Please open your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 1. We'll begin at verse 3. That's page 991 in your pew Bibles. 1 Timothy chapter 1, beginning at verse 3. Before I read, when a person comes to know Jesus Christ, as their Lord and Savior. One of the first things he or she needs to do is to find a Bible-believing church, a Bible-believing church, a place where they can come alongside other brothers and sisters and worship the Lord God, learning how to love sacrificially and be loved by others who are given that Christ-like sacrificial love. And unfortunately, this can prove to be a difficult task. Going back a few decades in my search to find a church like this, I came across churches that loved doctrine, but their love for people was lacking. And then there were other churches that loved people, but their doctrine was heretical. And I knew both forms of worship would be unhealthy for my family, because they didn't match what I was reading in the Bible. Whether it's the Book of Acts, as you're seeing the church in its infancy, the local body, in its infancy, early stages, or the pastoral epistles of 1st Timothy, 2nd Timothy, and Titus. It just didn't match because I needed a church where my family could grow. A place where my wife could see other women and how they serve God. Older women could come alongside her and teach her of the proper ways of being a wife and being a daughter of God and a place where my children even could see other children worshipping God and learn to love God properly. So I had to search diligently for a place like this. Unfortunately also as many people give up. they give up and they say well there are no good churches in my area and we know that's not true we know that if there was something of tangible value that they could spend to make their lives better in the immediate future they would keep searching until they found this but the more value you place on God and knowing God the more diligent you will be to find a place of worship A church that would teach people how they ought to behave in the household of God. a living church, a church that is the pillar and buttress of the truth. And that scripture which comes out of 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 15 is what we are to aim at. That's what we are to look for. So Pastor Matt last week gave a great introduction And he named this series, and we all agree, Doctrine and Life in the Church. We thought that was a fitting name for the series that we'll be doing over the next three months, God willing. So knowing how easy it was for a faithful church to stray off course and become shipwrecked, the Holy Spirit led the Apostle Paul to pen this letter. So this morning what I'm going to do, I'm going to try first not to mess it up where Pastor Matt started off and guide us through verses 3 through 11 as I pick up on the wonderful overview that Pastor Matt gave as he spoke on authority, instruction, and grace from this lovely letter. And when we talk about true doctrine and true love, which we will see, you must have that if you're going to have a house full of people who have inherited true salvation, eternal salvation. There must be right thinking and right behaving in the household of God. So my three points this morning, those three points that Henry fights against whenever he teaches Sunday school, my three points are staying on course with true doctrine, My second point is staying on course with true love. And my third point is staying on course with true salvation. Staying on course. So follow along as I read 1 Timothy chapter 1 verses 3 through 11. As I urge 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 the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a 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. Let us pray. Father, this is your house. We want to follow your house rules accurately and faithfully. Help us to bring honor to you in this house which was built upon the rock who is Christ. the solid foundation on which we stand. Please use me Lord to glorify you, to raise up Christ, to get out of the way. In Jesus name we pray, amen. Point number one, staying on course with true doctrine. In his opening charge to Timothy, the first thing Paul says in verse 3 is to charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine. Even before the Apostle Paul left Ephesus, he started the expulsion of two of those false teachers. Hymenaeus and Alexander. You see that in verse 20 once again. Why would he do that? Why was he going through these steps? Because they were teaching a different doctrine. A totally different doctrine and they made shipwreck of their faith. The phrase certain persons implies that the false teachers were few in number, but they had a wide influence. As scripture tells us in other places, such as 1 Corinthians 5, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. For example, about three weeks ago, I heard a pastor that I would listen to from time to time teach something I believe is heretical. He was saying that there are numerous reasons a Christian may seek divorce. He said whether it's emotional or material neglect, God doesn't want you stuck in that situation. What? Well, I couldn't believe what I was hearing, because as a counselor who has sat before many unhappily married couples, I was cringing at the unbiblical and ungodly teaching that was coming from his mouth as he twisted scripture after scripture to make his points. And this guy has thousands of followers, and so he can't even imagine how many families that he affected by what he was saying, if emotional. and material neglect was a reason, a biblical reason to get divorced, I believe every Christian at some point in their marriage would