Guarding The Deposit of God’s Truth

Transcript

GR 1285
10/24/2004
Guarding the Deposit of God’s Truth
1 Timothy 6:20,21
Gil Rugh


I want to direct your attention to 1 Timothy 6. We’re going to complete our study of the book of 1 Timothy together today. Next Sunday will be the Sunday before elections, I want to speak about the believer and politics, and then we will move onto a new area that I will know for sure what it is by then. Maybe not by next Sunday, but by two weeks from Sunday, I hope. 1 Timothy 6, Paul closes the letter with the last two verses. It’s been a rather serious letter, written to a young man who was one of Paul’s closest companions, one that Paul had referred to at the beginning of the letter as my true child in the faith. But it’s been a serious letter because there are serious issues in the church at Ephesus where Timothy is. Error and false teaching had infiltrated the church. Evidently some prominent men were involved in teaching false doctrines in the church, perhaps ladies involved in this as well, in light of the instructions on the role of men and women in chapter 2. Paul is concerned that Timothy bring order to the church. The theme of the letter was found in chapter 3 verse 15 where we’re told that the church is the church of the living God, it’s the household of God, it’s the pillar and support of the truth. Paul is writing so that we will know how to conduct ourselves as member of God’s family, members of God’s church, understanding that it is God’s family and it is to be the pillar and support of the truth.

Let me just remind you how Paul has moved through each of the chapters of this letter. Chapter 1 Paul began, launching right into the letter by talking about the problem of false teachers and false teaching going on in the church, and exhorting Timothy to stand firmly and resolutely against this error. That included putting a stop to those who were teaching contrary doctrines. In chapter 2 Paul emphasized the importance of prayer in the ministry of the church, and he gave instructions regarding the role of men and women in the ministry of the church as well. In chapter 3 Paul gave instructions about elders and deacons as those with particular responsibilities in the church, particularly focusing on their qualifications. They must be godly men. In chapter 4 Paul warned again of the danger of false teaching and exhorted Timothy to be faithful. In chapter 5 Paul gave instructions regarding different groups in the church, particularly focusing on widows and on elders. Then in chapter 6 Paul again warned about the problem of false doctrine and false teachers, and challenged Timothy with his responsibility to be faithful with the truth.

So you see that reoccurring emphasis. In chapter 1 he talked about false teaching and false doctrine, the importance of the truth. In chapter 4 he warned about false teaching and false doctrine, the importance of being faithful with the truth. In chapter 6 he warned about false doctrine and false teaching, they need to be faithful with the truth. And in this framework talked about the importance of prayer in the ministry of the church, the proper functioning of men and women, proper qualifications for the leaders of the church, proper responsibilities being fulfilled as they should toward different groups in the church like the widows and the elders. So you get God’s perspective on how His family is to be operating and His concern that the church be what He has brought it in existence to be and that is the pillar and support of the truth.

This has been a very forceful letter necessitated by the fact that false teaching has infiltrated the church and has begun to corrupt it at its very foundation. If the church no longer stands for the purity of God’s Word, it no longer serves the purpose for which God brought it into existence. So Paul has dealt with Timothy, if you will, very firmly in this letter, not rebuking Timothy, but constantly bringing to his attention the seriousness of his responsibility. One of the forms of Greek verbs are imperatives, imperatives are the way you give commands, to tell somebody they must do something. And there are 42 verbs that are imperatives in the book of 1 Timothy, given to tell Timothy this is what must be done, this is what you must do, Timothy. And interestingly, 38 of these imperatives are found in the last three chapters—chapters 4, 5 and 6. That’s over an average of 12 commands to Timothy in each of these chapters as Paul relentlessly drives home the responsibility that Timothy has with the truth. And it is a negative as well as a positive responsibility.

