E1 - The Pastoral Epistles: Biblical Ministers & Biblical Ministry - Introduction

You're listening to Key Life Fellowships Pulpit ministry

podcast. We thank you for tuning in as we

learn from God's Word together. If you would like more

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Amen. Thank you for the reminder of

the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you thankful for the Lord,

His sacrifice, His death, his burial in His resurrection this

morning? If you have your Bibles, if you

would go ahead and turn to First Timothy chapter 1 and you can go

1 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

ahead and put you a bookmark there in First Timothy because

we were going to be here for quite some time.

Today we will embark on a new journey through the Word of God.

And this journey that we are going to embark on is a journey

in looking at what has been dubbed or titled Paul's Pastoral

Epistles or the shorter abbreviated version of that,

simply just the Pastoral Epistles.

Any of these letters, what the apostle Paul is doing, those

letters would be First Timothy, Titus, and then Second Timothy.

What he's doing is he's giving instructions to the pastors of

those churches. We know today we'll be looking.

At A man named Timothy. When we get to Titus, we'll be

looking at a man named Titus, both of them real men, receiving

a message from a real man, the Apostle Paul.

So many times when we talk about the Bible, we talk as if this

this was just some kind of folklore or some kind of fairy

tale that these people really didn't exist.

I don't want us to take that viewpoint.

I don't want us to even gravitate toward that viewpoint

because when we do, we miss the reality of what's actually going

on here. And so I want to give you a

little bit of backdrop as we begin these pastoral epistles

and namely this first one, First Timothy, as we'll be looking at

that today in the 1st 11 verses. Let me give you a little

backdrop so that you understand. Most of you are familiar with

the Apostle Paul. He, of course, was raised up by

Christ himself there at his Damascus Rd. experience where he

came to know Christ. And we know that he was

commissioned as the apostle to the Gentiles.

Now Paul has done what we all ought to be doing.

He has made disciples as the Lord has commanded.

Us to do and in making disciples, he's trained the next

generation of believers. Not only has he made disciples,

he's also mentoring, and he's making young pastors.

And so this first example that we're going to see as we begin

the pastoral Epistles is a man by the name of Timothy.

I want to give you a little history lesson so that you get

who he is, because often we open the book and say, OK, a guy

named Timothy. Great.

I would encourage you to go back in scripture.

I'm going to give you some references.

Just trace the steps and and just see his life and how this

was all developed. Because in that you see the

reality and this was a real guy who really came to faith in

Christ, who God had a sovereign plan for his life and he

executes that plan in obedience as the apostle Paul is collabing

alongside of him and encouraging him as an apostle to the church.

We look at Timothy's life and we look at his early life.

And this was before AD 47, because we believe that

somewhere around AD 47 he would have encountered the apostle

Paul. We know this from scripture that

Timothy was raised in a place called Lystra, which is in

modern day Turkey. You can see this in Acts chapter

Acts 16 · chapter mention

16 if you want to go back and reference that.

And we see there in Lystra, he, he, he was a part of a family,

his mother named Eunice. Eunice being a Jewish believer,

this woman who was raised probably a Jew who then

converted to Christianity, she was there and we know that she

taught him scripture from his youth that when he was an early.

Child, he was already learning the Old Testament scriptures.

We also see that another influence in his life was his

grandmother Lois, probably doing the same thing.

We also find out about Timothy from the accounts in Acts, that

he had a father there in Lystra as well, who was an unbelieving

Greek. And so interesting enough, this

pastor that we're going to see of this church called Ephesus.

He was raised in a home where his dad was not even a believer

in Christ at all. However, God used his mother

Eunice and his grandmother Lois, as Paul testifies to and will

testify to when we get to second Timothy to raise him up knowing

the word of God. And so Timothy being taught the

scriptures from his childhood by his mother and his grandmother.

Many believe that Timothy became a follower of Christ during

Paul's first missionary journey where he would have found

himself ministering the gospel in Lystra.

Timothy being a very young man there, possibly hearing the

truth of the gospel and then following the Lord Jesus Christ.

That was again in 47 to 49 AD during Paul's first missionary

journey. He would have went to Lystra

there in Acts 14. You can go back and you can read

that account verses 6 through 23 if you want to document that in

your mind. Again, Timothy likely personally

met Paul, then likely personally heard the gospel from Paul and

actually saw Paul being persecuted and even healed by

God there while he was in Lystra.

So a very interesting encounter in the early life of this man

called Timothy. And then we know this in 8049 to

52 during what we know as Paul's second missionary journey,

Timothy joins Paul on this journey.

So if you will just picture Timothy coming to faith in

Christ as a young. Man.

And then there in Lystra. He sees the Apostle Paul.

He hears the gospel. He sees the Lord working in the

life of the apostle Paul. And then on Paul's second

missionary journey just a few years later, this young man is

now going with Paul. Paul taking him under his wing,

seeing that he's useful for gospel ministry, and he's taking

him out on his second missionary journey.

Paul then in that journey goes out and Timothy with him.

They travel all across to the known world of the day, Regia,

Galatia, Troas, Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens,

Corinth, all those places we see documented in Acts chapter 16,

Acts 16:16

verse 16 through verse chapter 16, excuse me, to chapter 18

where we see Paul and Timothy working together on that second

missionary journey. It was interesting when Paul

before that journey began, he went back to Lystra and he heard

about Timothy and Scripture says that he heard that Timothy had

an excellent reputation. You see that in Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

And I find it amazing that Paul heard about his excellent

reputation. And Paul being the man of God

that he was, I'm sure to thought to himself, that's the kind of

guy I want on my team. A guy who lives it, a guy who

doesn't just talk it, but he has a reputation in the community

and in his world where he lives as a person of true faith.

And so again, Paul taking Timothy under his arm and

bringing him on that second missionary journey, That

wouldn't be the extent of Timothy's mission work, though.

We know that Timothy was actually sent out on mission in

50 to 52 AD Somewhere along those lines, Paul sends Timothy

to Thessalonica and he sends him to Thessalonica for a purpose,

and that was to, as the Word of God declares, to strengthen the

believers there in Thessalonica. First Thessalonians chapter 3

1 Thessalonians 3 · chapter mention

documents that, and then Timothy brings a good report back to

Paul about the fact that the Thessalonians were doing what it

is that Paul had left them there to do as far as spreading the

gospel and teaching the truth concerning Jesus Christ.

So Timothy going out on mission for himself.

Then we also see this, that he's reunited with Paul again.

We see him in Corinth, 8051 to 52, Timothy's with Paul, and 1st

and 2nd Thessalonians are written.

We see that Timothy is with Paul again on Paul's third missionary

journey and 53 to 57 AD. And Timothy travels with Paul

again to Ephesus, Ephesus, Macedonia, Akaya.

We see all that in Acts chapter 19, chapter 20.

Acts 19 · chapter mention

So I want you to understand this is a real guy who was doing real

gospel work with a real apostle. He's also there with Paul at his

side during many of the letters that he's written.

Now, I hope that you're thankful for the apostle Paul and how God

used him to write the New Testament because there wouldn't

be much to it were not for the apostle Paul.

Pretty much the the last half of the book of Acts would be

obsolete and the rest of the New Testament, save the things that

Peter and John wrote, we wouldn't have those things.

And what's interesting is Timothy was right there with

Paul, as Paul would have written many of his letters, those

letters to the churches. He was there zero to second

Corinthian letter, Colossians, Romans, Philippians.

We see Paul and his associate Timothy then during Paul's years

under house arrest there in Rome, Timothy right there by his

side, assisting him, taking care of him, ministering to his

brother in Christ. In fact, Paul describes him to

the Philippians as being a person who I have no one like he

says, I have no one like him. There's there's no one who I've

seen in all these years of ministry who, who emulates

Christ as Timothy does. He, he, he is striving to be a

good minister of the gospel. And again, that shows they're

deep in their personal bond that they have in Christ, to which we

will talk much about in just a moment.

