have had opinions since humans have been around. People have said things with their chest, right or wrong, since humans have been around. And the church in Ephesus is facing the exact same thing: confusion, there is false teaching, competing voices, there's speculation. None of those should be in the church. None of those should be in the church. It should not look like a social media page. There is a source that we fill ourselves with. And into that confusion, Paul writes to Timothy, encouraging words with remarkable clarity. By the way, I think in the first verses of this book the church must faithfully know, teach and protect the truth of the gospel. The church must faithfully know, teach, and protect the truth of the gospel. Just think, this passage, Paul's very first words to Timothy, a young pastor in an incredibly difficult situation to navigate, but here's what is fascinating. He doesn't care about the church's programs. He doesn't care about making sure Timothy has a right leadership pipeline. He doesn't care about its social media presence. He doesn't care about the four-step plan it has for engaging the community in this or that. And let me be so clear, those are not bad things. Those can be good things, those can be tools, but those are not the primary things. That is not what ultimately matters. Paul cares, first and foremost, about truth. That's the foundation of every church is truth. If you don't have that, you have nothing. In these opening verses, Paul shows Timothy and us today three foundational realities I see that every Christian must understand. We must know who we serve, why we teach, and what we protect. Firstly, let's look at knowing who we serve. Verses 1 and 2. I'm going to reread these verses for us. Paul's greeting to Timothy. 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 Jesus Christ our Lord. It's so easy to just read these and skip over them. Paul's just introducing himself, and then he's greeting the person he's writing to or the church he's writing to. Do not skip the introduction. Do not skip it. Paul begins his letter as he begins nearly all his letters, just a very short, sometimes one or two sentence greeting. And again, while they can be easy to glance over it, they highlight a great deal about Paul and his attitude. Because in these greetings, Paul highlights every time his relationship to God. That's how he views himself. In each Pauline epistle in the New Testament, which is a majority of the New Testament, mind you, he introduces himself as one of the following: an apostle, a servant, or slave, or a prisoner, all for Christ. In every letter. That's how he introduces himself. And this greeting is only highlighted by his extensive ministry. He has the ability to back it up. He doesn't just call himself a slave, he doesn't just call himself an apostle. He lives it. His whole life echoes that statement about that reality. Paul walked his walk. And this is relevant for us today because often when we introduce ourselves, what do we say? We introduce ourselves by name only, or in relation to our family, or our work, or we introduce in relationship to our hobbies or our interests. Paul introduces himself in his relationship to Jesus every time. And I'm not saying then the next time you meet a stranger, you need to say, hello, I'm Stephen Brown, slave of Christ Jesus. That's not what I'm saying. You don't have to do that. If you want to, go for it. Just say hi, I'm Stephen. That's totally fine. But hear me rightly. Because as this stranger interacts with you, though you didn't greet yourself that way, are they able to recognize that you are a slave of Christ Jesus? Is that a part of your identity? I'm not saying a part of your greeting, but is that a part of the way you live your life? Because for Paul, there is no doubt that when somebody interacted with him, they know he's a slave to Jesus. Is that true for you? There is no question. When people interact with you, do they see Jesus? Do they see your relationship with God? So again, we don't need to introduce ourselves in the way Paul does every time. We absolutely need to see ourselves the way Paul sees himself, which is simply in relationship to Jesus. And in the greeting of 1 Timothy, you notice he uses the term apostle. That's what he chooses this time. Paul, an apostle of God, or apostle of Christ Jesus, excuse me. I think using this term for the pastoral epistles is particularly relevant. He uses it for all three. He uses the term apostle. And I think the reason is important. Because he's writing instruction to a pastor, somebody who had authority. He's writing encouragement, correction to these pastors. So to begin, he lists his authority. He is an apostle of Christ Jesus. That term carried meaning with the apostles in the first century church. That title was reserved for the original eleven disciples in Matthias, who replaced Judas. But Paul was unique because he wasn't one of the original twelve. He wasn't Matthias. They didn't cast lots and Adam in. But he can claim apostleship for multiple reasons. He encountered Christ Jesus personally. That is not something many of them could say. The apostles could, but not many people could say. On his road to Damascus, remember, he encounters Jesus there. He is blinded and completely transformed. And receives also a special calling, a special purpose, a special ministry. But not only Jesus, that calling is affirmed by the apostles. Specifically Peter, James, John, Cephas, all affirm his ministry. All of them. Paul had authority. He had a unique encounter with Jesus, a unique ministry, and Paul knew that he was truly an apostle, authoritatively from Jesus. Apostle does not