so today I'm going to start a series of sermons in the book of 1st Timothy so you can open your Bible in the book of 1st Timothy chapter 1 but we'll be reading from verses 1 to 20 again 1st Timothy chapter 1 verses 1 to 20 it says Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by command of God, our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, our hope, to Timothy, my true child in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus, our Lord. As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charges loves the issues from a pure heart and good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. Now we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. Understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine. in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. I thank Him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because He judged me faithful, appointed me to His service. Though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and an insolent opponent, but I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I receive mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display His perfect patience and as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith in a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Gimeneos and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they may learn not to blaspheme. Amen. Now, with our smartphones, we have We have access to information wherever we go. The wide range of resources. Websites, podcasts, YouTube, you name it. Which is a good thing. Which is a very good thing. But with the advance of the internet and this wide access that we have to so many information, The truth is that we do have some good resources out there, but we also do have some bad, false, and false teaching, and bad resource out there. Which leaves us as pastors always thinking, whether people are listening to whom they are following, because it matters. It matters whom we are listening to. So, and this is a concern that we have for the church, and I think I can say this for Damon and I, we have a concern for our people. We are concerned for what they are listening to, whom they are following. And what we see in this letter to Timothy, we see Paul's concern for the church at Ephesus. We see that he's concerned for the true doctrine, whom they are listening to. And he named two false leaders in the church. Scholars agree that these leaders, they were leaders that arose from within the church. So we see clearly, Paul encouraging Timothy to fight the good warfare of faith, meaning to preach the true doctrine and oppose the false gospel. So I guess that you have my main point on the slide. So before we dive in, let me just pray for us, and let's take a look on this text. But before, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we are thankful for this day, and we are thankful to be here. Lord, we just sang, show us Christ. Reveal Yourself through Your Word. Give us ears to listen to Your Word, spiritual years, Lord, and give us the capacity through the power of your Holy Spirit to apply what we listen to, Lord. Lord, give me grace to preach your word as I ought to preach, Lord. Lord, we pray these things in the name of our son, Jesus. Amen. So the book, the first letter to Timothy, as it says, it's a personal letter. Timothy was a disciple and a close friend to Paul. And this letter is marked by instruction and ministry application. In this letter, Paul encouraged Timothy, like I said, to teach God's word. Paul himself, he pastored the church in Ephesus for almost three years. And when he left, he put Timothy in charge to take over the church. So he had a big, huge task on his shoulders. Like I said, one of the biggest concerns for Paul was that Timothy would devote himself to the sound doctrine, to preach the gospel. He's concerned for the integrity and the simplicity of the gospel. Some false leaders whom he named in this letter were teaching a different doctrine. A doctrine contrary to what Paul proclaimed during his three years of ministry among the Ephesians. So Paul wrote this letter, this epistle to spur Timothy to wage the warfare of faith and to oppose false doctrine, false teaching. And Paul shows Timothy in this letter that false teaching is an issue, not only of doctrine, but also of living. Those two things are connected. And Paul proves to Timothy here, and he calls his attention to this. And this is the first thing that I want to share with you, that false teaching is an issue of living and doctrine. In this letter, Paul does something very unusual. He named the false teachers. He named the horses, as we say, right? Gimeneos and Alexander. And the scholars agree that these men were leaders in the church. So there's no doubt about it. So in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 17, Paul reminds Timothy that Gimeneos and Alexander had fallen away from the truth, from truth. And he compares their speech with a disease that spreads quickly in a deadly way. For Paul, one thing is clear. These leaders, they have an issue. They have an issue with the true gospel, but they also have an issue in