have a reason to get divorced. Because throughout the course of marriage, you are going to hit some rough patches, right? Just to put it out there for all you people who are pining, you young people who can't wait to get married. I want you to realize that. You will have some rough patches. You have two sinners coming together Trying to sacrifice in ways they've never had to sacrifice before. And because we're sinners, there will be times when you fail to meet the emotional and material needs of your partner. Right? But the more we learn to be like Christ. The more we learn to sacrifice, the more we learn that our immediate happiness and joy isn't the first thing on the list, but God's glory. The more we learn to be imitators of God as beloved children and to walk in love, right, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. The more we learn to do that, the less the friction. Why? Because it takes two people to cause friction. The less will be this person who needs everything they desire first. The more we learn to look to God, the more we learn to take hits because we are understanding it doesn't have to be our way. The more we do this, the more we look like Christ, the more we stand strong in our marriage. Yes, through the times of marriage, it will be rocky. However, for every married couple, I believe you will agree that when marriage is working right, and you guys are on one accord, there's just about nothing on Earth better than that. Can I get an amen? Amen. Oh, wow. You shocked me. I said that about two years ago, and I think I got one. Amen. Praise the Lord. Why is a working marriage one of the best things on Earth? because it's a reflection of Christ and his bride, the church. And even though we, the church, have our moments of selfishness and unchristlikeness, Jesus, our husband, said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. And then he says, behold, I am always with you even to the end of the age. And I'm like, me? Even me? Yes, Michael. I am always with you, always. How long, Lord? Till the end of the age. Get that picture in your mind and let it stay there. It's not performance based. People say there are so many different religions. No, there's only two. There's one that's by grace and grace alone, and then everything else. Everything else is performance based. Unfortunately, some people sitting in the church, not this church though, but in some churches, you ask them, are you going to heaven? And they'll say, I hope so. What are they saying? If I'm good, I'll make it. But if I'm bad, I won't. How do you find that line? How do you find when you're good? If you're good at 3 o'clock and bad at 3 or 1, what happens? We can't live like that. We have to trust what Christ has done. It is finished in Christ. But someone teaching falsely, even on the doctrine of marriage, can do so much damage to the body of Christ. And one of the areas where the false teachers in Ephesus spent their time was in telling myths, especially concerning the genealogies from the Old Testament. You see that in verse 4? Right, Paul here is alluding to the legends and the fanciful stories they manufactured from elements of Judaism. allegorical and fictitious interpretations of Old Testament genealogical lists. And Philo, the Jewish historian, had a lot to do with that, the Jewish philosopher. They brought some of his teachings into the church. But what made it attractive is that in the midst of that, you had some very wise saints. Some very wise saints. And so you mix that together with some big words that normal people don't use and you use a booming confident voice and it sounds believable. And you can just imagine the impressionable young Christians may have been like, what? That's awesome. And if these teachings were allowed to continue in the church, Christianity may have been diminished in that local body of believers, and Judaism may have been exalted. It may have flourished, and it could have created a reverence for Jewish customs and ceremonies in the eyes of the ordinary Gentile convert. So it had to be eradicated from the church. These false teachers were presenting these tales as God's truth. But essentially, they were deviationists who wandered or swerved from the faith and wanted to lead the sheep down that same path. They were acting as if they wouldn't be held accountable for the things they were teaching, as if the one who has created the eye doesn't see clearly. And as if the one who has created the ear doesn't hear the best. As if the scriptures don't say, let not many of you be teachers because you will inherit a stricter judgment. before anyone gets up into the pulpit before God's people or before anybody, as a matter of fact, and say, this is what God is saying, they better hold up a minute and double check, triple check to make sure they're not teaching heresy. Paul even warned the church in Philippi of these things, of these types of shysters and false teachers, when he said in Philippians chapter 3, verses 18 and 19, For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their God is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. See, it's with subtleness that the false teacher uses. The same subtleness as Satan crept up to Eve and began telling her things she wanted to hear. Isn't that lovely? Yes, it is pleasing to the eyes. Yes, it is good for food. And he gets you looking at other things that please your flesh. things that are not quite God-like, but not, it doesn't seem that bad, but if it's going against the word of God, it is bad. He's on his way to hell, and he's taking as many as he can with him. The false teachers, the ones who come smiling and telling you those things that you want to hear, they are wolves in