SPEAKER_00 0:05

As I read from Second Timothy chapter two, verses fourteen through nineteen. Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of hearers. Be diligent to present yourselves approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of God, but avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene among them of Hermenius and Plotetus, men who have gone astray from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some. Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having his seal. The Lord knows those who are his, and everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness. And this is the word of our Lord. Brian, would you please come.

SPEAKER_02 1:32

So as we dive into this passage, one of the things I want us to be thinking about, and I'm gonna pray just a second, is the fact that there in 2 Timothy we see many, many passages that can be difficult, if you will, difficult to digest because they're challenging to us. They say things that kind of hit us. And man, green, and man, you know, abstain from wickedness, and what are those things. What I want us to have on our minds as we go through this passage is yes, there's these stark warnings here for us as Christians, but at the same time, see them as thrilling encouragements because God has revealed to us what we need to abstain from and how we need to live. And so we praise God for that. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you. Thank you for the truth of your word. We thank you that we get to come before you and honor you and worship you. We thank you that you have drawn us here for this time of corporate worship. There is no time in the world like it. And we thank you for it. And we ask you that you would be honored, glorified, and exalted as our true and only King as we go through this passage. Lead and guide our hearts and our thoughts and everything about who we are and our souls to worship the one true God. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Well, as we uh dive into this passage, I'm gonna bring us a little closer without making it make a bunch of racket. There we go. Um I I wanna I wanna say this. Our words are important, aren't they? The words you and I choose to use have significant and sometimes lasting repercussions. You experience that in life? How many of you have heard those types of things said to your kids or in the family? You know, things like those little rhymes, sticks and stones may break my, yeah, exactly. But words can never hurt me, right? Isn't that the saying? Now there is some truth to us being able to tolerate and absorb negative talk and having thick enough skin to deal with bullies or verbal lashings from time to time. I find that little statement that we've all heard since we were kids to be absolutely full of flaws. For one, because words can and do hurt people, right? You ever been in that position? You're a human, I think, so yeah. But most importantly, it is the false words spoken about spiritual things that actually cause far more damage and have greater consequences than any physical abuse. Ever. I mean, think about it. You can get absolutely pummeled by stones unto death and still live eternally. But if demonic words have come to you and they've maybe, as an example, led you down the dark path, and you now refuse the author of life, then please hear me, there is no stone, no weapon, or no beating that can come to you, that can come against you, like what will happen if you reject the gospel and absorb heretical words spoken against Christ in what happens eternally to you. It's not even a comparison. Words matter. Because words, whether spoken, written, sung, or drawn, will make all the difference in the world. And what we do when we come to know those words will determine where we will spend eternity, if we're talking about from the Bible. Words are that important. They determine eternity. Because the gospel is about a person, right? The God man, Jesus the Christ. It's about redemption for fallen sinners like me, and we come to know it how? Through words. From the Bible. The written word of God, and it's then impressed upon us by the Bible's divine author, who is behind all of those words of life, namely the Holy Spirit, God Himself, and so we walk away and go, yeah, his word matters, therefore our words matter. And as Paul is teaching us today, if we are to remain faithful to the Lord in our lives, then the words we say, teach, listen to, partake in, and live by will determine what our eternal future looks like. You ever seen words that important? I know just, you know, scribbling down or, you know, the different languages and whatnot. Paul starts out here by telling Timothy to remind the congregation of the things that he just spoke about that we looked into last week. Paul is telling Timothy to endure whatever it takes to make sure the word of God is taught, to make sure it's lived out. Paul is reminding Timothy to continually teach the truth, to teach the truth of many things, including the resurrection, as we looked at. The beauty of what's coming for an eternity. He's telling them to remind them of God's perfect and great faithfulness. And he's even admonishing Timothy to remind them that they are to stand strong, and this is a militaristic thing, to stand strong in the faith with an absolutely unwavering commitment to God and