I want to just note some of these commands with you by way of review and limit ourselves to chapters 4, 5 and 6, and we won’t look at all 38 commands. We’re going to look at about 19 of them. And incidentally, I counted those 42 myself, so if you count and get 43, fine. If you get 44, good; if you get 54, you’re wrong. I might missed one or two, but I didn’t miss ten. But I think 42 is accurate. Of the 38 commands in chapters 4,
5 and 6, we’re going to look at 19 of them, half of them. So you get some sense of the urgency of what Paul is writing to Timothy. Look at 1 Timothy 4:7, have nothing to do with. That’s a verb in the imperative form, given as a command to Timothy. Have nothing to do with, reject this, reject worldly fables that are only for old women. We’ll come up to that again in our study later this morning. Second command in verse 7, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. You see a balance that runs through this, both negative and positive instructions to Timothy, things he must not do, things he must do. He must have nothing to do with worldly fables, but he must discipline himself for godliness.

Verse 11, prescribe and teach these things. Both the verb prescribe and the verb teach are imperatives, things he must do. That word prescribe is a word that means to command, you must command or authoritatively instruct and teach regarding these things. Verse 12, let no one look down on your youthfulness, and that’s an imperative, let no one look down. Timothy is not to lose heart or lose confidence because some people look at him and say, you’re not old enough to be instructing us, you’re not old enough to be correcting the situation here. Paul instructs Timothy on this both for the benefit of Timothy as well as the church that will hear the letter read, and that there are no excuses for not doing the right thing. But Timothy, you have to take courage and stand and not be intimidated. Let no one look down on your youthfulness. Rather show yourself, and that verb show yourself, you demonstrate yourself to be, you are to become a man of godly character. You are an example of what a believer is. So two commands there in verse 12—don’t let anyone look down, but show yourself. Again that negative and the positive. Don’t be this, be this; don’t do this, do this.

Verse 13, give attention, and that’s the verb, the command. Give attention to the reading of scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. What is Timothy to devote his life and ministry to? The Word of God, reading the Word of God. Remember those people didn’t come and have their own Bibles. They came and heard the handwritten copy of this letter read to them. So give attention to reading people the Word of God so they hear it and know what it says, to teaching them to exhorting them, to obey it. Give attention to these things. Verse 14, do not neglect, that’s the verb, the command. Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you. God has gifted you, Timothy, for this ministry. Don’t neglect your gift. Function as God has prepared you to function. Note the danger there. It’s not that Timothy wouldn’t have the ability to do what needed to be done. Paul is concerned that he have the willingness to do what needed to be done. Paul has no doubt that he has the gift, but he commands him not to neglect the gift and thus not to do what God has prepared him to do.

Verse 15, take pains with these things, and the take there is talking about the verb, the command. You take pains with these things. That means you do what is necessary, be absorbed in them, literally, be in them. Another command in verse 15, you take pains with these things, you be in them, this is your life. Verse 16, pay close attention, another command, to yourself and to your teaching. Both have to be true. You have to maintain godly character in your own walk with the Lord. Pay close attention to yourself, to your walk with the Lord, to the working of the Word of God and your life and your own obedience, and then to the teaching of the Word of God to others. Persevere in these things. Persevere, another command. Down in 1 Timothy 5:7, prescribe these things. Same basic word you had up in verse 11 of chapter 4. Command these things with authority, teach them with authority these things, this truth.

There are a number of other commands in chapter 5 related to responsibilities there, but we’re going to jump over to chapter 6. Look at verse 11, a series of commands that we looked at in our study of this portion. Verse 11, flee from these things, pursue righteousness. Again the negative and the positive—get away from these things, get after these things. Verse 12, fight the good fight, the word “fight” the command there. Take hold, another command. Take hold of eternal life, fight the good fight of the faith, take hold of eternal life. Verse 17, instruct those who are rich. There is that word again, to teach with authority, to command, to charge, given as an imperative to Timothy. He must be teaching these things. Down in verse 20, the last command given in the book, guard. It just gives you a flavor, you see the emphasis, and we’ve only looked at half of the commands in these three chapters. You see there is a relentless intensity as Paul writes to Timothy. These are things that must be done. You understand, they must, must, must be done, Timothy. And as the church hears it, they understand. These are things that absolutely must be done.

