Well, we, as I said, are at the conclusion of Timothy today, of 1st Timothy, I should say. And so chapter 6, in the last two verses, verse 20 to 21, all the way through this letter has the marks of urgency about it. Beginning, Paul's customary prayer of thanksgiving is omitted, and at the end, his customary greetings are omitted. The only other letter where these omissions occur is Galatians. In both letters, Paul is dealing with serious errors that threaten the very gospel in each place. Both are urgent efforts to correct these errors. All the way through 1 Timothy, Paul never forgets his main purpose for writing. He had ordered young Timothy to remain at Ephesus to deal with the false teachers who were there that had risen up in the churches. This first is chapter one, verse three says, remain at Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine. What better way to damage the people of God than to have teachers preaching false doctrine? In verse 4, he goes on to explain that what these men were teaching did not, quote, promote godly edification, which is in faith. So they're leading people away from growing in the faith. These men were leading disciples of Ephesus away from the heart and focus of the gospel, which is about edifying people. The goal ought to be to establish disciples in Jesus Christ, That was not the goal of these men. These teachers had set their goal on other things. Their teaching, Paul said, promoted insubordination. Refusing to pray for kings and rulers, that was dealt with. Placing women in possessions of leadership. positions of leadership, encouraging rebellion of servants against their masters. There's all kinds of things that they did. Their teaching promoted a pretend spirituality attained by abstaining from certain foods and marriage and stuff like that. Yet they also taught that godliness was a means of worldly gain. So like a prosperity preacher, strange combination. Many of them had even departed from the faith, and they had led others to depart with them. So these were not light things that you could just kind of hope would go away. It was a desperate and urgent situation. All along, Paul urges Timothy, deal with this. Over and over, he calls him to keep up the fight and to consider the harm that is caused by these teachers. So today, We have Paul's final admonition to Timothy. How does he wrap it all up? We find great lessons here for believers in every age. There are great lessons for you. Listen now as I read it to you. It's just two verses. 1 Timothy 6, 20 and 21. Oh 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. May God add his blessing to his holy word. So the first thing I want you to see, Christian, is that you have been given a precious treasure to guard. That's what Paul says to Timothy at the beginning of verse 20. Guard what has been committed to your trust. The words what has been committed to your trust refer to something that is left with another person for safekeeping. The obligation was taken very seriously in the ancient world. If you were traveling and you entrusted some precious possession to your neighbor, he was responsible to keep it safe. They took that very seriously. This is brought out in Leviticus 6, 2-4, where the same word is used in the Greek translation of the text. If a person sins and commits a trespass against the Lord by lying to his neighbor about what was delivered to him for safekeeping, or about a pledge or about a robbery, or if he is extorted from his neighbor, or if he has found what was lost and lies concerning it and swears falsely, if any of these things that the man may do in which he sins, then it shall be because he has sinned and is guilty that he shall restore what he has stolen or the thing which he has extorted and what was delivered to him for safekeeping or lost or the lost thing which he found. So you notice it has that part in there about what was delivered to him for safekeeping. So they put it right up there. It was like you were stealing if you were given something to look after and you didn't look after it. We have the same thing today in a certain way. If you have a precious coin collection, for example, you might rent out a safety deposit box in the bank. and you entrust the coins to the bank there for safekeeping, well, you'd have grounds for complaint if you went to pick up your collection and some of them were missing or some of them were damaged. They would be responsible because you had entrusted it to them to look after. As believers, you have been entrusted with the gospel. God has taken his precious, eternal plan of salvation and has deposited it in the church. He's not deposited it elsewhere. God's people have the scriptures, give us the gospel. They carry it from age to age. You will remember that in First Timothy 315, Paul referred to the church as the pillar and ground of the truth. We are to uphold the truth to the world, we are to support the truth, we bear the truth for the Lord. He referred to it also as a mystery of godliness, this deposit he called the mystery of godliness. It is the way that we become godly. It's what is revealed about how a sinner can become godly. He says, you've been given this treasure. You need to guard it. You need to keep it. It was the way that is called a mystery because it was hidden until God revealed it. Who could know how sinners could be saved until it was revealed? Of course, God unfolded his revelation gradually. But now that Christ has come, we see the full plan. God has given His church the word of the Gospel to proclaim and to uphold to the world the pillar and ground of the truth. Consider how foolish it is and how wicked it is to take this precious deposit and start altering it. It is God's revelation that we're handling. It is His revelation for the salvation of ruined sinners, so it's not a light matter. We should be so thankful to have this revelation and humbled when we see how desperately we