Then after Paul's first Roman imprisonment in 62 to 66 AD,

Paul and Timothy then travel again.

Tradition says that they went to Macedonia, Ephesus, and then

other regions. And where we pick up in our

letter today, Paul is going to leave Timothy in Ephesus on the

3rd missionary journey. He leaves them leaves him there

in Ephesus and he leaves them there to take on the role as the

Bishop or the pastor there in Ephesus.

We find ourselves opening this letter today.

First Timothy verse one and it says this.

It says Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the command of

God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope to Timothy, my

true son in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the

Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Verse 3 says, as I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay

there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach

false doctrines any longer, nor to devote themselves to myths

and endless genealogies. These promote controversies

rather than God's work, which is by faith.

Verse 5 He says the goal of this command is love, which comes

from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless

talk. They want to be teachers of the

law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what

they so confidently affirm. We know that the law is good.

One uses it properly. We also know that the that law

is made not for the righteous, but for the law Breakers and

rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and the irreligious,

for those who killed their fathers or mothers, for

murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and

liars and perjures, and for whatever else is contrary to the

sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious gospel of the

blessed God which he entrusted to me.

Let's pray together. Father, in the name of Jesus, we

come to you, thanking you for your word.

Lord, I pray as we open up this letter of First Timothy, Lord,

as we read the greetings and as we read the intro to this, Lord,

that you would answer the questions that you want us to

know from the Scriptures today. That in answering these

questions, we would understand why we would even take the time

to read this portion of Scripture and why it is so

important to us. And I pray that you use it in

our lives to continue to conform us into the image of Christ, to

make those of us who were pastors more effective in our

role as pastors, and to take those who are ministers in this

church as laypeople, as believers and Saints.

Now that you would show them their role and how to live this

out according to Scripture, they would be obedient in that Lord.

We also ask that as we study Your Word, that as the gospel

goes forth, page after page after page, those who are here

who do not know Christ, Lord, that by Your mercy You would

quicken them, that you would awaken them to the truth.

That they would see their need for Your grace and Your mercy.

They would see their need for Jesus as Lord and Savior, and

they would be brought to a place of surrender and humility and

brokenness where they cry out to Jesus to save them from the

wrath that is to come. Lord, we know that You will be

as always, faithful to save those who call upon Your name.

Holy Spirit, we invite and we ask you to teach us your word

and to give us insight today. And we pray these things in the

mighty name of Jesus, Amen. So as we embark on this journey,

on this study today, as we begin, I want us to answer or to

ask first, because it's impossible to answer a question

that we don't first ask, to ask three questions and then to

answer those three questions. And the first one is this.

What is the reason for this letter?

I want us to understand what the reason for this letter is.

Because if there's no point to this, we're simply wasting our

time, aren't we? We're just reading words.

We might as well just be reading Shakespeare, or we might as well

well be reading the the the newest.

New York Times bestseller list. However, there is a reason for

this and we're going to answer as to what this reason is as we

walk through this. Secondly, I I want us to ask the

question, what's the relationship between Paul and

Timothy? What?

What is this all about? Why is this relationship what it

is? Why is it so strong?

Why is there so such a bond here?

Why is there so much love involved in this passion,

diligence, hard work? And thirdly, I want to ask what?

What were the pastoral responsibilities that Timothy

received? Paul is going to give him some

responsibilities. I want us to answer the

question, what are the responsibilities that that Paul

gave as an apostle to this young pastor?

Because I want us to all to understand this before we ever

get there. Our responsibilities as pastors

are still the same today. The responsibility that Paul

gave to Timothy, that also falls on the shoulders of all who

stand in the pulpit as pastors today.

Many have forgotten that. We're going to see that.

It's very important that we understand that what the

responsibilities of a pastor really are.

The reason that I want you to understand that is so that you

can hold me accountable to being the pastor that I need to be

biblically. The reason that I need to

understand that is so I will find myself being the Good

Shepherd that God has called me to be over His people, leading

them and guiding them through the Word of God.

Paul wanted the same for Timothy that he would.

Be that Good Shepherd to the people of Christ, and he gives

him some responsibilities. And sadly, as we are going to

see, we see many so-called pastors in today's time shocking

those responsibilities for the things of this world.

And it should not be so. In fact, even a comrade of

Paul's, Demas, we'll see in the second letter to Timothy, he

forsakes the ministry and forsakes the Paul himself

because he loves this world. A guy who was at one time

ministering right alongside of the apostle Paul.

He was opposite. Of Timothy we're going to see

Timothy was a faithful servant and a Co worker a Co laborer for

the gospel of Jesus Christ. So let's answer those questions

in this intro message today. I know what you're thinking an

intro message that is 11 versed as long Kirk, we we have heard

you preach. For over an hour on one verse.

What are we going to do with 11 verses?

I'm just going to tell you this, don't watch your clock today.

Don't even look at it. In fact, I'm not only going to

preach that I practiced it in the first service.

I didn't even look at the clock. I looked up, it was 1041 and I

panicked and I said, Oh no, the Lord only gives us a certain

amount of time for him to work and he's got to work.

No, I didn't do that. I said, Oh well, as we look at

the word of God, I want us to look first at the reason.

The reason. What is the reason for this

letter? Why did Paul sit down and why

did he pin this to Timothy? Yeah, and we know ultimately

because it was the plan and the will of God.

We know that the Spirit breathed these words into Paul, Paul then

being an instrument in the hands of God as he pinned these things

down, as he was carried along by the Holy Spirit.

However, we also know that there is that human side of it that

God had orchestrated inside of Paul, that there was a reason in

his mind and in his heart to write this letter to Timothy.

What is that reason? We see this in the greeting

here. Paul says, Paul, an apostle of

Christ Jesus, by the command of God our Savior and of Christ

Jesus, our hope. Now I know what you're going to

ask Kirk. You're going to read that one

verse and you're going to think that that gives us the reason

for the letter. And I'm going to tell you, yes,

it does. What we often do is we read a

scripture and we don't study Scripture.

There is something that Paul is saying here.

He's not just wasting words. He's not a guy who does waste

words. He's getting to a point here.

And he begins by addressing them with his name, Paul.

They knew immediately That's Paul who was Saul, who was

converted on the road to Damascus, who once persecuted

the church, who was converted to Christ, and who is now the

apostle to the Gentiles. That's what he says next, an

apostle, apostle of Christ Jesus.

Paul's not just stating his name here for the sake of stating his

name. What he's doing is he's giving

his credentials. He is laying his authority down.

I know in the day and time where where people aren't interested

in being vetted in the church, right, a 16 year old kid will

will surrender to Christ one Sunday and the next Sunday

they'll throw him up in the pulpit.

And try to let him preach. There shouldn't be.

So there should be that time of vetting.

There should be that time of proving Paul's giving his

credentials, he's saying to the church, because he knew more

than Timothy would read this letter if Timothy was going to

do what he was supposed to do. And he's laying out those

credentials. He's saying, I'm coming to you

with authority. I'm coming to you with the

authority to write this epistle and to give you these

instructions on behalf. Of what I have received from

Christ himself. And I'm going to pass these

things on to the pastor there who I left there, Timothy.

And then he in turn is going to teach what Christ told me to

that congregation there. It's very important.

That you see how this works in the life of an apostle.

Since there are no apostles in the true sense of the word left,

we have to go all the way back to the apostles who who they

have established their credentials as having authority

in Christ as an apostle. I don't care what people try to

tell you, there is no more. Apostles.

When the final one, John, passed from this earth, the office was

closed. And so in the true sense of the

word, there's no one who can even meet the criteria.

