All right, our title is Dealing with False Teachers, and our text is 1 Timothy 1, 1 through 11. Dr. Howard Hendricks told of a time he saw a young reporter interview Bud Wilkinson, who was once the coach of the top-rated Oklahoma Sooners football team. And the reporter enthusiastically said, Coach Wilkinson, tell us what contribution collegiate football has made toward physical fitness in America. And the rather stunned Wilkinson replied, I do not believe that football has made any contribution to the physical fitness in America. What do you mean, asked the dumbfounded reporter. I define football, replied Wilkinson, as 22 men on the field desperately needing rest and 50,000 people in the stands desperately needing exercise. And Hendricks, concluded by saying, what a description of the local church. But, and here's my point, that's my opening, here's my point, God does not save us so we can come and sit and sing and leave. Do you agree with that? Okay. And so he saves us so we can serve. And so when we look at the pastoral epistles, how should the church function? That's really what we're looking at. First and Second Timothy are called the pastoral epistles. I'm doing quotations there. But they're relevant for all Christians, not just for pastors. For example, they address important topics, including, let me just go down through them. The difference between true and false teaching, which is today's text. Do you need to know the difference between truth and error? Okay, so it's important. The stunning truth that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Thirdly, the need for proper conduct and order in church, and we see that in chapter two. Chapter three, the qualifications and responsibilities of church leaders, that is, elders and deacons. Fourthly, in case you think, well, none of this has anything to do with me yet, how to enjoy the goodness of God's creation, such as things like marriage and your meals in chapter four. And then he gets into the dangers of pride and the love of money. Is there anyone here who doesn't have to deal with money? Let me know. Well, you got a credit card, but still it's what? Tell me. It's plastic form of money. And so Paul deals with that as well. And then we go on to second Timothy, the call to endure suffering by God's power. If you're wondering what's happening in our world today, and are you going to have to suffer if you stand up for Christ? I think that's a good question, isn't it? Right? He goes on, the strategic priority of biblical discipleship, of passing on the truth to the next generation. How are we doing at that? Let me ask. Not good, someone says. How about this one? God's inspiration and the purpose of scripture. So is God's word really inspired by God? Is the Bible really God's word? And if so, how do we know that it is and what's the purpose of it for our lives? And then lastly, the vital importance of good works in the Christian life. And Titus chapter two and chapter three discuss that. So I'm asking the question now, do you see why we all need these books, not just the pastor? because they're dealing with relevant issues for our lives. Okay, background, and I'm not going to get into a lot of it because we got into some of it when we did those first two sermons on 2 Timothy. If you're visiting, by the way, I started 2 Timothy and then I realized I probably should go back and do 1 Timothy. You're laughing, but there it is. And the point being here is that Timothy was young, we said, he was fearful, and he had stomach issues, we'll see in chapter five. And Ephesus, where he was, was a city rife with sexual immorality, occult practices, and plenty of false teaching. And if you look at verse three, Paul tells him to remain there so that he, Timothy, may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine. Now, if that sounds simple to you, okay, Just think about this, do people like to be confronted? The answer is no. And how about this, do fearful young men like to confront them? No. So his assignment's a tough one, okay. And so Paul's writing to bolster Timothy, to strengthen him for this task of guarding the deposit of sound doctrine. In other words, this deposit has been entrusted to him. The truth has been entrusted to Timothy, and Paul's getting ready to die, right? We'll see that in 2 Timothy, he's getting ready to die. This is written before that, obviously, but he's passing it on to Timothy, who will pass it on to the next generation, who will pass it on to the next and so on until all the way down to today. What's the truth I'm drawing from our text? We must persevere in the gospel in the face of false teaching. And other challenges. If you say, what are the other challenges? Well, fill in the blank. Challenges such as COVID. Challenges, and you say, oh, the cinder falls, man, what are you talking about? People just dismiss it, I get it. But challenges such as government overreach since the election. Okay, so I get some nods, right? Challenges such as inflation, and I'm just mentioning political things, but we can go on further and further, but there's the challenges of your kids or grandkids running amok, or your mate for that matter. Relationships, responsibilities, the boss at work. You know, he reminds me of what I sit on. He's a pain in my neck or on my bottom. You know what I'm talking about? I'm serious. I mean, he just goes on and on. Challenges that we face. Well, we got to persevere in the gospel in the face of false teaching and other challenges. OK, so we're going to go right through and we're going to look at three things. We're going to look at Paul's greeting to Timothy. And then we're going to look at the problem of false teachers. And then we're going to look at the proper use of the law. And it's all there in your bulletin of where we're going. And then I put an outline of First Timothy, which I usually have extra notes here. Our regular folks know that. But today, because we're beginning a book, I put a little outline there. And so if you wonder where I'm going, the bulletin will help you. I don't use PowerPoint, but I try to make my point. And I hope the Holy Spirit will provide the power. OK? All right. First then, Paul's greeting to Timothy, verses 1 and 2. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, to Timothy, my true child in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. And so why does Paul remind Timothy and those who read this letter of his apostleship? Well, the word means sent. He's sent by the command of God. We might say he's a man under orders and thus he's authorized by God to give the church orders on how it should function. And we see that in chapter three and verse 15. If you've been in the military, you know there's a chain of what? Tell me. A chain of command, and that's what he's doing here. The orders come down from God to Paul, and from Paul to Timothy, and through Timothy to the whole what? Church. That's the point. And if you look at this rightly, that Paul and Timothy are merely messengers, but they bear the authoritative stamp of the King of Kings. Who's that? Jesus, exactly. And to say that then, if we reject an apostle's teaching in the Bible, who are we rejecting? We're rejecting King Jesus, exactly. You can see that in 1 John 4, 6. That's the point. So Timothy is facing this difficult task, verse 3, of charging certain people not to teach different doctrine. So if we look at the book, let me just walk through it. He's going to have to teach and give commands to people. He's going to have to discipline elders and command rich people. Let me tell you, I've dealt with some rich people. They don't want anyone telling them what to do, especially with their what? Money. OK, if you're rich here, I'm not singling you out at all. I'm just saying, are you more wicked than poor people? No. Is it wrong to have wealth? No. Is it wrong for wealth to have you? Yeah. We'll get into that in chapter six. And so he's going to have to discipline elders. and command rich people, he's gonna have to deal with older people. Do you know what happens when you deal with older people? They have a tendency and temptation to look down on who? Younger people. And Timothy's probably in his late 30s, early 40s, okay? And they're gonna be tempted to despise his youth. And so the letter then is like a reference to a potential new employer. And it's going to give Timothy the backing that he needs from the Apostle Paul. Okay, when you say these kind of things, people say, are you ready? So what? Preacher, so what? Are you ready? Who cares? What's for lunch? Let me mention four things. Okay, what competes with the Bible's authority in your life, in my life? Four things, are you ready? I could talk about lots of them. I could talk about TV. I could talk about the movies. I could talk about, you know, alcohol. We could get into legalism if you want, if you're smoking, you know. Let's talk about the things that compete, and we get all legalistic. But let me mention four things that compete with the authority of Scripture in your life and my life, our experience. And you know how this comes across? Well, how do I feel about it? How do I feel about it? Secondly, our own reasoning. What do I think about that? What do I think of that? And thirdly, tradition. What have Christian people thought and taught about this throughout history? And fourthly, culture. What are the values of other people now? In other words, what is everybody else doing? Those are the four things, I'll say them again, experience, reasoning, tradition, and culture. And each of those four things, the authority is self or mere man, which amounts to rebellion against God. Would you agree? Let me ask you, if I just said, on what basis do you make your decisions? Let's get real simple, okay? How do you spend your time? On what basis do you make that decision on your time? Can I see your day timer, your calendar on your phone? How about this, money, can I see your checkbook? It's none of your business preacher. Just talk to Jerry, he does all the books. Lead me out of it and I'll talk to him. But the point of it is, everything in our life must come under the authority of the Bible. It's the touchstone of truth. If you want the scripture for that, Isaiah 8, 20, he says, to the law unto the testimony. If they don't speak according to this, they have no dawn, no light, no truth. And notice the text. He says, God, our savior, which may sound odd to us because we usually think of who is our savior. Jesus, exactly. But God is the one who sent Jesus into the world. God is the source of salvation. He's the planner of it from all eternity. And what he's getting at here, he's borrowing from the Old Testament that it was God who brought about the salvation of Israel time and time again. And he has the same authority, the same majesty to command Paul regarding the preservation of the true faith of the gospel of Christianity. That's the way one person put it, the liberal notion that the God of the Old Testament is a wrathful, vengeful God, whom the gentle, loving Jesus calmed down is both false and blasphemous. We hear this a lot today, that the God of the Old Testament, he's a monster God, he's cruel God. There I was, I was having dinner and the guy goes, yeah, we need Jesus to save us from that mean Old Testament God. I'm like, what? Are you saying that God is holy? I get it. Are you saying that he's got justice and wrath and judgment? Yeah. But is that all he is? And the answer is, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. True or not? Okay. So we're not talking about a mean Old Testament God that I need Jesus to save me from. It's not true. And we're not to look at it like that. So God has revealed his saving plan And what is Christianity? It is not a philosophy. It's not a system of morality. It's essentially a relationship with a person. Who is it? Jesus. Okay, that's his point. And when Paul says, God our Savior, he also says, notice, when he says, Christ Jesus our hope, that word hope, it means, elpis, is the word, a confident expectation of absolute certainty that God will fulfill his word in due time. It is not wishful thinking like, are you ready? I hope I win the lottery, people tell me. I'm like, nope, put your money in the box, you'll get a better return on it, amen? Or people will say stupid stuff in the Willamette Valley. You're not supposed to say stupid, preacher. Like, I hope it doesn't rain. I'm like, what? That's ridiculous, isn't it? Paul's talking about an absolute certainty. And this then, this hope in Christ Jesus, our hope, sets Christianity apart from every man-made religion. For