As we come to the closing portion of the letter it is basically one sentence, and then a benediction. Verses 20-21 are one sentence as you have it in your English Bible, and then you have a benediction, grace be with you. And even this closing portion of the letter is urgent. One person put it, it’s all business, there are no personal greetings here. And Paul and Timothy have a close relationship, they’ve shared the ministry closely over years. You’d think Paul would talk about different people. There is only one other letter where he doesn’t, and that’s Galatians, and we know the severity of the letter to the Galatians. Paul is going to close on a note of urgency, because the situation in the church at Ephesus is serious. When you’re talking about the “business” of the church, when you’re talking about the ministry of the church, the family of God, the church of God, you’re talking about serious matters and so 1 Timothy is a serious letter.

This last sentence, verses 20-21, really summarize the emphasis of the whole book, and bring to a point what Paul has been saying in a final summary statement. He begins 1 Timothy 6:20 by saying, oh Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. That interjection, oh, brings an emotional intensity and seriousness to the matter. We still use it that way in a limited fashion. Something happens that really grips your heart, you might say, oh, and use the name. I mean that oh just expresses it emotionally, exclamation. Something tragic happens and you say, oh so-and-so. That’s what Paul is doing to Timothy. This is serious Timothy, oh Timothy. [...] Pay attention, Timothy; I hope you take this to heart, Timothy. This is the first time Paul has used Timothy’s name since the first chapter. In chapter 1 verse 2 he addressed the letter to Timothy, his true child in the faith. And then down in verse 18 of chapter 1 he said, this command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son.

And now as he closes the letter, oh Timothy, here’s what you must do. You must guard the truth. Literally, this expression, guard what has been entrusted to you reads, the deposit, guard. Oh Timothy, the deposit, guard. Rather, abrupt. You get the sense of it, just condenses with a firm command. Guard the deposit. That verb to guard, a word used in the book of Acts of guarding prisoners. In other words, you protect them, you see they are kept as they are given to you, you are responsible for them in every way. But Timothies is responsible for guarding and protect, it’s a word that also has legal connotations and that may be the context here with the word, “deposit.” What has been entrusted to you could be translated the deposit, because a deposit is something that has been entrusted to someone. You go to the bank, you say, I went to the bank today and what? Deposited by check, I made a deposit at the bank. Did you get a deposit receipt? What are you doing? You are taking your money and entrusting it to the bank. They are responsible to guard it, to keep it, to protect it. That’s what Timothy is responsible to do with the deposit. What has been deposited to Timothy is the truth of God, what Timothy has just received in letter form from Paul. It’s the gospel, the gospel not just in its most narrow identification as we talk about the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, but the gospel in its broader context of the truth that God has revealed. It centers in His Son, but it’s the truth broadly that God has revealed. In this letter, Paul has talked about the responsibility of men and women in ministry, he’s talked about the qualifications of elders and deacons. All part of what has been revealed to Paul so that the church that Jesus Christ purchased with His own blood will function in a way that honors God. Guard the deposit, guard the truth that has been in entrusted to you. In this context we’re reminded by the way that this is placed that something has been entrusted to Timothy’s care. What has been entrusted is the truth that he received from Paul. Look in 2 Timothy 1:13, retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me. Jump to verse 14, guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us the treasure which has been entrusted to you, the good deposit which has been entrusted to you. What is Timothy to guard through the Holy Spirit that has been entrusted to him? Verse 13, retain the standard of sound words which you heard from me. Paul received from God truth. Remember how he started the book of Galatians? The gospel that I am preaching, I didn’t receive from man, I didn’t learn it from men. I received it as a revelation from Christ. Now he’s passing on the truth that he received from God to Timothy. Now Timothy is responsible for that truth, to that truth, both to absorb it into his own life, to protect it from any corruption or error, and to pass it on.