his glory. All of these things have to do with a proper, a right understanding of the Word of God, the Bible. And that, of course, then leads to a proper living out of that word. That's how it works. And so, in essence, Paul is calling Timothy, don't ever neglect the right teaching of the Word of God, and more specifically of the gospel as you boil it down, if you will. Therefore, Paul is calling Timothy to remind the entire congregation, where Timothy is in Ephesus, of these truths, of these gospel truths. This is the third week in a row. We've talked about Paul saying, remember, remember, remember. I think that might be important for us, right? This is, I love this passage because it's so much in it, and we're gonna go over a lot of it, but this is one of those passages that I says, I says, wow. Yes. Doing good. Okay. This is one of those passages that I say gives us the impetus to be here week after week. Month after month, year after year. Even if we already know the gospel, even if we've already been completely transformed by it, the Bible teaches us over and over again we are to be continually reminded of this good news and called to live faithful lives in light of it. That's why Paul says in Romans 1, he wants to go to Rome to preach the gospel to a bunch of Christians. We have to have it in and through us at all times, and that means we got to be here. We're always needy, always desperate, always eagerly anticipating, hearing the beauty of the life that has come to us in Christ, as well as the continued reminder of the challenge that we need to live it out day by day. That's why when the word of God is read or taught, we stand in reverence. That's why when the word of God is read or taught, we hang on every word. You ever find yourself doing that? As a word is being proclaimed or taught or read? You're just, oh, I can't wait to get more. Because we realize this is literally the word of life. And also, we all know that we're all going to stumble and fall in this life, don't we? In our race of faith. We all rebel against God and even what he's done in our hearts and lives. And so we need these constant reminders of the glory and wonders of the gospel to sometimes nudge us back and other times kick us back on the straight and narrow. And that's just one reason why the church is so essential in the life of the believer and being committed to it. And that's just one reason why the author of Hebrews, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says, don't neglect gathering together. And that he's talking about the Sunday morning gathering, this unique gathering time that we're commanded to. I mean, Bible studies are great, discipleship groups can be fruitful, but nothing is like this corporate worship gathering in the family of God in the local church. There's just nothing like it. And so Paul says in verse 14, when thinking of these gospel truths, and he just says, remind them of these things and solemnly charge them. What that indicates is a very strong push, so to speak. It's a passionate plea, a godly reproof, really, if needed, to remember the gospel. Remember the resurrection. And he then goes on to give us his first warning, really, in light of what we're to know and remember and speak of in the second part of verse 14. Look at 14 again. Look at the second part. After calling Timothy to remember and to lead people in the remembrance of the gospel, he then says, Hey, don't get caught up in, and this is my add to that, so it just says, Don't wrangle about useless words. Don't wrangle about words which is just useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers. There's a lot to be said in that. But as we heard, we are to remember what we were taught last time, and a big part of remembering is done through these spoken words. I know it's kind of obvious, but maybe needing said, when we remind one another of something, we are obliged to speak it. Right? Not just be an example. Being an example is hugely important. It's great, needed. But we need to be able to speak the very words of God to one another if we're going to remember the gospel. And so it's got to be the right words. And so from here on out, in this sermon, I want us to look at the multiple ways in which we are to do this, in which we are to be diligent in the words that we use, not wrangling over useless ones. Diligent in teaching of the word. Speaking the word to one another in the church, and just overall what the diligent speech of a Christian should look like. And that is our spiritual weapon for today. Diligence. Diligence. That's what the sword for today is, if you will, that cuts and heals. Diligence. I want to give you a couple of brief definitions of definitions of diligence as a Christian soldier. Number one, diligence can be defined as being marked by persevering with painstaking effort. Isn't that a good definition of diligence? Number two, prosecuted with careful attention and effort, careful, painstaking, not careless or negligent. And so if we draw from that, what we find in diligence as a Christian is we, as the people of God, are to painstakingly make sure our words are in accordance with the word of God. His very word. Making sure that we're never careless with it, making sure we're never negligent of the beauty and the truth of what is being spoken over taught. And so this requires us to