WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:07.280 If you are have a Bible or you want to open an app, we're going to be in 1 Timothy chapter 1 this morning. 00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:10.080 We will have it on the screens for you to be able to follow along. 00:00:10.240 --> 00:00:14.400 If you don't have a Bible or a smartphone, you should probably have both. 00:00:15.039 --> 00:00:19.519 But we do have Bibles in the back at the welcome desk that we'd love to give to you. 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:20.559 That's our gift to you. 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:21.679 You can take it home. 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:24.000 Have a Bible for yourself and your family. 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:26.399 1 Timothy is in the New Testament. 00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:29.199 It's in what this section called the Epistles. 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:34.399 So it follows those first four Gospels of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:44.079 And then Timothy is the first, is one of the primary epistles or these letters written to the church in the New Testament. 00:00:44.159 --> 00:00:47.280 So 1 Timothy chapter 1 is where we're going to be. 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:50.640 And we're going to dive right in because we've got a lot of ground to cover this morning. 00:00:50.799 --> 00:00:56.240 So I'm going to read verses 3 through 11 of 1 Timothy, and it says this. 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:20.159 The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:32.159 Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. 00:01:32.480 --> 00:02:04.400 Now we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, understanding this that the law is not laid down for the just, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:06.079 This is the word of the Lord. 00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:11.599 May God bless the reading and proclamation of his promises. 00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:17.039 Now, First Timothy is a classic example of why we preach through books of the Bible. 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:24.879 There are so many things in 1 Timothy that maybe a modern-day church wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole, right? 00:02:25.039 --> 00:02:27.520 They're not going anywhere near it. 00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:34.639 They don't want to talk about these topics, or maybe it's just something that seems to be primarily uncomfortable to discuss. 00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:45.759 But the scriptures, which is God's revealed word to us, demands that we wrestle with it to understand his intended purposes. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:51.280 And so what we're going to look at today is this aspect of sound doctrine within the church. 00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:58.000 In fact, we're going to actually walk through the absence of sound doctrine and those who are teaching false doctrines. 00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:03.120 Now, there's a lot that we understand here that we can actually parallel with our current culture. 00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:09.439 Because if we look at our culture today, we kind of continually wrestle with these two paradigms. 00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:15.280 We find ourselves having to be all one thing and maybe not the another, and we kind of overcorrect. 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:20.800 In our culture today, we think that we have to be all love and no truth. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:21.439 Right? 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:23.520 This is something that we constantly wrestle with. 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:30.479 In fact, truth is against love because extreme subjectivity prevails in our culture. 00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:37.280 And it comes with an expectation to fully embrace personal truth in the name of love. 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:47.919 Actually, any claims of absolute truth is declared as hate, specifically if it jeopardizes the desires and choices of the other person. 00:03:48.639 --> 00:03:55.759 You see, we have such a display of depravity because we have no declaration of truth. 00:03:56.000 --> 00:04:00.719 We are saying that love is the thing that trumps all, not truth. 00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:04.159 And in fact, it is non-loving to declare truth. 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:07.919 And so we kind of have these extremes that we pursue. 00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:11.759 Even in the church, we ex we tend to pursue these extremes. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:15.759 We want grace without law a lot of times. 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:20.160 In fact, that's kind of a wrestling that we've done in the New Testament church for quite some time. 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:26.480 What role does the law play, and how is grace known and understood in the life of a believer? 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:28.560 We seem to combat with these two things. 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:32.480 We might say that, oh no, we have grace and the Holy Spirit. 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:34.000 We don't need the law anymore. 00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:37.439 We can have this more freedom, this more liberty. 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:45.519 But I would argue that these are false freedoms and false liberties when not tethered or anchored to the law of God. 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:51.839 And so the church in Ephesus is battling with some of the exact same things. 00:04:52.079 --> 00:05:11.040 If we look at verses three and four, he says, This is I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculation, rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. 