simply mean follower. When you see that in Scripture, someone who bears Christ's authority. The apostles taught what Christ taught. Therefore, there's no better way for Paul to introduce himself than Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. Certainly, this letter would have been read to the entire church. This would have been read to the church in Ephesus. Timothy wouldn't have just kept this for himself. So he's also explaining his credentials to the church in Ephesus, with whom he spent lots of time. But there's another phrase which is unique to this book, which he uses in addition to apostle. He says, by the command of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus our hope. And this is huge. Because Paul was not a self-appointed apostle. He didn't wake up one day and said, You know what? I think I'm going to do that. I'm going to do this. I'm going to start following Jesus after literally murdering his followers. He was an apostle, a slave, a servant, often a prisoner, by God's command. By God's command. Paul's entire life was lived for the glory and honor of God, no matter the circumstance, in every situation. What a beautiful picture of Paul's attitude toward Jesus. He knew he had this ministry only because God had commanded it of him. That's it. And the same is true for us, lest you get big headed about your abilities or your role or ministry in the church, don't forget you participate in ministry first and foremost because God has commanded you to. Yes, he gives us abilities. Many of us are skilled in many ways, but it is by the command of God. That is why we serve. He has called all of us in different ways, different seasons, all to serve him. So already, within the first sentence of this letter, Paul is highlighting his authority while also magnifying God's sovereignty in it all. And he knows that his authority is only reflected. It's just given authority. He's not the one who bears the authority of God. He's been given authority by God. This is also something for very relevant for pastors today. You do not pastor your church. I do not pastor my church. You're not my church. You're not my flock. That's just not true. We pastor God's church. You're not my congregation. You are God's flock. You are God's sheep. You are God's possession. I've just been tasked with keeping the pasture clean. That's what I'm to do. That's what the word pastor means. It's actually from a Latin word, but it pulls in Greek and Hebrew words meaning just feed sheep. That's what the word means. Just feed sheep. It's literally that simple. You're not my flock. I'm just feeding you. You are God's flock. As your pastor, I'm the one who feeds you the word of God, and any authority I have up here is just a reflection of God's authority that's already in your life. That's all it is. Paul is already instilling that idea within Timothy, within the first sentence. It is about Jesus. It is about his authority. Just within the greeting. But then after introducing himself, he addresses Timothy. He says, To Timothy, my true son, in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and of Christ Jesus our Lord. Paul's greeting to Timothy expresses deep and true affection. You can just feel the love that Paul has for Timothy as you read these letters. He loves Timothy. He loves Timothy. All throughout Scripture, the church is described as a family. We see this phrase often, most seen clearly in the description of our adoption. We have been adopted into the household, into the family of God once we place our faith in Jesus. We all share, if you're in Christ, God is our Father. We are his family, therefore we are family with one another. Paul also, all throughout the church, refers to members as brothers and sisters, all throughout his letters. But here it's somewhat unique. While the family terminology is not, a brother, or excuse me, a son in Christ is unique. He says, son in the faith. In Greek, the identifier, my son, doesn't exist. It's simply Timothy, true son in the faith. Read Greek literally. But I do believe adding my is appropriate. Paul's not saying this to put down Timothy in any way. He's not saying this like Timothy is subservient, that Paul's up here, and then Timothy's a son down here. It's actually the opposite. Paul has an incredibly high view of Timothy. And as you might guess, we're going to talk about this throughout this book. Scholars are somewhat split on exactly what this true son of the faith means. There are generally, though, three views, and I'll explain what I think after I explain them. The first would just be an affectionate term from someone older to someone younger. He's just greeting him affectionately as someone who is an elder. The second would be some sort of metaphor for the people that Paul brought to the faith, the people that Paul evangelized, believed, and came to the faith because of Paul's ministry. The third would be just an expression of Paul's paternal love that he has for Timothy and for his obedience to Paul. I think the final is most likely. Paul has tremendous love for Timothy, built through their, as we're going to talk about, extensive ministry together. They served for years together. And that love, very much so, has a father and son dynamic. As far as we know, Paul didn't have a family. There's some theories about if he did or didn't. But what is true is that he views Timothy as a son, whether it be the son he had or didn't have. His history with Timothy, by the way, goes back very far, something you don't pick up necessarily immediately. You see, you know, hints at some old interactions, but you have to read all of Scripture to know their extensive history. He didn't just