WEBVTT 00:00:01.760 --> 00:00:05.599 What I mentioned, church, we are in 1 Timothy this morning. 00:00:05.839 --> 00:00:07.679 We're not in 1 Corinthians. 00:00:07.919 --> 00:00:09.919 I didn't prepare for that sermon. 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:15.439 If you would read this passage, we'll read the first uh eleven verses together. 00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:24.719 Paul, an apostle of Jesus, of Christ Jesus, by command of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus our hope. 00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:35.119 To Timothy, my true child in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father in Christ Jesus our Lord. 00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:58.320 As I urged you, urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus, so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, not to hear, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than rather than stewardship from God, that is by faith. 00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:06.719 The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:22.799 Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussions, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. 00:01:23.680 --> 00:02:06.239 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, perjers, 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. 00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:12.000 Paul writes to Timothy to encourage him. 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:15.439 He's in some difficult situations. 00:02:16.319 --> 00:02:29.840 And maybe you have been in a situation similarly, either as a parent or at a job, or maybe at a church or somewhere else, where you or the group, they've lost focus. 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:32.240 They've just lost focus. 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:34.319 They call this a vision drift. 00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:36.719 You have a focus and you've kind of lost it. 00:02:36.800 --> 00:02:45.680 And you need someone to pull you back and remind you what we're doing and why we're doing this. 00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:50.479 This happens when someone asks what I call the why question. 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:59.759 There's been books written about this, but if you ask the why question and you ask it over and over and over again, it gives you perspective. 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:03.439 Why am I talking to my child this way? 00:03:03.759 --> 00:03:06.159 Why are we considering making this decision? 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:08.800 Why are you acting the way you are? 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:11.360 Why am I acting the way I am? 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:14.240 Ask the why question, the why question. 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:16.719 And it begins to bring clarity over time. 00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:18.319 Just you keep asking it. 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:19.599 Do you want to try? 00:03:20.479 --> 00:03:22.400 Why are you here this morning? 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:28.319 Are you here because you think I'm just a phenomenal preacher and you wanted to hear that? 00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:30.879 Why? 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:34.639 Are you here because someone told you you should be here? 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:36.400 Why do they say that? 00:03:36.960 --> 00:03:41.680 Are you here because you feel like this is just what good Christians should do? 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:42.639 Why? 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:48.879 Are you here because the Bible commands you to, to not forsake the gathering in Hebrews 10? 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:50.800 Well, why does it say that? 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:53.199 Why are you here? 00:03:55.280 --> 00:04:04.639 If you keep asking that question about why you're here this morning, you'll get down to the answer that's something like God loves you. 00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:14.879 And he's called his people to live in a particular way that brings him glory and helps them to grow in holiness. 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:21.040 A large part of that is the local church, gathering with the local church. 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:23.279 So it's good to ask the question, why? 00:04:23.439 --> 00:04:23.920 What's going on? 00:04:24.079 --> 00:04:24.800 Why are we doing this? 00:04:24.879 --> 00:04:31.439 And again, Paul writes to Timothy, because the church in Ephesus, they're struggling with this, their focus, the why. 00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:32.800 Why are we doing this? 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:36.800 Why can't we interpret the Old Testament the way we want to interpret it? 00:04:37.040 --> 00:04:40.959 Why is it that we need to follow Timothy and should trust his teaching? 00:04:41.199 --> 00:04:45.439 Why is it that we should follow God's design for the local church? 00:04:45.759 --> 00:04:57.920 And Paul writes to answer these things and to encourage him and to remind the church the big picture of why they exist, why there is a church in Ephesus and what they are to do about it. 