Responsibility With the Truth

Transcript

GR1755
02/16/2014
Responsibility with the Truth
I Timothy 1:18-20
Gil Rugh

1Timothy and we are in chapter 1 closing out this first chapter. We began our study of this letter of the Apostle Paul to Timothy who is at the church at Ephesus and he gave him instructions in chapter 3, verse 14 and 15 where he said, “The church is the household of God. It belongs to the living God. It’s the pillar and support of the truth.” And so he is giving instructions for Timothy in directing the church there to deal with issues that need to be dealt with in light of the fact that this church belongs to God. And the activities of that church must be consistent with the will of God and so we have had this letter preserved for us by the Holy Spirit so we could benefit from it as a local church as well.

Now since the church belongs to God, it is the pillar and support of the truth that God has revealed and it becomes the center of conflict and battle. Not just on the human level but on the spiritual level which reflects itself of course in the physical realm. It becomes a battleground between the people of God and Satan and his followers. Since the church is the pillar and support of the truth then Satan in his opposition to the truth must be opposed to the church in its ministry of the truth. That sets up a conflict and those who are the followers of Satan are instruments that he uses in opposing the truths that the church is proclaiming. It is important that we keep the perspective in view.

Back up to John’s Gospel, chapter 8. This has always been the battle going back to the Garden of Eden. Remember, God gave instructions to Adam and Eve and then Satan came and said, “Did God say this? Well, that’s not true,” the immediate attack on the truth that God had spoken.

Jesus refers to this conflict in John’s Gospel chapter 8. We are dealing with religious people within the nation Israel, religious leaders within the nation Israel. Israel being the people God had chosen for Himself as a nation, the people He had given and entrusted His truth to, the revelation He had given and yet in John chapter 8, verse 41 Jesus said to these religious leaders: “You are doing the deeds of your father.” In verse 42 Jesus said, “If God were your Father you would love Him, you would love Me because you love Him.”

Verse 43: “Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My Word. You are of your father the devil and you want to do the desires of your father.” So you see the spiritual battle that is engaged here between the children of God and the children of the devil. Here Jesus Christ, the Son of God is being opposed by the children of the devil. The devil was a murderer from the beginning. Note this: “He does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.” That does not mean he cannot quote the truth. He did in Matthew chapter 4 when he tempted Christ but the truth is not part of him. He is opposed to the truth in every way. In no way does he support or encourage the truth of God and its dissemination. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature for he is a liar and the father of lies. “Because I speak the truth you do not believe me.”

Verse 47: “He who is of God hears the Words of God. For this reason you do not hear them because you are not of God.” Strong statements; not well received. I mean when you tell religious leaders you are of your father the devil he’s a murderer and a liar and you are a murderer and a liar and you oppose the truth because the devil opposes the truth.

That’s the conflict. Jesus said in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Now Satan opposes the truth; sometimes more overtly, sometimes more subtly. He is a master. We ought never to underestimate the brilliance of the devil. We don’t respect him in that sense but we recognize he is a being of great intelligence. He is brilliant. Look at how he manages his world. It’s God’s world but he is the god of this world this present period of time and the world is carrying out to a large extent his bidding and opposition to God.

Come over to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. When it comes to dealing with the church Satan will attack it from the outside and we have cults and false religions that oppose the believers all over the world but one of his strategies is to infiltrate the church with those who are disguised as believers and so bring confusion and ultimately lead even believers away from the truth if they are not careful. So in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 Paul says this is what is happening at Corinth, the church there. They infiltrated and influenced by people who are followers of the devil. He says in verse 2: “I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.” The church is the bride of Christ. “But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different Gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.” The church prided itself in being open-minded, open to consider other views and so false teaching that came by those who professed to be believers and have added insights, the church at Corinth was open to it while they were battling against Paul and the truth God had revealed to him.

Come down to verse 13: “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their deeds.” That was the situation at the church in Corinth.

Come back to I Timothy chapter 1. That is the situation Paul is telling Timothy he has to deal with in the church at Ephesus. The devil doesn’t give up; well those people have trusted Christ, the church has been established, I guess I will have to go and do my work in other places. He’s crafty, he’s deceitful. I will have to infiltrate them with my people who will claim to be followers of Christ; who will claim to be bringing added insights and clarity and understanding that you don’t get from the simple understanding of the truth.