sheep's clothing, the scripture tells us. So Paul urges Timothy to stay on course. Stay on course with true doctrine by charging certain persons not to teach any different doctrine. Doctrine matters. Doctrine is just another word for teaching. When you take a young person and you teach them the traditions of men, and the doctrine of demons. As they grow older, many of them will hold on to those old false doctrines as if they are fact. Even years after they have stopped going to church, they will repeat those things that they learned as a small boy. They still remember. Having wrong doctrine affects everything. And anyone who has spent any amount of time evangelizing, whether in your home, whether at the picnic, whatever, the barbecue, whatever, on your job, if you have spent any amount of time witnessing, you have heard people come back and tell you, Jesus isn't God, he's a prophet, or he's a god, because that's what their former religion taught them. not realizing their former religion was using a corrupted translation of the scriptures, but because they saw it there and never double-checked. That's what they remember. He's a god with a small g. Having the wrong doctrine will affect the way you think, the way you speak, what you believe to your core. If you believe, for instance, in a god, small g, that created the world but left it, just had nothing else to do with it, like many of the founding fathers were deists, that's what it's called, and just went on your way That would have an effect on what you say and what you do, right? Because now there's no accountability. I'm not accountable to anybody. I can do whatever I want. However, if you believe in a God, who knows all things and that not even a sparrow will fall to the ground apart from his providence and that even the hairs on your head are all numbered by God that makes a difference. Because if he cares about the sparrow, you have to know that you are of more value than many sparrows, Matthew 10, 3. And if he knows the numbers of hairs on my head, on your head, then he knows you intimately because those numbers are changing rapidly as you get older. You know he's paying attention. He's involved to the smallest details of your life, truly believing that will make a difference in what you say, how you treat people, the things you do. Daily, when nobody's watching, it will make a difference because he's watching. He's there. And in his providence, he's working in your life. So you're not alone. This thing that happened to you didn't catch him off guard. He's not walking as if he's a human, as if he doesn't understand what's happening tomorrow. By his providence, tomorrow is happening. It's not apart from him. We have to believe that. And so the pastor's job, is to help keep the people of God on the right track. to keep them going faithfully before God. When life gets hard and they want to stop, the pastor, the shepherd's job is to say, come on, let's go. He's coming back. His son died for you. He's coming back. We will worship him. We will stand before him with people from all around the world who have been called into his presence. And we will lift him up just singing the joys of Jesus, singing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty. All of this is temporary. So we keep going for God's glory. That brings us to point number two, staying on course with true love. I want you to notice what Paul writes in verse five. He says, the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Paul reminds Timothy that he must resist and oppose these false teachers with all courage and firmness. But while he's doing that, he must not forget his ultimate purpose and his ultimate aim. Love. The purpose of Christian rebuke is love. Love that springs forth from a pure heart. I have heard some pastors not even most but some pastors and teachers spent the majority of their time from the pulpit to podcast berating false teachers as if that is all God has given them to do. As if all God has charged them with was to set up straw men and win the argument. Yes, false teachers, preachers, false prophets, bishops, whatever they want to call themselves should be called out. But we can't stop there. We can't stop there. The question is, what are they teaching? And am I any better? When we catch somebody, when we see somebody, when somebody confesses sin, we have to walk in humility. and not keep on what they're doing but before we even speak, where's my heart? How's my walk? So that I can address them from a place of honesty, a place of humanity and humility. I am not exalted, but we are here in the struggle together. Let's link arm in arm and let's go forward together. Let's get on our knees and pray before God. Let's open the words of scripture together, so we both may overcome our trials, our troubles. So we both may glorify God with clean hands, as the Old Testament says over and over. To have clean hands before God was precious. A pure heart, what does that do? A pure heart seeks repentance over condemnation, even for the false teacher, even for him. Confession, as they say, is good for the soul. But more importantly, it's required by God. If we're going to walk arm in arm with God, how can two walk together unless they be in agreement? I have to come clean before God. I have to confess my sin before God. And as we address one another, and somebody comes to you and lets you know that they blew it, we let them know we blow it also. It's easy to pull out the gun and start taking shots. It's so hard to pull out the bandages and start wounding, start healing the wound, start cleaning the wound, start helping them. to grow from where they fall. That takes Christ likeness. Paul says Hymenaeus and Alexander were handed over