And Acts gives us four of the apostles, Paul here simply

giving his credentials, saying that I am coming to you in

authority, and my authority is my apostleship in Christ Jesus.

He's coming for a reason. Why would an apostle write to

the church? Well, first to equip Christ

Church. That was their duty.

The duty of the apostle was to equip the Church of Christ, to

build for them a foundation, and he establishing his Apostolic

authority then qualifies him to give instructions that would

equip the Church. He's giving them what we know is

Apostolic insight. He received insight from Jesus

Christ himself. He received this insight.

Those scholars debate and scholars argue somewhere in

Arabia when it was a period of time, 9 to 11 years, where the

apostle Paul was not seen nor heard from, and he testifies

that he was receiving teaching and instruction from the Lord.

I know what your next question is.

How does that work? I don't know.

I'm not going to get up here and speculate about that.

I know if it's God's will, God's going to provide the means for

it to happen. Paul said that it happened under

the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

I'm going to just accept that it happened and so it happened that

way. And now he's in a position to

equip Christ Church as an apostle.

In fact, Ephesians 2 verse 19 where Paul is reminding the

Ephesians 2:19

church at Ephesus. That their relationship as

Gentiles and Jews, that there is no longer this barrier there, he

says in 19. Consequently, you are no longer

foreigners or aliens speaking to the Gentiles, but fellow

citizens with God's people members.

Of God's household. But watch what he says next.

He says built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets

with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

Paul is teaching the church at Ephesus the role of the apostle

and the role of the apostle is much like the role of the

prophet, and that is to establish the foundation that is

built on the chief cornerstone of Jesus Christ.

And he says in verse 21, in him the whole building is joined

together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

And in him you 2 are being built together to become a dwelling in

which God lives by His Spirit. And so the foundation of the

apostles to those in the New Testament would carry

substantial weight. So when Paul says I'm an apostle

of Christ Jesus, he comes with the weighty claim.

Their ears are going to perk up. They are going to realize that

he is writing this to equip the church for that which Christ

wants to equip the church. Again, Paul passing on to

Timothy what he has received from the Lord.

He's letting the readers of this letter, along with Timothy know

exactly where his insight came from.

He's not saying that he read something in Reader's Digest

Christianity Today. He's saying I am an apostle of

the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as John testified that he

was an eyewitness of the Lord and that's what gave him his

authority. We saw him, we lived with him,

we touched him, he touched us. This is real, Paul, letting them

know this is real. These instructions that I'm

giving you real. And I have authority to give you

these instructions so that you will be equipped.

As a church, as the foundations of the Church now are being

built since Christ has ascended into heaven and the Church was

born there on the day of Pentecost.

Now we see the foundation being established by Apostolic

insight, that which Christ gave to the apostle to give to this

pastor, who would then give it to those congregants in that

local body of believers so that the Church would be equipped.

Equipped to do what? Exactly what the church should

be equipped to do, that is as we see in Ephesians chapter 4, we

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

see it. He says this and talking about

the speaking gifts in the church in verse 11, he says it was he

who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be

evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers.

And here's the reason why we have those speaking gifts in the

church to prepare God's people for works of service so that the

body of Christ may be built. Up.

Here we have Paul doing just that.

What is he doing as an apostle? He's equipping the pastor, who

will then teach what the apostle has equipped him with to equip

the church for what? To serve in ministry.

It's a cliche that we used to hear a lot.

You don't hear it very often anymore.

The church is saved to serve, and that's what we ought to be

doing. And if these offices that we see

in the church, the apostles, the pastors, the teachers, the

evangelists, if they're doing their job in equipping the

church, the church will know exactly what they are supposed

to do. But because we have so many

people who are posing as pastors in churches and apostles and

evangelists, the church is ill equipped.

Because these people are not properly suited to do this job.

Paul simply not the case for him.

Yes, I am suited to do this job because Christ has suited me to

do this job. And what I am doing is I'm

building a foundation. I'm building a foundation on the

truth of the Word of God. I'm giving you Apostolic insight

in order that the Church would be equipped, and I'm giving you

Apostolic instruction. Why?

Because that is my job, to teach the Church.

And how is he doing this? He's teaching directly to this

pastor, and he's teaching to that pastor who is then going to

directly teach to those in that local body.

That's how it works. That is God's design so that the

church will be equipped. Timothy then passing on the

instructions that he received from Paul, encouraging the

people to serve in ministry, preparing them for the good

works of service that Christ died for us to fulfill.

In fact, first Peter. Peter says this in chapter 4,

verse 10. He says each one should use

whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully

ministering God's grace in its various forms.

If anyone speaks, he should do it as one, speaking the very

words of God. If anyone serves, he should do

it with the strength God provides, so that in all things

God may be praised through Jesus Christ and him be the glory and

the power forever and ever. Amen.

What do we learn there? And none of you were saved so

that you can sit in a chair on a Sunday morning and just soak up

air conditioner with the rest of us.

And we're all saved to serve. And it is the duty of the

pastor, as has been taught to him through the instruction of

the apostles, that you serve the Lord with diligence, that you

give your strength and you give your energy and you give your

time and you give it your resources, and you give your

giftedness to the Lord in the local body.

I don't apologize for telling you that.

I'm not saying that to beat you up or to get on you in any way.

I'm saying this is part of the reason that Paul is writing to

Timothy, who is the pastor at Ephesus, to tell him, equip the

church and equip the church with the things that I am going to

give you as an apostle that I have received from Jesus

himself. So that the church will serve,

but not only so the church will serve, but also so that the

church can stand. They can stand.

They can stand in maturity, not tossed to and fro from every

wind and doctrine, from everything that comes along.

I don't really have enough things coming along these days

in the church. In fact, when I go back to a

2000 year old letter and I just start reading it, people look at

me as if I'm obscure, right? Because what I'm supposed to do

is I'm supposed to pull something out of here that I

give some kind of personal insight to that will somehow

entertain you, make it interesting.

Well, you know why this is very interesting?

Because this is not a fairy tale.

This is not a movie. This is not Hollywood.

This is real life. This is Paul riding to this

young pastor saying here you're you're given the responsibility

by me, an apostle, to equip the church, to equip them, to serve

in ministry, to equip them to stand and sound doctrine.

I'm giving you this responsibility because it's a

serious responsibility. I don't want them to be.

Tossed to and fro, in fact, what I want, I want you to teach them

so that unity will happen in that church.

In fact, Ephesians chapter 4 verse 13, he says, until we all

Ephesians 4:13

reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God

and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the

fullness of Christ, he says, then we will no longer be

infants tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and

there by every wind of teaching. Here we have Paul again riding

to the church at Ephesus. We're looking at First Timothy,

the letter written to the pastor of the church at Ephesus.

He's saying the same thing, that we have a duty that is to equip

Christchurch. Paul taking the responsibility

that he's been given by Christ, passing that responsibility on

to the leadership in the church, the leadership in the church,

then passing that on to the sheep so that they will be

equipped, equipped to serve and equipped to stand against

unsound doctrine, quick to stand against all the lies that are

being cast out of pulpits even in this time that we live in.

In fact, I'll just stop for a minute and just give a shameless

plug to our men's Bible study on Thursday nights because a lot of

what we're going to be looking at in the Pastoral Epistles is

going to go hand in hand with what we're looking at in our

men's Bible study. That was not my intention.

It just happens that way. Isn't it interesting how the

Spirit always works those things out?

On Thursday night Bible study, the men are looking at ancient

heresies and how they still exist today and how we can stand

up against them. What is the truth in regard to

these things and why it's important to stand up against

them? Paul giving this Commission here

as an apostle to the church. The Apostle Jesus Christ

pointing Timothy to do just that, Equip the people to stand,

to grow up in the faith, to be mature, not give in to unsound

teaching. The reason, the first reason

that we see is to equip Christchurch.