So verse 18 is where we are. “This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son.” And that command works back to verse 3: “As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus, in order that you may instruct (that word instruct, remember is the word command. The same word we have down in verse 18) certain men not to teach strange doctrine.” Verse 5: “The goal of our command (translated instruction but you have it in the margin, commandment.) The goal of our commandment is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” He has talked about the kind of issues these men are bringing to the fore. The Gospel that Paul preaches fine, but it is simplistic. It’s alright maybe as far as it goes but it cannot bring you a complete salvation. You must bring in the law that was given to Moses; same issue as the conflict in the conference in Jerusalem in Acts 15. Fine, preach Christ and who He is, His death and resurrection but they also must be commanded to be circumcised and to keep the law. So it becomes confusing because here these people aren’t denying the truth that Paul is preaching, not directly. The confusion is they are saying that’s fine as far as it goes but isn’t the law of Moses part of the Word of God? Would God have given the law to Moses if He didn’t intend it to be part of His Word and implemented by people everything? So here you have a church at Ephesus in the Gentile world that is supposed to adopt the Jewish law. We looked at issues of the Mosaic Law and the foundation but it was never given to anyone but to Israel.

These people were mixing this in and teaching these doctrines. They didn’t understand what they were talking about. They presented themselves as having greater knowledge but as Paul made clear they don’t understand what they are talking about. They are very confident. They are very bold. They are sure they know. So after giving his own personal testimony of salvation by the grace of God through faith in the finished work of Christ, Paul now returns to the command he is entrusting to Timothy.

It’s important that we see faithfulness to the truth involves teaching the truth and defending the truth and standing against those who would corrupt the truth. Believers would like to be passive to their approach to the truth. Well, we just teach the truth. We are not going to be battling; we are not going to be fighting. That is the very thing that Paul says we have to do. We not only teach the truth, we oppose error. You cannot be faithful to the truth if you don’t do both.

Timothy is left at Ephesus with the specific instruction to oppose error and to be sure the truth is being taught and being implemented in the church there. “This command I entrust to you, Timothy.” I entrust it to you. I am putting it in your care. I am depositing it with you. This command I entrust to you, Timothy. This word entrust will come up later in his second letter when he talks about entrusting these truths to other men. We have a pattern going on here.

Why don’t you turn over to 2 Timothy, chapter 2? Some of you are familiar with the passage but it may be a little less familiar to some. In Paul’s second letter to Timothy the chapter opens up “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. These things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” The pattern is you teach the truth and in teaching the truth, the church is the pillar and support of the truth. We stand against error as we proclaim truth and if we don’t distinguish between truth and error, then confusion will come.

Back in chapter 1, verse 18: “This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may fight the good fight.” Timothy, my son; there is a warmth in what Paul is saying to Timothy and what he is saying to Timothy will be passed on to the church but Paul has a special love for Timothy and he knows this is not an easy responsibility. It is difficult. It is dangerous. You are standing against men who are strong, who are confident, who don’t back down easily but you have to stand up Timothy so he says, “you act in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you.” Now we have no record of these prophecies but evidently at an early time, sometime at the beginning of Timothy’s ministry certain prophecies were given concerning him and certain gifts were given to him to enable him to function so Paul is reminding him to encourage and strengthen Timothy because sometimes in the face of strong opposition, strong people promoting error, there is a sense of intimidation and Timothy you can’t back down. You can’t be soft here; not implying that Timothy is not a man of great courage. Paul wouldn’t have sent him into these difficult places like Ephesus, like Corinth as we noted in previous studies if Timothy wasn’t a man of courage and boldness but every situation presents its own challenge and Paul is concerned that Timothy realize the seriousness here of stepping up.

Come back to Acts chapter 13. This is not Timothy but it gives you an example of what might have taken place earlier in Timothy’s ministry. In Acts chapter 13; now keep in mind in these early years of the church we have apostles and prophets. New revelation is being given like we are studying the letter to Timothy. That is new material here that the Spirit of God is giving Paul to pass on to Timothy for the benefit of the church at Ephesus so there is direct information given and so in Acts chapter 13, verse 1: “Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon, Lucius, Manean…” Verse 2: “While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, (evidently through some of these prophets, prophets being individuals who were given direct revelation during this time when the Word of God was not yet complete) “the Holy Spirit said, ‘set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them...” So it could have been a similar kind of situation.

