Hello, this is Hackberry House and welcome to God's Word. Father, in Jesus' name, thank you for Paul and thank you for the letter that he wrote to Timothy that we can listen in on. I pray that you'll teach us things in Jesus' name. Amen. Hackberry House can be accessed by going to your computer and typing in MyHeartCry.net. When you get there, go to the library page. And scroll down until you find the lesson that we're on today, which happens to be Lesson 47. Lord willing, we'll finish this up today. Philemon, Philippians, 1 Timothy and Titus. Last time around we did Philemon and Philippians and a little bit of 1 Timothy. Now, Lord willing, we're going to finish 1 Timothy right now and then Titus also. That's a total of only about seven chapters. Do you think we can do that? We'll give it a try. Chapter 3, verse 1. By the way, Timothy and Titus are called pastoral epistles because they were written to men that we have come to call pastors. But I had questioned that because they're never called pastor in the book. And the life that they lived and the kind of ministry that they performed is not a whole lot like what you see in the churches today. These are men who had a job to do. Their job was to train leaders and get out of there. because there were so many other young churches that needed leaders trained. When they trained a plurality of leaders in that church, they were gone and the leaders took over. They were not career pastors as we see today. Men working on a kingdom of their own many times. I did not say all the time, but many times. Chapter 3 starts out about the qualifications for the leadership of the church. Timothy is going to know and need to know, there in Ephesus, what to look for and what to be laying hands on. And so he's given a list of qualifications here. Notice the first qualification is that it is a man. Yeah, this is all connected to chapter 2. We are the ones who put the chapter divisions in later. This is all connected. Chapter 2, chapter 3, all one unit. He's talking first about women, not leading, and then he goes right on to say what the qualifications for bishop is, or overseer, and that's it, that he'd be a man. He's a man. He must be blameless. He must be the husband of one wife. Again, he's a man. And then look at these personal qualities. He's temperate. He's serious. He's of good behavior. He's grown up, okay? He's not a young man at all. He's not young. He is grown up. Now, Timothy was young. But he was to look for men who had a character about them in Christ and in their old life, too. That is, not their sinful life, but just that they were grown-up men. Just, you know, adults. We don't want any children running the church. How sad it is today to see so many young people being called pastor, when they're not pastor. They're not shepherds yet. They don't understand what life is about yet and what the Christian life is about. They haven't been through most of the things that their church members have been, and yet we're calling them pastors. I don't like that. I don't think the Lord is pleased with that either. But these men are to be able to teach. They're not to be given to alcohol. They're not violent people. They're not looking for money. They're very gentle people. They don't go around starting arguments with people. They're not wanting things from the people. They just want to serve them. And also, they rule their own house well. Again, we're talking about a man here. Men are to be rulers at home. and they're to take that experience that they've learned at home and bring it into the church and raise the children of God in the same way. You can't have a woman coming in and doing it. It just doesn't fit the pattern at all. His own children ought to be in submission with all reverence. If he cannot rule at home, he shouldn't be leading in the church. And you need to tell somebody that nicely in love at your church if it's out of order. a new convert, verse 6, because you take a new convert who hasn't really experienced things and put him up top of the church, and he is going to, as the Bible says here, fall into pride. He's going to be lifted up and think that he really is something when he is nothing, and all of us are nothing, and the devil's going to have him right where he needs him. Pride will bring him into things like false teaching eventually because he'll see that the people are hanging on his every word and everything he says they think is cool. That's not the sign of a good leader. Also, people on the outside, people who he worked with in his job, people who he saw on the street or knew on the street in the neighborhood must speak well of him. He must have a good reputation. to be a leader in God's church, an overseer, one who sees over what's going on. These are the men who are called pastors, they're also called elders, they're also called overseers. That's the same person. I'll show you that when we come to Peter later on. Verses 8 to 13 talk about deacons. Likewise, men, it talks about their wives, the husband of one wife, ruling their children. The same thing, head of the house equals leader in the church. If he's not the good leader at home, he shouldn't be in the