Be Diligent and Avoid False Teachers

Transcript

GRM 565
03/29/1998
Be Diligent and Avoid False Teachers
2 Timothy 2:1426
Gil Rugh

Turn in your Bibles to the book of 2 Timothy if you would. 2 Timothy and we are going to be looking at the last part of the last chapter. We've been just picking up several sections of the book of 2 Timothy, Paul's last letter. It was written to Timothy who would be carrying on the ministry with others following the death of the apostle Paul. Timothy would not be replacing Paul by becoming an apostle, but he would be taking the truth that had been communicated through Paul and others and passing it on in the ministry of the church.

At the end of chapter 1 and the first part of chapter 2 Paul gave three commands to Timothy that he really centers on what Timothy is going to be doing with the truth. He told him to hold on to it in verse 13 of chapter 1, to guard it in verse 14 and then in verse 2 of chapter 2 to entrust it or pass it on. To have a good handle on the truth, have it in your position, guard it or protect it from change, addition, subtraction, alteration and pass it on to others. It's a threefold responsibility of Timothy in regard to the truth.

And this is set in the broader context of the trial and difficulty that such a ministry will entail. In chapter 1 verse 7 God through Paul said to Timothy, "God has not given us a spirit of timidity [cowardice] but of love, power and discipline. Therefore do not be ashamed." Down in verse 12 Paul had said, "But I am not ashamed." Over in verse 16 he says Onesiphorus was not ashamed. However, all who were in Asia, according to verse 15, were ashamed because they had abandoned Paul. It was a difficult time. Paul was in prison. The process of his trials had begun. Paul was aware that this will culminate in his martyrdom. And even as he has spent his life proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ and now will die for that testimony, he sees an erosion taking place within the church as some back away from identification with the Gospel and with Paul because of the pressure and trials of the time.

Paul's call to Timothy is strong and clear. In the middle of verse 8 of chapter 1 he says, "But join with me in suffering for the gospel." It's a call to step up and be faithful. And being faithful with the Gospel will be costly. Later in this letter Paul will tell Timothy, "Everyone who desires to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." We need to be careful. We say, "Oh, yes, I want to hold on to the Word and I want to guard and protect it and I want to pass it on to others and no I don't want any difficulty and trial in my life. No I don't like conflict and hardship. No, I don't like to lose friends and family. But we have to have a true picture. Join with me in suffering for the Gospel.


Down in chapter 2 verse 3, "Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier." And this you're not to do in your own strength and energy because he commanded him in verse 1 of chapter 2, "You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." We need a strength beyond ourselves. We need to be strong in the strength of His might for the ministry of His truth in difficult and trying days. Every day, to one degree or another, is a difficult day for the truth. We can be thankful that in our day we do not have to experience lifethreatening situations in our country. We are not imprisoned for preaching the truth of God. We are not executed for our testimony for Jesus Christ. But if you are faithful with the Gospel and faithful in your testimony, there will be a price to be paid. There will be friends that will walk away from you. There will be family members that decide that you don't make a good family member. There is always a price to be paid for a clear and bold identification with Jesus Christ.

It's in this context that we want to pick up with some further commands of the apostle Paul beginning in chapter 2 and verse 14. Three particular commands leading into the last part of this chapter. Verses 14, 15 and 16 all begin with commands. Verse 14, remind them; verse 15, be diligent; verse 16, avoid. Three commands given to Timothy that will prepare the way not only for what he says in those immediate verses but for the rest of the chapter. I want to look into these verses and really overview the rest of the chapter that we have as chapter 2 of this letter.

The command to remind them in verse 14 is very simple. Remind them of these things. What things? The things we just reviewed together, which really come together in verses 11, 12 and 13 which seem to be a form of a hymn that might have been sung. Some stanzas that may have been put together that enabled them to remember this. Keep in mind that in New Testament times everybody didn't have a Bible to turn to the passage. They would have to listen as it was read and then some of these things would help fix these truths in their minds. Basically what we could summarize up to this point what Paul has said is the cross is before the crown.