Over in Acts chapter 16 you have Timothy being selected to join Paul on his travels. “Paul came to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy; the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, his father was a Greek, and he was well spoken of by the brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted this man to go with him; and he took him and circumcised him…” and so on. So it may have been something in the context here of Timothy’s selection. We are just not told when but evidently the Spirit had spoken through men who had the gift of prophecy and specifically indicated that Timothy was the man to be sent on this ministry and in that connection certain spiritual gift is given to him for ministry.

Come over to I Timothy again and come back to chapter 4, verse 14: “Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, (note this) which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery.” So there was a prophetic utterance given, the Spirit speaking through a prophet and a spiritual gift given and it was recognized by the elders that Timothy had this unique role.

Come over to 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 6. Paul was involved in this process. That’s why we say it may have happened in Acts chapter 16 in connection with Timothy becoming a travelling companion of Paul because 2 Timothy 1:6: “For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” Remember in those days to be sure that the church was solidified under the leadership and teaching of the apostles special gifts were bestowed through them so that there would be a recognition of their leadership and the truth given through them and so the church is being built as Paul wrote to the Ephesians on the foundations of the apostles and prophets; the truth revealed through them and this ability to do these supernatural things were the signs of an apostle. Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians: “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all signs and wonders and miracles to set them apart and establish the authority that they had.” For example, Paul’s letters would have a recognition of inspiration.

Come back to chapter 1 of I Timothy. Evidently it is a setting like this where Paul and others were present. The Spirit spoke and said, “Timothy is to be set apart for the ministry.” Paul lays hands on him and the presbytery did and a special gift is conveyed to him to enable him, so the reminder. Obviously Timothy knew about this. We sometimes think go back to remind them, encourage them to challenge them. Timothy coming back, yes the Spirit of God set me apart for this ministry. Yes, God has gifted me to do this. So he stands not because of his natural abilities but because of the supernatural call of God and gifting of God to do it. That doesn’t mean that it is easy but it means that it can be done by the enablement that God gives.

What is he to do? “This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may fight the good fight.” Timothy was to war the good warfare. Paul’s view of the ministry was not a fun time. This is a war that we are in, an ongoing war. It’s not just times of battle. This is an ongoing war. War the good warfare. It’s a military figure and it doesn’t refer to just a specific battle. This is ongoing. Timothy has been through battles with Paul. He’s traveled with Paul. He’s represented Paul as he is doing here. But you are not done. The battle is not over. You know it’s not like, whew, I’m glad we are through that. Now we can relax. You can never relax when you are in a battle with the devil. He doesn’t get tired. One of his greatest strategies is he just wears us down. We just get tired of it. I don’t want the conflict. I don’t want another battle. I don’t want to have to go through anymore of this. That is the natural, human response. That’s why Paul reminds Timothy of the supernatural enablement that he has. He’s been called by God, gifted by God. The war is not over and the church at Ephesus needs to understand that as well.

Paul will continually remind Timothy of this. You know we are dealing with normal people in Scripture. By normal, I mean people like you and like me, especially used of God. But you know we have the same call of God to salvation in Christ. We know from the Word of God we have been gifted by God. Our church is the family of God just like the church at Ephesus 2000 years ago was the family of God. Our church is to be the pillar and support of the truth as the church at Ephesus was to be the pillar and support of the truth.

The ministry of truth and the battle against error must be true of us as well. Look at 2 Timothy, chapter 2. Paul uses this same analogy of soldering or warfare. Paul doesn’t pull any punches of what the ministry is, what the ministry of the church is and of us as believers. What does he say to Timothy in verse 3 of chapter 2? Remember, this Paul’s last letter. He is in prison. He knows that he will not be leaving prison alive. Before the letter is over he will say the process has already begun that will culminate in my execution. In an earlier imprisonment like when he wrote to the Philippians he was pretty confident that he was going to be released. In this one it is clear. What’s his concern for Timothy? Verse 3: “Suffer hardship with me (note this) as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” What did he tell Timothy? What we just read in verse 18 of the first letter, chapter 1 – God enlisted him. God called him. God gifted him. You know we lose sight of what we are. We are members of an army. We are involved in an ongoing war. I don’t want to go to that church. They always have a battle. Of course, the devil won’t let us alone. What do we expect? Do we give up and say, well we don’t want to fight and especially if they profess to be believers. Nothing is new. It’s hard to do battle against those who claim to be believers, claim to trust in Christ, claim to want to serve Him but they are promoting error. Well you can’t promote error. It can’t be tolerated. So Timothy, be a good soldier, suffer hardship.