applying the gospel. So if they... It's kind of an obvious thing. If they have an issue with the true doctrine, how are they going to apply it? What kind of application they would have from a false doctrine? None. Or a wrong application. And just to... To make it clear, true doctrine here is the compound of the whole apostolic teaching handed down from Jesus to the apostles. It's not talking specific doctrine, but the whole teaching of the apostles. So in the end of the day, these false leaders, they had an issue with the scriptures. And Paul is warning Timothy. not to engage in debates with these leaders, in conversations about endless genealogies and myths, which it seems that these false leaders are inclined to. Paul made it very clear that these leaders were inclined to these endless debates and speculations about the laws and traditions and so many other things. and at the end of the day produces no good to the hearers. So Paul is urging Timothy, and in some translations says, commanding him to charge this man openly, if necessary, not to teach any other doctrine except the doctrine of Christ, the true doctrine. And Timothy used to do that for a very simple reason. Because these kinds of discussions only promote more speculations rather than godliness. In other words, it does no spiritual good for them or for others. It promotes no spirituality. It promotes no growth, but more and more discussions. Paul called these debates, vain discussions. And it seems that these leaders, they love to engage themselves with this kind of endless and vain discussions. And Timothy, as the pastor of this church, He is to oppose and avoid this endless, profitless discussions while maintaining his integrity and a good conscience before God. Paul says in verse 5 that our charge, the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart. This is not a carte blanche for Timothy to be mean and rude, but also not an excuse for him to hide behind the banner of love and be silent, but to clearly teach the right doctrine. Paul is encouraging Timothy to be bold and lead the church in truth and love, and not to shy away from his call to exercise an oversight over the church, to lead the congregation. And this was not an easy task for Timothy, who, it seems, had a more timid and less confrontational personality. Knowing this, knowing his disciple very well, Paul tells Timothy in verse 19, engage the warfare of faith while maintaining integrity in his teaching ministry. Paul is convinced that these two men have strayed and wandered away from the truth. Their desire to be recognized as teachers of the law shows that their hearts were out of place. These teachers were after the prestige that the Jewish rabbis enjoy in the first century. Their desire is to promote the self, not Jesus. Very contrary to what John the Baptist said, right? He must increase and I must decrease, right? In Paul's view, their confident remarks and assertions about the gospel and the law were not only wrong, but they didn't even understand what they were saying or what they were talking about. And this comes from a man who studied under the best scholars of his time, the best rabbis of his time, or the most influential teachers of his time. I remember right when we came to U.S., almost 13 years ago, in our former church, we were part of a Bible study in the middle of the week. And on that specific night, a young man, he was leading the Bible study, and I did not know him. And later they told me, and I learned that night actually, that he was a very controversial man. I'm not even sure why they gave him an opportunity to teach. But experience that I had that day was not very good. It seems that his concern was not to teach the text or to keep the subject in view, but just to bring about controversies. which he did very well. And I remember walking away from that meeting with a bitter taste in my mouth. And the only thing I remember is the controversy. And how it seems his demeanor was that he was enjoying that kind of sort of debate. And I was young in my faith. But I remember more experienced believers in that meeting just correcting his wrong understanding. But the damage that meaning in those controversial and not so right remarks that he made, it stayed with me for quite some time. But what caught my attention that night, even though I was a young believer, was that his teaching was devoid of grace and gospel application. It was devoid of something tangible, and it was devoid of what we call sound doctrine. And I'm not talking about an eloquent lecture on something, but a simple gospel truth application in teaching. On the contrary, I just remember this debate and his demeanor in enjoying these things that did not promote any good that night. And I'm not saying that he's a false teacher. I'm just saying that his propensity to engage in these endless conversations about things that are not necessarily our truth or necessarily our gospel applications was very clear to me after that as I built a sort of relationship with him because we had a common friend. And a few years later down the road, he invited me to his marriage. And unfortunately, short