Look down in 2 Timothy 2:2, the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. So you see here is truth passed on. Now it’s to be passed on to someone else. We are aware of the responsibility. Perhaps you have a family member or a neighbor who says, you know I have a vase that is almost priceless. We’re going away for a few months, I hate to leave it in the home. Somebody might break in. Would you take it and watch over it for me? What’s your first thought? I don’t know if I want that responsibility, I mean the dog or one of the kids may knock it over and break it. I don’t know that I want that responsibility. Why? The fact that something is deposited with you brings with it the responsibility for that deposit. That’s the way it is with the bank. I expect the bank to guard my deposit, and I would like the FDIC because then we say the government is behind it, so it’s more secure than it would otherwise be, supposedly. You know this could be passed on. My bank has gone through, and if this illustration breaks down, don’t tell me because I’m happy with it. I had checking and saving accounts in the bank, and you know another bank took over my bank, my deposit was passed on to the next bank. You know I didn’t get a note from them, we have taken over responsibility for your deposits and we want to let you know we have cut them in half. We say no, you can’t do that with my deposit, it has to be passed on, that’s a given. Neither did they send me a note saying, we have added 50% to it. They just take it as it is, they are responsible to preserve it as it is. And so when Paul uses this legal term and a banking term, Timothy would be reminded again of the seriousness of his responsibility.

Back up just before 1 Timothy to the letters of Paul to the Thessalonians—1 Thessalonians 2. Paul is talking about his ministry with the truth when he came to Thessalonica. 1 Thessalonians 2:2, the middle of the verse, as you know we have boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God. Whose gospel is it? Paul’s? No, it’s Paul’s in the sense that Paul has been entrusted with it, but it’s not Paul’s in the sense he’s the originator of it. It’s the gospel of God, it’s the truth that God has entrusted to Paul. And I preached it to you at Thessalonica, Paul said. Now look at verse 3, for our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit. We’ve made no changes, no alterations, no additions, no subtractions to the message we received from God. But just as we’ve been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak. Not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts. You see, Paul says, I’ve been entrusted with this truth. That means I have to be faithful with this truth, and I don’t preach it with a concern over whether it’s pleasing to men. I preach it with a concern that God be pleased, because He is the one who examines my heart. You see the responsibility to what God has entrusted? Here is My truth, Paul, it’s a deposit placed in your care. That’s an awesome responsibility. Now Paul has passed this truth on to Timothy. With it goes the awesome responsibility.

Back up to the book of 2 Corinthians, Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 4. Paul is talking about again the ministry of God’s truth, the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And 2 Corinthians 4:1 opens up, since we have this ministry, the ministry he’s been talking about since chapter 2 verse 14 is the preaching of the truth that he received from God concerning Christ. Therefore since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy we do not lose heart. Now you’ll note verse 2, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the Word of God. I don’t try to bring my cleverness to the ministry of God’s truth, nor do I make any changes in God’s truth. But by the manifestation of truth it’s simple, I give you the truth. The first letter Paul wrote to the Corinthians he told them, when I came to Corinth I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Didn’t matter to me that the Greeks want wisdom and the Jews want signs. I just preach Christ crucified. By the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience, note this, in the sight of God. He’s talking about the gospel. Verse 3, the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they don’t see the light of the gospel. Look at verse 7, but we have this treasure. What treasure? The gospel that he has been talking about through the first 6 verses, the truth of God concerning Christ. We have this treasure in earthen vessels. What God has done is take the eternal truth that He is revealing to man and placed that truth in vessels of dust. Remember God in the garden formed man of the dust of the ground, earthen vessels. You have a treasure of inestimable worth, the truth that God has made known, He’s placed it in an earthen vessel, a human being. So that the surpassing greatness of the power will be for God and not from ourselves. But Paul goes on to say we are afflicted but not crushed, perplexed but not despairing, persecuted but not forsaken. What? Because the big thing is not what is happening to the earthen vessel, the big thing is what is happening with the truth. Paul is just an earthen vessel, what he has is truth, and that truth is of utmost value and importance.