Back up to the end of his first letter, the end of I Timothy chapter 6, verse 12: “Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” It sounds like what we were studying in Hebrews, doesn’t it. He’s to hold on to that confession he made of faith in Christ and the eternal life that he had with faith in Christ. There can’t be any wavering and you made a confession. Hold fast to the confession of your hope we read in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 23. Here it is. What you’ve confessed, nothing’s changed. Hold on. Sometimes we have to be reminded. We think back and say when you first became a believer you were so excited you told everyone and it didn’t matter that family and friends got upset. This is so exciting. You have to hear this. This is wonderful. Well you know you get beat on, you get beat on, pretty soon you say, “Well, maybe I ought to just cool it. Maybe I just settle down,” and we can’t. You are in the war and you just can’t quit. You’re on a battlefield and the fight is being waged you just don’t sit down and say “Time out.” It doesn’t work that way. You know the devil has no time outs. It’s the deception. Oh well, give in a little bit and that’s all it will take and then things will settle down. No they won’t. He’s not satisfied until he totally destroys believes and destroys the truth; so a reminder to Timothy. “Fight the good fight.”

At the end of Paul’s life, what? I have fought the good fight. I have kept the faith. Now I go to the reward. Now he knows the fight will be over because when they cut off my head I will go and get the reward. Then I know the battle is over when I appear in the presence of God. Until then I have fought the good fight. I have kept the faith.

Back up to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 6. You know many people denigrate the fundamentalists; they would consider us I think, fundamentalists and all the “fighting fundi’s.” There was a view and they were fighting and they were always battling over this truth and that truth and sometimes we have to be careful – are we battling for the truth or are we battling something that is not the truth. We have to be careful that we don’t get sidelined into battling over things that are not the Biblical things. Those things do bring confusion but it’s true, we are fighters. We believe in the truths of the Word of God. We are willing to fight for these. We are willing to die for these. We have no compromise with error.

Ephesians chapter 6; what does Paul say to the church at Ephesus in the letter he writes to them? “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.” A similar kind of thing that he wrote to Timothy and it was for the church and now he reinforces it. Verses 11-15: “Put on the full armor of God that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies. Therefore take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” That shield of faith; that settled faith; that unshakeable faith is coming up in a moment in our passage in Timothy. Verse 17 - 18: “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit” and so on. You know, this is serious business. Paul understood it was serious business. The church loses sight in serious business.

An article on some modern, successful churches, one pastor and I will use discretion, I won’t need to read his name; church according to pastor so and so, senior pastor of this large Baptist church in the south. “Church ought to be fun” he says. “Most churches you go to are boring. Our service moves. There is no dead time. The service is crafted as carefully as a Disney presentation. This is no accident. The church has sent its staff to Disney for training.” And you are not even embarrassed to say it? “Where did your staff gets its training?” Disneyland. I mean is it any wonder that the world doesn’t take the church seriously. You sent your staff to Disneyland for training?

Then there is the pastor in Phoenix who is the pastor of a large “successful” church. These men claim to be evangelicals. He also sights the Disney approach as a source of inspiration for what he calls “entertainment evangelism.” He wrote a book with that title. “He first realized that church services should be entertaining when he observed crowds lining up around the block for the premier of the movie, Batman.” You note he didn’t get this from his serious study of the Scripture. He noticed all the crowds lined up for the Batman movie. “He wondered how the church could utilize the power and creativity of modern entertainment to create a similar sense of excitement at church services.” And his answer was “that church leaders need to engage in imagineering which means unearthing new and innovative ways to worship.” He decided his church should provide “exciting, dramatic service that would attract crowds comparable to some movies and popular concerts.” Has anybody read I Timothy? The church is the pillar and support of the truth.