00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:18.560 What Paul is admonishing Timothy to do is to remain at Ephesus to combat false teachers. 00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:20.959 And Paul makes this very unique claim. 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:23.040 He says, different doctrine. 00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:27.839 Don't allow them to, or don't permit them to teach a different doctrine. 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:32.079 Now, why is Paul able to make such a charge? 00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:44.399 Really, what Paul's saying, if we kind of boil this down, is that what he taught, the doctrine, the teaching that he brought to that church was sound and infallible. 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:51.199 It was something that was not to be tampered with or jeopardized, but this is God's word to you. 00:05:51.360 --> 00:06:08.079 Paul's able to make that claim because if you were here last week, we talked about Paul's office as an apostle, that the foundations of the church was built upon that of the both the office of apostle and prophet. 00:06:08.160 --> 00:06:19.439 And so Paul, acting in authority as the mouthpiece of God, has brought sound teaching and revelation to the church at Ephesus. 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:28.959 And he's telling Timothy, Timothy, do not permit any of these false teachers to teach a different doctrine. 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:33.759 And he goes on to kind of talk about some of these different doctrines that they're bringing. 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:36.319 Now he doesn't call anyone out in person. 00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:37.680 He doesn't call them out by name. 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:46.800 He extends mercy and grace in this letter, but he does say some of their characteristics are teaching about these myths and endless genealogies. 00:06:46.879 --> 00:07:00.079 You see, right around this time that this letter was written, there were already starting to circulate throughout the world, throughout that area of the church being established, these extra-biblical writings. 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:03.839 This is something that we love, the canon of scripture, right? 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:11.040 From the canon of scripture, if you don't know, is the 66 books collected inside of this one Bible. 00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:18.560 They're 66 unique and distinct books, but tell one seamless story of redemption. 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:21.920 And so what we have here is this called the canon. 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:23.279 And this is closed. 00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:25.839 We don't add to this, we don't take away from this. 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:28.240 This is God's revealed word to us. 00:07:28.399 --> 00:07:37.439 But even then, this took a time to see an appointed presentation of what books we would have and what books we wouldn't. 00:07:37.519 --> 00:07:55.040 In fact, Council of Nicaea in 325, we see them work to establish the canon because early, right after Christ's ascension back into heaven, there already started to have these writings and talks of these stories that were fabricated. 00:07:55.839 --> 00:07:56.879 These were myths. 00:07:57.040 --> 00:08:03.279 Some of them would be Jewish stories of the Old Testament with all this added information to them. 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:11.120 Some of them would just simply be completely embellished and fabricated stories with no basis or foundation of truth. 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:14.560 And so Paul's talking about these things. 00:08:14.720 --> 00:08:23.600 He's talking about these writings that are being circulated as presenting to be knowledge, presenting to be truth, but in fact they're myths. 00:08:25.519 --> 00:08:31.759 And so Paul's saying that this myth or this teaching of false doctrine has one end goal. 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:33.919 It promotes speculation. 00:08:34.480 --> 00:08:41.039 You see, a fruit of false teaching is actually speculation rather than true knowledge. 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:43.759 And we kind of get caught up in this today, right? 00:08:43.840 --> 00:08:48.480 We like things that go above and beyond the Bible. 00:08:48.720 --> 00:09:06.480 And we finally find ourselves, we we constantly find ourselves kind of separating ourselves from the anchor of God's word, and we pursue these other teachings and we pursue these myths, these uh the these fabricated stories of who God is or what God has revealed himself to be. 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:16.559 In fact, one of my uh a person that I know well about a relationship for a while, I'm watching him unfold on Facebook. 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:32.320 His removing himself from the anchor of this word and getting out into all kinds of dangerous areas of not just theology, but of practice of his life, the way that he's fathering his children, the way that he is being a husband to his wife. 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:41.919 He's leading them continuously into dangerous, sinful, deadly areas because he's pursuing something that's beyond this. 00:09:43.840 --> 00:09:51.039 And one of the fruits of what I see is that he has an enormous amount more questions than he ever has answers. 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:55.919 We have to understand that questioning in itself is not wrong. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:10:02.879 In fact, we we want to question as long as we're questioning to pursue truth and knowledge. 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:11.279 We also have to understand that this whole thing called the fall, the reason we have sin in our world and in our lives, started with a question. 