after they divorced, I do not know what happened. My point is, what caught my attention that night and what false teachers I know about, they love to call attention to themselves. They, and especially because of their knowledge, or apologetic skills, or their eloquence. But in the end of the day, they enjoy a talk about themselves, about controversial things, because that's what they are after, to promote the self, not to promote the true gospel. And one thing is for sure, the false teaching has the potential to spread like a wildfire and raise supporters in the church. Hymenaeus and Alexander were a threat because they arose within the church, went astray from the truth, and now are influencing others inside of the church. And Paul is saying to Timothy, you must oppose their teaching by preaching the true gospel, but also charge them not to teach any other gospel. Since we cannot separate We cannot separate the man or these two men from their teaching in a sense. They were a threat to the local congregation, to its unity and purity. That's why Paul is telling that you must teach the true gospel, oppose their teaching, and charge them openly if necessary, because you cannot separate the two things, the person from their teaching. And everything in this letter leads us to conclude that Paul intended this epistle to be read to the whole church. Paul meant to give names to the whore so that everybody might be aware of who they are. It might be harsh, but when we think about the unit of the church around the gospel, and how the Lord and how Paul views it as central to the life of the church, I don't think so. They were clearly and openly opposing Paul's teaching. So the question is, what does this mean to us? Well, it means that the local pastors have an important and difficult job to carry on First, we must make sure that our teaching is according to the sound doctrine, so that we may equip our people to recognize and reject false teaching, but also we must not shy back in opposing and exposing false teaching and false teachers. False leaders have an issue with the Scripture, and more than that, have a bigger issue in applying the gospel. Some might be good in their doctrinal, might be good in... Some may preach a very good doctrine. And that's what is very challenging about false teaching. They have this package of good doctrine. And some can even say good things about the gospel and true things. But false teaching is devoid of personal application. False teaching is devoid of living it out or believing in what they say. This passage also leads me to ask this. Whom are you following? Whom are you following? To whom do you really listen to? To whom do you give the best of your time to listen to? Like I said, with our smartphones, right? We can listen to anyone we want, anytime, anywhere. With 5G, right? It's just wonderful. Whom are you following? In an age where anybody can start a podcast or a YouTube channel and teach about the Bible, the question is, are they worth following or listening to? I've been in contact with so many pastors from all over the U.S. because of my trainings and conferences that I attended in the past three years. And one thing is clear from my conversations with them, they're all concerned about whom their people are following and listening to. I do not want to be a hypocrite. I do listen to podcasts and YouTube tutorials. Not Joe Rogan or Shapiro. And if you listen to, I'm not saying you should not. I'm just saying that I think there are better things for you to listen to out there. Just a personal opinion. But there is good stuff out there. That's my point. I don't want to be a hypocrite. There is good stuff out there. However, these places should not be your primary means by which you receive instruction. I will rephrase, this place must not be your primary places that you receive instruction. If it is, I plead with you, think about it. Think about it, what are your primary sources that you receive instruction? I do not give the best of my time to listen to podcasts. Because true instruction in biblical terms requires gospel application. And this is the very thing you would not get from YouTubers and podcasts. And this is exactly what you and I need. I mean, they might tell you how to apply a passage. But the main point is that in the context of the local church, it is the place where sound doctrine and gospel application meet. You're not going to get this any other place. So interesting that in our age, we tend to have a lower, a very low view of the local congregation. But this is the place exactly where the Lord is leading people to salvation, preaching the gospel, and teaching you how to live life according to Jesus' commands. With all its flaws and imperfections. This is your primary means. Of course, God's Word teaches that this is your primary means that you are fed. But your local congregation, you must have a higher view of your local congregation. It is in this context of the local congregation, where truth is proclaimed, and where we see sinners striving together to live out the truth of the gospel for the glory of Jesus Christ, and we are shaping each