The second one is this, to encourage Christchurch.

You can bet on this. Every time the Apostle Paul

spoke it was to encourage. Now I want to help all of you

Americans here today. To encourage does not mean to

ingratiate. Y'all know what ingratiate means

right? Or you tell someone what they

want to hear. Sometimes they refer to your

nose as a certain color that would be brown.

We've gotten mixed up in our culture.

We think that to encourage someone you, you have to

ingratiate and, and, and just tell them what they want to

hear. That's not what Paul does.

He gets real encouragement. Real encouragement is the truth

in love. Don't forget that.

When you get the the truth in love, then you understand

accountability. You understand what real

encouragement is. And you can bet he is

encouraging Christ Church because that's what Paul did.

That was what his life was all about.

And we see his words of encouragement here.

Don't miss them. Don't think that Paul is just

chaining a bunch of Christianese together like we see so often

and and and so-called pulpits and so-called preaching, right

where they just chain things together, though, talking about

faith and glory and and it's like, stop, say something.

You're just saying words. It's a big word salad.

He's not giving us word salad here.

There's a point to every word that he.

Says Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus.

By the command of God our Savior, he is encouraging these

people at Ephesus, first to Timothy, so that he can then

encourage the other believers there to remember the source of

their salvation. Isn't there great encouragement

in that? That's why I don't understand

how someone, someone who claims to be a Christian, gets

irritated if you preach the gospel all the time.

I just want to hear something different.

Why? Because every time we hear the

gospel doesn't mean we get saved again.

What we do, we rejoice in the fact that what God saved us, he

didn't have to save us. Paul here reminding Timothy and

then in essence reminding all those at Ephesus to remember the

source of salvation, and he names him properly God.

Our Savior, he's agreeing with what Isaiah documented there in

Isaiah 4311 when he when he says this and quoting the Lord, I

even I am the Lord, and apart from me there is no Savior.

He's giving them encouragement. You have the right Savior.

In fact, you have the only Savior.

Trust in him. Trust in him alone.

You need not go anywhere else. Why is this important?

Because they're in Ephesus and there is paganism rampant in

Ephesus, all kinds of idols and false gods and false goddesses

being shoved down their throat. And Paul here reminding Timothy,

stand firm. Stand firm in the one true God

who saves. He's the only one who saves.

Hosea agreeing with Isaiah. He says this in Hosea 13-4 But I

am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt.

You shall acknowledge no God but me, no savior except me.

It's important that we be encouraged by the fact that

those of us who have been saved by God, that is the only

salvation for man. He is the only one who saves.

You did not save yourself. A preacher did not save you.

You walking an aisle, praying a prayer, none of those things

will save you, or Paul would have said that.

But in giving encouragement to Timothy and to the church, he

says of God. Our Savior.

It is God who saves. Let us not forget that.

Let us be encouraged by that. And He graciously saves.

He saves us by the gracious gift of salvation.

First Peter chapter 1 verse 3, it says praise be to the God and

1 Peter 1:3

Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In His great mercy He has given

us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of

Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can

never perish, spoiled or fade, kept in heaven for you who

through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of

the salvation that is ready to be.

Revealed in the last time. What a glorious thing.

But let us not forget who gives that salvation graciously.

It is God the Father. For Himself sovereignly gives us

by his grace salvation. In fact, Jesus himself said, No

one comes to me, John 644 unless the Father who sent me draws

them, Paul. Encouraging, Timothy.

Encouraging. The Church here with those very

words. To remember the source of

salvation. It does us good.

It is very encouraging for us to stop sometimes and remember the

source of salvation. Please know this key Life

Fellowship didn't save you. Kirk Hall didn't save you.

None of the pastors on this staff save you.

Your works don't save you. Your church attendance doesn't

save you. Your baptism doesn't save you,

Only God save. Let that be an encouragement.

Why? Because what God does last, it's

eternal. And if God has saved you, your

salvation is eternal. You have an inheritance that is

kept in heaven for you that will never perish, spoil, or fade.

That's why it's important that we see the source.

Paul here in this greeting, giving the source of salvation,

reminding them that, reminding them of that so that they will

be encouraged, encourages them to remember the source of

salvation and then to rest in the hope of Christ.

He says by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus

our hope. Let's just stop and talk about

that for a second. Christ Jesus our hope.

If we don't have Christ, we have no eternal hope.

None. There is no other name given

under heaven whereby men must be saved.

Jesus himself said, I am the way, the truth and the life, and

no man comes to the Father but by me.

So I want you to understand, though the Father is the giver

of salvation, drawing you out of darkness and in delight, it is

Christ who paid for your salvation.

And it is through Christ that we are saved and we have eternal

hope. Paul reminding him of that.

What an what an encouragement to them who are in Christ.

As they read these letters, yes, yes, I know that God is my

Savior. And then they hear that Christ

is our hope. Yes, Christ is my hope.

In fact, without Christ I'm completely hopeless.

I have nothing to rest in. Hebrews 4 refers to Christ as

our Sabbath rest. It isn't interesting.

While Jesus was here on this earth, he gave this invitation.

Come unto me. All you who are weary and heavy

laden, I will give you rest. I'll give you rest.

They're resting from what? They're resting from the burden

of the law, never being able to attain righteousness no matter

how hard they tried. Paul reiterating that to Timothy

so that he can reiterate that to the church to just rest in the

hope of Christ. I don't know what many of you

say because I've heard it from some of you.

Well, there's got to be something more I can do.

No, there's not. Christ has already done it all.

Rest in the hope of Christ. He's encouraging Timothy to

teach the church that. And because I see that, I'm

going to in turn teach what the apostle has taught Timothy.

And I have received from Him, and I say to you, rest in the

hope of Christ. That's the only hope you have.

What He did for you 2000 years ago through His death, burial

and resurrection. That is the only hope that you

have. That is the only hope that you

have of forgiveness of sin. That is the only hope that you

have of eternal life. That is the only hope that you

have of a right relationship with your Creator.

It is only in Christ that we have hope.

He's encouraging them. Remember as He wrote to the

Romans, in this hope we are saved.

Romans 824 the hope of Christ. He wants them to never return to

the curse of the law resting in their useless and feudal works,

but to rest in the hope in Christ, in Christ alone.

Who, Peter declares, is our living what?

Our living hope. So in Christ we see that we are

to never return to the hopelessness of our sin.

We don't have to. Why?

Because we have hope in Christ. What do I mean by that?

When you fully trust in the work of Christ alone, you have hope.

When you try to insert any of your efforts or any of your

deeds in that, you're going to fall extremely short.

But when you rest in the hope of Christ, knowing you've got

nothing to bring to the table, isn't there great encouragement

for that or in that? I remember as I was growing in

the Lord, unfortunately around a bunch of people who promoted

legalism not by intention but but just by ignorance.

I remember from the pages of Scripture where I finally

realized that I am instructed to just rest in the hope of Jesus

Christ for my righteousness. That was the most encouraging

news that I had ever received. Why?

Because you know what I thought? Like many of you unfortunately

think, yeah, Jesus saves me, but I got to keep helping him out

for this thing to stick. That's not hoping in Christ.

That's hoping in you. And if you're anything like me,

I'm going to let myself down and I'm going to let myself down a

lot. And so are you because you're

imperfect and Christ is perfect. And so when we place our faith

in Christ, we've placed our faith in perfect hope.

Paul's reminding them and encouraging them of that,

reminding us of what the hymn writer said when he said my hope

is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness.

I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus

name. Paul desires that the church

that Timothy they understand to wholly lean on Jesus name.

Their only hope. The holy lean on that.

I do not trust in anything else. In fact, he's going to address

the law and what these Judaizers were actually attempting to

teach in just a moment, but he begins with the reason that

reason is to quit Christchurch and to encourage Christchurch.