have maximum and therefore immense effort and attention to detail. You ever read a book and it was just so well written and carefully written that you're just kind of hanging on the words and whether it's a novel or a historical account or a biography or whatever, and you just, every word is helpful to understand where the author is going. Maybe it's a mystery and you need all those bits and pieces. How much more so with the word of God? And so we ought to be very careful when it comes to the details of the word. There are two things that we, as humans, naturally tend to do with our words. On each side of the error, two ways in which most people go in life, and this plays out in the words we use. You've seen it before. Either we can be careless and carefree with our words, or prideful in how we use our words. Those are kind of the extremes, right? Well, the Christian is, guess what? Called to be right in the middle of that, to be diligent seeking faithfulness. And let me explain what I mean by that. The reason that some churches, I'm gonna use the example of music. Some churches may have music that's unbiblical, and maybe they have just unbiblical modes of worship, and they don't teach the word of God rightly in its context, it's because they're careless with their words and with the word of God. They don't think it's that big of a deal that they sing a song that may teach an unbiblical truth because it flows well. It sounds nice, and the people like it. Some of the people, maybe. Or maybe on the other side, they they teach the Bible and using it as a launch pad for maybe a hobby horse or a social construct or uh, you know, addressing an irrelevant cultural issue. On the other side, we have people who will spend all their time in the church trying to one-up each other. Have you ever seen that before? Trying to one-up each other with their perceived knowledge, and they seek to puff themselves up, bouncing back and forth off of one another. They pride themselves on human reasoning or intellect. Now, the Christian, the soldier of Christ, on the other hand, the church, a collective church that is seeking to remain faithful to the word, is gonna toss out anything like a song that speaks falsehood or is just not faithful to the word, even if it seems somewhat trivial. Again, attention to detail, careful, diligent. They will seek to expose the word of God alone in their teachings. That's it, just the word. This is why we here at the church emphasize what we call expositional preaching. I know it's kind of a big word, but what it really means is we take the Bible, we open it up, and we seek to expose what God has said and apply it to our lives. Instead of the other way around. Be thankful that your elders have done this for years. Otherwise, it would just be man's wisdom. And what does that lead us to? Yeah. So the faithful church seeks to expose the word of God alone in their teachings. They humbly see their need for God's word and for their brothers and the sisters in the faith to hear it, to apply it. Even if we may not have the same schooling or learning, uh, we will not spend our time wrangling over words like what Paul is saying in verse 14. Instead, we're just going to go to the word, the truth, the truth. We realize that all that is done is done in the presence of God, and so we must be faithful in all we say, all we teach, all we do with the very word of God to us. And so Paul here in this passage, of course, is aiming at false teachings as he usually does in most of his letters. That's got to tell us something, right? Must be important for us to hear. Paul doesn't want the church there in Ephesus to get caught up in the debates of the world. Which, by the way, historically, Ephesus is very ripe with that sort of thing. It's a place of learning in that way, like the Greeks used to have. There was a danger of having those kinds of things creep there into the church, and Paul wanted Timothy to be diligent to do two things. One, to refuse to allow those things to creep in by allowing soft or unbiblical teachings to come in. And second, to get into debates over things that are not the Word of God and faithful to the Word of God. It is a waste of time for us to have debates and sessions in the church, for example, over political movements. Or whether or not Christ was born a virgin, right? Or whether or not he was resurrected, or whether or not he's God in the flesh. No, those things are already settled. There's no debate there. We just defend that truth. We stand firm on those truths. With our dying breath, we hold to what is true. So we don't spend time wrangling over every newfangled book that comes out or that claims that Christ was married. Have you heard that before? Or that he wasn't God in the flesh. He was just a mode. We call that modalism. Or that this new book proves the Bible isn't valid and they took this book out. Or that God is a woman. Which, by the way, there's a sign in Clackamas right now that says that. God is a woman. On a church. Notice the quotation marks, those are really important. Or just any other scheme devised by the devil that distracts us. Let's not get distracted with all that stuff. Let's just look to Christ. Do we defend against those things? Absolutely. Do we call them out when needed? Absolutely. But do we wrangle over them in our time together as a church?