Come back to 1 Timothy 6. This is a message not just for Paul, not just for Timothy, as we’ll see as the letter closes in a moment. It’s a message for the church, it’s a message for every believer. In a very real way, those of us who have come to believe in Jesus Christ have received the truth into our lives and have now been entrusted with the truth. Most of you brought a Bible with you. This is the truth of God, this is the treasure entrusted to your care individually and to our care as the church of Jesus Christ. The church needs to realize this is a deposit entrusted to us by the living God. We are not free to make any changes, any alterations, any additions, any subtractions. The book of Revelation, remember, concluded with a curse on anyone who added anything to what had been revealed, or took away from anything that had been revealed. It has to be the
Word of God in its purity, exactly as God gave it. The church is the pillar and support of the truth, the church is to be the place where the truth of God is taught and preached and from which it is given out to the world exactly as God gave it. Remember what Paul told the elders from the church at Ephesus in Acts 20 on an earlier meeting, my hands are clean from the blood of all men, because I have taught you the whole counsel of God,
I’ve passed on to you all that God had revealed to me. I have fulfilled my responsibility. What about the size of the church at Ephesus? What about all the other details that go? I have taught you the whole counsel of God, the Word of God passed on in its purity.
There are other things in a church as we have noted, he’s talked about other things. He talked about the importance of functioning properly with widows, for example. The church is not just a school, but everything the church is and everything the church does flows out of the fact that it is the pillar and support of the truth, and the truth is to permeate everything it does and all that it does.

Now if you’re going to guard the truth, there area certain things you must not do. Often people get concerned that we have too negative of a ministry. And I am sometimes challenged, why do we have to be so negative? And my response can only be, we don’t have to be negative, but we do have to be biblical. And on the occasions when I have been more negative than the Word of God is, then I have erred. Occasions when I have been more positive than the Word of God is, then I have erred. We must teach the Word of God as God gave it, and the balance is as God gave it. That’s why we go through it, beginning with the first verse and go to the end. And all I can do is ask people when they do bring that, do you believe I have taught the passages that we’ve dealt with faithfully? If they point out I have not been faithful in teaching something in a passage, then I need to make a correction. But I don’t bring the balance to the scripture, God does. And I say that because here we go again. Guard what has been entrusted to you. Why doesn’t Paul say some positive things? You know what he says? Avoiding this. Here you go, Paul,
on the negative again. Couldn’t you have turned this around and said No, you
know Paul couldn’t. You know why? He didn’t originate it, so he had to pass it on just as the Spirit of God gave it to him, and Paul couldn’t be any more positive, if I can talk this way, than God was on this occasion.

You have to guard what has been entrusted to you, Timothy, and when you guard, and that’s the command, now you have a participle, avoiding certain things. Someone who will guard the truth then must avoid anything that would corrupt the truth, alter the truth. So you are responsible to be avoiding worldly and empty chatter. The word “avoid” means to turn away from something, to avoid it. There are certain things that Timothy can’t have anything to do with. And again this is a letter that will be read to the church at Ephesus as Paul’s letters were, so the church is learning there are things we can have nothing to do with. Avoiding worldly, empty chatter. And it literally says world, empty chatter. That word “worldly” is a word that means something that is not sacred, it’s godless, it’s contrary to whom God is and what God does.

Look back in chapter 1, it was used in chapter 1 verse 9 where Paul is explaining false teachers wanted to use the law but they didn’t understand the law. They don’t understand, and move down in verse nine, that the law was made for the unholy and profane. There is our word, profane, worldly. We talk about a profane person, they are people who doesn't have any interest in religious things, sacred things. They are godless. Look at chapter 4 verse 7, but have nothing to do with worldly fables. There’s our word, profane fables, worldly fables that are fit only for old women. Remember these are the stories that old grandmothers made up to tell their children. Those kind of things have no place, that’s how Paul looks at false teaching. Now remember these false teachers at Ephesus were those who were trying to take the Mosaic law and wed it to the message of Christ. Paul puts that in the category of a worldly, profane old wives fable. And we see again the tragedy that Paul would have to tell Timothy, and through the Timothy the church at Ephesus, not to have anything to do with profane, godless ministry. That is sad that the evangelical church of the day, the church at Ephesus would have to be told, don’t have anything to do with things that are profane and godless.