Secondly, let's look at the relationship.

It's a very important relationship in verse 2 that we

see to Timothy, he says, my true son in the faith, grace, mercy

and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

A very common greeting that Paul used.

But again, we're going to see that it's not just thrown out

there uselessly. There's a point in it, but it

begins by revealing to us this relationship.

He says to Timothy my. True son, my true son.

Again, in Philippians chapter 2, he says I have no one else like

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

him who takes a genuine interest in the welfare of the church.

No one like him, he says, my true son, Now I know this

because I've studied the Scriptures.

I pray that you would do the same.

But if you study any of Paul's writings, usually at some point

in those writings he's going to name members of those churches

specifically by name, and he names many of them.

In fact, in Romans he goes and he gives a laundry list of all

the people at the end there. Greet them, greet them, greet

them. But there are very few that we

see in Scripture who received the title son from Paul.

The three, of course, is this one being Timothy Titus.

We'll be covering him. We'll get to the next part of

this. And then Onissimus, who we

talked about just a few weeks ago, who was a slave to

Philemon, and he calls them all his son.

Many scholars believe, and I would happen to agree with this,

that he calls them true sons because I think he was probably

involved in sharing the gospel at their conversion.

I don't know that to be factual information, but I find it

interesting that he refers to them as his true son.

Now we know that that doesn't mean that Paul was his actual

earthly father because he had an earthly father who was an

unbelieving Greek and actual mother refers to him as true

son. It's hard for us to understand

in this generation of Christianity.

And unfortunately, and the reason that it's hard for us to

understand this statement that he's making is because with this

generation that is coming up, there seems to be no thought

need for these kinds of relationships in the church.

The father teaching the Son spiritual things and the son

maturing and growing in the spiritual things until he's

raised up to be a man who would then disciple others and he

would become the Father and then have other sons.

We don't see a need for that in the.

Church any longer, unfortunately.

Because we have all these YouTube experts.

The sad thing about these YouTube experts that all these

Christians are following these Christian celebrities.

People follow them and they don't even know who they are.

They never sat down. They've never had a meal with

them. They've never had a real

conversation with them. They've never had these guys who

they follow on all these social media platforms ever come over

to their house and pray with them when they're going through

a difficult time. They don't know the names of

their family members, nor have they ever held one of their

children or joined in the Lord's Supper together.

Baptized one another, they don't know these people at all.

And so in our generation, it's really foreign to us to see a

father son relationship spiritually in the church.

And I say that's sad. It's sad.

Well. Part of that reason is because

of this idea that all these people on YouTube are experts

and we can just trust everything that they say, even though we

don't know who they are, only to find out that there's always

some real person there and we just don't know.

But also, I think it has to do with the fact that we don't see

this father and son relationship in the church any longer because

it's not important to us. We don't see the importance of

what's going on here when Paul and his father son relationship

refers to Timothy as his true son, Paul being the older and

wiser mentor, teacher and that son submitting to his leadership

and his instruction, right. We, we can't see that in today's

church because people think that when they're 23 years old, they

know everything. They got it all figured out.

It's interesting to me that these guys who come right out of

seminary, man, they, they know everything.

They've never had a father in the faith to teach them.

They, they just know because they've got all this head

knowledge is what a father does that's different than just head

knowledge. Doesn't he teach by example and

Timothy respects? Paul as a father because he took

him alongside of him. He taught him how to share the

gospel. He taught him how to minister to

other people. He taught him how to suffer for

the Lord and to do it with joy in your heart.

This was a real relationship. And it's sad that we've reduced

relationships into the church, to social media and live feeds.

You know, it's about doing live together.

It's Paul being that older and wiser mentor, pouring into that

young man, that young man being willing and passionate to learn

from his leadership and his experience and his knowledge.

Not being boastful or prideful or arrogant about it, but simply

learning from those who God puts in their path.

Let me just say this. I've had both in the faith,

fathers and sons. I'm so thankful for those

relationships. I'm going to say this at the

expense of all of you gasping. Those relationships to me are

more important than even my relationships with my earthly

family. Go ahead and gasp.

But I know for the American. Church that's hard to.

Understand, because we accept the temporal over the eternal,

we shouldn't be. So Paul is valuing this eternal

relationship that these two share in Christ, knowing that

God put them together, knowing that God put them together to

accomplish gospel work and it means something to him.

This wasn't a guy who just was alikes and subscriptions to his

YouTube channel. He did Christian life with this

young man. And he meant something to him.

The same went from the other side.

You see this as a father and son relationship that develops later

into Co laboring together for the gospel.

I'm going to try to hold it together here, but I have the

privilege of working with sons in the Lord constantly.

We're like minded and like hearted and we pour into each

other and we Co labor in Christ together.

There is no jockeying for position.

We are doing the work of the Lord together.

Yes, I have been given a greater responsibility.

You think that's cool, don't you?

But that means I'm going to give a greater account.

It's not that cool. I'm thankful for the sons that I

have in the Lord and I can spend my life pouring into them so

that the next generation. That we taught properly the word

of God how important the gospel truly is.

So this relationship that you see on this page is not just

something that you just passed up.

Oh Timothy, my true son in the faith.

No, Paul meant this. There was a bond and there was

love in Christ. Paul, the cycling, this young

man, just as Christ commissions us to do now, this young man

leading that congregation there at Ephesus, you know what?

He didn't tell Paul when he got this letter.

I don't need to hear from Paul anymore.

I'm the senior pastor of Ephesus.

No, that spiritual, familial relationship was continual.

Again, it's eternal. God put Paul into Timothy's life

so that Timothy could pass. I mean, Paul could pass on to

Timothy that which was passed on from Christ to Paul.

John Owen said it best when he said it like this.

Paul gave instruction unto Timothy that he might teach

others also, and therein the. Rule.

Of the ministry is established for all generation, I said it's

a shame that we don't see it in the church any longer.

Fathers are pouring into sons and mothers pouring into

daughters. Did you know that's the way that

it's supposed to be? That's by design how God wants

the church to be. Family who's pouring Christ into

one another. Relationships that are beyond

even our earthly family. Again, to which I'm very

thankful for those fathers who took me under my wing when I was

ignorant and immature, who were patient with me, and who taught

me the word of God, who lived it before my very eyes.

And we'd be the same to others. You see, this relationship is

father and son, but of course, it's founded upon God the Father

through faith in Christ. Paul doesn't leave that out.

He says to Timothy, my true son in the faith.

He's not his true son in the faith just because he likes him.

It's because he met him in Lystra, became familiar with the

family. He's his true son in the faith

because the relationship was founded upon God the Father

through faith in Christ Jesus. This is my true son in the

faith, the only faith, the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He says grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ

Jesus our Lord. Again, he's not just chaining a

bunch of Christian words together.

He's giving the reason that their whole relationship exists.

Says you're my son in the faith. And we're in the faith because

of grace and mercy and peace. That we received.

From God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord, that's the bond

that holds us all together. Did you know that in a Father

and a Son relationship, right? In our earthly relationships,

the bond that holds us together is the fact that we're blood

kin. And that can be broken, right?

We can just say, you know, we're blocked in, but I'm never

talking to you again in the church.

You know what? A father and son, you know how

this happens. We're bound together not by our

own blood. We're bound together by the

blood of Jesus Christ according to the will of God.

That's a bond that can't be broken and should never, ever

even be thought of as something that we would enjoy breaking.

So he's reminding him of this, that that relationship is

founded upon God the Father through faith in Jesus Christ,

and that alone, the basis for all of our Christian

relationships should be on this. Love for Christ, love for one

another in Christ. Is that what Jesus said, that

the outsiders will know us because of our love for one

another? They'll know that the love that

we have, the bond that we have, is deeper than just a regular

family bond that you see in any family.

