Let us go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we come today and realize that another year has passed in some ways so quickly. We realize, Lord, and confess our failures of the year. and ask your forgiveness, but we also confess your faithfulness to us, your blessings upon us, and the fact, Lord, that we are still here and wanting to worship you and to please you is a manifestation that any time sin abounds, your grace much more abounds. And we thank you so much for what you have done for us through this past year. And we ask, Lord, as we think about that, we would also think about the year ahead of us and that we would be strengthened and determined to continue on to serve you. And we ask for your guidance, your help, your leading of us. We are, Lord, very dependent upon you for any success that we have in our personal lives and in our life as a church. And so we look to you, and even today we look to you, for your help as we gather here. Ask, Lord, that you would open our minds and open our hearts to receive your truth and to make use of it, that Christ might be glorified, that the gospel might be maintained, that sinners might know you through faith in Him by our faithful testimony. We ask your blessing upon this day now, and we ask your blessing upon those of our number who cannot be here because of physical infirmities or for other reasons. We ask, Lord, your help and strength for them. And we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, let's go to 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 14. As we work our way through this very personal Epistle to Timothy, we find many useful insights into the spiritual battle against falsehood that Christian leaders and Christians in general are called unto. We see much of what is required. We see much of what is to be avoided. We see how the truth is to be handled. We see how falsehood is to be dealt with. And in it all, we see the necessity of faithful endurance in the doctrine and the life that we live and confess. Well, just as Timothy was equipped with a personal faith and a personal calling and duty, so all believers are equipped with personal faith and a personal calling and a duty regarding the stewardship of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We all here have that stewardship. If we learn anything from this epistle, we should learn this. Contending for the gospel is an ongoing, prolonged effort. that requires this faithful endurance against all opposition and all sorts of opposition. Satan has a big arsenal and we need to be equipped against it. Well, whether it's the opposition of our own flesh or the opposition from the forces of falsehood and evil, The Christian leadership and the Christian life requires this faithful endurance. We're now in the portion of this chapter, verses 14 through 26, where Paul is instructing Timothy in some tactics to be employed in standing for the truth in the face of false believers and false teachers. We saw in our last lesson, here in chapter 2, verses 14 and 15, that Paul instructed Timothy and others Timothy was to guide, not to get tangled up in worthless arguments that profited no one. Any wrangling that does not build up or edify others is to be avoided. And on the other hand, the positive thing Timothy was to do was to give diligence to himself. That's the number one priority, himself. That he himself might be pleasing to God and that he himself might rightly handle the word of truth, the doctrines of the gospel. It is the doctrines of the gospel that lead to true spiritual blessings. for those who hear. That's why it's so important. It is the only way to true spiritual blessings. We're going on now in verses 16 through 18, and I know we're going at a snail's pace here, but that's what we'll look at today, verses 16 through 18. Paul gives Timothy more insight into the nature of false teaching and provides two real life examples of those who promoted false teaching there in Ephesus, and what devastating effects they had on others. Let's read these three verses, 16 through 18. But shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will eat as doth a canker, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith of some. Well, verse 16 gives the nature of the false teaching Timothy was facing. And he gives somewhat of a what and a why. That is, what to avoid and why it should be avoided. But we want to notice, first of all, this all-important little word, but. But shun profane and vain babblings. This that he is about to say is in contrast to verse 15, where Timothy is instructed in what he is to do, what he is to pay attention to. Again, to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing or handling the word of truth. Now the what to be avoided is this obviously, but shun profane and vain babblings. This is that which is not according to or consistent with the word of truth that he just mentioned there in verse 15, the doctrine of the gospel. And of course this direction is somewhat of a repeat and a parallel of verse 14 where he says that they strive not about words to no profit. Paul is also given very similar instruction to these verses before us in 1st Timothy chapter 6 verse 20 and 21. where he concludes that epistle saying, O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings and oppositions of science or knowledge, falsely