Empty chatter, and that’s a good translation, empty words, worthless talk. They have no content. I fear that begins to describe the churches of our day more and more, no content, just empty chatter, worldly thinking. I watched another sermon this week. The man spoke for 45 minutes. At the end of his message he said, we always like to give people a chance to place their faith in Christ, so I encourage you to turn from your sin and place your faith in Jesus as your Savior. If you did that, you’re born again, write to us. If you
tuned in then you’d say, well at least The trouble was, for 45 minutes he
talked about worldly, profane things. It was all psychobabble, it was all about the power of words and if you say something unkind to someone, you’re going to turn them into some kind of person. And I say, where in the world do you get this? Forty-five minutes he rambles on about that, at the end he tacks on 40 seconds of believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior and be born again. And you know what happens? Every Christian who watches that says, it was wonderful. Here we have a man who was preaching the gospel. The problem was, it was 45 minutes of world, empty chatter. Nothing that the Bible says has to do with anything, not a proclamation of truth. You don’t baptize worldly, profane babblings by adding a brief presentation of truth at the end. You understand the Judaizers that Paul is opposing that says must be shut up and shut down in the church at Ephesus were men who believed and taught that you ought to believe in Jesus Christ. Acts 15, the Jerusalem Council, the Judaizers there didn’t disagree that Jesus is the Messiah and you have to believe in Him. They just believed you also have to add the Mosaic law to it.
Well at least it’s scripture. Paul says they are condemned to hell in his letter to the Galatians. Paul tells Timothy you can’t allow such men to teach in the church at Ephesus, you must oppose their teaching. We must avoid profane and worldly, empty thoughts, devoid of content. You can go to many churches that profess to be evangelical today and not get enough content to get by, I mean precious little of the Word of God. We’ve emptied it of the content. There are a lot of words, but there is no content, serious content, the truth of God being conveyed. Avoid worldly and empty chatter, empty words.

Look in 2 Timothy 2:16, it’s right after the verse, be diligent, verse 15, to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the Word of truth. But avoid worldly and empty chatter. That leads to ungodliness. Paul has to write and repeat and repeat to perhaps his closest companion in ministry, don’t turn aside from the truth. Be diligent to handle the truth properly, and don’t have anything to do with the profane and worldly. But we look at this and think of the most awful things that could happen. Well remember he’s writing this to Timothy. The danger is, we adopt those things from the world and this is how he’s going to explain it in a moment, that look good, that will enhance the ministry, that will make us more effective. But we’re really replacing truth with profane and empty talking.

Come back to 1 Timothy 6, let’s see how he explains it. Avoiding worldly and empty chatter, empty words, empty talking, and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge. The opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge. Now again, remember, these are men who are using scripture, or maybe we should say misusing scripture. They are arguing for the place of the Mosaic law in the life of the believer, the wrong place of the Mosaic law. That was chapter 1, remember. Paul has to deal with it again and again and again. There are men who take the scripture but do not handle it properly, they bring the idea that they have knowledge, they have an understanding that others don’t have. You know Paul says this is the antithesis of the Word of God, opposing arguments. The word “antithesis,” we bring it over into English. The opposite, stands against the truth that Paul preaches. Do you have to tell Timothy not to get involved in those things which are the antithesis, the opposite of the truth that I have entrusted to you? Do have to tell the church at Ephesus not to get involved in the things that are the opposite of the truth of God? What in the world? We think Paul is not dead yet, he evidently visited Ephesus recently and left Timothy there, and then wrote the letter. And you have to tell the church at Ephesus who sat under the ministry of the Apostle Paul day and night, day and night, day and night, stay away from the things that are opposite of what is the truth that God revealed. Do you know why? It comes under the guise of knowledge, but it’s falsely called knowledge. We get pseudonym, that’s the Greek word here—pseudonym. It’s a false name. It has the false name knowledge, the King James version says science and that gives you the idea we’re talking about biology and things like that, but it’s the word gnosis, knowledge. It’s falsely called knowledge, but what it really is, is opposing the Word of God. The devil doesn’t change his tactics. You are to have nothing to do with those things that oppose the Word of God.