randomly appoint Timothy to go there. He didn't just say, there, Ephesus. That'll be good for you. After the split that Paul and Barnabas have over John Mark, which we see in Acts 15, Timothy then joins Paul's missionary team. He he joins him on his journey as a very young man, but already well spoken by some churches. So he's spoken highly of. Paul says, You know what? Come with me. I think you'll be good. And for roughly 15 years, long time, 15 years, Timothy was shaped through literal life on life interaction with Paul. He did ministry with Paul for over a decade. He traveled with him through Asia Minor, Macedonia, through Greece. He watched Paul preach. He watched Paul suffer. He saw Paul plant churches and disciple. He saw Paul shepherd believers. Paul, to the point Paul even knew Timothy's family very well. He had seen his character, his weaknesses, he had seen his calling. And over time you see more trust get placed into Timothy as he grows up in the faith. He sends him to do what Paul normally would have done, like strengthen churches in Thessalonica, Berea, Philippi, Corinth. So he begins somewhat as an assistant. He's just like, you have potential, come with me. But eventually he became a trusted partner in Paul's gospel ministry. Eventually, as we see in verse 3, Paul has him pastor the church of Ephesus, remain there. He says, You're going to pastor here. Tremendous trust. This is not Paul putting Timothy down. This is not just saying that Timothy, I, you know, I evangelized you, and so it's all me, I'm taking credit. It's none of that. There really is a father-son dynamic that Paul has with Timothy. And what better way to describe that than in the faith? True son in the faith. Somebody who is a true partner in ministry. There is something tremendous valuable or tremendously valuable about serving with people in ministry who are more gifted than you, who know God better than you, who have served longer than you, who can challenge you and encourage you. Timothy did that for over a decade. We see that. He had that in Paul. And this letter highlights that even further. Paul loved Timothy as a father loved the son. But through it all, first and foremost, he recognizes God's place in it all. So our attitudes, let them be the same. A familial love that is rooted and anchored in a foundation that is the gospel. So that's first, we know who we serve, and that is Christ Jesus. But second, we need to know why we teach. Knowing why we teach. Not just me, I'm not the only teacher at this church. You are all teachers to some degree at this church. To a kid, to a friend, to yourself. We need to know why we teach. Verse three through five. Let me read that. Three through five, three through five. As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus, so that you may instruct certain people not to teach false doctrine, or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These promote empty speculations rather than God's plan, which operates by faith. Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. To begin, we see the purpose of Paul's instruction. For Timothy to remain in Ephesus. Why did he stay there? Why tell him to stay there? Instruct certain people not to teach false doctrine. And we see this very issue. This is not new. This would not have been a shock to Paul. In his farewell address to the Ephesian elders in chapter 20 of the book of Acts, he warns them. Again, elder term in scripture, that is a pastor. Do not conflate those two things. Or conflate those two things. That's right. They are one and the same. Excuse me, I need to be accurate there. Acts 20, 29 through 30. Paul says this I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Men will rise up even from your own number and distort the truth to lure the disciples into following them. There are going to be false teachers who come. That is the issue here. Paul spends roughly three years in Ephesus during his missionary journey, his third missionary journey. And it becomes one of the most eventful ministries in his life. During this period, the gospel spreads throughout the region, throughout Asia Minor, but false teaching is already surfacing. Opposition is already intensifizing. You have this riot in Acts chapter 19. This is likely where Timothy grows pretty drastically in his ministry responsibilities. And at some point in time, between now and then, Paul instructs Timothy to remain in Exodus before he goes to Macedonia. And it's interesting because the Greek word used for false teacher, we actually don't see this anywhere else other than Pauline epistles. So some people think that Paul just made this word up. But it quite literally just means contrary teaching, just different teaching. That's what it means. It's combined words, contrary teaching. And it implies that there is already an established true teaching. Otherwise, what are you contrasting? Which certainly would have been the teaching of Christ and the apostles. Absolutely. Paul makes this abundantly clear in Galatians chapter 1. He says in verse 8 and 9, quite dramatically, even if we, or an angel from heaven, that's Paul himself, or an angel should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be upon him. As I have said before, I now say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him. The truth matters. There is established truth. You don't get to make it up. And there are a lot of teachers who are trying to do that. Paul's, therefore, first and foremost concern, and his instruction to Timothy is about truth. Simply put. What are we doing? The truth about Christ, about our salvation and him, that is one of the primary callings of the church is truth. And Paul makes