I have a book that is the complete works of William Penn and the book is quite old and of course William Penn goes back several centuries, but as a young person he wrote a tremendous message, that's been recorded in that book of his complete works. And the title of the message is "no cross, no crown." The cross must come before the crown. That has always been true and continues down to today. That through many tribulations, as Paul has recorded as saying in the book of Acts, we must enter into the kingdom of God.

We dilude ourselves into thinking that the Christian life is easy and comfortable. It may be the form of the Christian life that we are living has become easy and comfortable. But the biblical Christian life is not easy and comfortable. Now again I would not make our trials to seem more difficult than they really are, but they are the trials we have to deal with. It does me no good to say, I would be willing to go to prison in China for the Lord but I am not willing to be embarrassed on my job for the Lord in this country. That reveals where I truly am.

So Timothy's responsibility is to remind them of these things. A work of reminder is a key responsibility. We all like new and fresh things. And when you first are born into the family of God by faith in Christ everything is new, and you just can't get enough. You want to be together with Christians every chance you get. You want to study the Word Sunday morning, Sunday night and every night of the week if you can get to a Bible study. But sometimes with the passing of time you say well yeah, I know these things pretty well now and I have a good handle on them. Sometimes we get to the point in our Christian life we think, you know, I just like something new and fresh. You almost envy the new Christian because he's so excited about these things. And you say, you know, it's hard for me to get excited about those things. I know them so well and have known them so long. But you know because we have known them so long and know them so well, we should be more excited about them than the new believer. Because we have a depth of understanding and a breadth of knowledge to give us a greater appreciation of the wonder of our God, the marvel of His love, the beauty of our Savior. But we do need to be reminded.

Look over in 2 Peter. Go back toward the back of your Bible from 2 Timothy through Hebrews. James, 1 and 2 Peter. Go to 2 Peter. 2 Peter chapter 1. The apostle Peter wrote in verse 12 of 2 Peter 1, "Therefore I shall always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you. And I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder." Then he says until I die I'm going to keep reminding you of these truths.

You know, God is not revealing new truth today. We have the truth that is contained in this book and we continue to go over it and over it and over it and mull it over in our mind and think upon it. And we have never exhausted it. Sadly, we don't know it as well as we sometimes think we do. But it's a ministry of reminder.

I have to encourage myself with these kinds of passages. I've been here going on 30 years. Some of you could get up here and teach portions of this as well as I could. You sit back and say, oh, yeah, I know what he's going to say next, yeah. Some of you can mimic me pretty well. You can even give the mannerisms and inflections of voice of how I say it. Think what it will be like when I get approaching 60 years here because you know I will have nothing new until the Lord comes or He takes me. I have to just keep reminding you. It will be the same truths we'll go over in the Word of God again and again and again.

In chapter 3 of 2 Peter verse 1, "This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles." So Paul is telling Timothy nothing changes in that level, Timothy. You keep on the ministry of reminding, bringing the same old truths before God's people again and again and again.

Come back to 2 Timothy. This is a serious matter when he says, "Solemnly charge them in the presence of God." So, with God as witness you solemnly challenge them not to wrangle about words which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers." He's going to be strong in his warning in these following verses about the danger of false teachers and the impact of false teaching in the lives of God's people. And he picks it up here by warning them and telling Timothy to warn them not to wrangle about words which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers. Now this is not talking about serious Christians who are studying the word to be sure they understand it correctly,. Because he's going to say that needs to be done in the next verse. He's talking about false teachers here who bring in under the guise of being believers, additional truth or a twist on the truth that is new. The Judiazers were great at this as they were unfolding meanings out of Scripture that you wouldn't find there normally.

Back up to 1 Timothy chapter 6 and you'll see this wrangling about words in its context. Look at verse 3 of 1 Timothy 6, "If anyone advocates a different doctrine, and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness." You note two things go together here. In this letter and it goes together in 2 Timothy as well as the rest of Scripture and that is sound doctrine and godly living. It's characteristic of false teachers that they disassociate the two. You have somebody who emphasizes sound doctrine but not godly living is a false teacher. You have somebody who emphasizes godly living without sound doctrine, you have a false teacher. The two go together. "Does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited, understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words." That word translated "disputes" is just another form of the word we have translated "wrangle" in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 14. “Wrangle about words.” "Disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain."