example, let me just give four of them. The Hindu hopes to be reincarnated. He hopes he doesn't come back as a bug. She hopes she doesn't come back as a cow. No, you're shaking your head and smiling, but isn't that true? The Hindu. How about the Muslim? The Muslim hopes to have 70 virgins. I don't know what the gals hope for that are Muslims. I don't know. It's kind of crazy, isn't it? How about the Buddhist? You ever heard of nirvana? And what is nirvana anyway, and where is it? Ask a Buddhist. They don't know, but they're hoping for it. How about the Mormon? What does the Mormon hope for? He's going to be, she's going to be a God. No, what Paul's doing is by marking Christ as the substance, the object of our hope, he shows that the destiny of believers is bound inseparably, inexorably, just to Jesus. For example, this is a question I have. If you just walk through this, what hope do we have in a distraught, distracted world, for example? Here's another question. What hope is there for sinful, unsaved, Even for us who are Christians, let me ask this question, what hope is there that we'll ever be able to please and serve God? There are some of us who never measure up, we never can seem to do it well enough or good enough, you know what I mean? Never do enough, and God is always angry. God is always disappointed with us. It's because we don't really believe the gospel or we haven't really, it hasn't entered into us to the degree that it can. How about this? What hope is there for any happy hereafter? Well, the answer to all those questions is who, tell me. Notice I didn't say what, it's who. It's Jesus, isn't it? It's the same thing of saying Christianity is Christ. It's a relationship with God through faith in his son. We complicate it to death, or am I wrong? Okay, I'm just saying. It's kind of weird that I have to even say this, but it's true. For example, is Jesus risen? Is he? Then everyone who trusts in him will be risen too. To eternal what? Life. Not judgment, but eternal life. Question, is Jesus rewarded? Is he? Then everyone who has served him here will also be rewarded. Do you believe that? That would be motivation to serve the Lord now and get on with it, amen? To be busy about our Father's business. How about this? Here's the one, is Jesus enjoying eternal bliss in his father's presence right now? The answer is, yeah, and so will all those who put their hope in him, right? So I'm asking the question, I know I'm harping on hope, but let me just say it. Is Jesus your hope? Is he my hope? Let me just go through some questions. Who else is God in the flesh? We could go back to it if you want, Buddha? Muhammad, you go through Confucius, I don't know, Biden, even Trump if you want. None of them are God in the flesh, okay? How about this? Who else ever lived a perfect life and never sinned? Nobody except who? Jesus. How about this? Who else died for sinners? No one, no one. Who else? Now, I love this one. This is the proof of Christianity. Who else rose from the dead? Don't try that at home. It won't work, amen? Let me go further. Who else is praying at the Father's right hand for His people? Jesus. And this one I love. Who else is returning to save his people and to judge the wicked? And so I'm asking the question, who is your hope? Not what, who is your hope? To whom else will you and I go? Jesus said what? He alone has the words of eternal life. Remember Peter? Jesus said, are you all gonna fall away? Are you all gonna turn away too when they did? And he said, to whom else shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Put your hope in Jesus. Now what you find when you read these commentators, there's jokes about that, Luther said that when the angels want to laugh, they read the commentaries. But some folks see Paul's greetings in his letters as a formula, but they're pregnant with practical purpose and how so. And we went into this a little bit on this grace and mercy and peace. So I'm just going to touch on it lightly. If Timothy felt weak and helpless as he faced his responsibility, then God's grace could sustain him, true? Question, do you got any burdens in your life? Is his grace sufficient? Okay. If Timothy was guilty of sin or failure, then God's mercy would cover him. Question, you got any failure in your life? You got any sin? Then his mercy is marvelous, amen? OK, let's go on. If Timothy was thrown into conflict with false teachers, then God's peace would guard his heart and his mind. Let me ask you, do you got anything or anyone that disturbs your peace? Well, then. Guess what? His perfect peace will guard your heart, your mind in Christ Jesus as you're praying about everything and worrying about what? Nothing. Philippians 4, 6, and 7. In other words, what Paul's telling Timothy is God will provide for how many of your needs? All of them. So first we have the greeting. Second though, Paul instructs Timothy about the problem of false teachers in 3 through 7. And what we find here is historically Paul had left Ephesus five years earlier, and when he left, he warned them, this is Acts 20, 29 and 30, that fierce wolves would come in among them, not sparing the flock, and from among their own number would arise men speaking twisted or distorted things to draw away disciples after them. So the question I have, there's three questions we'll walk through in the second point. Who are these certain persons that Paul is writing to Timothy about? Secondly, what were they teaching? Which is not really clear, by the way, I did a lot of reading. And third, what was it producing as opposed to what the truth produces? So those are the three questions. Who is he referring to? What were they teaching? And what was the fruit or the rotten results of it? All right. Well, we know that Timothy knew who these false teachers were because they were within the church already, and they were most likely elders. And the commentators say, well, we know that because of three reasons. First, they presumed to be teachers of the law. You see it in verse 7, right? And teaching was a responsibility of who? Tell me. Elders, right, we see that in chapter 3 verse 2 and in 5, 17. Second reason that Timothy knew who these were, and they probably were elders, was that two of them named Hymenaeus and Alexander in verse 19 and 20 were excommunicated