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:07.439 This theme that we'll see throughout this book of 1 Timothy, Lord willing, as we go forward, is to protect the target. 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:09.759 Protect the target. 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:14.160 We're going to see this in verse 5, where he talks about what we're aiming for. 00:05:15.439 --> 00:05:20.079 This morning, as we look at these verses, we see that the church's aim is to love. 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:27.600 And love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:33.439 And in order to do that well, we must remember our aim. 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:38.000 And then we must remove our folly. 00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:40.720 Remember our aim and remove our folly. 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:44.079 Now we know that Timothy or Paul wrote a lot of the New Testament. 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:46.639 He wrote 13 epistles in the New Testament. 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:48.879 An epistle, it means letter. 00:05:49.120 --> 00:05:52.160 This letter was written in the mid-60s. 00:05:52.399 --> 00:05:54.319 It's not the 1960s. 00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:56.959 That's the original 60s, right? 00:05:57.279 --> 00:05:58.079 The OG. 00:05:59.040 --> 00:06:02.399 Acts ends with Paul being in prison in Rome. 00:06:02.639 --> 00:06:15.680 It's believed by most people that Paul was then released from prison, went on another missionary journey in which he would have written the letters of 1st and 2nd Timothy, around again the mid-60s, and then in A.D. 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:18.399 68 was executed by Nero. 00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:28.399 We know that Timothy was most likely a convert under Paul's ministry, when he was traveling around doing ministry in Ephesus on one of his missionary journeys. 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:35.279 Timothy was young when he joined Paul's band of missionaries and workers, late teens, early twenties. 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:41.040 And then Paul sends him off to pastor this church in Ephesus. 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:48.720 Now this letter, 1 Timothy, as well as 2 Timothy, and then Titus are called pastoral epistles. 00:06:49.360 --> 00:07:01.759 Not because Paul's being particularly pastoral, you're uniquely, he's pastoral in all of his letters, but because these three letters were written to pastors, pastors of local churches. 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:09.199 It's interesting because he's contending there, he's encouraging them to keep contending for the faith. 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:15.920 Verse 18 of chapter 1 says, to wage a good warfare, to keep up the fight, to keep going. 00:07:16.399 --> 00:07:20.240 Remember what you're doing, Paul writes, and why. 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:22.720 So that's what we are doing this morning. 00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:24.879 We're remembering our aim. 00:07:25.519 --> 00:07:29.920 Paul writes to Timothy, the first two verses are just packed with doctrine. 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:35.759 Paul lays out the authority that he has to be addressing Timothy, which is very common in Paul's letters. 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:38.959 He's like, I'm an apostle, I have apostolic authority, right? 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:42.639 This apostolic authority ended when the apostles died. 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:44.480 So there's no more apostles on the earth. 00:07:44.639 --> 00:07:47.120 If someone tells you that, they're wrong. 00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:56.079 Just so you know, apostolic authority has ended, but Paul's writing as an apostle, and he writes to Timothy, my true child in the faith. 00:07:57.040 --> 00:08:06.959 Now, Timothy, from what we can gather, what smarter people than I can gather, and I read them, what they say is that Timothy had a Greek father and a Jewish mother. 00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:12.560 Greek father, Jewish mother, so he wasn't like a kind of, he didn't really fit in anywhere. 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:13.759 He wasn't Greek. 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:19.360 So he had this Greek citizenship and all that kind of culture that came with that, and he wasn't fully Jewish. 00:08:19.519 --> 00:08:24.399 So he didn't have all the responsibility or the privileges that came with being Jewish. 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:32.240 And here Paul writing to what is still a young pastor saying, My true child of the faith. 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:35.600 He's reminding Timothy of who he is. 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:43.919 Something else that's unique about this introduction is in verse 2, he says, Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father. 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:49.120 In most of Paul's writings, he says, just uh grace and peace. 