So you see these are false teachers that he's concerned about who are deprived of the truth. They don't know the truth. They have depraved minds. But the danger of these false teachers is they come under the guise of being believers. They profess to belong to Jesus Christ. They are part of the church broadly or generally speaking. They are those about whom Paul warned the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20. “From among your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things seeking to draw the disciples away after themselves.”

So come back to 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 14. The context is crucial because some Christians use verses like this to say, oh, I don't like to debate about doctrine and try to hassle out the details of the Word because the Bible says don't wrangle about words. That's useless. Well, the context indicates what he is talking about is the false teachers who would come along and want to even debate Scripture that they have a distorted perspective on.

"This is useless, and it leads to the ruin of the hearers." That's why it's so serious. You'll note people who submit themselves to false teachers are brought to ruin. They bring catastrophe upon themselves. That word translated "ruin" we get the English word "catastrophe" from it. Something that is overthrown, ruined, thrown down. So they've come to catastrophe. This matter of false teachers in the church is a serious matter because it brings catastrophe upon those who hear and listen. So we need to be very careful.

Now how do we know what we're dealing with? Well, my pattern and I've shared it with you on other occasions, when some new teaching comes along I look for the fatal flaw in that. Somebody writes a whole book. I don't have the time to read all the books that people are writing that are filled with junk. I am talking now about books supposedly bringing insight. I look to see if there is a fatal flaw in what this new system or this teacher is advocating. If there is a flaw or two that render it unbiblical, I don't bother myself with the rest of the details cause this is where people get into trouble. They say, oh, I know there are several areas where it’s in conflict, but they continue to allow themselves to get drawn into all the details of this system and pretty soon they are able to think like the person promoting the system. They find themselves confused. You know it would be like saying if I could use my arms as wings and jump off the top of the capital and fly . . . dada dada dada dada. While I'm not going to spend my life studying the dada dada dada dada because I can't make my arms wings and I can't jump off the top of the capital. That's a fatal flaw. But somebody says well just think about if you could. Let's go through what you can do with your life. I don't want to go through what I could do with my life if I could make my arms wings and fly off the capital because I can't. So why do I want to spend my life studying somebody's foolish theology when it's already shown to be unbiblical? The system won't work. I know but he's got a good point over here. I know. The Jehovah Witnesses have several good points but their theology is fatally flawed. And on we go.

So be careful about getting into the “wrangle” about words. I get people who say, "Here's a book. Would you read this and point out the errors?" I say no, I won't read it. I don't have time for it. Here's what's wrong with it. Yeah, but what about this? Have you read? No, I haven't even gotten into that because it won't stand. It's in conflict with Scripture in one or two or three key areas. So the system falls.

Let's face it. Every system has something of truth in it if it's appealing to Christianity broadly speaking. The Mormon church today is advertising on television, trying to emphasize points of agreement beyond their key points. I don't have time to work through all of that. They are clearly and unbiblical system. So be careful of that.

All right, come to verse 15. We don't wrangle about words, but we are to be diligent. "Diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth." So you see here, we are commanded to be diligent as God's workman. We need His approval. That word "approval" means you know, to be approved after the test. It would be like someone standing at the end of the assembly line and putting the approval on. It's come through the test. Gold that has been refined comes out. It's approved now. So, we are God's workman. We want His approval. We want to have done the job according to His intention, to His satisfaction if you will.

We want to be workmen who do not need to be ashamed. We want to be handling accurately the Word of God. Now that first word, the command, to be diligent, the King James has it "study." But it's not the word that particularly means "study." It means to be diligent or zealous about something. To take pains in accomplishing something. We might say give it your all, in a cloak (?) form of English. Take pains. Here's something you are to apply yourself to and it's going to take effort and energy and work but what you want to do is be careful that you handle accurately the word of truth. This is truth. I am terribly dismayed at the casual handling of the Word of God today. We even have discussions whether we ought to make a gender-neutral Bible. These kind of foolish discussions. The way it's preached. We pick and choose and handle it very lightly and indifferently. It's a serious matter. The command is to “be diligent,” to take pains, to be sure you are handling accurately the Word of God.