need it. What arrogant ungratefulness it is that we should think that we could somehow improve on God's message to us by suppressing a part of it. Say, oh, this part is not really helpful. Or by placing a greater emphasis on one part than another. Or by embellishing or dressing it up in an effort to make it more attractive. You know, putting makeup on it or something to make it look more attractive. No, the Word of God is not yours. to tamper with. It is yours to guard and to keep. It is God's deposit. So just as somebody talking about the bank illustration, they give you something to keep for them, it's not for yours to tamper with it and decide how you're gonna make improvements on it. You can only spoil it by tampering with it. I heard about a seminary professor, or I once heard a seminary professor who was, wasn't at Greenville Seminary, I should say. It was another Bible college that I went to for a semester. And he was also a preacher. And he said that although he knew the Bible teaches election, that he would not preach about it because election might hinder if it was preached about might hinder evangelism. This man thought he needed to improve God's word to censor what God had said and revealed because it could be harmful to his people. In a worse situation, A godly minister in the Presbyterian Church in Canada told me a number of years ago about an ordination exam that he participated in where the candidate testified that one religion was just as good as another. She was having her exam on the floor of their presbytery. Now the gentleman that I was speaking to asked this woman how she would preach from John 14 6. which says Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father by me. And her response was, I would not preach on that verse. So you see, here's someone thinking that they can tamper with the gospel that has been deposited from the church to make it better somehow. This is God's word that we're talking about. You can't just pick and choose the things that you want and discard the rest. What arrogance that we should try to correct and improve on what God has said. So does this then make the church stagnant that we're not going to change anything of the deposit, that we're going to keep it the way it is? Some have said that the church's message needs to be always evolving with the times. After all, isn't the church supposed to grow into maturity? Isn't this church supposed to be dynamic rather than static? And I would answer, of course, we're supposed to grow. And of course, we're supposed to be dynamic. But it is not God's word that is the thing that's supposed to change. It is we who are supposed to change as we are renewed by the word. You get it completely backwards if you think progress comes by changing the word to suit your tastes or other people's tastes. God is calling the world to salvation in his son. The world is the one that needs to change. We're the ones that need to change. He calls us to die to what we are and to live in Christ as a whole new creation alive to the will of God. The gospel is nothing less than the power of God to salvation. So surely this treasure of the gospel is something worthy to be guarded. Paul is certainly passionate about it. Notice how he begins in verse 20 with the emotional words Oh, Timothy. You know how people do that. I mentioned that just recently when I did a sermon about the Nova Scotia fires. Someone says, Oh, Sally, listen to me. Oh, Bill, you know, this is so important. He says, Oh, Timothy. Oh, Christian, you see, you can say, guarding the gospel is a matter of great importance. It is important to God. If God loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son to save us from our sin, then do you think He wants the gospel that sets forth the way of salvation to be altered by man? Do you think he wants his instructions about the holy life that he has called us to live by the grace of God to be changed? Does he want to change the standards and make them different to comport with some notions of man? Absolutely not. Never. And consider our dear Lord Jesus Christ. He shed his very own blood that he might save his people from their sins. The gospel is precious because he purchased it at such a high price. If he has deposited with us for safekeeping, dare we alter it to suit our own tastes? I tell you, if you want to infuriate the Lord God, then go messing with the gospel. He will visit your iniquity upon your children to the third and fourth generation. He calls you one who hates him. He will blot your name out from the book of life and bring the curses of his covenant on you. Hear what he says about that very thing in Revelation 22, 18. For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book. If anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the book of life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. So in saying that, that God will take him out of the book of life, this is what God says. It's not something I came up with. But what is more, why would you even want to mess with the gospel that testifies of God's salvation to you? Why would you even want to tamper with the thing that testifies to you of God's glory and grace in Jesus Christ? Why would you want to alter His perfect counsel that is designed specially to restore ruined sinners? The deposit is not just precious to God, it is precious to us as His people. We are the ones that are saved by believing it, and think of your descendants after you. The Bible emphasizes this, doesn't it? But we often only think of our own generation. We look at how the little changes and adjustments we make would affect our own generation, and we forget about the future. We think the changes are good because they make more people want to come to church this year. We make some changes and people go, oh yeah, I like that, I like that change. Just a little tweak. But what we don't realize is that little adjustment in God's Word