clear what specific contrary truths were being taught. Thankfully, he puts somewhat of a name to it. He describes it in verse 4. He says, to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These promote empty speculations rather than God's plan, which operates by faith. As you might guess, scholars are somewhat split on what exactly this would have meant. Depending on who you read, you'll get a different answer. What is clear, though, that there is a uniquely Jewish element to this. There's definitely Jewish thoughts being input into the church. We know this because Paul later refers to them as attempted teachers of the law. So most likely it would have been some incorrect linking with the fairy tales or genealogies you see in the Old Testament that somehow relate to our faith. A lot of scholars also believe there would have been a mix of early Greek Gnosticism in here, which is simply the belief that anything created, anything material is evil. So God couldn't possibly have entered into this because it's all evil. So Christ was not physical. You see a lot of that issue being rise up, especially at the end of the first century. So what matters though, that whatever these views, whatever they may be exactly, Timothy would have been aware of them. He knew what they would have been, and they are promoting something contrary to God's plan of salvation. That's what matters. They are pushing people away from salvation toward emptiness. That's what Paul is concerned about. They distracted the church itself away from God's plan toward silly myths. And we see this in churches today, which promote things that deter people from the true plan of God. God just wants you to be happy, or repentance isn't necessary. Truth is secondary, being loving is primary. You see all of those today. And each of these have elements of truth, but they ultimately distract from the truth, which is God's plan for salvation in faith. But next, Paul shows the heart of the matter, verse 5. Read with me. Now the goal of our instruction is love. Love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. And I'm so honest here, that is hard to do. It's easy to correct when you're right. It's very easy. You know you're right. You give them what's right. But to do that with love is very hard. Lest we think that because we stand on truth, we shouldn't or we don't love. Paul is making abundantly clear that the purpose for godly instruction is love. That is the purpose. That is the goal of it all. To love the person you are instructing. Let me be so clear. When you share truth, you are not to be combative. You are not to be, you're not to engage in the public square with anger. You're not to hate those you're seeking to win, the truth of the gospel with. I know this because Paul says, truth in love from what? From a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. I would argue that people who are intentionally inflammatory, Christians likewise, combatitive or provocative, or all the rest, are not coming from a pure heart. That is not out of love. But while all this is true, that is true, do not be combative. Do not be intentionally inflammatory. Standing on truth itself is loving. Proclaiming truth in and of itself is loving. Presenting the truth of God to a people who don't know him, who hate him, is the most loving thing we can do. Standing up for truth in the face of lies, in the face of evil is love. Because there was a time when you and I did not know the truth. We didn't know God, we didn't have salvation, we didn't place our faith in him yet, but somebody loved you enough to share the truth of the gospel with you. And that is the same call for us today. There are absolutely non-loving ways to share truth, to be sure. But our goal in all of this, there are ungodly ways to approach these conversations, but do not back down from the truth of God. Do not back down from the truth of Scripture. Our goal in all of it is love. So, a couple questions to reflect on. What do we teach? Do we teach truth and love? Do we teach speculation? These are all questions we have to wrestle with all the time. Do we teach things that reveal Christ or do we teach things that hide him? Because that's what the church was doing. They were hiding Jesus by their truth being taught, or their truth being taught. But not only that, does our truth promote unity? Truth can be divisive in and of itself, without a doubt. But is it, and I love this, as John Stopp puts it, irresponsibly divisive? Is it intentionally divisive? Is it divisive just to be divisive, or is it truth that will draw God's sheep? Is it his voice that they will hear, no matter what? This is Paul's priority for Timothy. Timothy was called and placed in this church, in Ephesus, for this purpose, to proclaim truth and love. That was his goal. So that those who hear the church's teaching would find faith in Jesus, and the call now of every church is to do the same. Do you see that this is not just instruction to the pastor? This is instruction to the church. At our church, our identity is to be a church that gathers to know Christ and goes to make him known. We cannot possibly begin to do that if we don't start with truth. We have no shot. We cannot know Christ if we don't teach the truths about him from God's word. But we also cannot make him known if we don't love our neighbor. You cannot make him known if you're just going to stir up trouble. So may we always be a church who teaches only things that reveal God's truth and promote love and unity within our body. That's the call. Thirdly and finally, though, we need to know what we teach or we also why we teach as to say, but we also need to know what we protect. There's