So you see, when he talked about wrangling about words in verse 14, he's not talking about being careful, very careful to correctly understand truth but to not expose yourself to all the confusion that is brought by those who distort the Word of God. "Handling accurately the Word of truth."

Avoiding . . . "avoiding worldly and empty chatter who it will lead to further ungodliness and their talk will spread like gangrene." This is another area that confuses the church. You know we want practical messages, not doctrinal messages. The New Testament knows no such true distinction. The doctrine flows into the life and the life flows out of the doctrine. So you avoid wrong doctrine because it will promote ungodliness and spread. It's a simple thing he says. You want to handle accurately the Word of truth, you want to avoid worldly and empty chatter. Another command to “avoid.”

“Worldly and empty chatter.” Back up to a page or so to the end of 1 Timothy again. 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 20, "O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter." Now note it's in the context of what would be false doctrine and false teaching. "The opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith." The “worldly and empty chatter” he's talking about is the false teaching, those who are distorting and corrupting the Word of God. They are claiming more knowledge, more insight and what they do is led people astray from the faith.

So when he talks back in 2 Timothy about worldly and empty chatter, he's talking particularly about false teachers and false teaching. And it becomes clearer through this passage, we are to have nothing to do with false teachers and false teaching. It is endless the number of Christians who get into confusion in their Christian life because they won't stop dabbling in false teaching and false doctrine. I've shared with you, I was in a doctrinal program of a seminary, and I eventually went into the Dean's office, sat down and said I cannot continue here because I'm afraid of what I will be like when I come out. I will come out believing like you do. I had pastored here for ten years by that time. We have to be careful. "Oh, I can do it. I can handle it." What did he say to me? Well, it will be good to be rid of you. No. Reconsider. We love having you in our program. You are an asset to the school. Well, he's a man of insight. That's for sure. You know, it's just that kind of atmosphere this teaching. I said, Boy what happened? I spend the time in this, I'll come out thinking like they do. Make changes without even knowing it. So be careful. We think, O yeah I can handle. I can handle it. Sometimes we do have to analyze some false doctrine. Be careful how much you immerse yourself in it, lest you be led astray by it.

“Avoid worldly and empty chatter. It will lead to further ungodliness.” Wrong doctrine corrupts the life. Sound doctrine is healthy doctrine. It produces godliness. Any distinction between doctrine and life is an unbiblical distinction. It becomes a form of false teaching.

And “their talk will spread like gangrene.” You know why the church has to be intolerant? That's what he's addressing Timothy here. We are going to see he's addressing Timothy in the context of his ministry in the church. If you don't nip false teaching and false doctrine in the bud, it will spread like gangrene.

I had a grandfather who died a number of years ago lost both legs to gangrene. It started out he got a little blister. A little blister is not that big a deal but for him it turned into a big dealgangrene. We just think, O look, he professes to be a believer. I think they love the Lord. You'll note down through this section, he's going to point out as we move further along that some of these they are dealing with are unbelievers, false teachers. You are going to deal with some that come from within the church. He's going to mention Hymenaeus and Philetus in a moment who came from within in the church and gave evidence evidently of being believers, but their doctrine was wrong. We are going to find out some false doctrine comes from teachers who are not believers. Some false doctrine may come from believers who are confused. The response we are to have is the same. The doctrine is false and will not be tolerated. Now if we fix that in our minds, that helps clear the air as well because all we have to do is go to the Scripture and find out if this is truth or is it error. We want to go and say, Well, look I think he loves the Lord. I think he's sincere. I think he wants to serve the Lord. I'm glad for all that but if the doctrine is wrong, it is wrong no matter whether it is taught by a believer or an unbeliever. We need to quit trying to blow smoke around and confusing ourselves and thus ourselves going astray.