for us becomes a big change for the next generation. Why is that? Well, one generation, for example, allows women to teach in a church in, say, a class or something like that. The next generation allows them to serve as elders, but not to preach. The next allows them to preach. And the next denies the Trinity. Say, wait a minute. Denies the Trinity. Yes, they deny the Trinity. They deny the Trinity because they think it is demeaning for God the Son to submit to God the Father. So, you cast this out because you've already cast this out before. You're to guard the purity of the Gospel for the next generation. It's the most important, most precious inheritance that you can leave to your descendants after you. Guarding the Gospel is something to be passionate about. We need to be urged because too often we don't guard what God has entrusted to us. We need to. God told Adam to guard the Garden of Eden. Eden. How did he do with that? We're told that he was with Eve when she ate forbidden fruit. He did not guard the garden when Satan intruded. Israel was entrusted with the oracles of God and they were to guard these. Yet they did not guard them so that the word was almost lost among them. They both added to the word and they took away from it. By the time of King Ahab, the northern kingdom looked just like a pagan nation. It was no different. Queen Jezebel was leading things the way a pagan nation would be led. By the time of King Jehoash, the southern kingdom looked just like the northern kingdom. But the word was not lost because God preserved it. He sent His servants, the prophets, to call His people back. If He hadn't done that, it would have been completely obliterated, completely lost. And it has not been much different in the New Testament times. In the days just before the Reformation, the gospel was nearly totally eclipsed by man's innovations. Most of the priests themselves did not even know the gospel. All they taught was commandments and doctrines of men. The name church and the name Jesus continued. but the truth did not. Nevertheless, God brought a great recovery of the gospel. I don't mean the gospel wasn't in many places, but officially in the public ministry of the church, it was not. Today we need another recovery. Guarding God's deposit is something that each one of us is supposed to do according to our calling. Ministers and elders are responsible to see that the truth is taught in the church, to lay hands on no man, as we saw with Timothy and earlier in Timothy, unless he is committed to this precious deposit, to put their part in, to do their part in removing those who reject the gospel, even if they are fellow elders and church members, and above all, to proclaim the truth themselves. Fathers and husbands, you are responsible for guarding the treasure in your homes. You are to see that your family serves the Lord. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. You are to insist that God's way be kept and to see that you teach God's way in your home, both in family worship and in daily walking. And children, you are also responsible to guard the gospel that has been entrusted to you in your childhood is a precious treasure. It's something that you do not want to let slip. If you do, it will be to your own hurt. You should guard it more than anything else because it's more valuable than anything else that you could ever have. If you don't realize that, then you need to get on your knees and repent and ask God to show you how valuable the gospel is. Every Christian is responsible for guarding the treasure in his own life. If you're a believer, God has given you the gospel and you are to cherish it and you're to guard it. OK, so. We've seen it's a treasure that we're to guard. And the next thing I want to look at is what are you to guard against? What is it that threatens the gospel? More than anything is man's attempts, as I have already spoken about some to to reshape or improve the gospel. What if Leonardo da Vinci came to one of his artist friends with Mona Lisa to leave it with him for safekeeping? He says, friend, I'm going to be gone for a year and I want you to guard this portrait until I get back. And a few days later, another artist comes over and he admires the portrait. And he says, you know, I think this portrait would look better if her skin were a little darker shade. Let's fix it up. So he goes to work on it. And then the two of them, you know, go to work. Soon another friend comes over. He says, you know, her hair ought to have a bit more curl in it. Let's change that. And a third friend comes and he looks and changes and adds his own. She needs clothes that are a bit more fashionable. When Leonardo returns, he doesn't even recognize his own work. It has had so many alterations that it is beyond recognition. How arrogant, presumptive of these artists to change the work of a master. But notice in the illustration that the changes were all well-meaning. What were they trying to do? They were trying to improve it, make it look better. But they ended up ruining it, destroying it. How much more do men ruin the gospel when they try to improve that? We need to learn to look at man's alterations of the gospel in the same way that Paul did, which is the same way that God's spirit looks at them. What does he say about it? In verse 20, he says that human additions to the word are profane. and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. That's a pretty apt description. The last part of this description tells us the ones who made the adjustments think of them. They call it gnosis, the word that's translated knowledge there. Knowledge, wisdom, silence, science. They have found just what the church needs for their day. We know what the church needs today. And there is no way that they could be wrong because it's science. The facts speak for themselves, they say. So it seems to them. They consider themselves quite savvy and go