unknown 19:12

No.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

We come to remind one another of the glory and the grandeur of our Savior and His gospel. We sing of the beauty of the Lord. Remember the song we sang this morning? Awake, my soul. Awake for what? To look to Christ. We marvel at his atoning work on the cross. We marvel at this Savior that lives and is interceding for us right now. That's what we spend a bulk of our time doing when we gather, not wasting time talking about that which only distracts from the Word of God with ear-tickling wranglings. Isn't that a cool word, by the way, wrangling? As Paul says, those kinds of distractions just take us away from being faithful. And they're not only useless, they are in fact destructive. They can even ruin people who hear and therefore adhere to them. And so we're called to be diligent. Diligent to speak of the love of God towards sinners and rejoice in his grace as a body of believers, as the bride of Christ right here. And as Paul says in verse 14, we are under the very presence of God in all that we do. Praise God. Let that sit and wait on you. So therefore, in the light of the fact that all that we do is under the sovereign and ever-present gaze of the Lord, we must be diligent first to teach the word rightly. The very worst thing that a church can do is fail at teaching the word. If we as a church want to be able to say that we're seeking to present ourselves as approved to God, it starts with how we view and how we teach the word of God. If you look around at the churches in our world, in our country, and even just our state right now, you can always spot the faithful churches. It doesn't take long. Sure, we're going to have some differences. We may see some little things different, but you can always easily spot a church that has done exactly what Paul says here at the end of verse 15. That they are accurately handling the word of truth. They're easy to spot. Because there's really two types of churches in this world. For all of the minutiae, the cultural or philosophical differences that churches can have, you can really boil it down to two main church, two kinds of main, mainly in the church. There are those who are the church of Jesus Christ, and there are those that are the churches of the world. Again, maybe having some differences. But the one that clings to the sufficient word of God alone is the faithful church of Christ. The others are not. There are those who seek to accurately handle this word. It's their authority. Those who seek to, the word says to rightly divide the word of truth, to rightly understand it and apply it. That's one side. And then there are those who see the Bible as insufficient. Maybe they don't boast that, you know, verbally, but it's how it plays out in their content and their worship. Worship is relegated to human wisdom. They don't give expositions on the word. Maybe they use the word to give talks on topical things that are going on around us, coming off of the mind of man. They don't see that his word is enough to bring people to worship. This shows that they believe that accurate handing the word of God isn't going to get it done. They need more, they say. They think that presenting themselves approved to God is about how many people occupy the seats or what their flavor of coffee is, or maybe it's the laser lights and the smoke. Mine's bigger. Okay, maybe that's a bit of a stretch. You get my point. But the word alone isn't sufficient. These places think that they need to create a worldly environment for the world to feel comfortable. It needs to look like, smell like, act like, and seem like the world and just sprinkle a little Jesus in. Is that what the Bible calls us to as a church? In the end, as the book of Colossians warns us against, it is God's word and. And what happens is God and his word become insufficient for what they want to accomplish as a group of people. It's very sad. And so Paul says, Timothy, my young son in the faith, remain faithful to the word. Be diligent to preserve the right teaching and preaching of the word. You see, this charge in verse 15 is aimed at all the people in the church. As we talked about in Sunday school, it's the leaders who are to lead in the teaching of the word, but it's a congregation that holds them accountable to the truth. If I err, if I go sideways and I become a heretic, it's it you are obligated to throw me out. Praise God. And vice versa. So it is for the whole church. But the bullseye, if you will, the direct challenge is aimed pointedly here in this passage at those leaders that teach it. And so for us, the elders, even the deacons of Prairie Baptist Church, are called to be diligent, to work hard, to be painstaking day by day at making sure that we are seeking to please God rather than man. And so the elders are commanded to work hard at opening the word and desiring above all else, as we've said, that Christ would be magnified as we just expose the timeless and