to Satan by his hand. To hand someone over to Satan, biblically, is to excommunicate them from the church, the protection of the church, and let them go back out into the world, to send them out into the world, so that, here's the thing, if they are a true believer, they will repent. They will say, what am I doing? How have I gotten so far from my Lord and my Savior? What happened? Where did I turn? If they don't belong to the Lord, they will have a ball. until they fall permanently and the party is over when they stand before Christ. Why did he do that? Why did the Apostle Paul hand Hymenaeus and Alexander over to Satan? So they may learn not to blaspheme. In other words, that they may repent. That they would come back and do it the right way. for anyone who calls himself a pastor. As you seek to maintain the purity of the church, you must always ask yourself, is my ultimate goal that they would repent? Or am I looking to prop myself up by putting others down, putting someone else down? If that's your aim, how can you call someone out? How can you discipline anyone with a good conscience, a sincere faith, as the rest of verse 5 tells you to do. What about your walk? We all fall short of the glory of God. As Pastor Matt mentioned in the sermon last week, 1st Timothy chapter 4 and verse 16 could also have been the title for this series. There Paul told Timothy to keep a close watch on yourself and the teaching. We must, as elders, we must watch our character as we're exhorting the congregation to watch their character. We must repent from our own sins as we're calling the flock to return from their sinful ways and chase hard after Jesus. even those who pay your salary, even those who tell you after the service is over, oh I love your preaching, oh you are so good, can you tell them to repent. You have to preach repentance. It's easy to talk about the people outside of the church, the false teachers outside even of your church. It's easy to talk about the Joel Osteens and the Joyce Myers and the T.D. Jakes and the Kenneth Copelands. The list goes on and on. But are you willing to confront the false teachers even in your place of worship? Paul tells Timothy to charge those teachers right there. Those elders right there where you are. charge them not to teach any different doctrine. And he actually warned some of these preachers in Ephesus that some of them were going to turn. Years earlier he gave them a warning. You can see that in Acts chapter 20 when he was on his way to Jerusalem for Pentecost. He stopped in Miletus and sent to the Ephesian elders to come and meet him. He wanted to talk to them for a hot minute. right? He told them that some of you brothers, you're going to turn. You may be faithful right now, but there's going to be a time when some of you go the other way. In Acts chapter 20 verses 29 to 30, he told them that after his departure, fierce wolves would come in among them, not sparing the flock. right? They're going to come from the outside. But verse 30 says, and from among themselves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. So you have them coming from the outside and then you have them rising up from the inside. Why? Because they want their own disciples, they want their own followers. He's warning them that even though your motives are pure right now, you're going to be preaching heresy. So here in verses six and seven of First Timothy, chapter one, he says, certain persons, by swerving from these, what are the these once again? A pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith, from verse five. They're going to swerve away from these, and they have wandered. Why? Because they have wandered 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. In verse six, I like the way the Berean literal Bible translate that. They have, from which some, having missed the mark, have turned aside to meaningless discourse. Paul says they have swerved or turned aside. These teachers had once been going in the right direction, but along the way they turned. Something caught their eye over here, and they wanted that instead of the truth. They got off the wrong exit. They got caught up in vain discussions, which are empty, fruitless debates. They only create speculation, confusion, and ultimately division. You have some people who are born for that, and you know that. They love empty debates. They will hunt you down just to talk about things that don't even matter in the end. Things that have nothing to do with your personal relationship with them. They're talking about things out there, and they're talking about them confidently, and you can't get a word in, and you can't change their mind, and you may get pulled into that discussion, but the elder pastor leader can't. The elder pastor leader has to do some swerving of himself from these conversations to spiritual conversations. From things that are fruitless to things that produce good fruit in Jesus Christ. The person who loves empty debates and meaningless discussions, they don't have time for that. They want to brush you off so they can get back to the other things that have captured their hearts. The things that they believe no one can tell them differently because this is it and it will suck the life out of you if you let it. You can't. You shouldn't. You have to speak about the word of God and things that produce life to somebody, especially to somebody like that. Because if they're doing this and they call themselves a Christian, you can see they have already planted their feet on shaky foundation. Things that the world tells you you need, but whenever it's not right, all of a sudden your whole world is upside down and you don't know what to do. But you have to make sure your