by Paul. And third, the third reason is there are repeated concerns about elders in this letter of 1 Timothy, both to their qualifications in chapter 3 and to their discipline as well as their being appointed in chapter 5. Now notice verse three, Timothy's to charge them not to teach different doctrine. And that word charge is a military term, meaning to give strict orders or commands from a superior officer. Somebody said Timothy was not only an overseer of local churches, but he's also a Christian soldier under the order of King Jesus, the King of Kings. Now, when Paul uses the word different here, it means any teaching that does not agree with what Jesus and his apostles taught, which is also based on the Old Testament, by the way. And so, there's a way Philip Rykin put it, I love it. He said that the gospel is the truth, so it cannot simply be a matter of opinion. Are you ready? Since there is only one truth, then all doctrine that is different from scripture must be what? False. This is like the law of non-contradiction. You've probably heard of this. I don't want to get into a bunch of logic with you, or philosophy, because that's not my purpose. But there's only one truth is what Paul's saying. There is only one orthodoxy and everything else is heterodoxy. That's the word for different that he uses. Heterodidoxos, different doctrine, different teaching is what it means. Although, of course, the church must give answers to the new questions and challenges that arise in every age. one of the reformers put it this way, we therefore teach that the faithful ministers, faithful ministers are now not permitted to coin any new doctrine, but they're simply to cleave to the doctrine to which God has subjected men without exception. That's John Calvin, what is he saying? He's saying simply that we don't make up new doctrine. We just expound what scripture already what? Says, okay? So that's who they were. They were probably teachers within the church and were probably elders. Second, what were these men teaching? Well, you notice what Paul says here in verse 4, myths and endless genealogies, which probably refer to fanciful allegorical creation of stories about people in the Old Testament genealogies. Titus 1 and 14 calls them Jewish myths. And we really don't know what they were, and this is very frustratingly vague. Because it's kind of like talking about the cults. They're all hodgepodge. I remember taking a class in Bible College, Evangelism and the Cults. And one day we were studying the Mormons, the next day we're studying Jehovah's Witnesses, the next day we're studying Zen and motorcycle mechanics. You know, I mean, it was just a hodgepodge. And the teacher would pray, the teacher would say, now pray, Lord, that we would forget all this stuff. I'm like, forget all of it. Why are we studying it if we're supposed to forget it? But you had to have it for the test, because you might come across some of these people who need to know what they believe. Well, it would be better to study the truth, and then you can, what, discern all the error from the what? The truth. Okay. Are there people that are called to minister particularly to cults and read that stuff? Yes. I'm not saying there aren't. Okay. But like the people in the bank, they give them real money so they can spot the counterfeit. Well, now they got the little pens they can just draw on the bill to see if it's the real deal, right? Well, Two ancient texts shed light on Paul's meaning. One is titled The Book of Jubilees, written about 125 B.C., and another is written after A.D. 70, and it's called The Biblical Antiquities of Philo. And these books retell the Old Testament story from a Pharisaical point of view, in other words, a legalistic point of view and they include extended genealogies. In other words, genealogies that are not in the Bible. And so they're going beyond scripture to speculate about the biographies of people in scripture or even in addition to them. One writer, John Stott, describes them as tendentious rewrites of a section of Old Testament history And both of them stress the indestructibility of Israel and of the law. And then he says, both of these books embellish their story with fanciful additions. Okay, let me give you an example of this. Okay, an example would be like, here's an example, Adam and Eve, let's say. They will say that Adam stands for your spirit, but Eve stands for your body. Adam was good and Eve was bad. Well, no, Adam is Adam and Eve is Eve. Amen? And so what they're doing is they're getting all to this allegorical, all this fanciful interpretations, and they're coming up with all this crazy stuff. Question, did that all go bye-bye with Paul's day? The contemporary church faces the same danger? And the answer is, OK, well, let's go through some examples. All right. Many cult writings, like the Book of Mormon, fall into this category, and so does the Apocrypha, because it was rejected by the Jews as not belonging to the Word of God, the Scripture. Another example that I see a lot is the Gospel of Thomas, which claims to contain 120, you ready, secret words of the living Jesus. But although a few of its teachings echo biblical Gospels, right, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the rest of it's all myths. Another example, if you ever see the book, don't even think about getting it, is called the Bible Code. You heard of it? Yeah, the Bible Code, which rearranges the letters in Genesis and claims to decipher them in order to predict world events. It's ludicrous. And similarly, Dan Brown's novel, The Da Vinci Code, you've heard of it. It claims to provide secret knowledge about Jesus, but it's based on, you ready, a hodgepodge of discredited gospels and historical speculations. You know what it's good for? It's good for fire kindling. It really is, okay? And you say, is that all? No, there's more. Much of the Roman Catholic dogma is mythical. Can you get specific preacher? Yeah, I can. Doctrine such as purgatory. It's a myth. There's no such thing as purgatory, okay? How about this? The veneration of the saints. Are we to do that? No. How about this? Mary as the mediator between us and Jesus. No. All of that's based on tradition, not scripture. Now, I know it's not genealogies, but it is myths. It fits this category. How about this? The endless mention of prophecy every time something happens in the Middle East. You're smiling, but hoping to figure out exactly where we are on the timeline to eternity. If you're a prophecy nut, You have to forgive me and we can talk afterwards. But it's ludicrous, okay? And what they do is they end up changing it as they go along. 