church leading too. This was the type of deacon. I mean, deacon is simply a servant. But these were official servants. These were men who came in and did what the church said to do. There were servants all over the body of Christ, and there ought to be today. These are people that just serve the Lord as they feel the Lord wants them to do it. But in the church, once they become official servants, then the church has the right to ask them to do things and they've got to drop what they're doing and do it as servants of the Lord. These are men who are totally sold out to the Lord but are not yet old enough to be leading in an ultimate sense of the word. And so, here's your whole church government right there, and there isn't anything else in Scripture. You can look from left to right and top to bottom, and all you will see is a group of older men who are ahead of you in the faith, called elders, and a group of younger men, usually, who are good men, godly men, growing up in the Lord, doing fine, but not quite old enough to lead, and they're just serving the church, kind of in training. to be elders of the church. And they're going to find out what it means to deal with all these people problems. And if they can still say, like it says in verse 3, that they desire the position of an overseer, then indeed, they must be called. Because after you've been in the church all those years, it's not always that you want to go on being what it says here. And not everybody that gets older in the Lord has to be an elder. But if he desires that position, it is a good work. It's a good thing to see the people of God growing under your watch as you are listening to the Lord and growing also. Moving on, verse 14 to 16, he says, I'm writing this down to you now, but you understand I'm not in jail anymore and I'll be coming to visit you very shortly. But just in case I can't get there right away, I want you to know how you're supposed to behave in the house of God. I want you to know what the leadership of the house of God is supposed to be like and what the structure is supposed to be like. And Paul is so very clear here about what is not to be in the church and what is to be in the church. And it's an aggravation, I'm sorry, it's just an aggravation to me to see how many ways we have come against this clear pattern of God's Word. But, he says, this house of God that you're technically overseeing right now until you get the right men in place, this house of God is the church of the living God. It's the pillar, it's the ground of the truth. And you, you are being a representative here of the kingdom of God and everything that God represents, including this great mystery this great mystery of godliness, or the Godhead, we might say, or that which pertains to God. What does pertain to God? Well, this God was actually seen in the flesh. Now, I know there's a little controversy over this verse, but we don't need just this verse to prove this doctrine. His name, Jesus, is Emmanuel. God with us. The Bible says the Word was God, and the Word became flesh. There's no question what's being talked about here. This God who was manifested in the flesh was Jesus. And this same God was justified in the Spirit. Justified. Justified. Looked at and declared God's only, holy, righteous Son by the Spirit of God. Seen by angels. That's Jesus. Preached among the Gentiles. He's still being preached among the Gentiles. but He preached among the Gentiles when He was here also. And then He was believed on in the world and received up into glory. What a mystery! Who is it? Why, it's Jesus. There's no riddle to those who know Him and those who have been in the Lord any time at all know what's being said here. Well, let's go on to chapter 4. Some people are talking in our day about a great revival that's supposed to come in the end times. It may come, it may not. Certainly it will come in your church if you and a few others start praying a lot more than you're praying now. Start reading the Word a lot more than you're reading the Word now. Get on your face before God and start praising Him more than you're doing now. And start living the life that He's called you to lead more than you're doing now. Revival will come to your church. I can prophesy that. But what's said very expressly here is that some are going to depart from the faith. Now, it says in the latter times. That can be any time after the days of the apostles. And it really began right in those days. There was trouble right in the first century. And more and more and more. And the Spirit of God was just making it very clear to Paul, you better tell them, tell them, there's just going to be more and more people departing from the faith. What's going to happen? Well, they're going to be listening to deceiving spirits. They're going to listen to devils. You mean a devil's going to appear to them? Not necessarily. All you have to do is listen to your radio today. All you have to do is listen to a false teaching. A teaching that comes out of his mouth is from hell. It's from the devil. And that spirit goes inside of you and you have been in touch with the devil. You don't have to accept it. You don't have to accept