“An evil is in the professed camp of the Lord. So gross in its impudence that the most short-sighted can hardly fail to notice it. During the past few years it has developed at an abnormal rate even for evil. It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments. The devil has never done a more damaging thing than hinting that the church should have as part of her mission to provide entertainment for the people with the view to winning them. From speaking out as the Puritans did, the church has gradually toned down her testimony then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day. Then she tolerated them in her borders. Now she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses. My first contention is that providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as the function of the church. If it is Christian work why did Christ not speak of it? He gave the great commission. We would have understood if He had added “and provide amusement for those who do not relish the Gospel.” No such words are to be found. It didn’t seem to occur to Him. He gave some apostles, some prophets, some pastors and teachers for the work of the ministry. Where do entertainers come in? The Holy Spirit is silent concerning them. Were the prophets persecuted because they amuse the people or because they refused? The concert has no martyr role. Again, providing amusement is in direct antagonism to the teaching and life of Christ and all the apostles. Had Christ introduced more of the bright and pleasant elements into His mission He would have been more popular when they went back because of the searching nature of His teaching. I do not hear Him say, ‘run after these people, Peter, and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow, something short and attractive with little preaching. We will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it. Be quick Peter, we must get the people somehow.’ Jesus pitied sinners; sighed and wept over them but never sought to amuse them. In vain will the epistles be searched to find any trace of the gospel of amusement,” and on it goes and some of you are familiar with this article. Feeding the Sheep or Amusing the Goats by Charles Spurgeon who died in 1892.

Nothing is new. The devil just keeps recycling the old stuff. I don’t have the exact date on the article but he died in 1892 so it was sometime before that he was saying, “The devil is doing something here. He is turning the church to have an emphasis on amusing with the idea this is how we will attract people and win them.” Here we are in our day, people writing books, Entertainment Evangelism and the church ought to be fun. And these are people that claim to be evangelicals. The evangelical church has bought this lock, stock and barrel as we would say. This is great. We are getting lots of people. That can’t be bad. I mean they got a lot of people at the Batman movie. They get a lot of people at Disneyland. Yes, that’s where we went and learned how to do it all. Now we just get them into a building called “the church.” But, it is no longer the church. It’s just another fun center.

So Paul reminding the church at Ephesus, “Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies,” and you better have on all the armor. Timothy, you are in a war. Remember it is God who has called you. It’s God who has gifted you.

So back in I Timothy chapter 1 – “You fight the good fight.” You war the good warfare. It is a tough situation.

Verse 19 – Timothy is encouraged to be “keeping faith and a good conscience.” You know the passage, “Hold fast to your faith.” And you are to live in light of that faith that you have in Christ to give you a good conscience. Paul said that goal was to maintain a good conscience; to do what would be pleasing to God in light of what God’s Word had said; keeping faith and a good conscience.

Now here’s the issue at Ephesus “which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.” They have rejected the good conscience and they have shipwrecked their faith. Their teaching and conduct have been corrupted.

In response to one of these books, another person writes a book showing “these people claiming that they change the method but not the message are not telling the truth.” When you change the methods proclaiming the truth you have changed the message.

I didn’t tell you that I was reading the article from today’s paper but why should I be any more discreet? This is from the Sunday World Herald, this morning; “Reaching with their preaching. Ministers are turning to pop music and social media to engage their congregations. A church band played the Eagle song, Desperado while the pastor preached on a winter morning.” I am not familiar with the Eagles, they are a singing group evidently and they have a song called “Desperado.” They are not a Christian singing group. “The pastor tied the song’s lyrics, ‘You better let somebody love you before it’s too late,’ to God’s love for all people. He regularly weaves pop music into his sermons to make his preaching more engaging.”

I don’t know if this man would fit into the realm of evangelical but the next quote is from an evangelical pastor of a larger evangelical church in the city up there. “If it’s not engaging they will check out,” said the pastor. It sounds like what Spurgeon wrote about, didn’t it, and his parody of “Peter, run after them. Tell them that we will do something more interesting tomorrow and they will enjoy it, it will be fun.”

The concern has turned away. You know the methods turn you away from the message. If it’s not engaging they will check out. Somehow we are to have the unbeliever love to come to our services where the truth is proclaimed when Jesus said the followers of the devil hate the truth because the devil hates the truth. Now how can we put this together? You see what we do in our methods. We deny the truth of what God says. Why should the unbeliever come? The follower of the devil, the one in whom there is no truth and his followers always do the will of their father the devil but they should enjoy coming to church at Indian Hills, those who hate the truth. What do we have to do? Well show them clips of popular movies and they say something general that we can get by because believers will recognize, “oh, that’s consistent with the Bible. Yeah, there’s enough truth there but not any truth that would offend the unbeliever so this is great, I love it. And believers sit there thinking this is wonderful, our church is full but the only One who has to be pleased is not pleased and that’s the One who owns the church. He purchased it with His own blood. It has to be done His way.