88 reasons why Jesus is coming in 1988. Remember that book? Well, he didn't come back. We could talk about herald camping and all the rest of it. And so these fables, they do not rally God's people into unity around the truth. Rather, notice what Paul says, that they distract God's people from the stewardship, the stewardship from God that is by faith. And that word that translates stewardship can also be rendered administration or plan. And what is Paul saying? that God has a plan of salvation that he's administering through Christ on behalf of sinners. And he says this administration of this plan of salvation is by what? Faith. And so myths and genealogies don't promote faith, they're a waste of what? Time. Okay? On the other hand, look at verse five. True doctrine produces love that issues or flows out of, comes from a pure heart, and a good conscience and a sincere faith. So what does that mean? A pure heart is one that's been washed by the Holy Spirit, by the blood of Christ. It's a heart that puts others first. It doesn't have mixed motives. In other words, true love comes from a good conscience also. It's the opposite of a guilty conscience. So a guilty conscience leads to me hating my neighbor. It creates distance and even animosity in relationships. But a conscience made good by God's grace in the gospel has nothing to hide. In fact, it brings people closer to one another in relationships. And thirdly, true love comes from a sincere faith. Literally in the Greek, it's an unhypocritical faith. And so sincere faith relies on Jesus alone for salvation. On the other hand, the hypocrite cannot love anyone as much as he or she loves him or herself. A hypocrite is mainly concerned with what others think of him, whereas true love is selfless, all right? So let me state it this way, what Paul's actually saying. that biblical love, 1 Corinthians 13, right, is the best advertisement for true doctrine. If we're living the truth, people will be attracted to us. I won't say any names, but somebody recently moved away and they're lonely. And I said, you know what you do? You know what the answer to your loneliness and your depression is? I'll give you the 10-step program. Do something nice for somebody and repeat it nine times. If you start loving people and showing a genuine interest in them, they'll be coming to you like a magnet. Am I right or wrong? Okay, well there it is. And so love is the application of truth. That's what he's saying. Love is also, are you ready? Not just an advertisement for true doctrine, it's the best test of our theology because love and true doctrine always go together. John 1.14, Jesus is full of grace and truth. Someone said, truth without love is brutality, but love without truth is sentimentality. And so wherever doctrine is the purest, love must be the highest. Now here's my question for application. Do you, do I, practice the doctrine of love as much as we love our doctrine? If I said, Grace and truth, or I could say, you ready, love and truth. Do you err more towards the grace and love or more towards the truth? Or do you have that beautiful blend and balance like who? Jesus, that's the question. So that the better you and I understand God's grace in Christ, the more our life is going to overflow with zeal for the lost sinners, love for the church, and compassion for the needy. That's the way one person put it. If we are not great lovers like Jesus, okay, loving people, there is something wrong with our love or our doctrine or both. You get that? I mean, I know this stuff is convicting, but what he's saying is your beliefs matter, right? Because they determine your behavior, and your behavior matters because it will show you what you really want, what you really believe. Let me illustrate it. An agnostic was surprised when he was told that a certain lady noted for her intelligence and boldness was a firm believer in the scriptures. And so the first chance he got, he asked her, do you really believe the Bible? I most certainly do, is her reply. And then he asked, why do you believe in it? Because, she confidently replied, I know the author. It's what? It's a personal what? Relationship with God through Jesus Christ by way of the Holy Spirit. That's the point. Now notice what Paul says, certain persons These are these false teachers. By swerving from these things, what things? He's just said, love out of a pure heart, good conscience, and sincere faith. By swerving from these things, have wandered away into vain discussion. That's what heresy produces, error, bad doctrine, false teaching. And they're designed to be teachers of the law without understanding what they are saying, or the things about which they make confident assertions. And so they were wrong doctrinally, which led to a sinful lifestyle ethically. What's the point? Let me be clear. Before you and I can teach, we need to understand what we're going to teach. Otherwise, we're going to mislead people. If you're going to be a teacher or preacher of the word, you need, as John MacArthur said, to keep your butt in the chair long enough to figure out what the text means. Someone asked him, they said, hey, what's the secret? He said, keeping your rear in the chair long enough. Because a lot of us just want the quick fix. Give me the cliff notes, preacher. I don't want to study it. It's hard work. It's a lot of work. And so these false teachers were what? They wanted to teach the law they didn't understand. They didn't understand the intention God had in giving the law, and they didn't understand the goal that God had in the law. This is the way Wiersbe put it. The flesh, that is our old nature, loves religious legalism because rules and regulations enable a person to appear holy without a change, without repentance of what? Heart. See, I could come up here every Sunday and say, let me tell you the rules and regs. Don't smoke, don't chew, and don't go with those who do. I'm serious. And people will love