It's deeper than that. It's the bond of Christ.

You see this in the life of Paul toward Timothy here as this is

revealed, but it be the model for all of us to be the basis of

all of our Christian relationships.

Paul says to the Corinthians and 1st Corinthians chapter one

verse 9. God who has called you into

fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ.

Our Lord is faithful and I appeal you brothers in the name

of our Lord Jesus Christ that all of you agree with one

another. He's calling for unity.

He's calling for unity in the body of Christ, not based on

whether you agree with someone, but based on Christ.

Paul and Timothy agreeing on Christ, the foundation of this

relationship and the foundation of all good and true Christian

relationship. Reminding Timothy simply of

this. The blessings that God has given

to all of us who are in Christ, grace, mercy, and peace.

I'll make note of this. God did not have to give you any

of those things, but in Christ He gives you all those things.

Please reminding Timothy of this, that that's what this

relationship is built upon. You're my son in the faith, that

faith that is made-up of grace, mercy, and peace that comes from

God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

How important it is that we remember those things.

We all need to have these relationships in our Christian

walk, don't we? Those mentors, those leaders,

those who spur us along, those who teach us because we love us.

So let us intentionally cultivate relationships like we

see Paul intentionally cultivating here.

Let us enjoy those kinds of relations because it's by the

precious blood of Jesus Christ that those relationships were

paid for. That's why we exist.

How many of you come in every Sunday morning, you sit in the

same chair and you never talk to a single soul?

It may not be, so I would just encourage all of you under the

sound of my voice today, find someone here today that you

don't know and at least go introduce yourself to them.

They may actually be over here in the South side.

You can't come over from the OR the north side.

Yeah, you can come over. You can come over and you can

shake their hand and you can introduce yourself.

You don't know, there may be this lasting friendship, there

may be this great discipleship that happens because of that

relationship. It's never going to happen.

If you don't see the importance of it, Paul is seeing the

importance of it. You see that relationship, that

father and son relationship founded upon God the Father

through faith in Jesus Christ. It is the model that we have

been given in the church. That's how you make disciples.

You don't make disciples on YouTube.

You hear me? You don't make disciples on

YouTube. You don't make disciples on

Facebook, you don't make disciples on TikTok.

You know how you make disciples? You invite somebody over and you

open up the word of God and you start talking about the great

things that God has done. You invite somebody to lunch and

you sit there after lunch, not talking about how bad my sermon

is, but maybe there's one. Good thing that you could get

out of this today. Talk about that one good thing.

Encourage one another with it. Before you know it, you have

these relationships spring up in the church.

Fathers and sons, mothers, daughters, the church becomes

what the church is supposed to be.

Oh, we'll talk more about that as we uncover the pastoral

epistles. So we see the relationship.

Thirdly, lastly, responsibilities.

What were the pastoral responsibilities that Paul is

giving to Timothy here? What are they?

Now, the reason that this is interesting to me because I

don't think those things have changed.

I think that whatever Paul told Timothy as a pastor he is

supposed to do. I am supposed to do the same

thing. And the pastoral staff here at

Key Life Fellowship is to do the like.

I don't think it's changed. In fact, you're going to see

there are lots of things in these writings that I'm going to

cover that many people think they've changed.

But God hasn't changed anything that he said in his word.

What are the responsibilities? He says this in verse three.

If you're still here, say Amen. He says this as I urge you.

When I went into Macedonia, Stay there in Ephesus so that you may

command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer in

order to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies.

These promote controversies rather than God's Word, which is

by faith. I want to take those first 2

verses, and I want to look at those real quick before we move

to the next. But I want us to do that so that

we can see His first responsibility.

His first responsibility is this.

Serve the local church. Don't miss that in this.

He didn't say, Timothy, go wherever you send out a resume.

Go wherever you want to go. If you get tired of doing things

in Ephesus and things don't go your way, or the deacons vote

against you or the elders vote against you, pack up your stuff

and move somewhere. But just don't put up with that

stuff. That's not what he says.

He says I left you there for a purpose, and that purpose is to

serve the local church. You know how he's how I know

he's telling him to serve the local church because he names

it. Because I left you there.

Stay there in Ephesus. Why do I hammer this point that

we're to minister where we're sovereignly planted and we are?

You're never going to bloom if you're being uprooted all the

time. I say this to young ministers.

I say this to the church members who hop from church to church to

church. Please listen to this.

You need to root where you have been sovereignly planted, and

the only reason that you should ever leave a church is if they

become unsound doctrinally or if they distort the gospel and will

not repent of those two things. But I don't like that Lady in

that third Pew because when I was pulling in, she got my

parking place. That's not a reason.

In fact, all that does is reveal that you're immature and God

needs to deal with your heart. You need to humble yourself and

stop being so petty about things.

There's bigger things at stake. He says.

Stay there in Ephesus. Don't bounce from church to

church. Now, I can tell you this, I can

speak from experience. I'm the guy who got mad at my

first pastor. I didn't understand anything

about being a pastor. I only thought I did.

I thought I knew a whole lot. You know what I realized?

I know nothing. I got upset with him.

So what did I do? What?

What all good Southern Baptist boys do in that situation?

Put out my resume, right? My resume.

I've been at one church for like 7 months.

What kind of resume do I have? But oh boy, I'm God's gift to

ministry. God sentenced me to Arkansas

doing something that's stupid, you say, Kirk?

Would you really admit that you were wrong?

Yeah, I was wrong in that I was where I was.

Supposed to be, he said. Why don't you believe that God

worked it out in the grander scheme of things?

Yeah, God wasn't surprised about it.

He knew that he was going to teach me a huge lesson that the

next time I plant you somewhere, you bloom right where I plant

you and you don't leave until I move you.

Some lessons learned the hard way.

I can testify to that. Stay there in Ephesus.

Don't bounce around from church to church.

Don't become dissatisfied. Don't go looking for greener

pastures. Because he knew.

He knew Timothy's going to face the same thing everywhere he

went. Paul had already established

most of the churches that he writes to.

You know what he knew? People are fickle.

People are mean. You got true believers in the

church and you got only professors who are really false

believers in the church. You're constantly being attacked

from the enemy. You're constantly being attacked

from heretics. It's work to pastor church.

And so, Timothy, don't think for a second that you can go

somewhere else and it not be as difficult as it is there in

Ephesus where everybody's inundated with paganism.

Stay there. Stay there and be faithful.

That's what Paul is teaching Timothy, faithfulness and

ministry. Minister where you sovereignly

planted, but also minister with purpose, minister with a

purpose. He gives him purpose here.

He went on just flouncing around, just doing whatever he

had a purpose. Defend the true gospel, teach

town doctrine. I know we have forgotten that in

our day and age, right? Where the pastor's job is to

entertain the people so that they'll stay, so that we'll have

more people, we'll have more money, we can build a new

building. No, his responsibility was to

stand for sound doctrine, to teach the Word.

We're going to see that very clearly when we get to Paul's

last address to him. Stand for sound doctrine, teach

the word of God, preach the gospel.

Stand for sound doctrine, preach the Word of God, preach the

gospel. Every day.

Same thing over and over and over and.

Over again. Sometimes, Timothy, it is going

to discourage you. You stay right there in Ephesus.

You keep doing what you're supposed to do as long as God

has you there. Stay there in Ephesus, minister

where you have sovereignly been planted planet and minister with

the purpose that I'm giving to you.

Don't lose sight of that. Defend the true gospel, teach

the Scriptures and the whole counsel of the Word of God.

Defend against unsound biblical teaching and shepherd.

Christ flocked faithfully, he tells Titus.

Very similar thing as as we're going to get to that he says in

Titus chapter one verse 9. We he talking about the pastor

must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has

been taught, so that he can encourage other by others by

sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.

Many times I get accused of just beating up the heretics.