Alright, Timothy is to war the good warfare and he’s to be “keeping faith and a good conscience.” Hold on to his faith and the truth and live in light of it. A good conscience connects to the proper conduct. “Some have rejected this and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.” We are talking about those who professed faith. They did not live in light of the truth that they professed to believe and they made a shipwreck of their faith.

I say to you often, “bad theology always catches up to you.” It’s not well, they’re wrong and their theology is not right but nobody is perfect. Nobody has it all right. Give them credit. They are not going to Plato; they are not going to one of the pagan religions of the day. They are going to the Old Testament and the Mosaic Law. At least they are limiting their teaching to the confines of Scripture so we have a lot more in common with these men than we do with 99.5% of the people in our city. Let’s not get entangled in a battle with them over – should we keep the Mosaic Law or not or is it necessary to keep the Mosaic Law? I mean, we don’t have very many friends we can have this much in agreement with. We agree that the law is the Word of God.

Now Paul says they are including the law as part of what is required for salvation and sanctification is a denial of grace but we are broad enough to allow different opinions. No, the devil is good at using Scripture. If that’s what will soften up to people at Indian Hills we will send some people in there that can quote Scripture as well as they can. You know, we will be warm, we will be friendly and who wants to go to battle with their friends?

I remember John Whitcomb telling me what had happened at the seminary I graduated from. A false teacher came in and ended up destroying that seminary from my perspective. He began to invite the professors over to his home in the evenings and very warm and understanding and talked with them. I know you’ve got problems and issues that you have to deal with and I just want you to know I’m available to help and all. It come to the point that the men I had been taught the Word of God by just lost all perspective and he (John) ended up getting fired after 39 years of ministry for opposing it. What happens? The devil, don’t underestimate him. Once he gets his foot in the door he just doesn’t stand there with his foot in the door. He’s coming through. And when he comes through it’s not good. The best thing to do is get the foot out of the door.

I went to the doctor. This is just a false story, not true. Don’t start a rumor. I’d say you go to the doctor. He says, “Well, you’ve got a spot on your lung. It’s just a little bit.” Well, I’m not dealing with a little bit. I will be back when it gets big. No, you’ve got to deal with it when it’s a little bit. If you don’t deal with it when it’s a little bit you know what’s going to happen? It’s going to destroy your body.

Well, why can’t we grasp this as believers? Understand the truth is the truth. You suffer shipwreck with regard to your faith. That’s their business. They knew what shipwrecks were in those days. Paul had experienced multiple shipwrecks. He knew what it meant. The ship is destroyed. They have floated in the depths of the sea he said, for a night and a day holding onto a board. That is what is left. Where is the ship? It’s all torn apart and then he gives examples. “Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander;” evidently two men who would be well-known in the church at Ephesus. They are guilty of promoting error; “Whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they may be taught not to blaspheme.”

Hymenaeus and Alexander – Hymenaeus is an uncommon name and he appears in Paul’s second letter to Timothy. Turn over to 2 Timothy and you see things go from bad to worse. In his first letter, they were involved in the error of the law in trying to put believers under the law or those who would become believers tying them to be responsible to obey the law. In 2 Timothy, chapter 2 evidently he did not respond to the discipline he experienced. So in 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 16 Paul telling Timothy again: “But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some.” You know what the solution to this is? Verse 15: “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the Word of God.” You wonder what the devil does is soften up the church; no longer seriously grappling with the Word. You don’t come to the church with the idea of applying yourself diligently to knowing and understanding what God said. It’s not that we are to soften up and we just have a general knowledge of Biblical things then the error comes in because it’s hard to discern it because they are using Scripture. We use Scripture, what’s wrong with it? You have to be able to handle accurately the Word. So now Hymenaeus has not only been misusing the law; now he’s denying the reality of the bodily resurrection; so bad theology always catches up to you. It spreads and it has been effective. He’s upsetting the faith of some. Some believers have gotten entangled in this.

It amazes me what the church believes and accepts. I shake my head. I read an article to my first hour class this morning. This is an evangelical man who ministered in this city. How did he get in this condition? What in the world is he thinking?

So that’s Hymenaeus. Alexander was a common name. There are at least four Alexanders mentioned in the New Testament. One will be in this second letter of Paul in chapter 4, Alexander the coppersmith but we have no way of knowing the connection with any of these men. But there are two men who are guilty of teaching the error of chapter 1, the misuse. Paul said, “I have handed them over to Satan.”