it. But it's there. It's all around us. And so when it's come into the church, many of them are going to receive it, love it, because their own conscience is going to be seared with a hot iron. That means they're going to all their life just have a pattern of doing their own will instead of the will of the Lord. And so it's easy for them to be drawn away by these false teachings, because they're used to hiding behind some excuse or some rebellion. They're used to disobeying the Lord. What are some of these lies? There's a lie that will come into the church that you're not allowed to marry if you're going to be a minister of the gospel. Well, that's happened, hasn't it? It has happened. Forbidding to marry. People today are being told in Rome and perhaps other groups that you're not allowed to marry if you want to be a leader of God's people, and that's just not true. Oh, it would be good if you had a gift of continency not to marry. It would be good that you have more time to give to the Lord, and anybody that can do that, praise God, you ought to. But there aren't too many. But this Roman Church says you can't marry at all. In a certain rite of the Roman Catholic Church, you can't marry at all if you're going to be one of our leaders. and then telling people that they're to abstain from certain foods at certain times. Well, that came to pass also, didn't it? They've lifted some of it now. They say, you won't go to hell if you eat meat on Friday now. It's not as much of a sin now. Still prefer that we don't do that. Why? Where did that come from? It didn't come from God. It didn't come from the Word. It came from the enemy. It's a deceiving spirit, making people think that they're holy when they do that, but they're not holy. God never said that. And there's nothing wrong with any foods that God has made for us to eat. There's things wrong with some of the foods we have created. But anything God made for man to eat is good. He created it. He said, this is good. He told man to subdue it and conquer it, the whole world. And anything we want to eat, we can eat. It's in the creation. It's been sanctified by the Word of God. God said, let there be. And God said, it's good. And it's good. And it's sanctified by prayer when you say, thank you God for this food. Bless this food which I'm about to eat. Well, you're blessing it a second time, aren't you? You're setting it apart a second time. So yeah, you can eat it. Go ahead. Well, Paul says to Timothy, you tell the people this and you're going to be a good minister of Jesus Christ. Warn them about these things. Tell them all the things I've told you. This is from chapter 2 on. But don't be listening to all those women around your church and all the fables that they listen to and the gossip that they listen to and the religious stories and their little dreams and visions. No, you don't listen to all that. You exercise yourself in a different way. You don't exercise yourself by listening to all these people and letting your mind exercise itself on that. Oh no, exercise yourself to godliness. discipline yourself to godliness. You do the things that you don't want to do. That's what exercise is about. And we do it with our bodies, and our bodies, they respond. even though we don't like it when we're doing it. We don't look forward to it, but when we do it, our bodies prosper. So your mind and your heart and your soul needs to discipline itself. Be disciplined day after day. It doesn't mean you have to like it. Get into the Word. Get into the Word. Dig deep. Find things in there to renew your mind. Don't listen to all the folks around you. Timothy, this is why we're laboring. This is why we're suffering for Christ, because we trust in God. He's the Savior of all men, all universal salvation, not on your life. The Bible says God is not willing that any would perish. The Bible says God does not enjoy the death of the wicked. But they will die. And when they die, they will be lost forever. And that's why God doesn't want it to happen. He wants them to be saved. But He's especially the Savior of those who believe, because those are the ones who really will tap in. to the benefits of that salvation. So I want you to take all these things I'm telling you, Timothy, preach them, teach them, and be sure to live them too. And don't let anybody despise you. I know you're a young man. Let's don't call him a boy, okay? I don't think he was a boy. And you'll notice how Paul asks him to respond to the other members of the church very carefully. And we need young people calling themselves pastors today to read this and to see how they're supposed to respond to the other men in the church. Don't worry that other people are going to look at you a little bit younger, thinking that you don't know anything. You do what I tell you to do, and what the Spirit of God in the Word tells you to do, and you'll have what they have. Timothy was probably young enough to be Paul's son, but he was not a child. Let's call him 25, 30 years old, which was very young in Jewish thinking. It should be considered very young in our thinking too. because that young of a man, even though he'd like to think he's already made