that. Certain people will love that. You know why? Because they want to be told exactly what to do so they don't have to think. They don't have to discern and really study the scriptures themselves and walk in the Spirit. It's true. And so what this is, is a warning from Paul to Timothy not to major on the minors. As one person put it, those who want to be dogmatic must be sure they have the right dogma. And these false teachers had a dangerous combination. What is it? Arrogance and ignorance. He went on, this is where I can, error can be taught with as much conviction as the truth. In fact, the more argumentative someone is about a theological issue, the more likely he or she is spiritually imbalanced. Did you hear that? Philip Towner, he talks about this. It's amazing. This is his quote. And by the way, this is how you can tell that somebody's a false teacher. These characteristics make a timeless portrait of the false teacher. Doctrinal subtleties, second, their special interpretation, spurious claims to authority, controversy and dogmatism ought to make God's people suspicious. At the same time, he said, evidence of these same tendencies in our own lives ought to cause alarms to go off. I have met people, you know what? they love their doctrine more than they love God and people. And it's truth, truth, truth. And they what? They smash people with the truth. And then you find out that their marriage is what? Terrible. Their kids are running amok because they're not applying the very truth in love that they say they what? They believe. And so first, we got greetings. Second, he says, stop the rot, Timothy, of false teachers. And then lastly, notice what he says, the proper use of God's law in verses eight through 11. Now we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, okay? So the law is good because it reflects the goodness of God who gave it, right? Duh, okay. And because if, or when, he says if, the law is used lawfully, it's a play on the words, the law has to be used what? Lawfully, as God intended is what he means. It will do good to people. Now, what's fascinating about this passage is that while Paul condemns the false teachers, he upholds the law itself. It reminds me of Romans 3, we establish the law, we don't nullify it. And he's careful not to throw the baby out with the dirty bath water. Okay? This means two things, you ready? We must understand the true intention of the law by God and recognize its limitations too. For example, The law was never meant to be the means by which people can justify or make themselves right with God. It was never intended for that purpose. Okay, that's really key. Why? The law's standards are far too high and pure for sinful human beings even to begin to accomplish that. And you see it in places like Romans 3.19, Galatians 2.16. So while the law reveals our sin and sometimes even restrains our sin, it cannot remove our sin. Did you hear me? Why? Only the gospel can do that. And if you say, how does the gospel remove our sin? By God's grace alone, through faith alone in the person and work of Christ alone. That's the point. Someone said it like this, that the law is like a mirror. So this morning, hopefully you got in front of the mirror and you fixed your face, right? But you didn't use the mirror to fix your face. You used the mirror to see what needed to be fixed. You don't take the mirror and start rubbing your face on the mirror, it's not gonna work, right? The law's like the mirror, it points out my flaws, but the gospel's like the sink that I need to wash the flaws. See? And that's the point. The law like the mirror, I see my sin, ah, but the mirror can't clean my dirty mug. I need the sync of the gospel to give me a new heart, which loves God and wants to walk in the ways of his word. And the spirit then gives me the power to do that. This is the way I would say it. Let me sum it up. If you don't get anything else I said, get this sentence. You ready? The law giver, who's that? God, sent the law keeper, who's that? Who's the law keeper? Jesus, who paid the penalty on the cross for law who? Breakers, that's us. That's the gospel. The law giver sent the law keeper who paid the penalty for law breakers. Jesus is our only hope. But let me ask two questions and then I'll give some applications and an illustration and we're done. How do we use God's law lawfully? How do we use it as God intended? Let me mention three ways. First, the law shows our sin, okay? And it condemns us before God because we cannot, in fact, we don't keep it and we cannot perfectly. And this is most likely what Paul means when he says that the law is not laid down for the just, that is those who are righteous, but for the lawless in verse nine. I mean, the illustration of this is simple. Think about the speed limit sign. It's there to keep you in line. For example, you say, well, I don't listen to that, but let somebody, a cop, be beside the road, and miraculously, your foot comes off the accelerator pedal. The law is restraining you at that point, isn't it? Ah, and that's what Paul's talking about. is that the speed limit exists for what? Because of reckless drivers on the road, they need to be restrained. And the law helps identify and restrains sin in our lives. In other words, the lawful use of the law is for the lawless. Right? Question. This is really good. If you're one that always drives with speed limit, do you need the speed limit? Do you need the sign to remind you? See, somebody's saying yes and somebody's saying no. If you've done that, the real conscientious person, hey, honey, did the speed limit change? I don't want to get a ticket. You know, people are worried about how, are they going too fast? Are they going too slow? You know, you're laughing, but isn't that true? OK, so the law what shows us our sin and sometimes restrains it reveals it restrains it. Secondly, though, the law shows us our need of the Savior. Here's how Luther put it on this second use. He said the law is a mighty hammer ready to crush the self-righteousness of human beings. for it, the law, shows them their sin, so that by the recognition of sin they might be humbled, frightened, worn down, and so may long for the grace of the blessed offspring, that's Christ. It is, the law is in this sense, it is in this sense that