00:08:49.519 --> 00:08:53.039 And here in these pastoral epistles, he adds in mercy. 00:08:53.360 --> 00:08:53.840 Mercy. 00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:56.399 May the Lord be merciful to you. 00:08:56.639 --> 00:08:58.559 You need more mercy. 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:04.799 So Paul writes to remind Timothy who he is and then what he is to be doing. 00:09:04.960 --> 00:09:05.919 Look at verse 3. 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:28.399 I urge you when I was going to, as 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 or endless genealogies, which promotes promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:38.480 The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:42.960 See, the issue was that their focus had been lost. 00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:53.679 There had been people among the church, in the church, who began to be lost focused and began to be distracted by all these other things. 00:09:54.159 --> 00:09:59.200 These kind of hobby little things like myths and genealogies, and what about this thing? 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:01.840 And let's speculate about those things. 00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:05.200 They had taken their eye off of the target. 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:12.000 And here, Timothy, Paul's reminding Timothy: take focus, charge them. 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:19.200 Remember to instruct them, remind them, do not let them forget. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:24.320 Our aim, our aim, what we're to be about is love. 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:36.960 See, this their dabbling or their distractions in these doctrines, in myths, and genealogies, this speculation. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:45.360 Some people were writing how there was this legendary, there's some legendary writings that retell the Old Testament. 00:10:45.519 --> 00:10:55.600 And in that, they trace out these family lines from all these patriarchs and Jewish families throughout the centuries in the Old Covenant, and they trace them out. 00:10:56.159 --> 00:10:59.200 And here these brothers could be sitting around discussing. 00:10:59.279 --> 00:11:04.720 Well, I wonder if so-and-so is connected to so-and-so, and if this person is related to that person. 00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:08.480 What's it matter? 00:11:08.879 --> 00:11:10.639 You've missed the whole point. 00:11:10.799 --> 00:11:15.200 Does it matter who you're related to, or these genealogies, or this speculation? 00:11:15.759 --> 00:11:16.960 It doesn't matter. 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:22.559 What does matter is the stewardship from God that is by faith. 00:11:23.679 --> 00:11:26.080 Now, what is that stewardship? 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:30.559 Some people say that this Greek word can mean two different things. 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:35.600 It can mean just God's general administration, his management of the whole universe. 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:41.679 Or it could mean specifically God's plan of salvation for his people. 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:52.480 Given the context of this letter, I think Paul is referring to the gospel-oriented ministry that the church should be focused on. 00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:57.600 So we have this contrast of behavior. 00:11:58.159 --> 00:12:04.399 You have this speculation, and you have gospel-oriented living. 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:12.000 You have self-serving interests, making much of ourselves, the focuses on ourselves. 00:12:12.159 --> 00:12:13.440 What do you think about this person? 00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:14.639 What do you think about this person? 00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:15.600 How are they doing? 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:18.720 Man, they're not acting like a relative or a descendant of Abraham. 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:20.240 Maybe they are, maybe they're not. 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:34.559 And then over here, you you have just the doing of the gospel work, proclaiming Christ, loving people who are hurt, helping those who are lost, pointing them to Christ. 00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:37.519 So you begin to see this contrast. 00:12:40.320 --> 00:12:44.559 Spending time and resources on unimportant things. 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:54.399 Now, there's no doubt that if Timothy went to these brothers who were talking about all these things, these myths and genealogies, they would have said it's important. 00:12:54.480 --> 00:12:56.080 They would have said, no, this is important stuff. 00:12:56.240 --> 00:12:57.360 We've got to talk about this. 00:12:57.440 --> 00:12:59.440 Because what if this, and what if that, and what if that? 00:12:59.759 --> 00:13:03.279 And what Paul is saying, they are missing it all. 00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:16.080 When you begin to elevate things that are so far down here into first order issues, you begin to miss the mark badly. 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:29.519 I think the one thing that is all through the New Testament, you can hardly touch a passage or a chapter without getting into something that deals with false teachers. 