it, he hasn't made it. He hasn't gone through some of life's toughest struggles yet. Some of them have. But most of them have not. So, remember there's a gift inside of you. When I prayed over you and the Holy Spirit came upon you, that gift is still in there. And you all need to remember that too. God the Holy Spirit lives in you. If Christ is in you, Christ's Spirit is in you. And you need to stir that up. That's what it says in 2 Timothy 1.6 along with here. He says this thing twice to Timothy to keep reminding him. Stir it up. Stir it up. Don't let it die inside of you, Timothy. You've got to have a little more energy in the Spirit. You're going to have to try a little harder to get in touch with God here because we don't want your sermons to be boring. We don't want your life to lack power. Stir it up, Timothy. Stir it up. I want you to meditate on everything I've told you. Give yourself totally to the things I'm telling you. And everybody will see, wow, he's really progressed. He's really growing. I want to follow him. So take heed to yourself, verse 16. And the teaching, the doctrine. There it is again, the doctrine. The doctrine is important. Take heed to it, Timothy, and all those of us who listen to the Timothys in our churches. Take heed. You keep doing that, and you teachers, you people who are teachers like Timothy here, You will save yourself by teaching, because when you teach others, you're listening to it yourself. As soon as you've got a hold of it, you need to be sharing it with someone else. And every time you share it with someone else, you're going to grow in it yourself. Those people that hear you will be saved. Notice how he says in verse 1 of chapter 5 how to respond to other members of the church. Timothy, I know you're in charge temporarily here until you get these men going, But when you see an older man in the church, you be careful with him. You don't treat him with any disrespect at all and don't rebuke him at all. Don't rebuke older men, the elders. You exhort him. If he needs dealing with, you've got to deal with him. But you exhort him. You encourage him like you would your own father. Be very careful how you deal with an older man. That sets the example of respect in the congregation. When you're dealing with the older women, you treat them as though they were your own mother and love them. The younger people, the younger ones like you, treat them as sisters and brothers. Be sure, especially when you're dealing with the sisters, that you're very pure in your heart. He knew this was a young man. And he's being very careful. He understands the desires of youth. And then there's this whole long section from verse 3 to 16 in chapter 5 about widows. widows. There are people in your church that ought to be honored by the church, and there are others who are the same age who should not. I wonder what pastor today, what elder, will dare to obey God in this. This is God speaking through the Apostle Paul. He needs to be obeyed. Alright, first, if the grand person, if the widow has children, or grandchildren there in the church, or anywhere, those people are supposed to be taking care of the widow. And the church should not be giving a dime to those people. And a person who doesn't provide for his own family, according to verse 8, is an infidel. Worse than an infidel. Has denied the faith. So there's one qualification. We're talking about a person that's left alone. She must be alone, with nobody to help her. And she's the kind of person who's praying night and day. She's not a gadabout. She's not a gossip. She's not out on the golf course in the clubhouse with the women who get together there, the wives. And she's not, obviously, a rich person. She doesn't need your help. We're talking about people who are in desperate need, and no one is with them, and they're seeking the Lord with all their heart. They have a right. They have a right to receive from God's people sustenance. God wants to take care of them. She's got to be 60 years old. That's what it says in verse 9. She has to have been the wife of one man. Whoa! Quite a qualification in our day, isn't it? The wife of one man only. Number 10. She has to have been Great reputation all of her life. This is the kind of person, not only brought up children, but when other people came to her house, she took care of them. Washed their feet. If they had come on a long journey, that was the traditional thing. In other words, she has a servant heart. She's relieved afflicted people. Lots of good works to her credit. So, she deserves that. Now, if she's a younger widow, just refuse her right out. Can you do that? 55 years old. Widow. Refuser. She can still work. She can still take care of herself. I'm just giving you what God has said here. You see, the younger ones, and he means especially the very younger ones, 25, 30, 40. Those things happen, you know, when a man is killed in battle or whatever. He says that's dangerous to be just taking care of them. and they don't have to work or anything, they're just taking money. No, no. Those kind of people are still alive sexually. They're going to go back to Christ, to a man. They're going to want a man. Even