Why does he always have to talk about unsound doctrine?

Because the world is inundated with false teaching, there are

movements in this country that call themselves Christian.

In fact, most movements that call themselves Christian are

heretical in this country. And again, a shameless plug you.

Want to find out more about that?

You come on Thursday nights and you'll see the truth.

That's what the real men are on Thursday nights. 7:00 We'll be

right here. Take your wife to eat Chinese

food and get her nails done another night.

So Fridays are 4. Gives them the responsibility to

serve the local church. Straighten out false doctrine.

He says that in verses 5 and 6 as we continue to read, he says

the goal of this command is love.

The command to do what? Straighten out their false

teaching. But here's the goal of it.

Love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and

a sincere faith. Some have wandered away from

these and turned to meaningless talk.

They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what

they're talking about or what they so confidently affirm.

He's telling Timothy to straighten out out false

doctrine, to stand for the true gospel, but he's going to tell

him how to do. This he says the goal of the

command. The goal of the command to

straighten out those who would believe all these false myths

that he's mentioned in the prior verses and all these

controversial things, all these conspiracy theories, says the

golden straighten these out is love.

Right. It's not to chop off the head of

the heretic or to burn them at the stake.

It is to lovingly come alongside of them and to teach them sound

doctrine, Not to berate them or belittle them for the unsound

doctrine that they have believed, but to simply say.

This You know that's not quite true.

Isn't that a nice way to say you've believed a lie?

That's not quite true. Let me show you what the word of

God has to say about that. Have you ever contemplated this?

And then lovingly began to teach them the truth.

Why? Because he says that's the goal

of this. The goal is to find out maybe

these people who are teaching these false things are true

believers, but they're just in ignorance teaching false things.

Well, you definitely don't want to do what's contrary to the

ministry of Christ. And what was the ministry of

Christ? It said that Christ would not

snuff out the smoldering flats, nor would He crush the bruised

Reed. What does that mean?

That Christ would use enough wisdom to say this.

If there is any hope at all to blow on that smoldering flax,

and that Wick would then ignite to a flame, I'm going to gently

blow on that Wick so that the flame happens.

And if there's any hope for that bruised Reed to stand up again

and to flourish, I'm going to prop that bruised Reed up

lovingly and I'm going to pour the truth into that bruised Reed

so that one day it can stand on its own.

As to what is Paul doing here? He's telling Timothy, look, I'm

telling you to confront these people, but I want you to

confront them in love. Love and we know love is what an

external action. It's an external action that is

stimulated by the internal, isn't it?

Our internal stimulates the external.

That's why you can't never do anything for your wife and

expect her to know that you love her.

Love is something that we see, but Paul is going to say this.

That this love that is external, and that is the goal of this

command. It comes from the inside.

It is propelled by what Christ has done in your life.

Pay attention. He says the goal of this command

is love, which comes from a pure heart.

You don't have a pure heart unless Christ doesn't work in

you. He said love that comes from a

pure heart and a good conscience.

You don't have a good conscience unless there's an internal work

of God in you through regeneration.

He says in a sincere faith, you don't have sincere faith.

Unless God has wrought a work of faith in you, your faith is in

vain. So what is he telling Timothy?

He's saying, yes, Timothy, I want you to stand for sound

doctrine, and I want you to straighten out these false

teachers. But I want you to do it with

love that comes from the fact that you have been changed by a

work of Christ. And in doing it like that,

you're going to point others to Christ.

They're going to see that your love comes from the right place.

Your love comes from the fact that you have been changed

internally. He says that's the goal of this

command, that you be motivated by love for others.

Again, that's what Jesus said we would be known by.

So he's saying you stay in Ephesus, you confront these

false teachers who are teaching myths and genealogies and

controversies, but you confront them, yes, with the truth, but

always in love. You make sure that they know

that you're doing this out of love.

Why? Because of our Scripture reading

today. You remember what it said,

right? If I speak in tongues of men and

of angels but have not love, I'm only a resounding gong or a

clanging symbol. If I have the gift of prophecy

and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and I have a

faith that can move mountains, but have not love.

I am nothing if I give all I possess to the poor and

surrender my body to the flames, but have not love.

I gain nothing if I correct unsound doctrine with a mean

attitude and a mean spirit, not from a good conscience and a

pure heart. True faith.

I'm not doing anybody any good. You know what I come across as?

I know it all. Who has all the answers?

Who thinks everybody else is stupid?

And boy, haven't we seen enough of those guys in churches?

No, he's reminding Timothy there's a way to approach this.

The goal of this is love. Why?

Because love covers a multitude of sin.

Perhaps by lovingly persuading them and teaching them, you will

bring them back to the truth, correcting their error.

We can have all the sound doctrine in the world, but if

our goal in living it and in teaching it is not love, useless

knowledge. I've met many theologians who I

wonder, do they love anyone at all?

They're harsh, they're brash, mean, condescending.

That's not what Paul tells Timothy to do.

He says correct them lovingly and then he leaves him with

this, his last responsibility. Verses 7 through 11, he says

they want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what

they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.

He said these people, these Judaizers coming in, they want

to be teachers of the law, but they're not.

They don't know what they're saying.

He says we know that the law is good, one uses it properly.

We also know that the law is made not for the righteous, but

for the law Breakers and rebels, the ungodly, the sinful, the

unholy, the irreligious, for those who kill their fathers and

mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for

slave traders and liars and perjures, and for whatever else

is contrary to sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious

gospel, the blessed God which he entrusted to me.

What is Paul telling Timothy to do?

He's telling him to secure the sacred gospel, the glorious

gospel. He uses that term, the gospel of

God's glory, his glorious gospel, and he's saying secure

this gospel. And how do we secure the gospel

from these Judaizers that he's talking about?

Well, first we have to, as he's instructing here, we have to

define and to distinguish the law from the gospel.

And so we take the gospel and we distinguish it from the law.

What I mean by that is many people think that the 10

commandments are a set of rules, that if we just live by this set

of rules and we get it right, then we're going to, in the end,

inherit eternal life. That is the farthest thing from

the truth. Please pay attention to me

because this is part of my job and I will do this every time I

stand in the pulpit because someone this week heard someone

who claimed to be a Christian tried to teach them that our

salvation is based on our own works keeping the law, whether

that be keeping the law of God or some man made law that you've

created in your mind. What I mean by this is some of

you think you're in good standing with God because you

came to church on Sunday morning.

You coming to church or you staying in bed does not affect

your standing with God one iota. If you need an English

translation for that, that means it doesn't affect it at all.

Paul is distinguishing and wants Timothy to distinguish for the

church the difference between the gospel and the law.

And to do this, he's defining and he's teaching the good

purpose of the law. What does Romans 7 tell us the

good purpose of the law is? You'll turn over there in your

Bible. We'll see this.

We'll see. In Romans 7 verse 7 it says,

Romans 7:7

what shall we say then? Is the law sin?

Talking about the commandments of God?

He says, certainly not. Who would dare say that the 10

commandments are sinful? Indeed, I would not have known

what sin was. Except through the law.

Oh, now we're seeing the purpose of the law.

Jesus for for I. Would not have known what

coveting really was if the law had not said do not covet.

He's saying the law let me know that I am a law breaker, that I

am a Sinner. That's why the law is for all

that laundry list of sinners that we just read a moment ago

in First Timothy, he said, but sin's seizing the opportunity

afforded by the commandment produced to me every kind of

covetous desire for apart from the law, sin is dead.

And once I was alive apart from the law.

But when the commandment came, sin spring to life and I died.

What is he saying? When I heard the truth of the

Word of God about His commands, I realized that I am dead in my

sin and I'm dead in my transgression.

I wasn't alive at all. Verse 10, he says, I found that

the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually

brought death. That is God's purpose in the

law, to show you just how dead you are in your sin and in your

transgression. He says for sin, seizing the

opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me and

through the commandment put me to death.