False teaching spreads like gangrene. As a pastor, I am always amazed how hard it is to promote sound doctrine and how quickly and easily false doctrine sweeps through. You spend years trying to ground someone in sound doctrine and in almost no time they get caught up in something and off they go. It spreads like gangrene and there are no good forms of gangrene.

Now people wouldn't like Paul because you know we have to not be offensive in our preaching and teaching and positions today. One thing you don't need to do is mention names. We find Paul doing this all the time. Here you go again. "Among them," Boy, that's strong language. He talks about “wrangling about words” which is useless and leads to ruin of the hearers. “Worldly and empty chatter that leads to ungodliness.” That kind of teaching spreads like gangrene. Let me give you some examples, Hymenaeus and Philetus. Evidently well enough known in the church that people would know who he was talking about it. This is a serious matter. We think don't mention names. Why not? If the false teaching is going to be like a gangrene in the church, why won't you want to let people know where it's coming from. Well, that's not nice. Well, I don't know that gangrene is nice either.

Hymenaeus and Philetus, what did they do? Well, they have gone astray from the truth, verse 18, "saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and thus they upset the faith of some." Hymenaeus and Philetus have come to the understanding that the resurrection had already occurred. Now you note these are men from within the church. They believe in resurrection. They are not saying that Christ didn't die. They evidently were saying that when you believed in Christ, you died with Christ, you were buried with Christ, you were raised with Christ. And the resurrection thus is a spiritual resurrection. That we are not looking forward to a physical resurrection. So they are not denying resurrection. They are denying one kind of resurrection, the bodily resurrection.

Now here's Paul about to be martyred for preaching the Gospel. The whole Roman empire, if you will, is opposed to the preaching of Christ. The pagan multi-gods of Rome, the corruption of the world . . . Here are some people who at least believe that Jesus is the Messiah and the Savior. We have some differences over the resurrection. We both believe that there is a spiritual resurrection, but we disagree over there being a bodily resurrection. But my goodness do we have to disagree with one another and separate over this? What's the apostle Paul say? Well, these are those he said to avoid them. Their teaching is like gangrene. We can always find reasons to agree. There have been a lot of points of agreement. What is significant here is the point of disagreement. We disagree over the resurrection. But what do you agree with them on, Paul? It does matter. It doesn't matter. Their teaching is false because they deny there is a coming bodily resurrection. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul says if there's not a coming bodily resurrection, Jesus Christ was not bodily raised. If Jesus Christ was not bodily raised, there is no gospel and no salvation in Christ. It's a crucial issue.

Now this would have put them in the flow of the times because ultimately by the time you get to the second century, there's going to be a form of heresy called Gnosticism, knowledge and they separated the body and the spirit. This would have been developing at this time, but it would not be as it would a hundred years later. But this would enable Hymenaeus and Philetus to have a much broader ministry already because it would give a broader agreement. Don't have to, you know, go to the wall. Don't have to put your head on the block over a bodily resurrection. Now let's face it, as long as we can argue that salvation is by faith in Christ and when you believe in Christ you die with Him and are raised with Him, then let's not make an issue out of whether you are going to be raised in the future. How's that going to help you live today anyway. We can find all kind of reasons why this is not a battleground. Paul says it's a battleground. It's like gangrene. Have nothing to do with it.

So you see these minor points of doctrine are not minor points of doctrine. They are corruptions of the truth and they've already led some astray, the end of verse 18, "thus they upset the faith of some." They are working within the church. Their teaching is getting a hearing. And some people now are being confused. And it started very early. We think battles over doctrine are recent. They've been taking place in the Church before the apostles were gone.

A word of encouragement"Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands." You know, this helps put verses 16 to 18 into perspective. You've got these false teachers, false doctrine, ungodly living, Christians being confused, you get the idea what's the hope for the Church. I mean, the Church is crumbling before it really gets going. Here you have or if you will, the first generation not even off the scene and the Church seems to be crumbling from within.