though at first they said, I'll never marry again. I'll give my life totally to God. You know, they don't always do that. They maybe want that, but their body is still very active. And they need to have a husband. And that's what Paul says. He says that these idle ladies, They go around from house to house, gossiping, busybodies. No, sir. Don't let it happen. Don't provide help for people who can help themselves. He's very practical, isn't he? Very tough. But I believe the Holy Spirit speaks through him. So you younger women, widows, marry. Get married. Ask God to give you a husband. Get children. Get more children. Manage the house. And don't let anybody on the outside talking negatively about you. Some have already turned aside after Satan, it says in verse 15. Alright. Then there's the elders, the males. He's dealt with the females. None of these were leaders in the church. None at all. They had brought up a family. They had produced good works. They were in the ministry, if you please. But they weren't in the leadership. None of these women. But these men, who are even still ruling, they should be receiving money even now, before they retire. They're worthy of their hire, because they're giving their lives for the flock. If they are doing that full-time, then they deserve some sort of sustenance even now. And they're pretty much older, too. They're not young men. So in both cases, we're talking about older people who have proved themselves, not just anyone. So he's looking ahead to see how the church is going to grow and these kind of men will be there. Also in verse 19, don't receive an accusation against an elder, except from two or three witnesses. And then it says, those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, and that seems to flow together. But we've already heard Paul say, don't rebuke an elder. So it could be that he's changed the subject in verse 20, or He's giving a further explanation that when a man first, an older man sins, you don't just go rebuking him, you exhort him. What if he doesn't respond? What if he really becomes a false teacher or something like that? And what if other people are starting to accuse and say, this man's got a problem, we've got to deal with this. If he's really that kind of a person, reading into this now, verse 20, you've got to rebuke him in front of everybody, eventually, even though you don't want to do it, so that the rest will fear. But he says, be careful not to let any prejudice come into this. No partiality. That's not how God is. Be careful how you deal with people and let them be judged on the merits of their life before God. Don't lay out hands on anybody quickly. That is, when you First know them as a leader. You first come in there and you see, wow, these are great people. Don't go around laying hands on them right away. Get to know them. Get to know the truth about them. Ask around about them. Find out before you make a serious mistake. You see, because if you lay hands on them, you've asked the Holy Spirit to bless something evil and your own life is involved in that too. And you've become a partaker in their sins. That's what it says in verse 22. And you want to keep yourself pure. Now, verse 23 starts talking about medicinal wine. Well, this one's been thrown around a lot down through the years. And here it is. He doesn't pray for this sick brother. He says there's a way to take some of this. Now, the watered-down wine of the first century, from what I'm told, is not to be compared with the wine of our day. And he is definitely speaking against drunkenness in his epistles And you know in our day we don't even need medicinal wine at all. There's medicine available and there are good drinks available. We don't need alcohol of any sort today, whereas in that day it was necessary. That's all they had. They had bad water and they had good wine, but it was watered down wine. We do not recommend that anybody ever touch alcohol today. It's just not necessary. We're not talking right or wrong here, okay? I don't want to get into that. But I do want to say it's absolutely not necessary and if you have any love in your heart at all, you'll put that stuff away and throw it away because the younger brothers coming in don't understand when they see it. And you're going to really offend them and hurt them. You can do away with that because there's so many good things to drink right now and alcohol never is necessary. It's talked about in a couple positive ways in the Bible, but it's not necessary. And in our day, I recommend, I beg you, I urge you, get rid of it all. So, Timothy had a stomach problem. And it was probably because of the water. He says, you better stop drinking that bad water over there and try a little of this other stuff. Maybe he had a thing where he didn't think he was allowed to drink it. And good for him, but Paul says you're going to have to at least to deal with your stomach, to take care of your stomach. Then he talks about another subject in verse 24 about some people that you don't always know right away who they are. Some men's sins are clearly evident. But some men's sins are not. Give everything a little bit of time before you make