foundation is standing upon the rock of Christ. Because as the world shakes, and it will, you will be able to stand and go forward. Because you know what your salvation hinges upon, the cross. across at Calvary. Staying on course with true love happens naturally when there's a love for true doctrine and a love for people. False doctrine does just the opposite because in many cases those who teach false doctrine do not love people enough to tell them that Jesus is the only way. False doctrine does not love people enough to tell them that hell is coming. If you don't repent, there's a judgment coming. Turn from those ways of ungodliness and anger. Turn. True doctrine teaches people how to love God and others fully. as Jesus said you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and you shall love your neighbor as yourself on these two commandments depend the whole law depends the law all the law and the prophets on those two commands that's amazing The phrase law and the prophets refers to the Hebrew Old Testament Bible, the Hebrew Bible I should say, and our Old Testament, what we call the Old Testament. All of those commands, those precepts, those statutes boils down to a heart level love for God and your neighbor. Quick question, how are you doing with that? right? We come to church, we hear sermons, we sing songs, we fellowship, but how are you doing with those two commandments? That's the question that we must answer. True doctrine fosters the love that comes from a pure heart. A pure heart produces an unhypocritical faith. The hypocrite, on the other hand, cannot love anyone as much as they love themselves. They are mainly concerned with what others think about them. That takes priority. What people think about them. Nothing else is as important. true love is selfless true love says I will sacrifice I will do what I have to do for others for God's glory for my neighbors who are hurting I will do what is in my power everything that is in my power to help them that's how I glorify God that's the best advertisement for Christianity However, in our day and age, so many, even within the Christian community, want love without biblical doctrine. Pastors are willing to tolerate all kinds of false beliefs as long as people don't fight about it. you have preachers giving in to new member candidates telling them that the candidates now are saying you must accept me for who I am and asking the pastor who are you to judge me. In and of ourselves we are no one. But it's the word of God that judges you, according to Jesus in John chapter 12 verse 48. And Jesus, sweet, loving, innocent Jesus, warned of judgment and hell, where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth more than anybody else in the Bible. Love warns of danger to come. Biblical love says get off of the road. A tractor is coming towards you. You must get off of that road. Liberal theology says a loving God would never tell you to do what you don't feel like doing. You just stay on that road slash path where you are. Whatever makes you happy, that's your truth. That's heretical. That is so unbiblical. But before I stay too long on that side, I want to go all the way on the other side of the spectrum, where you have some reformed churches who are willing to go without love, care, compassion, and understanding as long as the Bible is preached. As good as that may sound to some, they're actually worse off because they should know better. Just like the Pharisees should have known better. They studied the scriptures and they were learned men but most of them lacked love. So Jesus calls them hypocrites. In Matthew chapter 23, verses 2 and 3, Jesus told the crowds and his disciples that the scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat. So do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to bear and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. Then he spends the rest of chapter 23 condemning them as hypocrites. He says, woe to you, woe to you, woe to you, over and over again because they had, most of them had, no love for anyone but themselves. That's how they can read this Old Testament, the law and the prophets, and still put the Lord of life, our Savior, to death on the cross without batting an eye. here's the thing wherever doctrine is the purest love must be the highest Wherever doctrine is the purest, love must be the highest. I like the way the Apostle James said it. In James chapter 1, verse 27, when he said, religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world and what he does there is he takes the two greatest commandments and he flips that because to love your neighbor as you love yourself at its core takes you helping those who are most helpless among us the widows and the orphans and to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart soul and mind in your core takes true doctrine, true religion. It keeps you unstained from the world. It keeps you from a life marked. That's the key word. Not that we don't sin, but we're not labeled as this. We don't spend our time, our heart in this. To be unstained from the world keeps you from loving sexual immorality, covetousness, pride, unforgiveness, anger, bitterness, conceit. prejudice. It keeps you from being disobedient to your parents, from being ungrateful, etc., etc. Why? Because you love the Lord thy God with all your heart and you do not want to represent Him in this way. For everything that He has done for you, He deserves your best. He deserves you fighting sin, taming your tongue, loving as much as you can with everything you have, because that's what he gave. Whenever you're looking for a biblically sound church, the question to ask yourself is, does that church's love for theology match