impactful truth. We all day by day have to continually shove aside the desire to take the easy path, the wide path, of slicing and dicing the word in such a way that makes the world comfortable in the church. Maybe it's music of the world that tweaks a little bit to soften the world, or soften the blow for the world to feel comfortable. Maybe it's having women preach the word since it's culturally accepting and encouraged. Maybe it's setting aside the things in the Old Testament because they're tough to hear, as one man has said recently in the last few years, we need to unhitch ourselves from that whole Old Testament thing. Maybe it's coming up with gimmicks instead of relying on God and his word to transform hearts and souls. Maybe it's refusing to preach certain parts of the Bible. I have a lot of good friends that go to churches where they do that. Instead of preaching through, for example, the book of Romans, they skip chapter 3, they skip chapter 8, they skip. Those are hard to hear. We don't want to do that. Or maybe it's not preaching at all. Maybe it's no prayer. Whatever it is. There are a lot of ways for us to be unfaithful to the Lord, right? A lot of ways for us to be unfaithful to the Lord and how, and really, therefore, who we worship when we gather. And again, who has told us how God is to be worshipped? God. Who knows better than God how we ought to be worshipped?

SPEAKER_01 26:55

Nobody.

SPEAKER_02 26:57

And so, therefore, for us, it takes heart, it takes hard work and prayer to stay faithful as we take the time that's necessary to accurately handle this perfect, heavenly, holy word. And do we see it as such? Because then and only then, if we have that view, the right view, then and only then, by diligence, can we say that we may be presented as approved workmen unto God in how we have taught, and how we have lived. Listen to this. The Greek word behind the phrase accurately or rightly is ortho tomeo. And it simply means this: cutting in a straight line. That's the word Paul uses here to say accurately handling the word of truth. Cut in a straight line, don't mess it up, don't go around with knots. Keep it straight. Use your straight edge, measure twice, right? Isn't that the saying? I've done it backwards many times where I cut twice, cut five times, and then measure rightly, you know? It doesn't go well. Make sure you cut it right, accurately. Do you know how easy it is to say, yeah, we're just gonna go along with whatever the world wants? Have you ever done that before in your life? Sure, we're gonna ordain women. Sure, we're gonna invite homosexuals to preach, fornicators, adulterers, into the membership or even the leadership of the church. Sure, we'll set aside the exposition of the word to make sure that nice stories about cats and dogs and funny anecdotes rule on Sunday mornings. You know, that would be easy, and I bet you the seats here would be completely full. And just pouring out the doors because it's just so nice to hear. But I tell you, that is a very pitiful and sad existence as a church. What a depleted people we would all be if we as your elders led you astray like that. What a depressed people we would end up being. Listen to what the great author and preacher J. Gresham Machin had to say about this kind of church, so the one who comes looking for help in the gospel, those ones who wrangle about words. Listen to this quote. He says this, and you may have found yourself here before. He says, Weary with the conflicts of the world, one goes into the church to seek refreshment for the soul. And what does one find? He says, Alas, too often one only finds the turmoil of the world. The preacher comes forward not out of a secret place of meditation and power, not with the authority of God's word permeating his message, not with human wisdom pushed far into the background by the glory of the cross, but with human opinions about the social problems of the hour, or easy solutions of the vast problems of sin. Thus, the warfare of the world is entered even into the house of God, and sad indeed is the heart of the man who comes seeking peace. That was spoken almost a hundred years ago. Is that not true today still? Brothers and sisters, it takes far more work and painstaking diligence. It may take hard conversations and difficult stances, but I'm telling you, the reward of staying faithful to the word in all things, not just some things. In all things is so worth it, not just in the heavenly realms, but right here, right now. It is worth it to take the hard road of presenting the truth. You see, you cannot have abundance of joy in shallow Christian worship. You cannot have right worship in a worldly church, and you cannot love the preached word if it is not done painstakingly, seeking to teach the truth alone, even if it's hard and uncomfortable to hear. And so our call is to accurately handle the word of truth. To be diligent, to do all things so that we can stand before God as though we're under a white