00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:35.519 You know, Jimmy was just preaching last week in Colossians about false teachers and the week before that. 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:37.360 It's everywhere. 00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:40.399 And we have to be mindful of this. 00:13:41.519 --> 00:13:46.320 There is an element of a false teacher in every one of us. 00:13:47.279 --> 00:13:52.080 You have potential for being a false teacher. 00:13:53.039 --> 00:14:01.200 And if you think I'm wrong and you think you're right, and that couldn't happen, you're in very great danger of being a false teacher. 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:05.600 I was talking with Jimmy over about this this week, and he made this wonderful point. 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:10.480 He's like, you know, the thing about false teachers, they don't think they're false teachers. 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:13.600 No one who is a false teacher is like, you know what? 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:14.720 I'm a false teacher. 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:15.440 I'm false. 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:16.639 Let's just keep this thing going. 00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:19.919 Now, if they're working like a scheme, that makes sense. 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:24.639 But these brothers, people who are just earnest false teachers, are false teachers. 00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:26.320 But they don't know it. 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:36.159 And so what you need to realize, what I need to realize, is inside of all of us is the potential for being a false teacher. 00:14:36.559 --> 00:14:43.200 For wrongly dividing the word of God, for wrongly understanding and interpreting these things. 00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:49.360 So hopefully that weight sits on you in a good way. 00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:52.720 And you think, man, I need to be earnest about what I believe. 00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:55.519 And this is why we do theology as a church. 00:14:55.600 --> 00:14:59.039 It's why we work out our theology as Christians together. 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:02.559 No one is supposed to take the word of God and say, you know what? 00:15:02.720 --> 00:15:07.440 I think me and the Bible and my dear stand, we're gonna figure this out. 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:08.799 Because you're not. 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:10.240 You can't. 00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:13.519 It was never designed to be done that way. 00:15:14.320 --> 00:15:19.279 Theology is designed to be worked out in the local church. 00:15:19.519 --> 00:15:25.919 With brothers and sisters who love God's word, who love you, and can work this out together. 00:15:26.879 --> 00:15:36.000 When I speak about people and their salvation, and I talk about how people want to they want to kind of go through life on their own without the involvement of the local church. 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:38.000 It's the same thing with theology. 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:40.720 Do you really trust yourself that much? 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:53.360 Have you done such an amazing job with your life that you're just so confident that when it comes to the most important things in the universe to ever be or ever will be, that you can figure it out by yourself. 00:15:53.679 --> 00:15:55.200 Are you that confident? 00:15:56.159 --> 00:15:57.360 I'm not that confident. 00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:00.399 I just want to encourage you, you shouldn't be either. 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:05.200 So here these brothers are going off, they're drifting away from their focus. 00:16:06.399 --> 00:16:13.759 We likewise need to guard that we're not drifting away, encouraging one another in the things of the Lord. 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:21.279 And he begins to tell them stop thinking about all these things that don't matter and start thinking about the things that do matter. 00:16:21.600 --> 00:16:28.320 This gospel-oriented ministry, this stewardship that God has given. 00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:29.759 And what's required? 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:30.879 What's that take? 00:16:31.039 --> 00:16:45.440 What's required for gospel-centered, gospel-oriented ministry, that what we do as we gather as a church, as we scatter, how we interact with people, well, it requires that love that issues from a pure heart. 00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:49.840 A good conscience and a sincere faith. 00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:57.360 This idea of a pure heart and love that issues, that comes forth, that comes from a pure heart. 00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:05.200 That requires us removing out of our life idolatry and idolatrous things. 00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:07.839 Idolatry is the worship of other things. 