Nevertheless, in spite of the false teachers, in spite of the teachers like Hymenaeus and Philetus, who were spreading false doctrine like gangrene in the Church, in spite of the fact some are being confused by this teaching, nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands. I take it in the context of the pastoral epistles, the firm foundation he's talking about is the church.

Back up to 1 Timothy 3 verse 15. First Timothy 3:15, "I write so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth." And the firm foundation of God in the support of the truth in this day is the Church. It is the household of God, the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. I take it what he is saying here is the firm foundation of God stands. The Church stands and has two securities, if you will. It is sealed by God in two ways. Number one, the Lord knows those who are His. The sovereignty of God in His work of election referred to up in verse 10, "For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen [the elect], that they may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory." The Lord knows those who are His. So it may be confusing to us to see some who have claimed to be believers come now with a twist of doctrine that is unbiblical and to see people going after that. But you understand the Lord knows those who are His. It may be confusing to us. It is not confusing to the Lord.

The true Church stands. The professing Church is broader than the true Church. The Lord knows those who are His. Not everybody who attends this church truly belongs to the Lord. The Lord knows those who are His. Am I able to stand up and say this person and this person and this person does not belong? No, I am not. As your pastor, some I know. Some I have concerns about. But the Lord knows those who are His. So we say we have the Church gathered together today but you understand the firm foundation of God stands. That some sitting here hearing my voice today in this auditorium may at a future time walk away and deny key doctrines will not change the truth. The true Church stands. And we need to be aware of that as God's people because we find it disconcerting and it is unsettling to find Hymenaeus and Philetus take the turn they do and see friends and family go after them. We say what is happening? Paul wrote to the Corinthian church and said “there must be divisions among you in order that those who are approved may become evident.” God often sifts out His Church through this kind of conflict. It's become evident where Hymenaeus and Philetus are by the doctrine they are now teaching.

But God has never been confused. Up to this time the Church may have been duped into thinking these were true servants of God. Now it's been revealed they’re not. But the Lord was not fooled at all. That's the first seal for the Church. “The Lord knows those who are His.” The second is "let everyone who names the name of the Lord abstain from wickedness." Holiness, godliness. God's salvation transforms a life from the inside out. Those who truly belong to God have been brought from darkness to light, have been made new in Christ. They manifest His character. It is a lie that is being taught that you can be born into God's family and not have a transformation of life. In 1 Corinthians 6 having listed some of the sins that characterize the people of the world, Paul said what? "And such were some of you, but you were washed, you were justified, you were sanctified,” you were changed. That's what you were. This is what you are.

So the second seal is the transformed life of those who truly belong to God. Now let's explain this a little bit. Picking up with verse 20 and we can't do all the details of verse 20 to 26 but I want to pick up at least some of the main points here in these following verses. "In a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor." The large house refers to the Church, the professing Church. So you have the firm foundation of God so stand firm. But in a large house, a great house, the household as the Church is called, and we read in 1 Timothy 3, but broadly speaking on the human level the Church is broader than just genuine believers. There are many who profess to be believers in the Church who have never been born again by God's grace. They've never become a child of God. They have become a member of a physical church, a physical group perhaps, but they have never been spiritually made new in Christ. So it is in a large house, in the professing Church. If you were here when we studied the church at Laodicea a little while back, there you had a church who had professed to belong to God but by and large was made up of unbelievers.

So we have "in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels but vessels of wood and of earthenware, some to honor and some to dishonor.” Two kinds of vessels being dealt with regarding their value. Gold and silver vessels are great value. The earth and wood vessels are not of value. People of that day could relate to that. Certain vessels would be used for very base purposes and would be discarded with use. But you don't throw away your gold and silver. So you have the destiny. Some are for honor. Some are for dishonor. The gold and silver vessels are destined for honor, the wood and earth vessels to dishonor. So within the professing Church you have the genuine and the fake, if you will.