glove inspection day by day, and yet have confidence, knowing we have given our all in seeking faithfulness. Did I err? Did I sin? Did I get it wrong? Yeah. But was my heart's desire to be faithful to him and his word? Yes. And he honors that. And so the words we speak, sing, pray, read, and teach at this church are so important that we cannot be considered approved workmen for God if we fail at being diligent to remain faithful to his truth. So that's the negative side of the issue, right? The tough side. But there's another side to it. The positive side that leads us to greater joy. And so, you know what else is wonderful about teaching and preaching? Nothing more than the very word of God in all its fullness and beauty. One of the things that Paul shows us here is that actually we're led to unity. The true word of God unites us. The true teaching of the word binds us together. And we really become intent on one purpose, as Paul talks about in Philippians 2 or Ephesians 4. We are led to rejoice together over the true one gospel. Oneness, brothers and sisters. And that sound good. Oneness, not just in a political or social cause, but oneness in the Lord and his word. Now that's great joy. Because if the word isn't the center of all things in this church, only ruin and misery would follow in the wake of worldly teachings. Only arguing and bitterness would reverberate through this place. You ever heard of a church split? You ever heard of bitterness in a church? I mean, on and on that list can go, right? And it's always, always because it's a deviation from the work. Because his fire is never satisfied. So is the approval of the world will never be satisfied. We must remain faithful to his word alone. Just look around today. Could you imagine trying to keep up with the latest whim of culture seeking to be woke in our speech, for example? Let me give you a great example of this in real time. It's funny if it wasn't so sad. In Seattle, a few years ago, there was a feminist meeting at the local library. And during that meeting, they ended up getting into it in altercation with so-called transgender people who wanted to be a part of it. And if I can recall rightly, I think it even got physical. One worldly sinful cause that refutes biblical teaching, warring with another similar one. There is no end to the culture's desires that are derived from sin and I would say boredom and ease in life. And there is no end as well for the church who tries to keep up with it. At some point, they will all argue and become bitter toward one another. That's what's in store for the church that takes the world's route. But for the church, again, that is seeking to rightly or accurately handle the word of God alone, they will necessarily have joy. They will have love, real love, not worldly stuff, real love, and they will be united in this. They will be able to stand before God one day together and be able to say, We trusted you, and then they hear from the Maker those words. Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have loved my word, you have loved my gospel, you have loved my son, you have been diligent to follow your master's word, his orders, and you have remained faithful. Your diligence in this area has shown you to be approved workmen, praise God, only because he gave us his strength. Not one capitulation, not one moment of giving in and feeling comfort in the things of this world can ever compare to the comfort of hearing those sweet words from our Savior as he speaks those truths of affirmation and blessing over us as we remain faithful. Next. Look at verses 16 to 18 with me again. Paul goes on to give us another command in how do we use our words. And so, again, in light of the fact that we do all things under the sovereign and ever-present gaze of the Lord, we are to be diligent to avoid worldly speech because it leads to ungodliness and gangrene of the tongue and heart. And this is all about worship, by the way. Because ungodliness is a lack of right worship. As one commentator put it, it's the negation of worship, right worship. And Paul tells us this kind of life comes from worldly and empty chatter. Similar to wrangling with words. But I love what the King James says in this instead of worldly and empty chatter, it says profane and vain babblings. Is that not what ungodly speech is? This is a major theme in this second little writing to Timothy. Paul is so concerned about right doctrine being proclaimed and false and heretical teachings being snuffed out. Because again, I've said this before, but false teachings aren't just merely dangerous because the person speaking them is in trouble eternally, nor because the world may listen, but because the people in the very church of Jesus Christ are tempted to follow and hear. Otherwise, it wouldn't even be in the word. Their profane, vain babblings, maybe it's their new age reasonings or their scientific discoveries or their Gnostic daydreams, their false religious notions of peace