its love for people? And Does their level of theology and love for people match what I'm seeing in scripture? In the church at Ephesus, those debaters weren't overly concerned with true love, if at all. They were more drawn to the theological side and information and things that wow people. But the problem is they weren't even sufficient in that. Because although they desired to be teachers of the law, they didn't fully understand the purpose of the law. So in verse 8, Paul writes, now we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. So even though Paul was opposed to the self-appointed teachers of the law in Ephesus, he was not opposed to the law itself. He's basically saying we all know that the law is an excellent thing, provided we treat it as law. Orthodox Christianity, even Reformed Christianity, teaches that there are three proper uses of biblical law. One is the use of the law to reveal sin, the use of the law to reveal sin. As Martin Luther wrote in his lectures on Galatians, and I quote, the law shows sinners their sin so that by the recognition of sin, they may be humbled, frightened, and worn down, and so may long for grace. And isn't that what Paul says in Romans chapter 7, basically, verse 7? when he wrote, what then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means. Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, you shall not covet. The fact that the law reveals, arouses, and condemns sin, bringing death to the sinner, does not mean that the law is evil. Rather, the law is revealing the perfect reflection of God's holy character. The second use of the law is its civil use to restrain wrongdoers. Its civil use to restrain wrongdoers. This is how the law is useful for society. Man is made in the image of God. So he or she is constantly carrying the law of God within them, whether they like it or not. That's why you can have somebody across the country, across the globe, somewhere where they don't even know how to read, and they will know that they should not have sex with their friend's wife. They just know that. They know it's wrong. They know it's wrong to take their neighbor's oxen. That's why they do it at night. They know these things. This is Paul's argument in Romans chapter 2 verses 14 and 15. Then he writes, for when Gentiles, who do not have the law by nature, do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. And he's speaking of the external law. In verse 15, he says, they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them. Suppressing the law within and living against it is where guilt, overwhelming guilt, shame, hopelessness, and sorrow come from. This thing that you cannot shake. You feel like you're in bondage to these things because apart from salvation in Jesus Christ, you are. But praise God, true belief in Jesus Christ brings freedom. It brings freedom. And that's what he told the Pharisees in John chapter 8, verses 35 and 36, when he said, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever, the son remains. So if the son sets you free, You will be free indeed. The slave isn't going to be there for a long time. But the son remains forever. The son remains forever because there's a connection. There's been a new birth. Something has happened once you believe in Jesus Christ. The belief that doesn't just confess something, but possesses the Holy Spirit. As for the third use of the law, John Calvin consistently spoke of how the law is used to teach God's people his will for their lives. As we meditate on the law, Calvin said, we are aroused to obedience and drawn back from the slippery path of transgression. And these three uses of the law are in line with the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, which hopefully we will adopt sometime in the near future. In chapter 19, Article 6, it says, although true believers are not under the law as a covenant of works to be thereby justified or condemned, yet it is of great use to them as well as to others, in that as a rule of life, informing them of the will of God and their duty, it directs and binds them to walk accordingly, discovering also the sinful pollutions of their natures, hearts, and lives. So as examining themselves thereby, they may come to further conviction of humiliation for and hatred against sin. together with a clearer sight of the need they have of Christ and the perfection of his obedience. It is likewise of use to the regenerate to restrain their corruptions in that it forbids sin." End quote. Once again in that one paragraph you have the three proper uses of the law. Which use, I'm going to ask you, does the Apostle Paul have in mind in verses nine and ten? In verses 9 and 10, Paul writes, 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. Right away, we know he's not describing the third use of the law in which the Christian obeys the law of Christ. Rather, he's using the second use of the law, its general use to restrain wrongdoers, the lawless and disobedient, the ungodly and the sinner. In this list, Paul mentions the most extreme forms of defiance and insubordination. He condemns not shoplifting, but kidnappers or kidnapping, not lust, but perverse sexual acts. Philip Ryken, president of Wheaton College, notes how this list in 1 Timothy chapter 1 echoes many of the Ten Commandments. He says, one way to see this is to begin with those who strike their fathers or mothers and work backwards. Striking your mother or father violates the fifth commandment which commands us to honor them. And then he works down from chapter five to chapter one and then comes back around to verses six up through nine. Let me show you how that works. The word profane, Paul uses, aptly describes those who break the fourth