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:15.120 But it wasn't a question to pursue knowledge and truth. 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:20.080 It was a question to spark doubt and to foster speculation. 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:24.960 The serpent in the garden looked at the woman and said, Did God say? 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:49.120 There's a lot of teachers in the church, there's a lot of teachers, authors, bloggers, whatever you get paid to do to sit behind a computer in today's culture, who are sparking questions not for the sake of pursuing true knowledge, but they're asking questions to foster speculation, which is driving people away from Jesus. 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:52.720 Paul says that we have this responsibility. 00:10:52.879 --> 00:11:00.320 They promote speculations and then he contrasts it with rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. 00:11:00.559 --> 00:11:05.679 You see, it's this what Paul's talking about, this stewardship is the stewardship of revelation. 00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:23.840 This word that we have is not ours, it's the Holy Spirit's given to us through the hands of men, but yet God is powerful enough, sovereign enough that he has held intact that which he has decided for us to know about him through this word. 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:28.000 And so we don't have the right or ability to alter this. 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:32.799 We don't have the freedom to build onto this something other. 00:11:33.279 --> 00:11:36.000 You see, we have a responsibility of stewardship. 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:37.360 And what are we stewarding? 00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:39.360 We're stewarding revelation. 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:50.000 We get truth from God, and we have a responsibility to be stewards of it. 00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:59.200 Verse 5, he says, the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:00.720 I love this about Paul. 00:12:00.879 --> 00:12:06.080 You see, he's talking about fighting false teachers in the church. 00:12:06.320 --> 00:12:12.480 And he says that the aim of our charge, the aim of this for you to combat false teaching is love. 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:18.559 Paul directly ties the teaching of sound doctrine to a loving act. 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:22.639 You see, we at Missio, we believe in in church discipline. 00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:26.960 We believe that the role of shepherds is to protect the flock. 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:34.639 And sometimes that means looking out for wolves so that we can protect the sheep in God's church. 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:41.360 And so we are the first line of defense for the congregation, the plurality of elders that's established here at the church. 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:54.000 But what we discover in the scriptures when we search through acts of church discipline or acts of protection of sheep, that it's always tied to this end purpose of restoration. 00:12:55.759 --> 00:13:06.960 Our aim is always love, with hope that the individual or individuals would be restored and reconciled back to the church. 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:11.600 Every aspect of discipline is love. 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:14.960 I disciplined my two oldest daughters this weekend. 00:13:15.039 --> 00:13:21.360 We have a new home, and in the back of our home, probably I don't know, half a football field away. 00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:22.639 What's that, 50 yards? 00:13:22.799 --> 00:13:26.879 Uh I was trying to, I was getting lost there in my sports analogies. 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:30.159 But uh about 50 yards away, we have a railroad track. 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:33.679 Now it's up like a 60-foot hill, and it's it's pretty hard to climb. 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:37.840 But we have a 10, 7, 4, and 2-year-old. 00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:41.840 And uh the seven-year-old's the spunky one who's always gonna be in trouble first. 00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:43.600 She's gonna be the one to take the risks. 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:50.399 Uh so anyway, we look out the back window, my wife does, and sees them uh starting to ascend this hill. 00:13:50.639 --> 00:13:54.720 And there's two little ones behind them, following them in every step. 00:13:54.879 --> 00:13:56.559 And so I bring them in. 00:13:56.799 --> 00:14:02.320 We talk about their responsibility, as they have little ones who are watching them, who want to do what they do. 00:14:02.480 --> 00:14:09.679 We talk about how it's hard to be the older brother, it's hard to, or older sister, it's hard to be the one who has to have this responsibility, set these tones. 00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:15.200 And so I gave them each a uh spanking, so uh in their discipline. 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:21.039 And my youngest daughter said, if we do it again, are you gonna spank me where it hurts more? 00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:26.240 And I said, Uh, well, let me tell you something really quickly. 00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:31.519 My ch my goal in spanking you is never to hurt you. 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:39.919 My goal in spanking you is in love to cause you to remember that which you're being disciplined for. 00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:47.519 And so we have to kind of remember even our own efforts, even our own strivings in disciplining. 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:48.960 Why do we discipline? 00:14:49.039 --> 00:14:50.480 Why do we promote discipline? 00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:53.840 It's not to cause hardship or hurt or harm. 