the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, and he's quoting Galatians 3, 24, okay? So the law reveals and restrains our sin, the law what? Shows us our need of Christ, and thirdly, and this is the third use of the law, and by the way, when I use this third use, this is really complicated. Everybody agrees on these first two uses, by the way. When you get to the third use, there is no consensus on this, by the way, in church history, and even today, they went that-a-way. People aren't going to agree. Thirdly, the law shows God's will for those who are already saved, meaning that once we are justified by God's grace, the law perfectly fulfilled by Christ for us in his life and in his death becomes the pathway of freedom on which I walk by the power of the Holy Spirit. How so? That God puts his law in our hearts, Jeremiah 31, and causes us to walk in his statues, Ezekiel 36. It's called the new covenant. You can see it in Hebrews chapter 8 and in Hebrews chapter 10. And thus, when we love one another, what are we doing? We're fulfilling the law. Isn't that right? Romans 13, right? So we are justified by grace, yet we still wage war against our sinful desires of lawlessness in terms of sanctification and becoming more like Christ in heart and conduct, right? So two errors to avoid on this, you ready? One error is to say we don't need the law because we have the Holy Spirit. But yet you will meet people who say, well, the Spirit's leading me to divorce my spouse and go after this other gal. No. No, the Holy Spirit will never leave me contrary to the word of God. So the Christian will still need the law to tell them, look, no, no, you don't do that. You don't do that, it's wrong. So one error is we don't need the law because we have the Holy Spirit. A second error to avoid is we don't need the law because we're justified by grace. We're under grace now, so we don't need any law. We call that what? Antinomian, that's why we talked about it last week. Let me illustrate this, how the law works in a Christian's life. A man was serving a sentence for theft, and he'd been led to Christ by a prisoner, a prison visitor, while he was in jail. And on the release from prison, he visited a church, and when he went in, he saw the Ten Commandments written on the front wall, and his initial reaction was to feel condemned, knowing he had broken almost every one of them. But as he began to read the Ten Commandments, he found he was reading it very differently. Before he had read them only as commands, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, right? But now he read them as promises, ready? You shall not steal. And he could say, thank you, Lord, I shall not steal. You shall not commit adultery. Thank you, Lord. I shall not commit adultery. You shall not covet. Thank you, Lord. I shall not covet. You shall not bear false witness. He said, Thank you, Lord. I shall not bear false witness. So what had been only commands to him before that which exposed his failures through the personal work of Christ now became promises that liberated him. That's how the Christian is to view the law. not in the hands of Moses, which is this impossible demand, but in the hands of Christ, who's already kept it for me. And out of gratitude for his grace, and out of love for him, I want to what? I want to obey, and he gives me the power by Holy Spirit. So the three uses of the law lawfully, it shows our sin, shows our need of the Savior, and it really shows God's will or God's standard for those who are saved. Just if you want a simple memory device, SOS. Shows our sin, shows our savior, shows our standard. That's how I remember it, okay? But what would be the wrong use of the law? Are you ready? Let me give two of them and they're right there on your bulletin. To try to add to the laws demands as these false teachers did. Not only were they inventing myths and endless genealogies, but they were put restrictions on marriage and abstaining from certain foods. We'll see it in chapter four in verse three. What's the principle? That we are never to add to or take away from God's perfect holy word. Amen? All right. So don't add to the law. I don't understand this. It's like the Bible doesn't give you enough commands. You got to add some more. It doesn't make any sense to me, but people do it. Or they'll go back to the Old Testament law, like seven-day Adventist. I worked with them before. We'll talk about it when we get to chapter four. I asked the lady, do you really think that what you eat makes you more spiritual? You know what she said? Yes. I said, can you give me a chapter and verse from that in the Bible? She was silent. Why? Because she couldn't. Secondly, not only we're not to add to the law's demands, we're not to think that the law saves us. It's what Paul told Galatians in chapter three, 21 and 22. He said, if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law, but scripture imprisoned everything under sin so that the promise by faith in Christ Jesus might be given to those who believe. Okay? Anytime we try to add to God's gracious, perfect work in the gospel, we pervert it. I love the illustrations. Can you imagine somebody that's got a really beautiful face? Let's put another nose in the middle of their forehead. It's not gonna work, amen? We're gonna ruin the face. The gospel is like that. You're not gonna add anything to it. I could give other illustrations, right? And so we cannot earn God's favor. We cannot work for his gift of salvation. That would contradict the gospel. That's the way one person said it. In the end, there are only two categories. There is the gospel of God's accomplishment, whereby God in Christ accomplished salvation apart from our efforts. And the other category is that of human achievement, where we try to attempt to gain salvation by what we do. One is the gospel and everything else is what? False. At the end of the day, that's it. There's only those two categories. It's the way one person put it. I really like it. The law subserves the interests of the gospel by restraining evildoers and convicting them of their sin, but the law must never be regarded as an essential supplement to the gospel because justification does not come by our obedience to the law. That's really important. In other words, it's not Jesus