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:13.519 And you might think to yourself, I'm not worshiping any uh ornament in my house. 00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:17.680 I don't bow down to this statue, I don't worship an idol. 00:17:17.920 --> 00:17:22.799 And I just want to encourage you and remind you, if you don't know, to teach you this. 00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:26.079 You were made to worship. 00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:37.359 Before you were made to do anything else, to work hard, to give yourself to something, to love people around you, to gather with the church. 00:17:37.519 --> 00:17:42.319 Before you were made to do anything else, you were made to worship. 00:17:42.640 --> 00:17:45.359 God has made you to worship. 00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:47.039 It's your default mode. 00:17:47.200 --> 00:17:48.559 You can't turn it off. 00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:51.119 You can't unengage that element. 00:17:51.759 --> 00:17:53.839 You will worship. 00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:55.440 You will worship. 00:17:55.759 --> 00:17:58.640 So be mindful of what you're worshiping. 00:17:59.599 --> 00:18:01.680 Be mindful of these things. 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:05.119 Our heart will worship something. 00:18:05.359 --> 00:18:08.160 If it's not God, it will be something else. 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:12.640 And the other thing will kind of be a blend of you and what you can get from it. 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:21.359 Success, money, people's praise, silence, peace and quiet, being left alone. 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:33.359 All the things, your children, your grandchildren, your dreams, the next high or the next kind of sugar, or the next TV show, the next football game. 00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:35.359 You're going to worship something. 00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:37.839 So be mindful of that. 00:18:38.079 --> 00:18:46.960 So to have a pure heart, in order to have this kind of gospel-oriented love, you must remove idolatry from your heart. 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:50.400 I'm not saying you can never sin again, because that's impossible. 00:18:50.480 --> 00:18:51.680 You're going to sin. 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:57.039 But as Christians, we're constantly working to remove idols. 00:18:57.440 --> 00:19:02.880 You know, you know, you deal with it and you set it down, and then tomorrow you wake up and guess who's just knocking? 00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:04.559 Like, hey, come worship me. 00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:11.440 Come, give me your attention, your affection, find your satisfaction in me, find your purpose and meaning in me. 00:19:11.839 --> 00:19:15.599 And you have to die to sin again, put it to death. 00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:20.079 So pure heart requires the removal of idolatry. 00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:24.720 We have to have a good conscience, as the passage says. 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:29.359 Which I think requires the removal of inconsistent living. 00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:37.039 Now I'm saying these phrases as if they're absolutes, like you can't ever worship, or you can never sin again, and you can't do anything inconsistent again. 00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:38.240 That's not what I'm saying. 00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:45.920 But you know that the pattern, the rhythm, the regular way you live your life is the removal of inconsistent living. 00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:48.400 God has given us a conscience. 00:19:48.559 --> 00:19:51.440 He's given you a conscience and me a conscience. 00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:56.960 And when the Lord saves us, he redeems us and our conscience. 00:19:57.200 --> 00:20:07.440 And if the Holy Spirit's working in us, we want to give good leeway, good kind of room for our conscience, informed by Scripture, led by the Holy Spirit, to operate. 00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:16.160 That's why we shouldn't go around binding people's consciences over things that we don't think are not biblical. 00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:23.039 You might have a conviction about something, and you think, man, I personally think drinking alcohol is wrong. 00:20:23.279 --> 00:20:27.519 If that's your conviction, you're welcome to hold to that conviction, that's fine. 00:20:27.759 --> 00:20:41.839 But the moment you take a conviction like that and you begin to impose it on everyone else when it's not in Scripture, although in certain situations it might be prudent, it might be wise, it might be good for the person to abstain from those things. 00:20:42.079 --> 00:20:48.799 But as soon as you lay it down as thus saith the Lord, you're binding consciences. 00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:52.960 And so we must be mindful of those things as Christians. 00:20:53.200 --> 00:21:02.799 We walk that fine line of saying, this is what God said, we must submit to it, and also saying, I think there's room there for the conscience to operate. 00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:07.440 But to have a good conscience, we must remove inconsistent living. 