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:56.480 We don't strike to mark or mar. 00:14:57.120 --> 00:15:02.720 We bring discipline with the hope of love and restoration. 00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:13.039 You see, Paul is talking about this motivation of this charge to confront false teachers with love. 00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:17.120 And this love that he talks about is derived from three things. 00:15:17.279 --> 00:15:25.440 He says that this love has a threefold community-driven understanding of its very source. 00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:29.440 The first one he says in verse 5 is a pure heart. 00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:42.559 A pure heart is understood as a heart given to us by God in our new birth, and it unites us to a family of faith that fears God together. 00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:51.440 You see, we are united in this reality of having a pure heart given to us by God that causes us to fear God. 00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:56.000 It brings us into a unified family through our new birth. 00:15:56.240 --> 00:16:01.519 The second foundation or this source of this love is a good conscience, he says. 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:11.919 Now, in biblical understanding of good conscience, what Paul's talking about is a strong awareness of one's actions as they affect their community. 00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:21.120 How does the way that you live, how does the way that you conduct yourself not just affect you, but affect the community as a whole? 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:25.360 There's a lot of us that don't have awareness of that factor. 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:33.679 When we make decisions or when we act out in certain ways, we're not always thinking of the way that it's going to impact other people. 00:16:34.240 --> 00:16:35.519 I deal with this a lot. 00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:36.799 I'm a people person. 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:40.720 I love to hang out, have fun, be places. 00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:41.679 And you know what? 00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:51.679 I constantly feel this remorse and regret is in the moment, the number one person who's always affected by my personality is my wife. 00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:56.879 I don't think about how she has to be at home with four children and put them to bed. 00:16:57.120 --> 00:17:02.399 I don't think about the way that it makes her evenings hard, the way that she has to labor over things. 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:03.759 I don't think about that. 00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:11.839 I const I constantly battle with having a good conscience or an awareness of how my actions affect my community. 00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:16.720 And then thirdly, he says the source of this love is a sincere faith. 00:17:17.039 --> 00:17:23.599 It's a uniting faith that is evidenced by the way that we live our lives. 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:32.400 Because faith, that which we proclaim that we say we believe, should have an impact on the way that we live our lives. 00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:48.559 Verse 6 through 7, Paul goes on to say that certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. 00:17:49.279 --> 00:17:51.519 What have these persons swerved from? 00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:59.200 Well, ultimately they've swerved away from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:06.160 And because they have swerved from the anchor of these three virtues, they have wandered into vanity. 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:14.079 We are so often puffed up by new teaching, and it constantly leads us into vanity. 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:16.720 And as a culture, we love new teaching. 00:18:16.880 --> 00:18:18.559 We talked about this at the beginning of the sermon. 00:18:18.720 --> 00:18:20.400 We love new teaching. 00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:29.519 And we want to find something that's above and beyond the scriptures, but it ultimately begins to lead us into wandering into vanity. 00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:35.599 Verse 8, he says, Now we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. 00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:37.680 Now, Paul says something crazy. 00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:41.839 If we're a New Testament church and we operate under grace, right? 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:47.920 We are saved not by our works, but we are saved by grace through faith in Christ. 00:18:48.079 --> 00:18:52.640 Paul says something that causes us to stop, pause, and begin wrestling. 00:18:52.799 --> 00:18:53.680 What does he say? 00:18:53.839 --> 00:18:55.759 He says the law is what? 00:18:57.359 --> 00:18:58.000 Good. 00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:01.279 He says the law is good. 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:05.920 Why do we tend to reject this premise? 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:14.799 I think there's two reasons, primarily, that we tend to reject the truth and reality that the law is good. 00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:22.240 Ultimately, we number one is ultimately we don't know how to view or approach the law in a New Testament time. 00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:26.559 What is the purpose of the law for us today and now? 00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:55.039 As a New Testament church who's out of the Old Testament covenant of works and in the New Testament covenant of grace, meaning that we don't find favor or right standing with God through our actions or obedience, but we have favor and right standing with God because of Christ's perfect obedience on our behalf, that He then freely gives to us after His death, burial, and resurrection. 