John gave the same instruction, you don’t need to turn there, but in 2 John, his second epistle, verse 10, if anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house. Do not even give him a greeting. Paul says, avoid him, have nothing to do with these kind of men, this kind of teaching. John says, have nothing to do with him. Yet the church at Ephesus had been infiltrated by it and this kind of teaching was going on. Remember how the letter started out in chapter 1? Timothy, you have to command certain men not to teach doctrines that are contrary to the truth. It’s because it comes under the guise of knowledge, even though it’s a wrong term because it’s not true knowledge. That’s a false name for it. It deludes the people of God. The evangelical church is going down this road so fast. They’re falling over themselves to get there. Every week I tell you I received a brochure. I got another one this week, nice big brochure and it’s all about a pastor’s conference that’s coming up. They are endless.
They church today can’t buy books fast enough so that they learn how to “do church.”
Here we have been through 1 Timothy, and 1 Timothy was written according to what God said in 1 Timothy 3:15, so that we will know how to conduct ourselves in the church of the living God, which is the household of God, which is the pillar and support of the truth. And we go through here, but I don’t get any conferences inviting me to come and learn how to be a better pastor by studying together with other men Paul’s first letter to Timothy. But get this book, take all the people in your church through this book, have all your Bible studies go through this book, this is what will change your church. And this week I’m reading on the statistics all broken down on the growth of churches that implement this kind of program and this kind of program, and the percentage of churches
grow using this program Where is the Word of God in all this? We’ve
got somebody’s book and it works. I didn’t get any invitations to conferences where they say, so-and-so who has been a faithful expositor of the Word for the last 20 years, in his church of 42, will be showing us how to get into the truth. Who wants to go to a conference and learn from a man who has 42 people on Sunday morning? But say here’s a man whose church has grown to 10,000 in the last 10 years and he’s going to be sharing the principles that enabled his church to grow, and sign up and send your check. Has the church lost its way? No longer is what has been deposited with us to treasure, and the guide for our life—your Word is a lamp unto my feet, a light to my path. Now the church has the truth and let’s find, let’s put it someplace and let’s learn how to build a church.

Well let’s let Jesus build His church. What did Paul say? My hands are clean from the blood of all men, I’ve taught you the whole counsel of God. How many people were in the church at Ephesus? I don’t have any idea. You know I don’t think Paul would be asked to participate as one of the speakers in our church growth conferences. As we’ve noted, he could destroy a church as fast as anybody, he’d clean it out. You start getting up and saying, anybody teaching this is condemned to hell, some of you are teaching it and I want you to know you’re anathema, condemned to hell. Hope he doesn’t do that on Sunday morning, we don’t talk about sin and hell here, that’s not what people come to church for. And I hope he’s not going to talk about negative things you have to avoid, we want to uplift. And we say, I don’t know how the church at Ephesus got into that trouble.
And here the evangelical church 300,000 pastors have attended one of these
programs. 300,000? Is there that kind of dearth of the knowledge of the Word of God that people, supposedly evangelical, meaning they believe the Bible to be the inspired Word of God, that salvation is by faith in Christ, and they are so looking for someone to what? Tell them what the church is all about? How did the church get by for 2,000 years until this man blessed us with the writing of his books and developing of his program?
I’m just using that as an example, probably the example. The pattern follows.
Psychology came into the church and now we have the wisdom of men, that which was supposed knowledge to enable us to really deal with serious problems in the church.
Now in most evangelical churches it’s a non-issue—of course you have to have psychology of one kind or another to deal with the serious problems of the church. So now we don’t have a Word of God that is enough, and now following on that, of course, we adjust the rest of the ministry to conform. And so Paul’s last statement, which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Do we think we’re above it? We’d better not, he’s writing to Timothy to be sure that he guards the truth entrusted to him and avoids these things. And you know what has happened? Some have professed what? What is falsely called knowledge. And you know what? They have gone astray, literally, they have missed the mark concerning the faith. They’ve missed the mark concerning the faith, the truth that God has revealed all of a sudden has missed the mark. If the church is the pillar and support of the truth and it misses the mark concerning the truth, what is it? Now it’s just a social organization that leads people away from the truth. Because now if the church has gone astray from the truth, where’s it going, and what do they have?
More of men’s ideas. And you know what? It all gets masked by, we’re growing, we’re growing. We don’t deny the truth and we believe it all from cover to cover. Any wonder Paul had to write to Timothy? Praise God that we have this truth because for over 2,000 years there had been people, men and women, faithful to the truth that has been entrusted to them, who have handled accurately the Word of God so that it might be passed on, that it might be passed on, that it might be passed on. What is the greatest treasure we have? The truth of God. If you don’t have the truth of God, what do you have? You have nothing, the transitory passing things of this life.