everywhere promoting their findings. They find many that are ready to follow them. Here is the answer the church needs today, they say. And this and this as well, you know, they add all kinds of different things. And do this and you'll prosper and flourish as a congregation. The screw tape letters that C.S. Lewis wrote, he has Uncle Screw Tape speaking to his apprentice Wormwood these words. The real trouble about the set you are patient, referring to someone that's a believer, right? This is Satan looking at a believer. The real trouble about the set your patient is living in is that it is merely Christian. They all have individual interests, of course, but the bond remains mere Christianity. What we want, if men become Christians at all, is to keep them in a state of mind I call Christianity and. You know, Christianity and the crisis, Christianity and the new psychology, Christianity and the new order, Christianity and faith healing, Christianity and cyclical research, Christianity and vegetarianism, Christianity and spelling reform. If they must be Christian, let them at least be Christians with a difference. Substitute for the faith itself some fashion with a Christian coloring. Men who promote innovations like this think that their additions are just what the church needs, when it is really exactly what the church doesn't need. These men are often sincere in wanting to help the church, but they miss their way and their efforts to help are in vain. They want to see the church grow and become powerful, but that is not the same thing as wanting to see the church holy and edified. You see the difference? It's a distortion of God's calling. Powerful rather than holy. Their additions may indeed be just what the church needs to make the church grow in number and empower political power or whatever. But these additions are not what the church needs to help it grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. They call what they're doing gnosis knowledge, but Paul calls it. Paul says it's falsely called that. He has quite a different assessment, and he uses strong words to insult those who are so impressed with their own innovations. He puts them in their place. He calls their wisdom profane and idle babblings and contradictions. So they call it science. He calls it profane and idle babblings and contradictions. Profane means that what they say is common or vulgar. They think that they have found some great key for the church, something that's really special and really unique. Look at what we have discovered. Wow, look at this. Paul says, no, it's nothing more than a regurgitation of the same error that we've heard over and over again, delivered a thousand times before. It may be dressed in new clothes. It seems innovative, intelligent, fresh and new to them. But in reality, it's only common and profane. Don't we see that over and over? You know, an evangelical with breathless excitement comes telling about a new exciting thing that is happening in the church that sounds just like the path that the liberals were starting down 100 years ago. The next word is vain babblings. Could be translated empty talk. Calvin calls it that disgusting language which is so constantly and so disgustingly poured out by ambitious men who aim at applause rather than the profit of the church. It is the proud language of one who has made a discovery rather than the humble language of one who has been rescued from destruction and misery by the grace of God. It is the talk of the fool who thinks that he's impressing everyone, and perhaps he is impressing a lot of people, but who, in the judgment of the one whose judgment is final, is only making empty noise, profane babblings. Finally, Paul calls it contradictions. These men don't present their teachings as contradictions of truth. They don't say, okay, today we're gonna contradict what God's word says. Rather, it's presented as what is altogether necessary to supplement the truth in God's words. But in God's eyes, it is a contradiction of the faith that was once delivered to saints. Let me give you some illustrations of men's innovations to help you understand what I'm talking about. Illustration number one. church government. In the area of church government, see how the church in every age has sought to improve what seems to, or to import what seems to work in their own time, in their own day. They want to bring that into the church, what is working in the civil magistrate, or what is being done. In the early days, what was the government of the world like? Roman Empire. All eyes look to Rome. So what did the church do? She cast off government by elders and presbyteries and elevated the bishop at Rome to become the pope. So all eyes look to Rome. That's where authority comes from. They followed the pattern of the world rather than the word. Hundreds of years later, the English Empire rose to prominence in the world. What did the church do then? She made the king of England her head. in place of the pope and devised a system of government patterned after the world. Again, a head that was not a head that God appointed. And now, as democracy is prevailing form of successful government in the world, what do we see the church doing? Embracing a democratic form of government in which the elders are not used at all, or if they are, they're more like a political, either political bureaucrats or with a CEO type model than like pastors. Illustration number two, worship. Throughout the ages, the church has allowed the people's sentiments to shape her worship. In the early years, God was seen as unapproachable by many outside the church. So the church introduced images of saints as intermediaries to help people approach God. The people loved it, but it really didn't help them learn to draw near to God. It only solidified the concept that God was unapproachable. It was supposed to help. Other things were done to make sure that God was kept aloof. I