00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:14.400 I don't know about you guys, but consistency is something that I am not phenomenal at. 00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:18.079 Just not really great at being always consistent. 00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:28.160 But when I am inconsistent, when you're inconsistent and you have the Holy Spirit, he reminds us of these things that we're being inconsistent. 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:38.000 That Christ has called us to live a certain way, and we know how we're to live, and so our conscience, in our conscience, we should be obedient to those things. 00:21:38.720 --> 00:21:44.319 It requires us to stop saying one thing and doing another. 00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:57.200 Not that that ever happens in my house. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:04.319 The reality is we have moments where the flesh reigns for a moment, right? 00:22:05.279 --> 00:22:10.799 We're talking here is about you choosing to live contrary to Scripture. 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:15.759 Proclaiming to be a Christian, but yet indulging in sin willfully. 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:24.720 Proclaiming to be a follower of Christ, yet at the same time choosing to neglect your spiritual walk with the Lord. 00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:29.680 Choosing to not open the word and not pray as you should. 00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:35.599 See, to have a good conscience, we must be consistent in our living. 00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:41.039 To love as Christ has called us to love, we must be consistent in our living. 00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:44.559 And then we must be sincere in our faith. 00:22:45.039 --> 00:22:46.720 Have a sincere faith. 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:52.480 And I think this is an area where our culture just struggles immensely with sincerity. 00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:57.839 Just being really honest with removing false motives. 00:22:58.640 --> 00:23:04.480 See, to be in sincere, to be sincere in something, you must remove false motives. 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:07.519 Doing things for the wrong reason. 00:23:07.759 --> 00:23:10.640 Again, I asked the question: why did you come this morning? 00:23:10.720 --> 00:23:11.839 Why are you here? 00:23:12.319 --> 00:23:20.400 Are you here because you think, well, I've got to do it for this person or for that person, or my mom told me I had to, or, you know, are those motives false? 00:23:21.599 --> 00:23:29.519 Are you here because you love God and you want to obey God and you want to love others as God has commanded you to love them? 00:23:31.279 --> 00:23:37.680 Are you proclaiming to be a Christian because there's some kind of a reason that it makes you just feel better? 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:42.559 It keeps your relationship with someone else in your life kind of easier. 00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:49.279 There's a removal of the false motive to have a sincere faith. 00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:50.960 We're genuine. 00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:52.000 We're honest. 00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:55.440 When we say we're Christians, we mean it. 00:23:56.640 --> 00:23:58.640 So this is the aim. 00:23:59.519 --> 00:24:00.960 We must remember. 00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:04.079 This aim that Christ has called us to. 00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:13.759 That we are to remember that in order to be a Christian, it's not about just doing better. 00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:21.599 It's not about going to church or going to the right church or being becoming a member and going through hoops and all those things. 00:24:22.240 --> 00:24:41.839 To be a Christian is to be redeemed by God from a life of sin and rebellion, having your sin and put on Jesus Christ, Him paying the price for that on the cross through his perfect life and then his sufficient death and his resurrection. 00:24:42.720 --> 00:24:47.839 That's what it means to be a Christian, putting your faith and your trust in him for those things. 00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:52.559 And as he does this work in your life, it should change your desires. 00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:54.319 It should change what you long for. 00:24:54.480 --> 00:24:58.559 It should change what you're oriented to, how you spend your money and your time. 00:24:59.200 --> 00:25:01.119 It should change how you view people. 00:25:02.799 --> 00:25:04.720 All these things change. 00:25:05.839 --> 00:25:08.960 What was kind of selfish ambition. 00:25:10.079 --> 00:25:11.440 We want to talk about myths. 00:25:11.599 --> 00:25:13.200 We want to talk about genealogies. 00:25:13.359 --> 00:25:14.960 We want to just speculate. 00:25:15.119 --> 00:25:24.400 That's kind of taking things and making it about us and what we think and how we are going to interact and all these different things instead of saying, no, we're going to trust God for salvation. 00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:29.759 This is his good work that he's doing, and we're trusting it in him for these things. 