so called, which some professing have aired concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen. Well, here this word shun, present tense, be shunning, be avoiding, these things. Don't be drawn to them. Give them a wide berth. And what, again, is it to be shunned or avoided? It is profane and vain babblings. And this, simply put, is unholy and empty talk. This is another description of the rhetoric of the false teachers. And again, we're not given the specifics of this empty talk. We would love if we had more of that here, but we understand whatever it was, it was tied to the myths and endless genealogies and the Jewish fables that Paul has already spoken about in 1 Timothy and in Titus. Now we might ask, is this avoiding or shunning pointed at the false teachers themselves? or only to their profane and vain babblings. Well, I believe it is mainly an avoidance of their speech, not to get drawn into it. And I say this because Paul is going to tell Timothy in verse 25 that the goal, the goal is to bring such men to repentance, to turn them around, and he is to instruct them in that effort. And therefore, this verse does not seem to indicate that Timothy is to isolate himself from them or to totally abstain from any argument at all. But at the same time, he is to push away from their talk and not to get tangled up in their talk. Now, having said that, we need to balance that. We see that there is a time in which those who teach false doctrine are to be rejected. We saw this when we studied Titus, Titus 3.10, where Paul instructs Titus. Let me get this right here, my reference right. Oh yes, Titus 3.10, a man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition, reject. And this rejection, of course, refers to the person who insists on teaching or following falsehood. It is a person who manifests himself there to be incorrigible. Having said that, however, we also return to the fact that as much as possible, we ought to make an effort to correct those who are in error without getting ourselves tangled up in their profane and vain babblings. In that effort, we're not to give any consideration or place any value in them. Consider their sayings as worthless. Now, I believe we may generally apply this to our day and time. In a very general way, again, is the need to avoid speaking or getting drawn into discussion on matters that have no profit and do not promote true godliness. Matters that are, as some writers call this, nothing but empty chatter. And of course, we need to assess what we hear and what's presented to us, whether that fits this criteria or not. But when it is clear that it is, we ought to avoid it. There's no sense in getting involved in it. We probably don't think much about how empty things, empty talk, actually steals our attention away from what things really matter, from things of substance. So if we want to engage those who do attempt to draw us away from the truth by unfruitful talk, our response ought to be simply to stand on the sound, sane, old truths of the gospel as they are revealed in scripture. Stand on those things. It is sometimes a very difficult thing not to get drawn into useless debates over things that don't matter. And we must admit that wisdom is needed regarding this whole matter. We need to seek the wisdom of God even here. I think we should also remember that these profane and vain babblings were coming from those who had once embraced the gospel, at least to some degree. They knew the truth to some degree and were straying away from it. And again, what is Timothy to do? He's to continue to conduct himself in an appropriate way, and he's to continue to rightly handle the word of truth. and not be enticed to go down some trail of argument that is empty and unholy and vain. You know, the best apologetic, I'm convinced, is to live a life consistent with the gospel. I think that comes through several times in these pastoral epistles. People can try to pick apart what you stand for, the doctrine you stand for. But if we live according to what we stand for, that is a very strong apologetic. Without that, we might as well not argue at all. Well, next we come to the why of this instruction. And we see this in last part of verse 16 and the first part of verse 17. Here's the why. For they will increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will eat as doth a canker. It's because these profane and vain babblings, this unholy chatter, will increase, increase unto more ungodliness in their word. will eat as doth a canker." In other words, this unholy and empty talk is dangerous, and the potential harm is great, and it's serious. Very serious. It's not benign. It's not harmless. He says this talk will increase. It will advance unto more ungodliness. And that's Paul's great concern here. Paying attention to this unholy and empty talk will progress. That which is unholy to begin with, when it's once entertained, will become more and more unholy, more and more estranged from the truth of God. This is the great danger of entertaining anything. that is not in accordance with the doctrines of the gospel. And I think we should emphasize that to the degree a person is given to an increases in empty and unholy talk, they will proportionately decrease in fruitful understanding. and right conduct. There's a displacement that goes on there. The one