other. You are a great encouragement for me, the same way that I know that I'm an encouragement for you, and vice versa. In the context of the local congregation, the gospel is colorful, not black and white. It is seasoned with spices and salt. for meat lovers out there like me. Think about the ribeye right now. Maybe you are hungry. Let me just help you. Think about the ribeye with the perfect cooking temperature right now. Pink inside, brownish outside. You know, that perfect. With mashed potatoes, some vegetables on the side, Now as you slice it and take a piece of it and put it in your mouth, and you realize there's no salt, and there's nowhere to get salt, that would be a horrible thing, right? It would be hard even to finish that bite. And as you think, wow, this could be a perfect meal if there's just a little bit of salt in it. I think, in a similar way, podcasts and YouTube videos or whatever it might be, it can give a wonderful meal, apparently, with some flavor in it. But salt, you will find only in the local congregation. And salt here is an analogy for gospel application. Gospel application gives taste and flavor to Christian living. It helps you to see that we are all battling the flesh. You're always striving to live according to the gospel of Christ, which is a full-time calling. You cannot do this on yourself, on your own. You see, the local church is full of flavor. And this congregation, I think, is wonderful. The diversity here, it's something, it's so tangible and it's beautiful. different people from different parts of the world, from different backgrounds, different ages, all coming together to live out the gospel. You're not going to get this any other place. You can get a membership on whatever might be out there. But you just remember, right, you pay for your tuitions. Here, you don't pay for your tuitions and you're called to responsibly leave out the gospel according to your proclamation of, according to your faith. Local congregation. A body of redeemed sinners. Praise the Lord for local congregation. You know what is interesting is that the other guy on the other side of the screen or the podcaster, they're flawless and blameless, right? You don't see anything wrong. They're teaching so good. And as you were recording this, if I would record a podcast, I would probably have to Working on you know when you record something you can go back and delete and record again So that you can have the perfect you know lecture presentation And when you listen to it is so good But here in the local congregation your leaders your brothers and sisters Their life are an open book for all to see Their mistakes They are flawed people. They don't have all the answers. And this should not be a hindrance for you to join a local congregation or to engage in the life of the local congregation, but an invitation for you to be more active. Dive deep into the life of the local church, because here we are striving to apply the gospel to our lives. Yes, we are concerned for the sound doctrine, but we are concerned to apply what we are listening to our hearts. Isn't that wonderful that God acts through us, flawed people? And he's preaching the gospel. He's talking about building up his kingdom through flawed people. So that the glory might be to Jesus. Another thing that we see here is a sub point. The false teaching is marked by the improper use of the law. In verse 8 tonight, Paul talks about the law and reminds Timothy that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. What does he mean? Well, in view of the false teachers who love controversies and make improper use of the law, Paul explains its real intended purpose. Paul talks about the issue of the law in greater detail in Galatians 3 and Romans 7. So, and Paul explains that basically the law has two purposes. To restrain sin and to expose it. By exposing sin, the law reveals the sinner's guilt and by disobeying God's command and thereby deserving hell and eternal condemnation. While also showing their need of a savior. Now, if the law is used properly, it will convict sinners of their sins and lead them to cast themselves upon God's mercy. Paul tells us that the law was a tutor meant to lead us and to prepare us to Christ, not a master whom we are to live under its demands and obligations. through faith in Jesus. Because His perfect obedience to the law, His righteousness is imputed on our credit, on our behalf. And in Him will become righteousness before God. That's the purpose of the law, to point us to our incapacity to fulfill, to obey the law. Why it also points us to Jesus. And Paul also tells us the law is meant to punish evildoers and lawbreakers and also for the protection of society. In verse 9 to 10, Paul puts a list of specific sins to illustrate his point. Murderers, sexual immorality, homosexuality and so on. What is clear to us is that the law exposes sin but cannot save anyone. Those who live under the law are still in bondage of sin and under condemnation. Gimenez and Alexander were making an improper use of the law in their teaching, which is something good given by God. That's Paul's reasoning here. The