commandment, profaning the Lord's day. Then Paul uses the word unholy in verse 9 to describe those who fail to sanctify the Lord's name and thus break the third commandment. This leaves the ungodly and sinners to break the first and second commandments. As he continues, he clearly has commandments six through nine in mind because murderers break the sixth commandment, you shall not murder, while the sexually immoral, including those who practice homosexuality, break the seventh, which says you shall not commit adultery. Let me explain that one. Marriage is defined by God as a covenantal, legally binding union between a man and a woman as husband and wife. Everything outside of that falls under the umbrella of adultery. God created marriage. He has the right to define marriage, and he did. Next comes the enslavers. The New Testament is sometimes wrongly seen, the Bible is sometimes wrongly seen as promoting chattel slavery. But here Paul condemned slave trafficking as the worst and most heinous violation of the eighth commandment, you shall not steal. No stealing of a man's goods. can equal the atrocity of stealing a man's liberties, of stealing the man himself. Finally, he condemns liars and perjurers who break the ninth commandment by bearing false witness. And even though all of these behaviors are out of step with the gospel and contrary to the law, teaching people that they will be justified by keeping the law is not the answer either. So some of these teachers in Ephesus may have come from a good place, but the problem is when grace is no longer grace, there's a problem, there's a big problem in that. It has become something else and the Bible calls it works. Along with that, the law gives no inner power to bring true repentance. Only by the grace of God and power of the Holy Spirit do we change inwardly, and that's what matters before God the Father. The new birth, where many sons and daughters enter into glory. With that, we move on to point number three, staying on course with true salvation. Looking at that vile list that Paul gives in verses 9 and 10, we know that they come from the wickedness of the human heart. They're antithetical to the law and the gospel, which means they rebel against the glory of God. And as Pastor Matt stated last week, In the Greek text of 1st Timothy, Paul describes correct teaching as the sound doctrine, not a sound doctrine. So in verse 11, Paul writes that these sins are not in accordance with the gospel. There's only one gospel. If you have to put a name before gospel, it's probably a heresy. It's the gospel. it has to be in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. As we read verse 10 and as we were if we were to read the Greek New Testament and we look at the pastoral epistles instead of a you would see the in the following places where it says the gospel as we just read you would see the faith you will see the truth you will see the teaching so forth and so on the Bible insists that there's only one standard for Christian theology. And this standard is the gospel of Christ and his apostles, apostles found in the New Testament in full agreement with the prophetic witness of the Old Testament. So Paul's emphasis on the sound doctrine in accordance with the gospels is a valuable corrective for these pluralistic times in which people are looking for truth. What is truth? According to the world, it's whatever you want it to be or whatever you think it is. The question is, how will you, beloved, stay on course with true doctrine, true love, and true salvation? By listening to the words of Jesus in Matthew 4, 4 is one of many places. It's one of many places that you can learn how to stay on course. When he says, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, from the word of God. or even listening to the psalmist who said, how can a young man, and we can say young woman, keep his or her way pure? By guarding it according to God's word. right? Here is God's way. How do you keep this protected? By fencing it all around with God's word. Let that be your blockade for anybody who wants to come into your life and say no. There are so many religions you must Try this one. I found these precepts and principles to work and it brings me such peace. No, you have to guard your way with the word of God. Do not be taken off course. When God was in the midst of bringing judgment upon his people, and I'm going to end with this, he was in the midst of bringing calamity and judgment and pain to his people, destroying the temple, destroying the gate, burning everything up with fire. He tells the prophet Jeremiah why. He tells him why this judgment is coming upon my people. In Jeremiah chapter 32 and verse 33, he says, they have turned their back to me and not their face. Though I taught them, teaching again and again, they would not listen and receive instruction. Doctrine and life in the church matters to God. The Word of God must be a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path. I pray we all would delight in the word of God more than we delight in riches. I pray we would meditate on God's precepts and fix our eyes upon Jesus. Let us pray. Father, I pray you would open our eyes that we may behold the wondrous things out of your word. I pray you would work in all of us this heart of humility that we would be humble enough to bow before your word, to give in to your word, to cast aside our ways, what we think is best, and trust what you have written, knowing that is best for us, to believe it, Lord God. Not to fall prey to mysticism and traditions of men, but to trust that you love us, and you know all things. We just want to bless you with our lives, Lord. So please help us to do that. Jesus name we pray. Amen.