00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:57.359 That's how we have right standing with God. 00:19:57.440 --> 00:20:02.400 And so we look at that and we say, well, we don't know how to even engage with the with the law any longer. 00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:05.359 And so our temptation is to reject it. 00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:10.160 We reject the law in any sorts of understanding that it is good. 00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:16.240 Secondly, we have a hyper grace perspective. 00:20:16.559 --> 00:20:29.440 And this is the same thing as the church or the culture, where the where the culture tends to want love, and I would argue is a very false love over truth. 00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:34.559 The church wants grace over obedience. 00:20:36.799 --> 00:20:42.799 Where the culture wants love over truth, the church wants grace over obedience. 00:20:42.960 --> 00:20:45.440 We don't want to be held accountable to our actions. 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:48.319 Well, isn't there grace? 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:57.119 And Paul in the letter of Romans says, yes, grace does abound, but grace does not abound that you may continue in sin. 00:20:59.359 --> 00:21:04.640 And so we have a hypergrace perspective where we don't understand. 00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:16.400 This is, I love, I love this theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, my son, his middle name is Dietrich, after this German theologian, and he has a premise that he calls costly grace. 00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:28.240 You see, when we approach the grace extended to us through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus as a means to be able to do whatever we want, and it will always be covered. 00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:31.920 He says that that is cheap grace. 00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:34.079 It's cheap. 00:21:34.319 --> 00:21:39.759 It has no weight or bearing anymore, it has no substance to it any longer. 00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:44.960 He says, but the true grace of Jesus is costly grace. 00:21:45.359 --> 00:21:51.359 It costs heaven everything, and it costs his disciples their very lives. 00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:54.079 It's a costly grace. 00:21:56.400 --> 00:22:03.839 So as we start to look at this truth and this premise that What Paul Paul says here in the letter that the law is actually good. 00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:15.200 I want to dive into three historic perspectives of the law in a New Testament time to help us understand how do we operate and approach the law today now. 00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:21.759 There's three historic views that the church has used in its understanding of the law. 00:22:21.920 --> 00:22:28.480 Number one is this it reveals our sin and causes us to long for grace. 00:22:28.799 --> 00:22:32.240 It reveals our sin and causes us to long for grace. 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:36.400 In fact, the law of God is held up as a mirror. 00:22:37.839 --> 00:22:40.559 And our reality is we we can't live up to that. 00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:42.079 That's why we needed Jesus. 00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:49.920 All you have to do is go through the Ten Commandments and you'll quickly find how me and you utterly fail at keeping those ten. 00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:52.160 Ten simple rules, right? 00:22:52.240 --> 00:22:59.119 And then I get all ticked off and start screaming at my kids when they can't follow like the 50 that I have laid out in my own home. 00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:01.839 I can't even keep 10 simple ones, right? 00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:11.279 See, the law is held up so that we can, as a mirror, look into it, see the way that we can't obey it, see the way that we can't fulfill it. 00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:17.440 And so it reveals our sin to us and it causes us to long for grace. 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:23.599 Number two, it establishes civil order to restrain evil. 00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:27.039 It establishes civil order to restrain evil. 00:23:27.119 --> 00:23:38.640 There's a lot in God's law that is very good, not just for those who call themselves Christians, but for all of mankind to f to function underneath of it. 00:23:39.599 --> 00:23:45.440 And number three, it teaches us God's will for our lives. 00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:50.000 One of the biggest phrases in the church is, I just want to know God's will for my life. 00:23:50.160 --> 00:23:51.599 I just want to know God's will for my life. 00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:52.960 What's God's will for my life? 00:23:53.200 --> 00:23:54.240 I want to know, I want to know. 00:23:54.319 --> 00:23:55.759 And you know what the scriptures say? 00:23:56.079 --> 00:23:57.359 Be obedient. 00:23:58.240 --> 00:24:00.960 God's will for your life is obedience. 00:24:01.119 --> 00:24:03.200 That's simple and clear cut. 00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:13.599 You're trying to chase, right, the the Jordan dream of what is God's will for my life to be the next Apostle Paul to be the next, whatever, whatever, to be, whoever this big dream. 00:24:13.759 --> 00:24:22.880 And you're struggling to live out the very plain and simple black and white will of God for your life is simply just obey. 00:24:26.160 --> 00:24:31.359 Anytime that I'm going to be counseling someone else where they're struggling to understand, well, what's God's will for my life? 00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:34.000 I'm going to say, are you obeying the scripture? 