degrades the other. And that's how falsehood works. That's why it should be stopped right at the door. Now there's a question this poses. Does this they, the last part of verse 16, refer to the teaching or the teachers? Does it mean that the teaching will become more and more perverse? Or does it mean that the teachers will become more and more perverse as they stray from the truth and give themselves to these profane and vain babblings? Well, grammatically, they would refer to the false teachers. Their false teaching will have a degrading effect upon themselves. False teaching affects the life if it is entertained and promoted in one's thinking. But I think we should also consider that, as I've just said before this, that a false teaching is not static. It keeps going. It keeps getting more serious and serious and further removed from the truth. It will grow. in the person or in the teaching. Paul uses a simile here to describe the working of unholy and empty talk in those who engage in it. And this tells us how insidious and how dangerous it is. He says, and their word will eat as a canker. The word there would refer to those who employed and promoted unholy and empty talk. Their word. Their word would be in contrast again to the word of truth that he has mentioned in verse 15. The word of truth. The doctrines of the gospel. What their teaching would be in contrast to that. This unholy and empty talk, again, is not harmless, it's not benign, we see that here. It's not something that can be entertained and engaged in without great harm. And so Paul uses this very interesting and alarming description here in this verse. And we note two words that were current medical terms of that time in which this was written. This word eat can have the meaning of pasture or graze. It is their word that eats or grazes on. And this eating or grazing on is not a potential danger. but a certainty in those who entertain these things. It will eat. It will graze. And so we see this progression of harmful effects upon those who entertain the false teaching. And this word, canker, as your margin may note, is gangrene. Gangrene, unchecked, will spread through the entire body if it is not checked. It will eventually kill a person. And so the picture here is with perhaps sheep eating through a pasture, this advances like gangrene in the body, destroying live tissue. Donald Guthrie paraphrases this, saying, the teaching finds pasture, that is a grazing ground, as easily as gangrene spreads in the human body. So that's the picture. It's not benign. It's not harmless. It's insidious. It's dangerous. Whatever this unholy and empty talk was then was leading to some fatal results. And, you know, again, today, though, I'm not going to attempt to pinpoint any certain teaching. The same thing is still true. There are false teachings that are fatal, that once they enter in, they will spread and overtake a person. We might have difficulty sometimes in knowing where to draw the line as far as entertaining and engaging in unholy and empty talk. Sometimes such talk may begin with some appearance of legitimacy. What might appear to be a legitimate question is raised. An observation is made. But again, we need to always be careful. Always ask this question when you hear something or something is proposed to you. Is this talk consistent with the doctrines of the gospel of Jesus Christ? That is always the touchstone. That's always the template anything needs to fit. Does this talk point me to Christ in some way? Does it exalt Him? Does it put Him at the center? That's a good guide. We should understand that the great archenemy of Christ, that old dragon, the deceiver, works unseen in people who are willing to entertain unholy and empty talk. He will use such talk to lead people away from the gospel of Christ. And again, you know, it's maybe a little frustrating to us that we might struggle to pinpoint specific examples of such talk today. I do believe that it could be generally described as that which is novel, in some way, or that which has some supposed new insight into the truth, that which has some attraction to the flesh, or that which in some way or another distorts or diminishes, again, the person and the work of Christ that has been handed down to us from the apostles of Jesus Christ. Those might be some indicators or general descriptions of unholy and empty talk which must be avoided. There's one thing that's common with every cult. And it is simply this, every cult without exception, and we can name the major cults and even the lesser known cults that I'm familiar with, they all have one thing in common. They degrade in some way or another the person and work of Jesus Christ. So that's something to always look for in talk that you hear. So, from what we see here so far, it is best and wisest not to enter into some teaching if we do not understand where it leads. If we're confronted with some teaching that does not have this certain and familiar sound that we all should be accustomed to, most of us having been Christians for a long time, if there's a twist to it, If there's something introduced into it, maybe you haven't heard before, pause and hesitate before you entertain that talk. In the beginning of verse 17, Paul gives two examples of persons who were involved in this error at Ephesus. of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus. So he refers here to men who were probably leaders in this erroneous teaching in Ephesus and men that obviously Timothy knew or was acquainted with. And a simple point to be made, again, heresy affects real people. Hymenaeus and Philetus were real people. They were historical people. And heresy most likely has affected someone that we know. Hymenaeus is likely the same as mentioned in 1 Timothy 1.20. And of this man and one named Alexander there, Paul says in 1 Timothy 1.19 that they, having put away concerning faith, have made shipwreck. And he goes on to say that they had been delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. And if you think about this, if 1st Timothy was written before 2nd Timothy, as we believe it was, this verse in 2nd Timothy indicates that Hymenaeus, despite the discipline, had not learned his lesson. A living example of what this whole thing is talking about, that this progresses in a person. Because here in verse 18 is an indication that he was still affecting some in the church. He in Philetus says overthrow, and that's perfect tense. They are overthrowing right now the faith of some. We don't know all the details of what discipline took place and what all happened there, but apparently, Hymenaeus is still going down the wrong road, getting worse and worse, it seems. Philetus, we have no certain information about. And if this is all he is noted for in scripture, it's likely he did not have a good ending. We don't know him, but the important thing is God knows him and this is all we're left with concerning him. Oh, that there might be something better said of us if only one thing was said. Well, we've seen that empty and unholy talk advances in ungodliness and those who teach it and listen to it advance in ungodliness. And now in verse 18, we see the devastating effect that this talk had in Ephesus and how potentially dangerous any empty and unholy talk may be. We see what the ultimate effect was here. in verse 18, who concerning the truth have erred. At some point, these men went completely away, astray. And this statement alone, without going any further, has a very ominous sound to it. And so truth is of utmost importance to the well-being and soul of man. This is not good for the soul, who concerning the truth have erred, because it is truth that brings life to the soul and maintains the life in the soul. They've departed from the life-giving truth. So error concerning the truth is very, very serious, and it's dangerous, and can be fatal if it's not corrected. To err here means miss the mark. It's used in the same way in 1 Timothy 1.6 where it's translated swerved, from which some having swerved, that have turned aside unto vain and jangling. And then it's used again in 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 21, which some professing have aired concerning the faith. They've missed the mark. In what way did these men swerve or miss the mark? Well, it was concerning one of the most vital truths of the gospel. right to the heart of the gospel, saying that the resurrection is past already. Now, the doctrine of the resurrection, of course, had been under attack already. We know that from the letter to the Corinthians, the first letter to the Corinthians. Recall Paul's words in his defense of this doctrine there in 1 Corinthians 15, 12. Now, if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you, among you in this church, that there is no resurrection of the dead? So his defense concerns the truth of the resurrection of the body, for that's what Paul defends there in 1 Corinthians, the resurrection of the body. And in that argument, He tells the Corinthians what is at stake to refuse or to not believe or to reject the doctrine of the resurrection of the body. What's at stake? The gospel itself is at stake. The doctrine of the resurrection of the body is a vital doctrine, for it calls into question, ultimately, the resurrection of Christ. do well just to refresh ourselves on how vital this is. We'll read a little bit out of 1 Corinthians there, 1 Corinthians chapter 15. We'll read verses 13 through 19. This is a long argument, of course, and we're just taking a piece out of it. 1 Corinthians 15, 13, But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen? And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God, that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins. then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." And thus we see how grievous the error in Ephesus was as it made its way or was trying to make its way into this church. Now, we might ask, how could something so obviously wrong make its way into this church, or any church for that matter? Well, Satan has many devices, and he's able to twist and turn the truth in one way or the other. And some believe that in Ephesus, this doctrine was reconstructed to refer only to the spiritual life or spiritual resurrection and had nothing to do with the body. Patrick Fairbairn, for one, voices this opinion. I'll just read what he says. It's a fairly common opinion. He says, they thought it was altogether a spiritual thing In their account, a quickening merely of the soul's activities to newness of life. And thus by their excess in spiritualizing, they loosened the very foundations of the Christian system. For the position they assumed involved by necessary inference, the denial of Christ's resurrection and the saving efficacy of his death. So they removed the doctrine of the resurrection from the body and made it just a spiritual, as it were, resurrection. Now, while it's true there is a spiritual resurrection unto life in regeneration, that truth never contradicts the truth of the bodily resurrection. Both are necessary complements of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christ spoke of them both there in John chapter 5. But you see how Satan can take a doctrine and twist it just a little bit. False teachers can take a doctrine and twist it just a little bit. It's likely also getting into the historical context a little bit more, it's likely also that the dualism that was held to by some of the philosophers of the day, and by the way, dualism is not dead, but it was alive and well then, it had crept into the church, or it had never been totally discarded by some who had come into the church. And this dualism viewed the material world as inferior or even evil while they viewed the spiritual world or spiritual life as superior or the highest good. And thus, you see, with that philosophy, a bodily or a material resurrection would be rejected, would not be valued. Now this tendency often led to asceticism, which denied or restricted the normal physical needs and enjoyments. And Paul had addressed that back in 1 Timothy chapter 4, verses 1 through 7. And I'll read those. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron. Here's the asceticism, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified by the word of God in prayer. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained. But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. So we see some connection there. And ironically, and this maybe twist our minds around a little bit, ironically, this also led to immorality or indifference to the moral requirements that are normally associated with the body. After all, If the material aspects of our existence are unimportant, what's the problem with immoral pursuits? It seems so contradictory, doesn't it? But apparently this is where dualism sometimes led to. Asceticism on the one hand and indifference to immoral conduct on the other hand. If the body doesn't matter, what does it matter what I do with the body? I guess, was the mentality. Well, Paul also addressed that throughout these epistles, consistently insisting upon right moral conduct. He pointed out in the beginning in 1 Timothy 1.9 that the false teachers had completely went astray of the moral law that they professed to uphold. And it seems there that Paul is accusing them of being the worst violators of the moral law. So that's all kind of tied in perhaps to this denial of the resurrection or that it's already passed and it was just a spiritual thing that's happened. But we can see that these ascetic and immoral tendencies in and of themselves were fatal, weren't they? That's clear. But all the more concerning is we see how they are related to this ultimate error, a denial of the bodily resurrection. And you know, if a bodily resurrection is denied, so also is final judgment denied. There would be no calling into account for anything they did in this body. That may be one reason such a thing is so appealing. Well, we should note then why fallen man is skeptical of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and therefore the resurrection in general as a truth. The resurrection of Jesus Christ means that he is still with whom we have to do. If he's raised, we still have to do with him. And the resurrection in general means that there will be a final accounting of ourselves before him. Well, such doctrine is that which unregenerate people deny and reject, of course, for those reasons, just as the philosophers did on Mars Hill when Paul spoke of the resurrection and a judgment. He says, "...because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man which he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." And then it says, "...and when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter." Well, we kind of went off the track there a little bit, We see how serious this vain and empty chatter, unholy chatter was. Here's what's at the bottom of it. Very grievous and serious and soul-destroying error. And thus we finally see, lastly, the sad effect of this teaching. and overthrow, or present tense, are overthrowing the faith of some. There's always collateral damage to those who listen to false teaching. Heresy and falsehood attacks and overturns faith. And I think here, though the definite article is used, it probably refers to personal faith. For it says the faith of some, that personal faith. For the most part, I think when the definite article is used, it's referring to the body of truth that is believed. But here I think it's the personal faith. Their personal faith was suffered by God. Well, then we should ask, does this refer to complete and total ruin? And I think we're kind of left in suspense here, because it could go either way. For some, no doubt, it ultimately led to the departure from the faith, a total apostasy, I guess, a total departure from the doctrine of Christ. But again, if this sum is antecedent of those that oppose themselves, there in verse 25, it does leave the impression that some may not have