mean, that God was kept high. being sarcastic. The church spoke in foreign languages and performed mysterious rituals that no one could understand. They had services so that God would stay high. What they were really doing is keeping God aloof and away from the people. The people loved it because it fit their conceptions about God, that he's this one that you can't come to even through Christ. It was a day in which God's mercy and forgiveness and grace were denied. But the people stood in awe before him. There was no grace and mercy, but they were in awe before God. That was the perversion. In our modern world, modern philosophy has made modern man think of God as very approachable and not very high at all, just the opposite. So choruses that sound more like romance songs than worship of a holy God are introduced and people love it. It fits with the way they think about God. God's wrath and judgment, His justice and sovereignty, all left out, all denied. There's no praising of God for that. But His love, acceptance, understanding, approachability, and sympathy are all emphasized. Those things are important, but not to the exclusion of the other. The result of the old way was despair because God was seen to be so unapproachable and you, you know, you couldn't come to him. You had to go to purgatory or whatever. The result of the new way is also despair because we're left with a God that really can't do anything to help us. And of course, in the old way, what do you suppose everyone worried about? Like, what was their big concern? They're all concerned about becoming overly familiar with God. They weren't familiar with Him at all. And the new way, what is everyone concerned about? They're all very concerned that God might seem to be unapproachable. That's where the thing that they're leaving out is that God is, in a way, unapproachable. This is called running for the fire extinguisher when a flood is coming. You don't need a fire extinguisher for a flood. Illustration number three, evangelism. In evangelism, there is so much that could be said, but here are a couple of illustrations. In the Middle Ages, what we might call sword evangelism was the order of the day. People were forced into the baptismal waters or else. And you know, some people were saved by that. You know how? They were. They were forced to baptism. They were forced to go to church. If there should be a preacher there who actually preached the gospel of Jesus Christ, and sometimes there was, some of the people were converted through that means, through force. But today, marketing is the most powerful tool that's used to change people's behavior. It's more powerful than the sword in our day. So the church has run over to that method. And really it seems so effective. And it's true that there are some people who are also saved when that method is used. You might say, well then what's their problem? Why not use it if people are saved through it? Now, why did you not say that about sword evangelism? Why did you not think that when I talked about sword evangelism? It worked, too. The reason marketing seems more acceptable to you is because it's the custom of our day. The sword evangelism guys would think that you're just as crazy as you think they were if you could see what they're doing. The problem with these methods is that although some are saved, Many are led astray. Here's the key thing, especially over the generations. The problem is that the precious deposit that God has given to his church is not guarded, but allowed to be twisted out of shape to suit the present age. It is true that the more twisted shape is attractive to more people that live in that age. You see, we're not interested in merely more people being attracted. We're interested in gathering the lost sheep in Jesus Christ. His sheep hear His voice and are attracted to Him for their salvation. But the marketing method engages in studies to find out what man wants. What is important to man? What is attractive to man today? What is attractive to people in this particular community? What is he looking for in a church? Then it seeks to create a product that he will want. All in the packaging, of course. They say, we're not changing the substance, just the packaging. Its main goal is not to present Jesus Christ as he is presented in the Bible, but to present him with those embellishments that will attract the lost. The result is that a different Jesus is presented that many are indeed attracted to, but they are the same ones that would despise Jesus if he was preached to them as he really is. I went to a church planting seminar before I came to Nova Scotia and I was presented by the teacher with five methods of church organization for church planting. After the class I approached the instructor and I asked him this question. I said, do you not think that the first method you presented is the most biblical, the most conformed to the pattern that we find in the Bible with the apostles? Yes, it is, he replied. Then why the other methods, was my question to him. And he said, because the first method doesn't get the same results. It is slower than the others, and most denominations don't want to wait that long to establish a new church. They don't have the funds to support a church for that long. So do you see, the wisdom of man has statistics to show this method produces faster results. This is called science. And it is so savvy, so smart in the eyes of man. They can put their graphs up. They can show what happens when you use this, when you do this, when you do this. Here's the five methods. But God calls it profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. In the long run, it is a perversion and a distortion of the gospel. Illustration number four, counseling. In counseling, there are those who take the findings of modern psychiatry and psychology, study of the soul, and they seek to mix these with scripture. The disciple then