plus this. It's not Jesus plus that. And that's what people do, Jesus and. And anytime somebody does that, they got a false gospel. Can I hear an amen? And then Paul gives a list. of the sins which the law exposes, and they follow the Ten Commandments except for coveting, but Paul's going to deal with greed in chapter 6, right? Note the parallels. We could say, no other gods, he says, the ungodly. No idols, he says, sinners. No blasphemy, what's that? The holy, the unholy. Keep the Sabbath day holy, he says, the profane. Honor your parents, your father and your mother, he says, those who strike their fathers and mothers. No killing, he says, what? Murderers. No adultery, he says, the sexually immoral and men who practice homosexuality. No stealing, he says, enslavers. No false witness, he says, what? Liars and perjurers. And then no coveting, Paul includes, he says at the end, whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine. Do you see it? Let me note a couple things and then we'll wrap it up. Notice that he says that the law and the glorious gospel have the same standard of behavior, the same basis of morality. That sin is contrary to sound, or that word is healthy doctrine. We get our word hygienic from the word sound. And sound doctrine is, notice, in accordance with the gospel. And so the one person put it that the law and the teachings of the gospel are both opposed to sin. If it was wrong to sin under the law, it's wrong to sin under grace. Can I hear an amen? That's the point that he's getting at. Are you ready? That the law is not the gospel. But the gospel is not lawless. It's got standards, amen? And so they work hand in hand, the law and the gospel. How? By the power of the Holy Spirit. Working in the unbeliever as well as the believer. Now let me ask this question, why is the gospel so glorious? Notice what he says in verse 11, this is really important. In accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. And so his point is, the gospel is glorious because it's the bright, shining revelation of the being of God in the person and work of Christ. It's also glorious because it's the power to transform believers into the glorious moral and spiritual likeness of Christ. and God is blessed, when he uses the word blessed, you could just write happy in your margin, or joyful, okay? You say, what do you mean? I will ask this of some people like, how you doing? Have you ever heard of Eeyore? How's it going? I mean, there's some people, some people will go over on this. They're happy slappy all the time because they're not acknowledging reality. But there are other people that got a really lack of joy. And I'm talking about Christians, by the way. But God is blessedly, he's perfectly happy, is Paul's point, because he rejoices in his own being. As Matthew Henry said, he enjoices in his own perfections. You say, God is angry with the wicked every day. Yeah, but he's also happy. Well, how can he be happy and angry at the same time? Because he's God, amen? You say, well, I can't do that. No, you can't, but God can. God can. God can love sinners and hate their sin at the same time. Do you believe that? Okay, well then, then God can be angry with the wicked and he can be happy all day long too. And here's the point. God doesn't need anyone or anything to make him happy. And yet he shares his joys with those whom he saves. And because he's blessed in himself, he deserves and even expects to be blessed and praised by all his creatures. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Yeah, especially by his redeemed in Christ. So let me ask some questions and then we'll close with an illustration. Is God your savior? And is Jesus your hope? That's the question, really. I mean, are you a Christian is what we're saying. Are you saved today? Do you know God through his son? That's the purpose of the law, to what? To show us our sin, to show us our savior and to bring us to Christ. Secondly, are you on guard against false teachers? Let me ask it this way, are you ready? Do you know the Bible well enough to spot a false teacher and confront him or her? It's a great question. Thirdly, is loving others the goal or aim of all your learning? Let me ask you, you're here today, I commend you, but why are you here? So you can know the truth and apply it, which would mean loving God with all your being and loving your neighbor as yourself. If you got another motive, you know what? You need to scrap it. I'm not saying don't come, I'm saying what? Ask God to change your heart to the right motive, amen? Is God your savior? Is Jesus Christ your hope? Are you on guard against false teachers? Is loving others the goal, your aim of all learning? And fourthly, are you keeping the law and the gospel in proper perspective? In other words, I'm asking, is the law good? Do you think the law is good? And if you think it's good, then are you using it properly? Are you using it lawfully as God intended? And lastly, and this is maybe convicting at all for me, is the gospel of the glory of the blessed God the source of your joy? Where do you get your joy from? May I ask, where's the joy meter today in your life? Is the glorious God, The glorious gospel of the glory of the blessed God, is that your, is he your joy? I shouldn't say that. The gospel is about God, isn't it? He should be the source of our joy. Because the joy of the Lord is your strength. D.L. Moody, he was an uneducated shoemaker whom God saved. And a man named Reynolds told about the first time he ever saw Moody before Moody became a famous evangelist. And Moody was in a little shanty, a little shack that had been abandoned by a saloon keeper. And he was holding a black boy in his arms, reading to him the story of the prodigal son. But Moody couldn't even read all the words. He just couldn't read that well. So you know what he did? He had to skip them. But he's reading in the story as much as he can. And the guy, Reynolds, he thought, if God can ever use such an instrument as that for his honor and glory, it will certainly astonish me. Well, did God use Moody? Yeah, to win how many thousands of people to Christ. And God can use us that way, just as he used young, fearfully sick Timothy, and we've been saved to serve out of what? Out of love and gratitude for the gospel of grace, amen?