Now a division takes place in verse 21. "Therefore," you understand the professing Church comprised of two kinds of people. "Therefore, if a man cleanses himself from these he will be a vessel for honor sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work." Strong verse. Cleanses himself from these. What would the "these" refer to. Almost all the commentators connect the antecedent of these back to the vessels of dishonor, the wood and earth of the preceding verse. And I would think that would make sense. It's the same call that was given in verse 14. That you don't wrangle about words with these false teachers. You avoid them in verse 16. You separate yourself from them. So it becomes a characteristic of one who would be a vessel of honor that he separates himself from false teachers. That's what happens, is it not, when a person is truly born again. I am always troubled by a person who claims to have trusted Christ and yet remains in a church where the Word of God is not taught. When God says, here if any man cleanses himself from these, these vessels of dishonor, these false teachers, he will be a vessel of honor, sanctified, useful to the master, prepared for every good work. And it's a word to us as believers that we don't dabble with false teachers. I want to spend only enough time as your pastor with false teaching to be able to discern it and warn you about it. We are to cleanse ourselves from these. This is not a game. You know their doctrine is not right but they're great people. Well, I cleanse myself from these. If their doctrine is not right and their life is not right, then I cleanse myself from them. That's why we as a Church have an ongoing responsibility to exhort in sound doctrine and refute those who contradict.

In Titus chapter 1. Do you wonder why do we have conflicts in the Church? There must be divisions among you so that those who are approved may become evident. If someone be an elder, a teacher, a pastor begins to wonder from the truth and adopts a doctrinal position that is contrary to the Scripture, then you exhort them. If they will not change, then you separate from them. How do you maintain the purity of the Church? If you don't, false doctrine will permeate the Church like gangrene. We have seen it again and again in the Church. So many churches have been weakened by not denying the Scripture directly but allowing other things to come in to be mixed with the Scripture that now to stand in that church and try to declare sound doctrine would get you kicked out. That's a sad and wicked state of affairs. And we don't take it seriously. Well, because their friends. I mean, boy, we find all kinds of ways . . . What's the doctrine here? What is the doctrinal issue here? I know, but . . . No, what is the doctrinal issue here? We have to cut through all of this.

You know, if I go and I have a spot of gangrene on my foot . . . Look at the rest of my body, doctor. Look how good I look. Look at these hands. Look at that. Looks good. Wow. Yeah, but we have to talk about that spot. No, we don't have to talk about the spot. Look at the rest of my body. Any kind of disease of cancer, any kind, we what? That little spot becomes a concern. You go get xrays and they say we saw a spot on your lung. Yeah, look at all the parts of my body that didn't have spots. But you don't understand. That one spot will affect the rest of your body if we don't deal with it.

But somehow when we come to our doctrine and our theology we don't want to think that way. And it painful because if we can't turn that person around. We have to cleanse ourselves from them. That hurts. Think Paul didn't know what that was like? Everybody in Asia had abandoned him. Now he has to declare Hymenaeus and Philetus as false teachers. I have to say Demas has forsaken me having loved this present world. Do you think was a pleasant experience for Paul? Well, you know Paul's different. He didn't need friends. I have to have friends. No, we need to have a biblical perspective.

And with this "flee from youthful lusts." So the doctrine and the life go together. "You flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace with those who call on the Lord with a pure heart." “To the pure all things are pure.” But to the wicked all things are corrupted at the end of Titus chapter 1. We are talking about genuine believers. I want to identify myself with those who are truly believers and following the truth of the Word. Now again I say, well, I think this person's a believer. I can't deal with their heart. Ultimately only God can deal with their heart. People ask me do you think this person is truly saved? You know, I'm confused on some people. I don't know. The Lord knows those who are His. I don't always know. But I know if the doctrine is true to the Word or it's not to true to the Word, if the life conforms to the Word or it doesn't conform to the Word, that's what I have to deal with. That's what you have to deal with.