a judgment about people. Chapter 6 starts talking about servants. Now he's talked about women. He's talked about men. Now he's talking about servants and masters and their relationship. And their relationship is to be a good one. Servants, serve well. If you're an employee, serve well. So that the teaching of Christ is not blaspheming. People are expecting you to do the right thing at work. And they were expecting these servants to do that too. And the masters of these people would indeed be impressed when they see it. And we are to teach others that this is how it is to be. Now, there are people who are going to teach the opposite of what I've been telling you, especially about masters here. And if they don't consent to what I'm telling you, these are the words of Jesus, Paul says, verse 3, chapter 6. If they don't do what I'm telling you, it's because they're proud and they're ignorant on top of it. That's what he said. That's what he said. They're always wanting to argue because they don't want to believe. They come against you because they can't believe the Word of God. Stay away from these people. There is a clear, cut command of Christ to us, through Paul, to stay away from certain people. People who will drag us away from the clear teaching of the Word of God. Stay away from them. Godliness with contentment is great gain. But godliness is not gain itself. And these men were after money. They were teaching things that people wanted to hear, and people were giving them offerings for it, and so they kept teaching it. Godliness, if you're content with your godliness, that is the biggest gain a person can have. How many people in the world today are content at all? But if you can be a content Christian, what a wonderful example that is. We brought nothing into the world, we're not going to carry anything out of the world, so let's quit going after things. There's too many greedy people. Those who want to be rich are going to fall into temptation. They're going to be destroyed. The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Stay away from it. These are people that don't have any money. They don't have a lot and they want it. So you can be poor or you can be rich and still have a problem with money. These are the have-nots. They were greedy, but they weren't rich yet. They were on their way. And they're being warned here. And if you're one of those folks, we're warning you too. Money's not going to make you happy. It's going to make you very sorrowful, in fact, according to verse 10. But now there's that other kind, verse 17, who are already rich. And Paul says to Timothy, command those who are rich not to be haughty, not to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God. Trust God. You got your money? Alright. Do good with it. Verse 18. Be rich in good works with that money. Be ready to give that money away. Be ready to share that money with others. Be ready to store up for yourselves a good foundation. Take your money. Go ahead and use it for God. You don't have to just throw it all away. But use it for God. Use your house for God. Get people into your house. Start a church there. Use your automobile to take people to church or to good things. Use everything that God's given you for His glory. Don't look around your house and think that anything there is not His. If there's something there you can't give to God, you need to get rid of it right away. But you can give so much to the Lord, you rich people. Whether you're on your way to riches or rich already, money is going to trip you up if you let it, but you don't have to let it. And you, verse 11, man of God, woman of God, you stay away from all this. Timothy was not rich nor on his way to being rich. He's in between here. Verse 11. No, you go after godliness. You go after holiness. You go after good things. And look what he says in verse 12. Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life. To which you were called and have confessed the good confession. What's the good confession? Well, Jesus said the good confession according to verse 13. And where did Jesus say it? He said it in front of Pilate. What did Jesus say in front of Pilate? That he was the Son of God. When we confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and we do that before men, we have witnessed the good confession. That's what it means. Keep the commandment without spot, blameless until Jesus appears. He'll manifest in His own time. He who is the blessed and only Potentate. He's the only one. There's Father, Son, and Spirit, but they are one. And Jesus is the only one. He's the King of Kings. He's the Lord of Lords. In Daniel 2.47, that phrase, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, is applied to God the Father that we know in heaven. But in Revelation 19.16, that same phrase, is applied to Jesus Christ coming down out of heaven, down to the earth. God and Jesus are the same. That's what this verse has said. Who alone has immortality? Jesus alone has immortality? Yes, because Jesus is God. What a horrible blasphemy that would be if we were saying Jesus was separate from God. No, He is God. No man has ever seen Him, not in His fullness, not in His