law is good if one uses it properly, but they were making a wrong use of the law in their teaching. A few weeks ago, I had this conversation with this Muslim guy about the gospel, and it was a very good interaction. And I was just trying to show him, I was trying to use the law, the Ten Commandments, basically, to show him that he's a sinner. As much as he wants to be a good man, in the end of the day, he's not. And then, as I was trying to show him, he came to the conclusion and said, yeah, yeah, I'm a sinner, but you are a sinner as well. I said, yes, I am. Yes, I am, bro. And then I asked him, so why should you go to heaven if you are a sinner? He said, well, but I'm doing good works. Basically, his reasoning was if he does one good work, it will outweigh 10 sins. That was his reasoning. And then I tried to show him how Jesus portrays things, not just in a behavior or an attitude, but even your thinking. He kind of disagreed and agreed. But in the end of the conversation, I said to him, well, so you are your Savior then. Because if you have to do all these works to outweigh your sins, it means that you are your Savior. He said, no. He said, no, that's exactly what you're saying. You are your Savior. Then we continued our conversation, and right at the end of the conversation, I said, listen, bro, you are not your Savior. You need a Savior. We came to the conclusion that you are a sinner, and you cannot save yourself, so you need a Savior. So I just lapped him with that, hoping that he would think about it, And the Lord would use that to change his heart. I think some of us, we may have a fairly good understanding of faith and grace, which is wonderful. The gospel is simple, right? There's nothing complicated. It calls sinners to repent of their sins and put their faith in Christ. But we as human beings, we like to complicate things. My concern is that over the years, we might be tempted to add things to the gospel, not as a requirement to salvation, but as things to make us more spiritual, or things that make us look more conservative or more orthodox. Just an example, if you wear certain types of clothing, Or if you read certain altars, or attend certain seminaries and conferences, listen to certain preachers, read certain websites, or you are considered, if you do these things, you are considered more or less reformed, or not to say more or less spiritual. I'm afraid that as we grow in our faith and we grasp or we have at least an understanding of faith and grace, we tend to over the years add things. And as people want a new covenant, we need to be careful not to add to the simplicity of the gospel and to make sure that we also make a proper use of the law. The law is meant to lead sinners to Christ. We are not called to live under the boundage of the law. The law reminds us that we are not our own saviors, that we need a savior. We need to be careful not to add works to our faith. You see, the issue is not that we start well, we start with faith, but then over the years we add works to our faith. Then we walk backwards. Friends, we need to be careful. The gospel is simple. The gospel of Christ is simple and yet powerful. The Lord said it is by faith. Let us live by faith. The second thing that I want to show you is a short Point, my second point, that the beauty of the gospel displayed in our salvation, in your salvation. From verses 12 to 17, Paul gives a testimony of his own salvation. It is a short reflection on the mercy of God and God's sovereign purpose in saving him. Before Paul came to the Lord, he described himself as a blasphemer, a persecutor of the church. But God, being rich in mercy, saved him from his unbelief and ignorance. And now his life is a wonderful testimony of God's mercy, patience, and love through Jesus. And in verse 12, the ESV reads, Because he judged me faithfully. Just pay attention to this. In verse 12, the ESV reads, "...because he judged me faithful and appointed me to his service." It gives the impression that God saved Paul because he was a good man. But this would contradict the whole passage. What Paul is trying to say is that among all people, God chose not only to save, but also to call him to be a minister of the gospel. The former persecutor now is a disciple, an apostle in this amazing spot. It blows his mind. He chose me? I was a persecutor of the church? It's just, right? Paul's wonder in the mercy and grace of God is a strong contrast to the false teachers who turned away from faith and love and strayed from the true gospel. In other words, the false leaders, they lost their wonder for the gospel. Their wonder for the miracle of salvation and they strayed away from the truth. Perhaps most of us will know we don't have a powerful testimony of conversion like Paul. My conversion was very simple, something no extraordinary. I didn't see any angel from heaven. I was 23 years old, and I was in this Saturday night sort of young couples, fellowship, no preaching that day. We just had fellowship, we sang some songs, and in the end we made a big circle and we were praying. And as I look around, everybody was praying, and I remember the words coming