00:24:34.559 --> 00:24:36.720 Are you living according to the law? 00:24:37.039 --> 00:24:40.240 Do you actually do what He calls you to do? 00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:43.920 Because this is God's will for your life. 00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:51.440 We as the church, we ought to use the law lawfully, not to obtain merit or favor from God. 00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:52.960 I want to be clear about that. 00:24:53.119 --> 00:25:04.799 We don't be obedient because we desire to obtain merit or favor, but it's to operate in obedience out of a life that has fully received his love and grace. 00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:28.559 Verses 9 through 10, he says, understanding this that the law is not laid down for the just, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjures, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine. 00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:32.559 Look at the list of sins Paul lays out. 00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:37.200 Look at the actions of disobedience against God and against others. 00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:41.440 How is Paul coming up with this list? 00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:46.240 There must have been something in the church that caused him to lay out these things. 00:25:46.319 --> 00:25:55.680 There must have been some type of actions happening within the church at Ephesus, in the culture of the church that caused him to list these specific things, right? 00:25:55.839 --> 00:25:59.920 But but notice where where their source is found. 00:26:01.519 --> 00:26:07.200 Paul says that it's derived in the absence of sound doctrine. 00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:14.240 Sound doctrine's fruit is the obedience of God's law. 00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:18.160 Look at the list. 00:26:18.799 --> 00:26:34.720 He talks about murderers, he talks about sexually immoral, he talks about perjurers, he talks about liars and enslavers, and he says that all of these things are contrary to sound doctrine. 00:26:35.440 --> 00:26:45.279 Are we seeing where the preaching of sound doctrine tether itself to godliness? 00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:52.559 The preaching of sound doctrine tethers itself to godliness. 00:26:53.680 --> 00:26:57.759 Now, this thing called the law, it can be very confusing. 00:26:57.839 --> 00:27:06.160 And we've looked at these three historical views of the law in the New Testament church, but I want to look at the law itself because there's all kinds of things in here, right? 00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:08.559 There's things that you're stoned for. 00:27:08.720 --> 00:27:12.559 There's things that you just kind of have to sleep in a tent outside of the city for. 00:27:12.799 --> 00:27:17.039 There's things where you can't wear most of your clothing in here today. 00:27:17.119 --> 00:27:19.759 You can't wear because it's blended materials. 00:27:19.920 --> 00:27:24.960 There's all kinds, there's even some weird ones that I would blush if I read from the church. 00:27:25.039 --> 00:27:30.240 But praise God if we do verse by verse through Leviticus, you might hear me say some things. 00:27:32.640 --> 00:27:40.960 But there are three even understood and established purposes for God's law that has been derived from all time. 00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:45.920 The first one is this: that there is a moral law. 00:27:46.720 --> 00:27:48.720 There is a moral law. 00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:53.039 I love the way that the 1689 Baptist Confession puts it. 00:27:53.279 --> 00:27:55.839 It says, this for the moral law, not this point. 00:27:56.000 --> 00:27:57.200 Sorry, slide tech. 00:27:57.440 --> 00:27:59.920 You're wonderful, and I love everything you do. 00:28:02.480 --> 00:28:04.640 People only look back when things go wrong. 00:28:04.799 --> 00:28:06.960 They never get noticed unless they do a bad job. 00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:08.000 That's just how it works. 00:28:08.160 --> 00:28:10.480 But nonetheless, moral law. 00:28:10.880 --> 00:28:13.599 Here's how the 689 Baptist Confession states it. 00:28:13.680 --> 00:28:18.880 It's written in the heart of man to be a perfect rule of righteousness. 00:28:19.279 --> 00:28:25.599 And it was delivered by God upon Mount Sinai in Ten Commandments and written in two tables. 00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:32.319 The four first containing our duty towards God, and the other six our duty to man. 00:28:39.039 --> 00:28:45.359 It was this moral law that was established in the actual fabric of our creation. 00:28:46.240 --> 00:28:51.680 We know that much of what we are doing is wrong in our culture today. 00:28:51.839 --> 00:28:54.960 Now, Romans says that we suppress that truth. 00:28:55.680 --> 00:29:13.759 Even the knowledge of the way that we conduct our lives and the things that we're promoting and celebrating in our culture, very things that go against the very list that I just read, we know that they are wrong because the moral code of God is burned and etched into our very hearts. 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:19.680 Yet Romans says we suppress it, we squash it down, we reject it. 00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:30.319 And then it was given to us in a more concrete form in the Ten Commandments upon the two tablets. 00:29:30.640 --> 00:29:34.559 So there's a moral law, then there's a ceremonial law. 00:29:35.359 --> 00:29:45.519 The ceremonial law is the law that instructed in the worship of God and pointed to the person and work of Jesus the Messiah. 00:29:45.680 --> 00:29:49.759 You see, what we have to understand is God dictates how we will worship Him. 00:29:49.839 --> 00:29:57.359 We're going to talk about this a little bit next week, but what we understand is we don't get to create the ways in which we approach God. 00:29:57.519 --> 00:30:01.519 We don't get to establish the terms of our relationship with God. 00:30:01.680 --> 00:30:03.519 We don't have the freedom to do that. 00:30:03.839 --> 00:30:12.160 He says how he will be approached, he declares how he will be worshipped, he establishes how you will have a relationship with him. 00:30:12.720 --> 00:30:16.799 And so that doesn't go removed from us in a New Testament perspective. 00:30:16.960 --> 00:30:29.599 However, in the Old Testament, God laid out the ceremonial law which instructed the worship of himself, but ultimately pointed to the person and work of Jesus the Messiah. 00:30:29.759 --> 00:30:35.039 Here's an example of that would be the sacrificial law for the forgiveness of sin. 00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:43.759 God established this law where we would sacrifice goats and lambs so that our sins might be covered by their blood. 00:30:44.880 --> 00:30:48.319 But that wasn't for the fullness of time. 00:30:48.559 --> 00:31:00.880 That was a ceremonial law established for God's people, but pointed to a greater picture, which was Jesus the Messiah, the lamb who was slain once and for all. 00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:17.519 Hebrews 10:1 says this for since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. 00:31:17.759 --> 00:31:28.799 What the author of Hebrews is declaring is that this law of sacrifices, this ceremonial law that was established, what it was a shadow of the good thing to come. 00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:33.759 It was never meant to be fully satisfying to God. 00:31:35.039 --> 00:31:40.160 Christ is the sacrificial Lamb who fully satisfies God. 00:31:41.200 --> 00:31:44.880 He is the good thing that has come for us. 00:31:45.759 --> 00:31:49.599 And the third aspect of God's law is the judicial law. 00:31:50.960 --> 00:32:03.279 The judicial law, while moral in nature, was established for the former people and are no longer held as obligation to the New Testament church. 00:32:04.319 --> 00:32:16.400 While moral and nature were established for the former people and are no longer held as obligation to the New Testament church, here's how the 1689 Baptist Confession says, and this is long, so I put it up on the screen for you. 00:32:16.559 --> 00:32:44.000 It says this the moral lot doth forever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof, and that not only in regard of the matter contained in it, but also in respect of the authority of God, the Creator, who gave it, neither doth Christ in the gospel any way dissolve, but much strengthen this obligation. 00:32:44.160 --> 00:32:56.079 And so what he's talking about, uh what they're talking about in this Baptist confession is this summary of all three laws highlighting the necessity for the moral law. 00:32:56.240 --> 00:33:01.759 So we talked about the three aspects of the law the moral law, the ceremonial law, and the judicial law. 00:33:01.920 --> 00:33:23.599 There were two aspects of that, the ceremonial and judicial, which are no longer held as obligation to us, but the moral law is ever binding, is ever binding, and it says, which Christ in the gospel has not dissolved, but much strengthened its obligation. 00:33:23.839 --> 00:33:30.079 What we're gonna look at throughout the rest of this letter is a series of dozens and dozens of commands. 00:33:30.720 --> 00:33:40.480 Commands that dictate the way that we live life, commands that dictate uh the choices that we make, because these are obligated for us to be obedient to. 00:33:40.640 --> 00:33:51.759 You see, we don't earn right standing with God through our works, but we reflect the reality that we have right standing with God through our works. 00:33:53.200 --> 00:33:57.440 Our works is evidence of the faith that we say we truly have. 00:33:58.000 --> 00:34:06.720 Verse 11, he says, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. 00:34:07.440 --> 00:34:13.840 The good law is in accordance with the great gospel. 00:34:14.719 --> 00:34:18.639 The good law is in accordance with the great gospel. 00:34:18.880 --> 00:34:21.280 So here's our main idea for this morning. 00:34:23.280 --> 00:34:29.519 Sound doctrine taught and received in love produces godly obedience. 00:34:29.840 --> 00:34:37.199 Sound doctrine taught and received in love produces godly obedience. 00:34:37.679 --> 00:34:43.280 You see, sound doctrine and an obedient life are inseparable from one another. 00:34:43.840 --> 00:34:47.599 They form and shape and influence one another. 00:34:47.760 --> 00:34:54.559 How can we know how we ought to live unless we dive into the teaching of God's word? 00:34:57.119 --> 00:35:08.480 You see, Paul's charge was ultimately to protect sound doctrine so that the people of Ephesus could display a godly life because he loved them so much. 00:35:08.639 --> 00:35:19.039 And what we're gonna see throughout this whole letter is the fallout of allowing false teachers to come in and teach unsound, false doctrine. 00:35:19.280 --> 00:35:26.320 And so he corrects so that Ephesus could display a godly life. 00:35:28.320 --> 00:35:33.920 Does Paul's charge, does Paul's instructions happen to sound like someone else's command? 00:35:35.679 --> 00:35:39.440 Maybe you've heard this just a few weeks ago when we talked about the Great Commission. 00:35:39.679 --> 00:35:44.639 This very greatly mimics Jesus' command to his church. 00:35:44.880 --> 00:35:47.440 Because what is he saying is a part of the Great Commission? 00:35:47.760 --> 00:35:53.199 Teach them to obey all that I have commanded. 00:35:53.920 --> 00:35:55.920 That's the first part of the Great Commission. 00:35:56.159 --> 00:36:00.400 Teach them to obey all that I have commanded. 00:36:00.559 --> 00:36:16.159 So, sound doctrine, Jesus' word established as authoritative for our lives, to know and understand that, and then to have a teaching of obedience to it. 00:36:20.480 --> 00:36:27.840 False teaching is the absence of love, and sound doctrine facilitates righteous obedience. 00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:34.559 False teaching is the absence of love, and sound doctrine facilitates righteous obedience. 00:36:34.719 --> 00:36:35.039 C.F. 00:36:35.199 --> 00:36:44.559 Allison, a retired American Episcopal bishop and author, declares that heresy is the ultimate cruelty. 00:36:46.960 --> 00:36:49.519 Heresy is the ultimate cruelty. 00:36:49.679 --> 00:37:03.760 You see, we we we can look at good works, but ultimately, church, if we focus so much on good works, if we focus so much on serving the poor, anything that you can elevate is good, and the church does good things. 00:37:03.920 --> 00:37:07.360 We talked about our foster and adoption event happening on March 2nd. 00:37:07.440 --> 00:37:08.320 That's a good thing. 00:37:08.480 --> 00:37:10.639 We've served the homeless, that's a good thing. 00:37:10.800 --> 00:37:20.880 We've uh done all kinds of mercy, merciful acts, but good works in themselves are only so good. 00:37:21.840 --> 00:37:28.960 And in fact, we can start to look across the landscape of culture and throughout time and see other people of good works. 00:37:29.119 --> 00:37:35.440 And I would say this I would make I talk about this all the time when we talk about what is good works and what is a good person. 00:37:35.599 --> 00:37:38.880 And everyone wants to throw up Gandhi as an example. 00:37:39.199 --> 00:37:43.840 Gandhi, a person who strived to do good in everything that he did. 00:37:44.079 --> 00:37:53.119 In fact, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who I quoted earlier, was mentored under Gandhi until he got snapped by the Holy Spirit into right thinking. 00:37:53.280 --> 00:38:02.000 But nonetheless, when you look at the works of Gandhi, if we understand them in eternal perspective, they were wicked. 00:38:02.800 --> 00:38:06.079 Because his good works never pointed to the cross. 00:38:06.800 --> 00:38:09.039 They pointed people to themselves. 00:38:09.360 --> 00:38:17.920 They became their own savior, they became their own God, and his good works led thousands upon thousands to hell. 00:38:19.199 --> 00:38:22.559 You see, heresy is ultimate cruelty. 00:38:24.960 --> 00:38:35.840 For us to not love our neighbor enough that we teach sound doctrine, the words of life that have been given to us through the Holy Spirit, we don't love them. 00:38:38.639 --> 00:38:41.840 So for some of us, this is how we function inside this narrative. 00:38:42.000 --> 00:38:47.039 Some of us love, uh some of us want love without doctrine. 00:38:47.280 --> 00:38:48.960 Some of us want love without doctrine. 00:38:49.119 --> 00:38:55.039 We reject teaching and sound doctrine as if they're in contradiction to the love Jesus taught us to express. 00:38:55.760 --> 00:39:05.920 It's only by the deep knowledge of who God is and what he wills us to do that we'll be able to rightfully love him and actually love others. 00:39:06.159 --> 00:39:15.119 You see, we can't actually love others well unless we deep dive into the knowledge of how God has commanded us to love them. 00:39:17.039 --> 00:39:21.440 We can only truly love God if we truly know him more. 00:39:22.800 --> 00:39:23.199 Right? 00:39:23.599 --> 00:39:34.639 For me and my spouse, the longer that we're together, the longer that we know each other, the longer that we put forth effort to know one another, the greater love we have for one another. 00:39:34.880 --> 00:39:37.440 Why do we think that that would be different with God? 00:39:37.920 --> 00:39:52.079 Why do we think that we just have this magical encounter and we're just led by the Spirit and we don't need this word, and everything's wonderful and great, and we don't have to submit ourselves to sound teaching, but yet we think that we'll actually grow and foster a greater and deeper love for God? 00:39:53.039 --> 00:39:57.760 He says, Know me that you might love me even more. 00:39:59.599 --> 00:40:05.440 And in our pursuit of knowing Him, our love for others will strengthen and grow greater. 00:40:06.239 --> 00:40:12.000 So some of us want love without doctrine, while others of us want doctrine without love. 00:40:12.159 --> 00:40:19.440 If our pursuit of sound doctrine isn't rooted in a deep love of God and others, we will not be heard. 00:40:21.199 --> 00:40:22.239 We will not be heard. 00:40:22.400 --> 00:40:29.280 In fact, the letter of 1 Corinthians says that without love, we are just a banging gong or a clanging cymbal. 00:40:29.440 --> 00:40:33.519 We are loud noise that no one wants to listen to. 00:40:34.159 --> 00:40:36.079 And there's a lot of us that get that way, right? 00:40:36.159 --> 00:40:41.679 We're a reformed church, and we talk about this cage stage Calvinism, right? 00:40:41.760 --> 00:40:49.519 When somebody understands the doctrines of grace, when somebody gets enlightened to this thing of what we call Calvinism, right? 00:40:49.679 --> 00:40:54.239 They just became like this vigilant warrior to turn everybody into Calvinists. 00:40:54.480 --> 00:40:56.320 And they're just buttholes. 00:40:56.480 --> 00:40:58.800 Like that's the that's the best way to put it. 00:40:58.960 --> 00:41:08.960 And we call it cage stage because this young man or woman needs to be locked into a cage for like four years while they're just tempered way down so that anybody can actually listen to what they have to say. 00:41:09.119 --> 00:41:15.280 And then at the end of it, you realize it's not about making people Calvinists, it's about making people love Jesus. 00:41:15.679 --> 00:41:16.960 Like that's the goal. 00:41:17.119 --> 00:41:18.800 But we don't understand that. 00:41:19.199 --> 00:41:27.519 And so there's a lot of us that like even maybe you find you have those friends who just blast on social media all the time, and like no one takes them seriously. 00:41:27.840 --> 00:41:29.280 No one's looking at them. 00:41:29.440 --> 00:41:33.679 Like, I I I love looking at people who just blast dudes on on social media. 00:41:33.760 --> 00:41:38.880 I like, I just see the likes or like the shares or things, and I'm just like, it's so minimal most of the time. 00:41:38.960 --> 00:41:40.320 It's like no one's listening to you. 00:41:40.480 --> 00:41:43.199 You're just posting, you're just angry and like posting it yourself. 00:41:43.280 --> 00:41:45.440 It's like some kind of self-harm you're doing. 00:41:45.519 --> 00:41:46.960 I don't even understand it. 00:41:48.480 --> 00:41:55.519 There's so many of us that just want truth and we don't have any love, we don't have any relationship with people where they actually want to hear what we have to say. 00:41:56.800 --> 00:42:03.760 We have to remember, church, that all correction is good if it's for the sake of restoration. 00:42:05.280 --> 00:42:07.519 So, what's our gospel conviction this morning? 00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:19.440 It's this Jesus gives us himself in our failure, gives us his word for light and life, and gives us his spirit for power to obey. 00:42:20.159 --> 00:42:29.519 Jesus gives us himself in our failure, gives us his word for light and life, and gives us his spirit for power to obey. 00:42:30.239 --> 00:42:37.119 I don't want to bypass by any means the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. 00:42:37.440 --> 00:42:41.599