something here that Paul is concerned about protecting, and I think it's easy to miss. Verses 6 through 11. I'm going to reread this section. I'm running out of breath. Some have departed from these and turned aside to fruitless discussion. They want to be teachers of the law, although they don't understand what they are saying or what they are insisting on. But we know that the law is good, provided one uses it legitimately. We know that the law is not meant for a righteous person, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and irreverent, for those who kill their fathers and mothers for murderers, for the sexually immoral, males who have sex with males, for slave traders, liars, perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which was entrusted to me. This section is interesting because Paul gets into the specifics of the law. And the law itself points us back to God. The law itself points us to truths to God. This was especially true for the nation of Israel. Paul gives a ton of examples, right, of how you would break the law, who the law is for, rather. And you see here who are people intentionally inflammatory. That is the difference. People who know, think they know rather, what the law teaches, and then that's what they're running with. Whether it's founded or, as Paul says, completely unfounded. These are people who don't teach the truth of the law. These are people who are not seeking unity in the body. They simply want to be teachers of the law, as he says. And they're insisting on the law being somehow, again, scholars don't quite know exactly what this would have been talking about. I'm not going to speculate on that, but they're trying to apply the law to believers. You see that issue all throughout the New Testament. They're trying to take the law and say, you must now follow the law. You see very much Jewish roots there. Paul, interestingly though, had Timothy circumcised in his missionary journeys. Which you would say, well, isn't Paul then somewhat affirming this, saying that it is relevant? Paul was simply removing any boundaries for gospel proclamation. That's what Paul was doing. These people are not doing that. They're making sure that you must follow the law. It is for believers, but Paul says, absolutely not. The law itself is for people who do not follow it. It is for people who don't know God, who don't love God. It points us back to God. Paul lists examples, right, of different types of the people that the law is for. And there's something interesting that he notes here. Again, this starts in verse 9, I believe. It's not meant for the righteous person, and then he gets specific. But for the lawless, the rebellious, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreverent, those who kill their fathers and mothers, murderers, for the sexually immoral, males who have sex with males, for slave traders, liars, perjers. These are the people who the law is for. Notice, though, that this list covers nine of the ten commandments. To some degree. And notice, though, that this isn't an exhaustive list because he then summarizes it. For whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, the law was not meant for anybody but those who don't follow it. Whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of God. But here's the final element to this that I think we can miss. Do you see what Paul is doing? The morality of the law directly relates to the morality of the gospel. Paul conflates those two things. Because when Paul summarizes it, it's not and for whatever else is contrary to the law. It's for whatever else is contrary to the gospel. He's equating the morality of the law with the morality of the gospel. This again is not saying that we need to follow the law to be saved. That's not what he is saying. The law is completely powerless to save. We know this. Why? Because we can't fulfill it. I'm going to read a couple sentences from this commentary. He just puts it better than I could to be totally honest with you. So I'm just going to read it. To be sure, the law is impotent to save us, and we have been released from the law's condemnation. Praise God. So that we are no longer under it in that sentence. But God sent his son to die for us and now puts his spirit within us in order that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us. There is no antithesis between the law and gospel in the moral standards in which they teach. The antithesis is in the way of salvation, since the law condemns, the gospel justifies. What is he saying? Simply that there is no moral contradiction between the law and the gospel. God is saying the same things. The difference is in its power to save. We could never fulfill the law, but Christ did. And now to live for Christ is to live on those same moral principles proclaimed in the law. And in this summary, you see the heart of Paul's message. You see what he cares about. He is concerned about the truth of the gospel and the glory of God. What does he say? That conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God which was entrusted to me. The church is the champion for the gospel message and the glory of God. We are champions for those two things. We proclaim it, we magnify it, but we protect the truth of the gospel. Because the reality is, we are going to encounter drastically different false teachings. Sometimes they're just repackaged. They're the same false teaching from the first century, but slightly repackaged. But we're not going to encounter the same issues. Praise God. We don't have people in our church telling us that we have to follow the law, that we have to do everything that you see in the Old Testament in