from my mouth like, I surrender, Lord. Those are the words that I said, I surrender. And after that, I remember being overcome by the presence of the Holy Spirit and falling on my knees. If you know me, I'm always crying very easily, even watching soap opera. Sometimes it's embarrassing. Even though I'm getting over it, I'm getting older, so it doesn't matter anymore. But still, that doesn't change. I'm still crying. I'm doing better, actually, especially in front of the church. Well, at least I'm trying to. But, you know, and I have no doubt that that night I was converted. And I remember, you know, almost drowning in my own tears and soaked in tears. But it was a simple conversion. No preaching. I just prayed and said, Lord, I surrendered and I was converted. And some of you may have a simple testimony of conversion. But I want you to think about this, it does not make it less powerful. Your conversion is a powerful testimony of God's grace in your life. Do not lose the wonder of the gospel and the miracle of your salvation. Regardless if you are 30, 20, 15, a month in faith, do not lose the wonder of God in your life. The fact that we are called children of God in itself is a miracle. Do you think you deserve? Do you think you deserve to be here? Do you think you deserve to be called children of God? I don't think so. I don't deserve it. On the contrary, I live a life of dishonoring the Lord. And yet He called me to salvation. He called you to salvation. And perhaps He's calling you right now to salvation. What is your answer? What is your response? Regardless of your testimony of conversion, if you saw an angel or not, Let this be a constant reminder to you of God's active grace in your life. Do not lose the wonder of the gospel. Do not grow tired of it. Because the day that you grow tired of the gospel and lose wonder of it, you are one step away from falling away from the truth. Be careful not to distance yourself from God's Word and the means of grace and the life of the local church. The Lord has appointed this local body to build you up, to keep you on track, to encourage you, to lift you up when you need. to protect you from your own sinful heart, from the devil, from the world. We do that by coming together. In verse 17, Paul ends his reflection on God's sovereign act and His salvation with a thanksgiving and praise. And of course, there's no other way. When you think about the gospel, when you think, just look at me for a moment. When you think about the gospel, the thing about His salvation, His power in your life, that He's working in your family, there's no other way than not to come to our knees and praise Him and give Him thanksgiving. We ought to praise Him. Not just because today is Sunday, but because He's active in our life every day. Do not lose the wonder of it. Look at the way Paul ends in verse 17. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. this aged and experienced minister of God's Word, reflecting 30 years past in his conversion. And he continues to, when he reflects about it, he continues to come to his knees and to give praise to the Lord. He couldn't help himself in this letter, in his writings. Friends, be careful. Your heart is deceitful. Do not grow apathetic, indifferent. cold towards the gospel. Guard and nurture your heart carefully so that you may not lose the sight of God's grace in his gospel. And just be reminded of this, one of the seven letters given to the churches in the book of Revelation, the first letter was given to the church in Ephesus. And the Lord says to this church, He commends them to expose the false apostles, as John says in chapter 2. And then the Lord commends them for exposing false apostles because they hold fast to the truth. But He rebukes them for abandoning their first love. He rebukes them for abandoning their first love. You know what it tells us? That growing up in knowledge is a wonderful thing. But the flip side of that is the danger of growing cold and apathetic towards Jesus, His work, His words in the church. The flip side of the coin. We must guard our hearts and strive to grow in our affections for the Lord. Our affections for the Lord. Of course, I wanted to grow in knowledge. The Lord has given us mind to it. But I wanted to grow in our affections and love for Jesus. In the same proportion. And it is possible. But we must guard our hearts. And I would like to conclude saying this. This letter reminds us that the good warfare of faith, as Paul calls it, the good warfare of faith, It's a fight for gospel purity, sound doctrine, and the proper use of the scriptures while avoiding profitless and vain discussions. The pastors, as well as the church, have an important job to do to keep the gospel unstained. Listen to me. If you missed the whole sermon, I'm giving the conclusion now. If you're sleeping, you can get this and take it home. Those who love Jesus should be concerned with gospel integrity and purity. But first and foremost, we all must be concerned about applying its truths and commandments to our lives so that we may not swerve from the truth like Gimenael and Alexander. That's our call. Let us pray.