Come over to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Here you have a man living in immorality in the church at Corinth and the church did nothing. The church did nothing! “Well you know, everybody sins.” What are you going to do? Verse 5: “I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your boasting is not good.” I mean they were proud of their tolerance.

“We are an open church. I mean we are not going to get into people’s personal lives. We are not going to get caught up with trying to deal with sin in this person and this person, that’s you know just not…” Paul says that is not acceptable and this will spread. A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. “Clean out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened.” That’s who you are, God’s people called together. That doesn’t mean we are sinless. We are not a people practicing sin and accepting the practice of sin as acceptable.

In verse 9: “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I didn’t mean with the immoral people of this world, or the covetous and swindlers,” now you’d have to leave the world. We might say, “Oh, I have to work with the most sinful people.” Well, that‘s the world we live in. “But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called a brother.” That’s all he can deal with, their claim. They claim to be a believer but they are living in sin. “An immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater,” and so on, “don’t even eat with such a one.” I am not concerned with judging outsiders, those outside the church, the unbelieving world. How many Christians caught up? They will pour themselves into trying to get the world to clean up their conduct. Well I don’t have anything to do with judging the world. “Don’t you judge those in the church? Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.” How many churches do you know practice church discipline? You know what happens when we discipline someone – they just go and join another evangelical church; acceptable there. What does that say? That church says they believe the Bible, they think it’s alright. This church must be exceptionally narrow and unloving and unkind. “Remove them.” That’s what Paul says. I’d put them out; didn’t change his influence. Some people still want to maintain their connections. They still want to maintain their friendship. They keep open to that influence and so Hymenaeus was able to unsettle the faith of some as his theology went from bad to worse. How can believers be confused? The church at Corinth got confused over the doctrine of the resurrection. Paul had to write I Corinthians 15. “How can some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead?” You know what happens? Christians aren’t clear and don’t have themselves grounded in the Word; don’t hold on to it. So he has turned this man over.

Back in I Timothy 1: “So that they may be taught not to blaspheme.” The hope of church discipline as Paul said in I Corinthians 5 is that the Spirit may be saved in the day of judgment. What happens when a person is put out of the church? They are put out into the realm of the devil. This is the family of God. You are no longer accepted in the family of God. Now you are out there and I take it that allows the devil to have greater freedom with that person and it can bring various kinds of problems. You say I know people who were disciplined. Nothing ever happens. That probably indicates something about their true spiritual condition. They never were believers. Some person who was disciplined here many years ago, some of you knew and she gave testimony to it. I believe there were four of us disciplined at the time, I came back and you know what? I believe that I was the only one that’s truly a believer among the group because I was the only one troubled out there, miserable every day but it didn’t matter to them. And for that perspective of this person they could see for me as a believer this is terrible. I need to be back with the people of God but those people didn’t care.

So here they are taught not to blaspheme. It doesn’t look good for Hymenaeus. He didn’t learn anything. We get to Paul’s second letter and he’s promoting the teaching that there is no resurrection of the dead. So for a true believer the discipline is to be remedial if you will and to bring them to their senses to the seriousness of this and the church is representing here, the truth of God and what God says must be done.

You see why Paul has to encourage Timothy. They had difficult things. These are men who have a foothold in the church. It’s going to be a battle to get them out and by the second letter Hymenaeus is still having influence. It’s not an easy task given to Timothy. Not an easy task given to the church. But it’s not my church. It’s not your church. It’s the church of the living God. This is His family so we join together in responsibility in dealing with error whenever it comes.

Alright, let’s have a word of prayer and we will be ready for our next study that carries us into specific areas of what God would have us do. Let’s pray. Thank You Lord for Your Word. Lord what a rich privilege is ours, what a great blessing that You have called us to salvation in Christ. You have called us together as Your people in this place. You bless us with the riches of Your Word; that fellowship of like-minded believers; the ministry that we share together and the exercising of the gifts that You graciously have given to each one of us so that we might mature and function together as Your body in this place. Lord we would be faithful to the truth. We would love the truth with all our hearts. We would hold onto the truth and where necessary we will stand and battle against error in defense of the truth and above all we would maintain our faith and a good conscience as we serve You. Bless us in our service in the days of the week before us. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen