We'll complete 1 Timothy this morning by looking at verses 20 and 21. O Timothy, guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. By professing it, some have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen. Would you join me in prayer? Heavenly Father, we come to you in prayer and we thank you for your holy word. I pray that you will speak to our hearts from your word. Help us to give heed to the appeal that we have here before us. Help this church always to be faithful to your holy word and to follow your way. And we pray and ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Dr. John MacArthur was listening to a radio talk show and the caller asked the host, I've just moved to the area and I'm looking for a church. Can you give me some guidance as to what kind of church I should be looking for. Now, how would you answer that question? Well, the host of the talk show said, you know, I think the most important thing to look for is the fellowship of the church. And indeed, the fellowship of the church is important. However, most people think of fellowship in terms of having friendly relationships enjoying being together, eating together, talking and playing games together. But you know, there's nothing distinctively Christian about that definition of fellowship. Might I suggest to you that what is the most important thing to look for in a church is their faithfulness to the Word of God. Do they believe that the Bible is the inerrant and authoritative Word of God? Does that church preach the Word of God? Do the people believe and live according to the Word of God? That's what's really the most important thing to look for. Fellowship. True Christian fellowship is an outgrowth of salvation. It's an outgrowth of Christian discipleship. And I'm glad to say that among the attendees of this church, I see positive fellowship. And it's great to have good student ministries, good music and worship ministries, but the foundation of it all is the church's stand and beliefs on the Word of God. And as Paul concludes this letter to Timothy, he's conscious that he's getting older, he could be arrested again and put to death. As a martyr for Christ, he knows he may not have much time left. And so he makes an appeal to young Timothy to guard what has been entrusted to you. to see to it that the Christian doctrine is faithfully followed in the church at Ephesus where he was serving and in the other churches where Timothy would have influence. And so that's going to be the main thrust of the message this morning, to guard the doctrines of the Christian faith, to preserve them, to see to it that they are taught and followed. Indeed, to keep the faith. And so I want to share with you first of all this morning that there is a duty to uphold in this text. Verse 20, Paul says, guard what was committed to your trust. And that word translated guard is used of guarding a prisoner. It's used of guarding and watching over a flock of sheep. But here it is used of guarding something valuable, to preserve it, to make sure that it is kept safe. And the words, what was committed to your trust, translates one Greek word. And it was a word that was used as a banking term of a deposit that someone is entrusted with. You know, every Sunday we collect an offering and the ushers put it together and then two ushers walk down the aisle, remember? And then they walk out that door with that offering. And so we've entrusted the offering to those two ushers, who in turn turn it over to money counters. It becomes a trust in their hands. They count it, they process it, they put it into a deposit bag, and then someone takes it to the bank, and we trust that bank with that valuable offering dedicated to the Lord. Yes, it's a deposit, it's a sacred trust, and even so, Paul says that Timothy has been entrusted with something valuable. And what was it that was committed to Timothy's trust? He's talking not about money, but he's talking about the gospel of Jesus. He's talking about the Word of God. talking about the teachings of the Christian faith. If you look back in chapter 1 and verse 11, Paul referred to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. Folks, you've got a personal treasure in this book right here. When you're hurt, it can bring healing to your soul. When you are hungry, when your soul is hungry, it provides nourishment for your soul. When you're troubled, it provides comfort. It's a light. a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path. If you have Jesus and a Bible, you've got spiritual riches that this world does not know about. And so that being the case, Timothy was not to add to, modify, embellish or take away from the Christian message, but faithfully preserve it and pass it on to others. That's a major theme, not only of 1 Timothy, but also of 2 Timothy and Titus. For example, in 2 Timothy 1, verses 13 and 14, Paul told Timothy, Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me. That good thing which was committed, same word, committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit. I've been preaching for almost 50 years now, and I can tell you that I have preached nothing but the Word of God these 50 years. And that's going to be my commitment as long as God enables me to preach. It's going to be preaching the Word of God. And why is that important? You need to realize that any church Any Christian institution, any Christian ministry is just one generation away from turning away from the Christian faith. And so we must be diligent to preserve the teachings of the Christian faith and see to it that they are passed on to the next generation. We are not to allow the ever-changing viewpoints of the world to influence what we believe and what we preach and what we teach. We are to faithfully transmit the truth of the Word of God. And if we fail to do so, the eternal destiny of souls is at stake. If we fail to do so, churches will die or churches will become something different than what God intended. Surveys have indicated that the millennial generation of my children is much more likely to be born-again evangelical Christian than my generation. And so somehow we're not effectively transmitting our faith to the next generation. Why is that? Well, it's because we haven't been given heed to what Paul says in verse 20. Do you realize in the last 15 years the number of completely unaffiliated religiously people in the United States is now up to about 25%, not affiliated with any religion whatsoever. And so what do we need to do to preserve the Christian doctrine so that it's passed down from generation to generation? Let me suggest five things. One, we ought to honor God's Word. Psalm 138.2 says, you, God, have magnified your word above your name. That's hard to imagine that God magnifies his word even above his name. But it's the word of God that magnifies the name of God. It's foundational for everything. And so we are to love the word of God and honor it. And if you do so, you'll certainly guard it from error and corruption. and carefully pass it on to the next generation. Secondly, we ought to stay true to God's Word. Paul said back in chapter 1 in verse 3, I urge you to remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine. In chapter 4 verse 1, Paul warned that the Spirit speaks expressly that in the latter days, some will depart from the truth. And so we need to give heed of what Jesus said in John chapter 8 verse 31, that if you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed. And again, 2 Timothy 1.13, Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me. Stay true to the word of God. Thirdly, you need to study the word of God. 2 Timothy 2.15 says, Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. We must study the Word of God and accurately interpret the Word of God so that we faithfully teach and share the truth of the Word of God. And folks, if you don't study the Word of God, how are you going to recognize that what that preacher is saying on TV is not the truth? Just because they're a preacher doesn't mean they're preaching the truth. You've got to know the difference between the truth of the Word of God and preacher talk that's influenced more by the world than an exposition of the Word of God. And so you need to study the Word of God. Join us when we study the Word of God in Sunday school and small group Bible studies and in the worship services of God in this church. But you know, we've got to do more than learn it and believe it. We need to live it. We need to live it. We need to obey the Word of God. I imagine everyone in this room says you believe the Word of God, but are you living it? I tell you, what you really believe is what you live. And any hypocrisy, when we don't live what we say we believe, then we undermine the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so be sure you live it. James 1, verse 22 says, Be doers of the word and not just hearers only. And then we ought to defend the teachings of the word of God. Jude 3. says we should contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. There's a lot of false doctrine out there, and when we hear it and don't speak up and defend the faith, then our silence is giving tacit approval of what you have just heard. Actually, there are six things we need to do, and this is, I think, the last one. Yes, we need to protect and preserve marriage and the family. My parents' generation grew up in the Great Depression, and then they sacrificed to fight back evil regimes during World War II. They were called the Great Generation for a reason. My post-war generation became the me first generation. Many in my generation put their own selfish happiness above everything else. And as a result, we saw a tremendous increase in divorce and the breakup of the family. And Satan knows that the home is the one of the most important ways we transmit the Christian faith from one generation to the next. Disrupt the home and you will disrupt the transmission of the Christian faith to the next generation. And so we need to do everything we can to follow biblical patterns for marriage, sexuality, and the family. And so after Paul gave Timothy a duty to perform. He secondly gave a warning about a danger to avoid. Notice what he says in the last of verse 20. Avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. Paul warns that there will be many preachers, teachers, and authors who will not stay true to the Scriptures but give profane and idle babblings and even contradict the Word of God. Let's look at what he says there. He mentions profane babblings. Profane is the opposite of what is sacred. And so we're talking about teachings are not derived from the Holy Bible but are derived from worldly sources. Profane teachings. Then he mentions idle babblings, and that actually means empty talk. No meaningful substance to their teaching. Have you noticed that politicians also can engage in Empty talk? There's no real substance to what they're saying. I don't want to be political, but I guess I will be. Kamala Harris talks about what can be unburdened from what has been. What does that mean? Empty talk, no real substance to it. It kind of sounds good, but is there any real substance to it? And then Paul warns of contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. I think it's interesting that the word translated contradictions is the Greek word antithesis. That sounds familiar, doesn't it? It's an English word now. Antithesis. It refers to opposing arguments. A rival thesis. It was a technical term used in rhetoric for a counter-argument in a debate. And so these false teachings are giving a counter-argument to what faithful Christians believe and teach. It's the very antithesis of Scripture. That's because they misuse, pervert, and twist Scripture. When a so-called bishop gets up and affirms what God calls an abomination, he or she is an example of the very thing that Paul is talking about. And notice also that they teach what is falsely called knowledge. Greek culture was enamored with philosophy and the acquisition of knowledge. And so false teachers in that culture tried to present themselves as sources of special knowledge. Such speakers often sounded intelligent and knowledgeable. Today, so-called science rises in opposition to the teachings of the Christian faith, atheistic evolution being one example. Listen, if what so-called science says is contrary to the Word of God, it is not true science, it is not true knowledge. It is what Paul calls it, false knowledge. It's far better to listen to the unequivocal voice of God in Scripture than the pseudo-intellectualism of false teachers. For example, Jehovah's Witnesses really emphasize Bible study. They really emphasize the pursuit of knowledge. And you're going to get this knowledge from the watchtower and their teachers. But what they teach is contrary to the Word of God. They don't believe in the deity of Jesus. They don't believe in the sacrificial and substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ. They don't believe in salvation by grace through faith. They believe in a works salvation. What they teach is contrary to the Word of God. And so what are we to do with preachers and so-called teachers and missionaries who come teaching what Paul describes in verse 20? He says that we're not to try to argue with them. Instead, verse 20 says we are to turn aside from them. We are to avoid them. Don't give them... an audience when you realize they're affiliated with a group that is heretical and contrary to the teachings of the Word of God. We just learned last week, a few verses back, that we are to flee from temptation. Don't flirt with temptation, flee from it. And the same thing is true with false doctrine. You're not to listen to it and delve into it. You are to run from it, avoid it, as Paul says, because both can be harmful. Let me ask you a question. If you're walking along in the woods and you see a coiled up poisonous snake, are you going to say, hey, snakey, snakey, snakey? I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to clear, stay clear. I'm getting out of there. Or if I see a stick of dynamite and the fuse is lit, I'm going to run for my life. I'm going to get away. And that's the kind of thing that Paul says here in verse 20, that we are to avoid profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what contradicts the word of God. That's false knowledge rather than true. And why is it that we should avoid these false teachers? It tells us in verse 21, by professing it, some have strayed concerning the faith. They have strayed doctrinally and morally because they've listened to these people and allowed themselves to be duped by these people. You know, straying from the proper pathway can have terrible consequences, can't it? We've got roads out here, and most of the time they have the roads marked with lines, and you need to stay on your side of the road. You need to stay on the road. You know what happened to me when I was 18 years old? I was driving home from church, of all places, And I allowed my eyes to get off the road for about four seconds. And the road went that way and I kept going that way. And landed into a big old Georgia pine. Broke my nose, totaled my car. If you don't stay on the right road, you're going to get into trouble. And back in chapter 1 and verse 19, Paul says, some having rejected concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck. Listen, if you stay off the right path of the Word of God, if you veer off the right path of the Word of God, your life is going to suffer shipwreck. You're going to get yourself into trouble. And so stay true to the Christian faith. You know, some have strayed from the faith and yet have remained in the church. Even preachers who have departed from the faith and yet they're still preaching. And they're not preaching the Word of God anymore. Listen, we need to be honest. If you're not going to follow the Christian faith, why are you in a Christian church? You know, at least pull out and join a cult somewhere rather than staying in the true Christian faith and the true Christian church. And so Paul says, listen, Timothy, guard what you have been committed with, the gospel, the Word of God. Preserve it. See to it that it's passed on to the next generation. And watch out for the dangers of false doctrine. And then finally, in the last of verse 21, he gives a benediction. that we ought to lay hold of. And that is grace be with you. Amen. This letter begins with grace and it ends with grace because the grace of God is so very important. We're not only saved by grace, but we live by God's grace. God's enabling grace. Listen, he's talking about preserving the Christian faith, not being led astray. Listen, it's the grace of God that will help you to live right and to stay faithful. As you face trials in life, it's the grace of God that will sustain you through those trials. The apostle Paul had some thorn in the flesh and God said to Paul, my grace is sufficient for you. It is the grace of God that will help you overcome temptation. It's the grace of God that will help you stay true to sound doctrine. It's the grace of God that will help you serve the Lord effectively. We need to rely upon God's enabling grace to be the Christians and to be the church that God would have us to be. It's not your own resources that will keep you safe. It is the resources of divine grace. And that is why Paul says, Grace be with you. And by the way, you is plural because he wanted that grace to extend to the congregation that Timothy was leading at this particular time. Will you rely upon God's grace to help you live the Christian life and stay true to the Christian faith? I'm calling on you to do so. You know, if you had grown up in the Middle Ages, you probably would not have had access to the Gospel and the Word of God. Most people couldn't even read in those days, and the Bible was kept from lay people. But you know, that's not the case, is it, for us? We can read, And we all have copies of the Word of God. And so the question for us is, are we going to regard this Bible as a sacred trust and the teachings of this Bible as a sacred trust that we guard, protect, preserve, and pass on to the next generation? I commend those of you that work with our children because we've got to get the gospel and the word of God to our children. If they are not taught, if they are not taught, the decline in our country is just going to keep getting worse and worse morally and theologically. God bless you for working with those children. And finally, as far as I can tell, this historic skin-quarter Baptist church has stayed true to the Word of God for almost 250 years. I challenge this church, especially the leadership, to make sure that you continue to stay true to the Christian faith as has been entrusted to us in the Word of God. Will you join me in making this commitment? Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your precious Word. And we thank you for its truth and how our lives have been changed by the transforming power of the Gospel and the Word of God. And I thank you for this church, and I thank you that this church has guarded that sacred trust and is still an active church in this community. proclaiming the gospel after all these years, and may it be for the next generation and the next generation to come, we pray and ask in Jesus' name, amen.