receives human wisdom mingled together with divine wisdom. The result is that what the Bible calls sin is called, still undesirable, but it's called sickness. Sinners who need to repent are instead handed excuses about why they can't repent. Along with this, self-esteem becomes the main thing that is seen that everyone needs. They need more of when the Bible says that we need less self-esteem and more God-esteem. But studies are brought forth to demonstrate that those with more self-esteem tend to be more successful in life, tend to be more effective in their outreach, and all these things. So there it is. Science has proven it, you see. Yet the studies don't explain what success is, nor do they define success in biblical terms. God does not call it wisdom, but again, he calls it profane and vain babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called science or knowledge. Illustration number five. Parenting. In parenting, the wisdom of the day in the Middle Ages was that demons were driven out of children by spanking. They did a lot of spanking. This was taken up by misguided members of the church. We think them foolish, but they would think us just as foolish because of the philosophies that we follow in our day. such men as Hall and Dewey that we would follow today. These men taught that man is basically good and that if we leave children to go their own way, to develop without parental interference, then we can move more rapidly to a utopian society. Don't discipline the children, let them figure out their own way, let them do their own thing. Their views were mainstream in education philosophy and were popularized and brought into the home by one called Dr. Benjamin Spock. In this philosophy, things like temper tantrums are viewed as a necessary part of a child's development. Parental correction only crushed the spirit and keeps the child from developing into something better. Wisdom is found in the child rather than in parents or in God's word. The result was permissive parenting, and this was sucked up by the churches along with everyone else. We need to turn back. not to mere traditional ways, but to God's ways. What does God's word say? God's way of parenting is for parenting to bring their children up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord, to hold their children to God's ways and to authoritatively uphold his standard in their lives. Not a selfish authority, but a servant authority. Now I could go on and on with examples. But I hope you get the point of what Timothy is being told here by Paul. It's so important for you to see, oh, Christian, guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called science or knowledge. So do you see the great concern here? It is stated in verse 21, if we embrace the world's way, we are in grave danger of straying from the faith. Paul says that some have already strayed from the faith because of what was being taught at Ephesus. In their pursuit of human wisdom, they lost the precious Gospel that alone can save. It's happened again and again that man in his wisdom has tried to improve on the Gospel and lost the Gospel, not to himself, he already knew the Gospel, but to his descendants. This is the haughtiness that's mentioned in Romans 11 when Paul says to the Gentiles, who embrace Christ, Right now, he says, you stand by faith. You've humbled yourself, you Gentiles, you've humbled yourself, you saw your need of Christ, you've come to Him as sinners to be saved. But he says, do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, okay, he just talked about how Israel, the Jews, were cut off, then He may not spare you either. If you become proud and confident in your own ways, you'll be cut off. Don't become so smug that you think that you can improve on the Gospel. We live by faith, by trusting in what God has said, not by living according to our own wisdom. If you have Christ, don't be dazzled by what the world is dazzled by. You have something that is far better. So what do we need to keep from straying? We need the grace of God. This is how Paul ends the letter to Timothy. It's where we need to end up too. Looking for God's grace. God's grace is his favor and help. You can't possibly stand against all the pressures of this age apart from the grace of God. And if you think you can, you can be sure that you won't. If you think you can stand, it's certain that you won't. My friends, this is serious. There are really only two ways to go. Either you get down on your knees and plead with Christ for the world, for the church, for your family, and for your own soul, or you get all excited about whatever new ideas man has come up with to bless the church. In the name of Christ, I call you to repent of your own ways and to bow down to the Lord in His ways. His Word alone is sufficient. Faith in Him is essential. His grace alone is sufficient to keep us. Let's pray. Please stand for prayer. Gracious Heavenly Father, we have seen how it is so easy for the church to go the way that the church at Ephesus had gone. They had imported all kinds of strange doctrines and teachings that were meant to enhance what was going on in the church, that were meant to improve it, to make it better. And Paul has been very clear that these deviations are not beneficial at all. And we pray that we would come to understand that. That we would realize that it is not for us to tamper with the deposit that you have given of the gospel. We pray that we would rather cherish the gospel and that we would uphold it, that we would be a church that is the pillar and ground of the truth and that you would be glorified, Lord, as we endeavor to to proclaim the truth among the nations. Thank you, Lord, for the people that you have drawn to yourself. And we pray that you would continue to do so. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. Now let's sing 100 Psalm 119 P. 119 P. From what we just read. Grace be with you. Amen.