So he concludes with the benediction, grace be with you. Every one of Paul’s letters concludes with a note of grace, because that’s what the Christian life is about, grace. That’s what salvation is about—about grace. What do we say? We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. You know how we live the Christian life? By faith alone, by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. It’s God’s grace. Where is the sufficiency for this? The grace of God. So when he says, grace be with you, Timothy is saved. What he’s talking about is that enabling grace and Timothy will find his sufficiency for the ministry that God has given him in the provision God has made. God has made that provision, remember he told him not to neglect the spiritual gift that was in him. God in grace has already made provision. Paul will remind him in the second letter, God has not given us a spirit of timidity, of cowardice. God’s provision in grace is sufficient. I must learn to be satisfied with that provision. You say, well what more would you want? I don’t know. Why is the evangelical church on such a search, a relentless pursuit for success? We have the greatest treasure entrusted to man, given to us personally as believers and to the church of Jesus Christ, with the responsibility of what has been entrusted to us we are to entrust to faithful men who will teach others also.
What an honor to declare the truth of God. I won’t be successful if our church doesn’t grow. Praise God for faithful men teaching the truth to 30 people on Sunday morning, to 40 people, and laboring faithfully with the truth. We don’t understand what success is— it’s to be pleasing to God, doing what is right in His sight. The measure of our lives, the measure of the ministry of this church is not how many people are here on Sunday morning, although we praise God for His work of grace in every life. But it is our faithfulness to truth. That’s not to say we’re better than anyone else. The measure of this ministry is the same as the measure of any ministry—faithfulness to truth. Our goal must be to please God who will judge the motives of our heart. Men can declare me successful based on numbers, God will evaluate me on the basis of the motive of my heart in the handling of His truth. I would desire that this church be known as a center of truth, a place where the truth is made known, where the truth is working in lives, where people are submissive to the truth, their lives are shaped by the Word of God. They are characterized by the right relationships, the right conduct because they are controlled by the Spirit of God who is using the Word of God in their lives. And God’s grace makes every provision we need to do all that God would have us do.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, that we have your truth, the greatest of all treasures, the message of your Son that brings salvation for a lost and dying world.
Thank you that through the revelation that you have given we know that He loved us and died for us, that His death on the Christ was sufficient to pay the penalty for our sins, that through faith in Him we experience that glorious cleansing in being made new and we become your children. We are privileged to share with the world the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are privileged as your children, as your family to be nurtured and nourished by the pure, unadulterated milk of your Word that enables us to grow and become more like the Savior who loved us and died for us. But I pray we will take to heart the message of 1 Timothy, that we might conduct ourselves properly as your people, that we might guard what has been entrusted to us, that we might be avoiding anything that would contaminate the truth, that we would find your grace our sufficiency to be faithful until Christ comes. And we pray in His name, amen.