order to be saved. But here's the reality: the church in the first century did not have the benefit of 2,000 years of church history. They did not have statements of faith. They didn't have confessions and canons and councils where we fought over these things. They didn't have the full canon of Scripture closed where they could go back and look at truth. That's why Paul's ministry was so important. Because he was fighting for truth every place he went. And Timothy is now doing the same thing. But don't think you're better than the church here. We must always be careful to guard the truth of the gospel. I use that word very intentionally. We have been entrusted the gospel. We champion and protect it. We don't let any other truth come in. We don't push any other truth out. We champion the gospel to its fullest extent. We are called to guard, proclaim, and point people to Jesus. This morning we've seen a few realities for the church. We know whom we serve, we know why we teach, and we know what we protect. But it is no coincidence. Again, Paul could have begun so many ways in this letter that he emphasizes truth. Because the health of the church is directly connected to its commitment to truth. If your church is our church, it's not committed to truth, we're gonna die. Maybe we'll grow. Maybe there'll be more people here, but we'll be a dead church if we don't commit ourselves to truth. Because a church that loses truth will eventually just lose the gospel altogether. It is and a church that loses the gospel has nothing meaningful to offer the world. Nothing meaningful. Church family, we are not called simply to be interesting. We are not called to entertain people, we are not called to blend in with the culture around us or to be the most welcoming church ever where no one feels uncomfortable. I've said this before, and I'm going to be clear. If an unbeliever walks in this room, we are going to do our best to welcome them. But they shouldn't necessarily feel comfortable because we do weird things here at church. And we serve a God that they don't believe in. So our goal is truth, not comfortability. We are called to faithfully proclaim Christ and his gospel. And that means that you must be a person who knows God's word, loves God's truth, but also refuses to compromise with the gospel entrusted to us. So I'm going to leave us with a couple questions to reflect on. Both in our response time that we always have, but also throughout this week. Just a couple questions. Firstly, am I grounded enough in Scripture to recognize false teaching? Just a simple question. Is my foundation set where if I come across something false, I can recognize it? A big part of that is on me. Huge part of that is on me, making sure that we are a church that only proclaims truth. Not just from the pulpit, but everything we teach, everything we put out, it has to be truth. But are you rooted enough in Scripture to recognize what is wrong when you encounter it? And do not remove the Spirit from this equation. If you are in Christ, he will lead you in truth and in sanctification. This is not just because you work harder, it's because you grow in the knowledge of Christ more. But are you able to differentiate between truth and falsehood? Because it matters. It really matters. It mattered to Paul and it should matter to us. But second, and equally as important, am I growing in both truth and love? Am I growing in both truth and love? Both of those things. Because Paul refuses to separate them. Refuses to separate those things. Truth without love becomes harsh and self righteous. It is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance, not the harshness of God that leads us to repentance. But on the flip side, love without truth is empty, like Paul says. It's useless. It is incapable. So are you growing in both truth and in love? We're gonna have a time to respond as we always do. A big part of that is prayer. Just use this time to pray. Use this time to seek God, to reflect on these questions. But there's a really practical way that we can remember. There's a really practical way that we could guard truth. Did you know the Bible says we, every time we partake in the Lord's Supper, we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. That is a proclamation of truth by partaking in the Lord's Supper. When you do it, you proclaim to one another that Christ has died for me. His sacrifice is available for me. That's what we're doing there. The only qualification, be a believer in Christ Jesus, baptized in Christ Jesus, participate, but an easy way to proclaim the truth of Christ. So spend a couple minutes in prayer reflecting on those questions. When you are ready, come and partake of the Lord's Supper in Preston will lead us in that later. Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for Paul's letter to Timothy. We thank you for their relationship. We thank you for Timothy at all. Just that he is a he is somebody we can read about in Scripture. And we can see Paul's instruction, not just to one individual, but to the church as a whole. We can see that truth matters, and we thank you that we see this in your scripture. We ask this morning that by your spirit you would lead us in truth. You would help us grow in truth. We would know you better. We would know truths about you. We would learn scripture more. But also we ask that you would grow us in love. Love for one another, love for the nonbeliever outside these walls, love for our family, love for our children. Help us grow in love. So when we proclaim truth, we would proclaim truth in love. I ask that you would do all of these things by your Spirit's power for Christ's name's sake. Amen.