We want to be careful we don't sentimentalize it. I want them to be saved, but whether they are or not I can't deal with it. Are Hymenaeus and Philetus saved or not. Well, you would have doubts wouldn't you when they deny the resurrection. Paul said if you do not have a bodily resurrection, you've denied the resurrection of Christ in 1 Corinthians 15 and you've denied the Gospel. But Paul doesn't even get into that because the real issue here is they are teaching false doctrine. So have nothing to do with them. The Lord knows those who are His. If they are saved and just confused, the Lord knows that. If they are not saved and just promoting false doctrine, the Lord knows that. But what you have to deal with is they are teaching false doctrine.
Or their lifestyle. "Flee youthful lusts." "Refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. The Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will." You know, as we deal with false teachers, we want them to get saved. I present the Gospel to them. But we need to be careful we are not running around with a hatchet, just going after people in the wrong way. We have to keep the context of this.

If I sit with an unbeliever, a false teacher. I would proclaim aggressively to you about some of the false teachers. I sit down and talk with them. I would want to make clear to them, but I wouldn't rant and rave at them. I say you need to understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ and only by believing in Him can you be saved. There is no other truth. There is no other way to heaven. I don't have to run around saying, I don’t talk to unbelievers like I don't have the time of day for them. I warn you about some false teachers in this city, but I would sit down and have lunch with them. People would walk by and say I wouldn't have thought he'd talk to him. Well sure. If I can tell them the truth. Would I allow them here into the church to teach? No. Would they be pointed out and identified? Yes. Would I want them to be saved? Yes. Can you be a Sunday school teacher? No. The church has to take a stand.

So that was Paul's concern for Timothy and we are entrusted with that. You see the context of whole on to the Word. Guard the Word. Entrust it and pass it to others. Who yes, now let me put that into context. “Join with me in suffering hardship for the Gospel.” Don't be ashamed. Keep reminding them of these truths over and over and over again. And don't have anything to do with false teachers and false teaching. Avoid those kinds of teaches and that kind of teaching. I will spread. But you be diligent and apply yourself so you can be a workman that is approved by God, one who accurately, correctly handles the Word of God. Literally, cuts it straight. You have it as God gave it and you handle it accordingly.

Recognize false teachers will come. They will infiltrate the Church. They will rise up. They have and they will. And they will not deny the Scripture. They will add other things to the Scripture. When we put this together we really will be able to do God's work and help people. I say no. You can't have anything to do with that. The Lord knows those who are His. He knows those who are His and those who are His depart from wickedness.

So we have a twofold seal so we can be confident. How much of this church genuinely loves the Lord? I don't know. And He's the only One who needs to know. We just have to deal with what we have deal withthe doctrine and the life. Where it becomes clear someone is not holding to sound doctrine or godliness, then if they do not respond and change, we cleanse ourselves from them. Because why? Verse 21, 'We want to be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work." Is that not what we are about?

And I trust that God will keep our feet on the ground in these days. We will not despair as we look and see cracks and erosions and drifting taking place. We need to come back and say, Let's remind ourselves of these things. Let's remind ourselves of these things. Let's solemnly charge one another with the Word God that we might be faithful, someday receiving His approval, "Well done, good and faithful servant." It's only His approval that matters.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for calling us to Yourself. Thank you for raising up the Church in this day to be a testimony for You. And Lord we praise You that across this country and around the world there are churches that you have raised up to be a testimony for truth, that are centers of truth, that are places where the Word of God is believed, protected and guarded and proclaimed. Lord, we take full confidence and comfort in knowing that You know those who are Yours. We can be deluded and deceived but You never are. As we gather together today as the Church that You have established in this place, You know those who are Yours. And all those who are Yours have turned from wickedness to godliness by Your grace. Lord we desire to be a church that is a testimony to Your truth. Pray that we might guard carefully the truth that has been entrusted to us. That we might handle it accurately, that we might be approved by You. Lord, may we have a love for Your people, a love for the lost to repent and be saved. Lord, may we be willing to suffer hardship for the Gospel. May we be willing to suffer the loss of friends and family, reputation, position, honor if necessary to be approved by You. Thank you, Lord, for Your gracious work in our lives and in our church. May we continue to mature and grow as a testimony to your ongoing grace. Until Christ comes, we pray in His name, amen.