been totally ruined and that they might be recovered from their error. And so we might take from that, we need to make every effort to recover those who are in such error. Paul was no doubt grieved that he saw the faith of some being overthrown. Well, to go astray as these false teachers did is one thing, but to cause others to go astray is another thing. And so we can see why Paul is so careful to lay out the matter. He sees the souls of people at stake. You know, it's one thing to contend for what we believe, and we can do that with wrong motives sometimes, but to contend for the truth because it's for the good of souls is another thing. That should be our motive in contending for the truth, the good of souls. Of course, the glory of God overrides all of that. This is why we should contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. We ought to do it for our own good, and we ought to do it for the good of others. I think concerning new Christians, how careful we ought to be about throwing things at them that may, where they are at their point in development, may only confuse and distract them from their first love. You know, there's time enough to grow normally in the knowledge of the truth without muddying the waters with how much we know or think we know. This is one way we can apply this. Let's make sure that we don't get their baby faith, if you will, spinning around with things that, for the present at least, they can do without. Let's be careful. Again, that's kind of a side trip that comes to my mind here. Well, before leaving these verses, I want to give an afterthought to them. I presented what is here is showing us the danger of entertaining useless and unholy talk and teaching. Here, it appears that that talk leads to more serious error. But I want to point out that we can perhaps put a little different emphasis on this. Noticing once again 1 Timothy 1 verses 5 and 6, now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfain, from which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling. And, of course, this vein jangling is comparable to the profane and vein jangling we have there in 2 Timothy 2.16. And this vein jangling becomes a substitute, according to this 1 Timothy, that vein jangling becomes a substitute for a right heart and a right life. And to put it more generally, so that we can make the best use of it, There is a certain religious talk that displaces what the gospel is to produce. An aversion to a godly life, as apparent here in 1 Timothy, an aversion to a godly life will lead some leaders and followers to pursue a path of useless talk as a substitute. You see that. And I think it is possible also that it is the rejection of the truth, such as the truth of the resurrection, it's a rejection of that that produces a rhetoric of vain jangling and profane and vain babblings by which the error is promoted and propagated. I point that out for your consideration. It's kind of like the question of which came first, the chicken or the egg? The desire to depart from the truth and the construction of a rhetoric that somehow supports it? Or did the rhetoric lead to the serious error? It appears here that the empty talk or where we are in 2 Timothy, the empty talk and unholy talk led to serious doctrinal error. But in 1 Timothy, it kind of appears that they constructed this talk as a displacement or as a replacement maybe of living and believing right. I don't want to get too philosophical there. You think about that. I suspect both may be true. Either way, the doctrines of the gospel, if studied and believed and practiced, will help us detect heresy and will be our guide to avoiding both the doctrines and the rhetoric that go with it. We have no justifiable reason to be led completely astray if we study and believe and practice the plain truths of Scripture. Thank the Lord we have the Word of God. Of course, that doesn't mean that we'll always be free from error in our thinking. It does not mean that we will have perfect understanding and not perhaps get sidetracked a bit here and there, but it will keep us from following a path that is bad. It will keep us from serious doctrinal error. To summarize it all, All that we believe and do must be in accordance with the truths of the gospel. We should be very wary of being drawn away from that foundation by any teaching, regardless of how appealing it might be or intriguing it might be. And we should know that right doctrine, rightly believed, will affect our lives, and our conduct in a positive way, in the way of godliness. I would hope that we could finish the chapter next week. I know I've gone a snail's pace here. I just keep getting myself drawn aside with some of these things and thinking about them. Let's close with a word of prayer. Father in heaven, your word is truth. And it is for us to look to it, to by your spirit to understand it and apply it to our lives. And Lord, if we could pray any prayer concerning this passage, we would just ask that you would spare us from falsehood and let us not think that we are can be unaffected by it. Let us not think ourselves above any that have been led astray. It is your grace that we look to in your word and so help us we pray. Keep our doctrine right and keep our conduct consistent with our doctrine. We'll give you all the thanks and praise in Jesus name. Amen.