00:25:30.559 --> 00:25:36.640 So quickly, the false teaching just starts with simple idolatry. 00:25:38.799 --> 00:25:45.359 It just starts with little thoughts, or I should say, less thoughts about how good God is. 00:25:45.839 --> 00:25:53.599 And then it transforms and it changes into maybe, maybe the Bible should say this instead. 00:25:53.920 --> 00:25:58.640 Maybe what the authors actually meant was this in the scriptures. 00:25:59.680 --> 00:26:06.799 We start going against 2,000 years of church history and against what the local church believes. 00:26:07.279 --> 00:26:14.480 So in order to remember our aim, we must do these things, have a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. 00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:16.559 And then we are to remove our folly. 00:26:16.720 --> 00:26:18.799 Look with me at verse 6. 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:34.319 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. 00:26:35.839 --> 00:26:39.680 Using the law, they begin to puff one another up. 00:26:40.160 --> 00:26:43.759 They wander away, having vain discussions. 00:26:45.200 --> 00:26:54.799 And I'm sure all of us know people who desire to be teachers without either understanding what they're saying or why they're saying it. 00:26:54.960 --> 00:26:58.000 They begin to desire to be teachers and to be confident in what they're saying. 00:26:58.160 --> 00:27:00.079 This is confident in it. 00:27:00.160 --> 00:27:02.400 And they don't even know what they're talking about. 00:27:03.279 --> 00:27:11.200 I just want to say, as a pastor, as a teacher, there's a warning here for me and for elders and for teachers. 00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:14.079 Know what you're talking about. 00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:18.640 Now there's there should be a little bell that goes off. 00:27:18.720 --> 00:27:21.839 It's like, I'm saying I need to know what I'm talking about. 00:27:22.079 --> 00:27:26.559 What I'm talking about is the creator of the universe, the God who created all things. 00:27:26.799 --> 00:27:30.079 How in the world am I to know him? 00:27:31.759 --> 00:27:33.119 It's through his word. 00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:38.960 See, God has given us his revelation of who he is and what he's doing. 00:27:39.759 --> 00:27:42.559 So we as his people look to his word. 00:27:42.880 --> 00:27:44.880 We're not making speculations. 00:27:45.519 --> 00:27:49.759 We're having vain discussions about maybe, maybe just who is God. 00:27:50.079 --> 00:27:53.920 Let's just sit around in a circle and think about it and come up with some thoughts. 00:27:54.240 --> 00:27:56.319 He's revealed these things. 00:27:56.880 --> 00:28:04.640 So as teachers, we need to be people who trust God's word, who lean on God's word. 00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:13.599 So this use of the law, this vain discussion, they don't even know what they're talking about. 00:28:14.160 --> 00:28:15.759 Now look at verse 8. 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:20.880 Now we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. 00:28:21.200 --> 00:28:26.559 Understanding this that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient. 00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:28.160 He goes on for the ungodly. 00:28:28.240 --> 00:28:30.400 He begins to list all these sins. 00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:32.799 Many are in the Ten Commandments. 00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:36.480 And then he wraps it all up, whatever is contrary to sound doctrine. 00:28:36.720 --> 00:28:37.920 And I love how Paul does that. 00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:41.200 He'll give lists and different letters of sins. 00:28:41.279 --> 00:28:47.839 And then he just gives this overarching blanket, like, and anything else that you might be thinking, it's sin if it's against God. 00:28:48.079 --> 00:28:51.200 Just like, just in case you think you can weasel your way out. 00:28:51.279 --> 00:28:53.279 Well, he didn't list my sin. 00:28:53.440 --> 00:28:55.680 He didn't list the thing I'm thinking of. 00:28:55.839 --> 00:29:02.319 It's like, listen, if it's contrary to sound doctrine, it's unlawful. 00:29:02.559 --> 00:29:03.519 It's wicked. 00:29:03.680 --> 00:29:04.960 It's unholy. 00:29:05.839 --> 00:29:08.160 So you have this contrast. 00:29:09.359 --> 00:29:11.839 The law is used for good. 00:29:13.599 --> 00:29:22.640 Now there's some debate among scholars as to what is the full or the complete or proper use of the law in the new covenant, in the new church age. 00:29:22.880 --> 00:29:26.400 How are we supposed to handle the law? 00:29:27.279 --> 00:29:29.519 We know for one thing, we know one thing for sure. 00:29:29.680 --> 00:29:35.920 It reveals how we're to relate to God and how we are to live. 00:29:36.640 --> 00:29:42.079 It reveals this nature, God's nature, how we're to relate to Him and how we are to live. 00:29:42.400 --> 00:29:47.440 Listen to this out of Matthew 22, 37 through 40. 00:29:50.319 --> 00:29:51.599 Jesus is speaking here. 00:29:51.759 --> 00:30:00.000 He said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 00:30:00.640 --> 00:30:03.359 This is the great and first commandment. 00:30:03.599 --> 00:30:07.519 And the second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself. 00:30:07.839 --> 00:30:12.720 On these two commandments depends all the law and the prophets. 