So then the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous

and good. Did that which is good then

become death to me? By no means.

But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced

death in me through what was good, so that through the

commandment sin might become utterly sinful, Paul said.

The law shows me how despicable I really AM, and that's the

purpose of the law. It shows me that I am a person

who covets and steals and lies and commits adultery and

murders. It shows me exactly who I am

and, and so that in seeing that, I can see my great need for the

gospel. However, what has happened in

this church at Ephesus, what they were doing is they were

taking the law, they were taking the gospel.

And we see this so many times in the New Testament and they're

trying to intermingle the two. Paul is teaching Timothy to

distinguish the gospel from the law.

By defining and teaching the good purpose of the law.

What's the purpose of the 10 commandments?

To show you God's standard. You look at God's standard,

right? I make it to like 1.

Don't have any gods other than me.

I've done it. I'm guilty.

Well, if I'm guilty of that one, I'm guilty of the other 9.

So we need not go down the list to know that I'm a transgressor.

He says that's the purpose of the law.

The purpose of the law is not to give you a set of rules to which

you can try to attain salvation by.

You know, there are many people who are doing that, many people

in this room who do that. If I, if I were to ask you, are

you going to make it to heaven when you die, you would say,

man, I hope so. I'm doing my best.

Well, your best won't cut it, Jack.

Your best is not going to cut it.

You won't make it to heaven doing your best because at your

best, God's word says it's still filthy rags.

It's not acceptable to a holy God.

That's where we insert the gospel.

But we have to distinguish the gospel from the law.

We have to define the good teaching and the good purpose of

the law. The good teaching, the good

purpose of the law, is that we are all.

Sinners and we are in need of a righteousness that is greater

than any righteousness that we can produce on our own.

Paul goes on and he teaches us in Romans chapter 3 that there

Romans 3 · chapter mention

is a righteousness that comes from God, righteousness that is

apart from the law. It was made known.

The law and the prophets testify.

This righteousness comes from God through faith in Jesus

Christ to all who believe. You know what Paul's teaching

there? Grace alone through faith alone

in Christ alone. That your works won't save you.

That observing the law won't save you.

That observing a law that you create in your mind won't save

you. The only one who can save you is

the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the true gospel.

Grace alone through faith, alone in Christ alone.

For it is by grace you have been saved through faith.

This is not of yourself. It is a gift of God and not of

work. So that no man can what?

Boast. This is all God's grace.

He's reminding Timothy to stand for the gospel, to secure the

glorious gospel. You do that by dismantling the

idea and the possibility of works based salvation

constantly. Why do men and their depravity

continue to gravitate toward work salvation?

Well, it takes on various shapes and forms.

You know why? Because at the end of the day,

you want to take credit for it. And if it's grace, no one can

boast. But the sad news is what Paul

says in Galatians chapter 2 verse 16.

Galatians 2:16

Know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by

faith in Jesus Christ, because by observing the law, no one

will. Be justified.

You were justified by grace through faith in Christ and that

alone you say, yeah, pastor, we know that you preach it every

week, and I'm going to continue to preach it week after week

after week because some of you have forgotten since last week.

So I remind you again, why? Because the pastor has the duty

to secure the sacred gospel, to never let you think that there

is one ounce of good in you that will somehow attribute to your

salvation, but to know that it is only the grace of God through

the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ that saves the Sinner,

and to put your complete trust and faith in that and that

alone. Paul's telling Timothy, defend

the gospel, secure it, defend it against all who falsely teach

it, all who would corrupt this glorious truth that we have been

entrusted with. You know why that's not

important to so many pastors nowadays.

They don't see the gloriousness of the gospel and what we have

truly been entrusted with. We have been entrusted with

delivering the only message that brings forgiveness and

righteousness to sinners from the hand of God through the

sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We have the only message of true

hope. So Paul charges Timothy with

these great responsibilities, doesn't he?

Do not let these people be burdened with the law again, but

to keep reminding them of the glorious gospel.

Why? Because Romans 8 says this.

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are

in Christ Jesus. Well, there's always

condemnation for those who try to attain salvation by the law,

he says. Because through Christ Jesus,

the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin

and death. What the law was powerless to

do, and that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by

sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a

sin offering. And so he condemns sin and

sinful man in order that the righteous requirements of the

law might be fully met in US who do not live according to the

sinful nature, but according to the Spirit.

That is the true gospel, he says.

Remind them of that glorious gospel.

Why is it important? Because Paul knew that if

Timothy failed to do this as the pastor of that church, that

church would fail. And we see the responsibilities

and we embrace the glorious gospel and sound teaching.

We wrap up with this. I told you we would answer these

questions. I told you we were going to go

along. There's been no dishonesty here

today. I hope that it's worth it to

you. I told the men prior to the

service, I asked them the same question every week.

I say, you know what today is? They answer back and 1 accord

the Lord's Day. I said, aren't you thankful that

the answer is not the Lord's hour?

I would be in big trouble and we take this first day of the week.

Maybe we give him the whole day, this first fruits for all the

grace that he has given us. It's not going to hurt you.

Talk about him all day long. Share the gospel with others who

are in need. What's the reason for this

letter to equip and to encourage to produce biblical ministers

and biblical ministries. What's the relationship between

Paul and Timothy? The importance of this so that

we would see the importance of using deep Christ centered

relationships. We see those relationships as

valuable. We would seek those

relationships among other believers, and we would

appreciate what God does through those relationships and

sharpening us as iron sharpens iron.

What were his responsibilities? Serve the church.

Straighten out false doctrine, Secure the gospel.

You know why I like that? It makes my job simple, doesn't

it? Not easy simple.

I know all of you have your idea about what my job is.

Doesn't really matter what you think matters what the word of

God says. And Paul teaching Timothy, I see

even more clearly what my job is.

May you see yours. May you understand the

responsibility that you've been given.

May you emulate those who have been placed in your life to

reflect Christ to you, as Timothy does in his relationship

to Paul. He's the unbeliever.

As I close, I say this to you. None of this applies to you.

In fact, it doesn't make any sense to you.

The natural man doesn't understand the things of the

Spirit. Everything that we have read

from Scripture today has been breathed by God.

You're not Privy to this information.

I don't say that to be mean to you.

I say that just to simply tell you the cold, hard facts.

You're not a part of Christchurch.

These things don't apply to you. You have no eternal hope that we

talked about in Christ. You have no grace, you have no

mercy. You have no peace.

You have no hope. Now remind you of that, because

you're dead and your sin, you're dead and your transgressions.

You're dead and your unbelief. You were outside of

Christchurch. I know you came through the

doors and you're in the walls, but you're outside of

Christchurch, the unseen church, and you're outside because of

your rebellion and your sin and your unbelief.

And I would encourage you today to repent of your sin, repent of

your unbelief. Turn to Jesus Christ, a loving

Savior who rescues all who come to Him.

Come to Him today, broken and humble, crying out to Him as

your only hope to rescue you from your sin, to wash you, to

remove your despair, and to grant to you forgiveness and

eternal life, to remove the wrath of God that is already

upon you, that you deserve to free you from the wrath that is

to come. Let's pray together.

Father, in the name of Jesus, we come to you now, thanking you

for your word, thanking you that it is true.

Lord, may we be spurred, may we be encouraged, may we even be

ignited by these truths that we've seen today.

God, I pray that I would be exactly what Your Word declares

me to be, that I would do this by your strength.

I would do this propelled by your love.

It's pure motives, pure heart, clear conscience.

This is dear faith. God, I pray for those who are

lost today that you would spare them by your mercy, as only you

can draw them unto yourself for salvation, bringing them to

repentance and faith today. And we pray and we ask these

things in Christ. Amen.

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