with God, yet without God's word, they always turned out to be contrived of man, and they're always dangerous, and they're always ungodly because they do not lead us to fall on our face before Christ. In fact, as Paul says here, they're like Gang Green. Yeah. That's right. Those who teach, for example, the prosperity gospel, where it's all about my health and wealth. Those who teach according to man's wisdom, those who teach the latest social trend, those who import the world and the world's words into the church, both them and their words are like gangrene. Paul's really serious, isn't he? He's saying this because he absolutely loves these people. And he must warn them over and over. Have you ever seen or had gangrene? My grandfather lost both of his legs to gangrene. It's a nasty infection, isn't it? I have no doubt that Paul was trying to use a horrible disease of his day as a word picture to describe and compare it with heretical teachings or false things. He didn't think it's sufficient to just say something simple like it's bad or dangerous. He says it infects. If it's not cut out, death is a result. This isn't speaking of gossip, not that kind of worldly chatter, although that is, of course, sinful and dangerous. Paul is aiming this directly at those who would teach a false gospel, a false Christ. Those who would go on and on about useless and corrupting heresies and worldly nonsense? Those who would say with the devil, arm in arm, hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder with Satan, did God really say? Is that really what that means? Is hell real? Is hell eternal? Do I have to go to God through Jesus? Or is there another way? Paul even gives us two examples of men who have gone down this very path in verse 17. Look at that. One of them he mentions in 1 Timothy 1.20 as somebody who blasphemes Christ. But these men, it's basically telling us, have long chattered with their worldly conversations in regards to the resurrection. Now they didn't deny the resurrection altogether, but what they did is subtly induce or introduce heresy into the church with human reasonings. They said, it's just a spiritual thing. Which, yeah, of course, we are raised a new spiritually, praise God, but they apparently went on to deny the physical part of the resurrection of the body. Which for Paul is downright false teaching and heresy. Which, as an aside, there is a teaching today called preterism that teaches that very thing. So this isn't long gone. It's today. Same old, same old. And so I just say this: beloved of God, Church of Jesus Christ, we will be raised one day with new and glorified bodies. And we shall stand, we shall kneel, and even lay prostrate before Christ, Jesus, for all of eternity with those bodies, those glorified bodies he gives us. Philippians 3. And so we say, Hallelujah, praise the Lord. Those bodies will be crafted in such a way as the reason we get new bodies, by the way, is to promote further and greater worship. It's not so that I can have bigger muscles or shinier teeth or whatever. It's worship. Those bodies will allow for greater worship. What could be better than that? And so to take that away from the truth of the gospel is a false teaching that cannot be tolerated, Paul says. We don't wrangle about that. We don't chatter about that. We shut that down and call it what it is. Unbiblical, worldly, empty, useless doctrine of demons. Just as gangrene spreads, so that's the nature of that kind of teaching. Tickling ears. Producing disciples of satanic heresies. I remind us again. Words matter, don't they? Words matter. Our diligent denial of that which is worldly and false, along with our diligent devotion to that which is eternally right and good, found in the Word of God alone, will prove itself in who we are and how we worship, what we cling to, what we live out. One of the most dangerous places in life to be is what Paul says here. In verse 18. Upsetting the faith of some. Let us never, ever be found upsetting the faith of others as we run after some new, nice sounding thing. There will be a strict judgment for that. Let the fear of the Lord and a love for his word keep us from those useless wranglings and empty chatterings, those vain babblings. Let us worship well as we stay pure and free from the infection of false teachings. And therefore, third, in light of the fact that we do all things under the sovereign and ever-present gaze of the Lord, we are to be diligent to abstain from wickedness with our speech and with our life. Your mouth was created to glorify God. And so verse 19 tells us at the end that those who are of the Lord and who name his name are those who abstain from wickedness. It's a wonderful test of salvation. Those who are Christ are those who will be diligent to abstain from wickedness with their mouths and their whole lives. Notice the contrast there. Think of it. Paul has been speaking so far in our text of really primarily speaking of heretical or useless words of false