00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:24.400 So if we are seeking to remove folly from our lives so that we don't become false teachers, so that we don't miss the mark. 00:30:24.559 --> 00:30:30.480 We must be honest with our own lives in comparison to God's law. 00:30:32.079 --> 00:30:37.839 Now we know as redeemed people, our righteousness is in Jesus Christ. 00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:40.559 It's in Him we trust, it's in Him we rest. 00:30:40.799 --> 00:30:42.960 He has paid the price for us. 00:30:44.240 --> 00:30:47.759 But we have the law before us to judge us. 00:30:47.920 --> 00:30:48.960 Are we doing this? 00:30:49.119 --> 00:30:50.720 How are we doing at this? 00:30:51.279 --> 00:30:58.079 Are we loving the Lord with all our heart, with all of our soul, and with all our mind? 00:31:00.400 --> 00:31:04.720 Are we even trying to love the Lord with any of those things? 00:31:05.039 --> 00:31:09.039 Or are we loving our neighbor as ourselves? 00:31:09.599 --> 00:31:15.039 Are we seeking to be obedient to what God has called us to do? 00:31:16.319 --> 00:31:26.400 See, if we're not careful, the same mistake that the Christians or the believers and Ephesus were making is the same mistake that we could be making. 00:31:27.440 --> 00:31:29.759 We start to take God's law. 00:31:30.079 --> 00:31:34.960 And we think that this can be a tool for us to assess other people. 00:31:35.599 --> 00:31:47.119 And for us to just kind of begin to lay out and map out our own ideas of salvation before or without thinking about our own lives. 00:31:48.400 --> 00:31:53.680 Paul says in Romans 7 that it's from the law that he knows he's a sinner. 00:31:54.000 --> 00:31:59.920 It's because the law has been revealed that he knows that he needs a savior. 00:32:01.519 --> 00:32:15.440 So the right use of the law isn't just kind of to speculate, to conjure up thoughts, kind of pull it out, pull it out, dust it off from time to time, and have some discussions about it. 00:32:15.599 --> 00:32:17.839 And what do you guys think about this, the Tower of Babel? 00:32:18.079 --> 00:32:19.680 And what do you think about Jonah and the fish? 00:32:19.759 --> 00:32:21.279 And what do you think about the Red Sea? 00:32:21.359 --> 00:32:24.160 And well, those things don't really matter, but we can have discussions about them. 00:32:24.559 --> 00:32:26.960 There's a parable there we can pull from. 00:32:27.680 --> 00:32:30.160 It's the wrong use of the law. 00:32:30.319 --> 00:32:32.160 It's the wrong use of God's word. 00:32:32.559 --> 00:32:37.759 The right use is saying God has revealed himself to his people. 00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:40.480 He's revealed himself to creation. 00:32:40.799 --> 00:32:43.839 What does that mean about who God is? 00:32:44.079 --> 00:32:47.200 And then how do we live in light of that? 00:32:47.440 --> 00:32:50.160 How do we follow after him? 00:32:51.839 --> 00:32:53.279 That's the right use. 00:32:54.000 --> 00:32:57.920 Well, it says that God has saved us through his work on the cross. 00:32:58.079 --> 00:32:58.400 Okay. 00:32:58.640 --> 00:33:00.240 Are we living like that? 00:33:00.559 --> 00:33:02.480 Do we desire the things of God? 00:33:02.720 --> 00:33:04.720 Are we following after him? 00:33:05.839 --> 00:33:16.400 We must examine ourselves and remove the folly, the misguided thoughts that we have about God and his word. 00:33:17.839 --> 00:33:23.440 When we lose our aim, we can easily focus on other things. 00:33:23.599 --> 00:33:28.480 And our focus gets swept into things that are just not as significant. 00:33:28.880 --> 00:33:33.599 One, because there's nothing as significant for our focus to go to. 00:33:34.240 --> 00:33:36.960 But I just want to push on you. 00:33:37.440 --> 00:33:41.440 Where do you find your focus going when it leaves God? 00:33:41.759 --> 00:33:43.200 When it's not on the Lord. 00:33:43.279 --> 00:33:44.559 Where do you see it going? 00:33:44.960 --> 00:33:51.759 Do you see it going to like selfish things, worldly things, sinful things? 00:33:53.440 --> 00:34:06.880 I want to submit to you this morning that God cares more about your evangelism, your own personal evangelism, how you're reaching lost people around you than he does about who you're going to vote for. 00:34:07.119 --> 00:34:10.239 Whether it's the local or the national level. 00:34:13.199 --> 00:34:17.599 Now he cares who you're going to vote, and I'd encourage you to vote and thinking well about those things. 00:34:20.639 --> 00:34:25.280 He cares about how you're obeying and following after him. 00:34:26.400 --> 00:34:34.960 He cares more about your prayer life than your GPA or your kids' schooling or their IQ or their how they're just kind of doing in society. 00:34:35.119 --> 00:34:38.719 He cares more about your prayer life than you think he does. 00:34:39.039 --> 00:34:49.039 Not because he's like, be regimented and do what I'm telling you to do, but rather because he loves you and he wants you to walk in his ways. 00:34:52.000 --> 00:34:57.519 Again, Paul is encouraging Timothy to remember the target. 00:34:57.679 --> 00:35:00.000 Remember the aim, and it is love. 00:35:00.480 --> 00:35:04.000 And if we're going to be a people of love, we must be sincere. 00:35:04.559 --> 00:35:12.320 If you have a pure faith, a good conscience, a sincere faith, a good conscience, and a pure heart. 00:35:12.480 --> 00:35:20.320 That is how we are to embody or to walk out our faith, to show the love that God has given for us. 00:35:22.000 --> 00:35:25.119 Church, as we close, I want you to just think. 00:35:26.159 --> 00:35:29.119