teachers, and here it says anybody who names the name of the Lord with a mouth. Because Christians speak early and often of the glory of the Lord, don't they? We're diligent to speak of the wonders of the gospel. Is that you? Is that your talk? Is that your speech? Is that your chatter? The Christian is the one who is founded on and within the firmest foundation that can be built. We are solid and immovable because we're standing on this sure foundation of truth. As in 1 Timothy 3, we see something else about us as a church. It says that we are the very pillar and supporter buttress of the truth. We're not a gathering of people centered around a common political or social cause, as I've said, right? We're not a people who are gathered around a wooden or metal object, praise God. We are not a people who gather to speculate or speak in grand human intellectual debates or dialogues. We are the church of the living God, of whom Jesus Christ is the head and his word is our authority. Spiritual community which finds its life in the living God, the stream of life for the believers, is to be found in the church that is the bride of the ever living bridegroom, its federal head. The one who has always existed, the psalmist says, from everlasting to everlasting, we're his people. Precisely created and fashioned for his word. That's who we are. What does a worldly community have to offer that can compare with that? To be called the pillar and support of the truth in him, the very foundation of God that stands tall, and as Paul says again in verse 19, nevertheless, nevertheless, the firm foundation stands. What he means is the truth will not be silenced. The church will prevail. His people will diligently abstain from wicked chatter and useless arguments that come from knuckle-headed blasphemers. Because the structure of the church is the people of God being banded together by Christ standing on his truth. Our pillars and mighty columns are planted firmly and built upon the word alone and made steadfast to obedience to that word. The words of truth will never cease to or nor dissipate. Do you know that? His word is eternal. And so why will we always stand firm? Why will why can we take to the bank that we will stand firm if we are the people of God? Well, look again at verse 19. Everybody who names the name of the Lord is his. Diligent to abstain from wickedness, wicked words, wicked teachings. You swing the proverbial sword at those who would discount his majesty and grace. You are his, owned, enslaved to him. You refuse to be tossed about by the wind and the waves of those worldly teachings or useless arguments meant for the halls of pagan philosophers or universities. You are the firm foundation. Your words speak of his glory and grace. Your mouth is sweet tasting day by day because the word of God is just dripping off of it. And anything that challenges that truth is bitter and nasty to you, and you spit it out, that's the Christian. That's the soldier of Christ. Therefore, be diligent in the words that you use. Be careful. You are his, you are known by him. Marvel at that. Nevertheless, isn't that a good word? The man or woman of God will suffer. He or she will have difficulty in this life. He will have to protect the truth against those flaming arrows of evil words, but nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands. The church stands. We will withstand the verbal assaults of false teachings because we've been sealed for this. And so be diligent. Knowing that you're his, sealed as a part of his foundation. Be diligent to speak the words of life. Do you do that day by day, right now? On the way here this morning. Be diligent. The Lord knows you. And I just say this in closing. Can you believe it? The God of all the universe doesn't just know who you are because he's your creator, but he knows you in an intimate and deep and loving way. Therefore, name his name. Name his name every morning when you get up. Name his name to those near you. Name his name to those who would teach that which is false. Be diligent in the word of truth as you diligently live for your Savior.

SPEAKER_01 51:25

What a what a weapon. Diligence. Diligence.

SPEAKER_02 51:31

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this word. We thank you that you give us new hearts that love to be diligent to you. We thank you for the warning here in the passage to not fall away like these two men into nice sounding things or soft and squishy things or things that are opposed to you and your truth. We thank you, Father, for the gift of the truth of your word that impacts us day by day. Father, we ask you that we would lead, that we would be a people who live like this, that we would be a church who leads others to the truth like this, as we recognize there's nothing in the world that compares. May your name be honored and glorified through your people, through your word, by the power of your spirit in us, for your glory. We pray this all in Christ's name. Amen.