glory, everything about Him. No. Unapproachable light that He lives in. Oh, Timothy, verse 20. Guard. Guard what was committed to your trust. Look at all the things that God has given you into your trust. Stay away. from the so-called knowledge of this world. Now we have in the Old King James the word science, and it's true that scientia means knowledge, but scientia looks like science, so they put that word science in, but science is just knowledge, isn't it? All the sciences are just a compilation of all of human knowledge. But it's so-called, falsely called. I love it. That's God's verdict of all the knowledge of men. It's just so-called knowledge, so-called science. Evolution, no, not, it's not. It's been a theory all this time. Never been a proved fact ever. And the evolutionists argue among themselves and fight among themselves. They aren't decided yet. Darwin himself is out of style these days and they're revising him thoroughly. Never been proved. God did all of this in six days, didn't he? We don't need science to tell us anything. Now when God, God's Word and science are on the same page, then we lift up science because we're lifting up the truth. But when the science comes against the Word of God, guess what's wrong? It's not the Word of God. It's the science that's wrong. When psychology and God's Word are on the very same page, we say, fine, but we don't really need psychology then. And when they're opposed, we say, God's Word is still true. Psychology needs to take a walk. Alright, that's the book of 1 Timothy finished. Let's go to the questions of 1 Timothy. We left off with number 7. Is it wrong to want a church office? No. He says it's a good thing. Number 8. Why does a church leader have to be a good family man first? Well, if a man can't rule his own house, how can he rule God's house? Number 9. What's the marital qualification for bishop or deacon? He must be the husband of one wife. What is the experience, qualification? Well, he can't be a new convert. He has to be tested. Number 11, where is Paul getting his information for this letter from the Spirit, from Jesus himself? Number 12, describe two latter-day heresies. Number 1, forbidding to marry. Number 2, commanding to abstain from certain foods. 13, what is Paul's thought about exercise? Well, it's a little profitable. I didn't mention that. You know, those are good things to take care of your body. but it's much more profitable to exercise your spirit. Number 14, how will Timothy grow in saving grace? By meditating on and continuing in these doctrines. Number 15, what if someone older than Timothy needs ministry? Well, he's to exhort him as a father or a mother. 16, what does Paul mean by true widows, and what's the age limit? Well, they're desolate, no one to help them, and they're 60 years old. 17, why are younger widows to be refused help? because eventually they desire to marry, they still have asexual urges. Number 18, who is to rule the church? The elders are, plural. Number 19, should a Christian worker ever be paid and when? Yes, the labor is worthy of his hire, and it's talking there about elders who rule well, not just every leader and not just every elder. 20, is public rebuke proper? Yes, if the person is unrepentant. 21. Is illness only a matter of prayer? Explain. No, sometimes it's a matter of diet. 22. What about servants with believers for masters? We're to honor. They're to honor them. 23. What is Paul's statement about those who disobey his words? Well, they're proud, argumentative, and stay away from them. 24. With what should we be content? Godliness, food, clothing. 25. What should the rich do? Don't be proud. Don't trust it. Do good things and share it. There's 1 Timothy. Let's go on to Titus. Now, Titus the man is not mentioned in the book of Acts. Titus is one of Paul's closest friends and co-workers. He's mentioned 13 times in the epistles, often with praise attached. After Paul's imprisonment, one of the places he visited with Titus was the island of Crete, whose inhabitants then were known for their untruthful, immoral ways. I say then. I don't know anything about the Cretans today. This is not about modern Cretans. To act the Cretan meant to play the liar. When Paul goes on from Crete, he leaves Titus there to establish the work and to put leadership in place, much like Timothy in Ephesus. Then he writes this letter to him to address the need for Christian living amongst this very immoral culture and to stop certain Judaizers. perhaps written from Corinth and perhaps in the year A.D. 63. Titus. We skip over 2 Timothy temporarily because that was one of the last books written. But Titus starts right after 2 Timothy. He gives his greeting in the first few verses and calls Titus his own true son. And then in verse 5 to 9, he gives qualifications for elders again. And tells them, this is the reason I put you there. You're not going to stay there long. It's not your life. Just get some men together that are godly men. And they have to be men. And they have to be blameless. They have to have only one wife. They have to have faithful children that are totally controlled to them. And the same thing that he says to Timothy, isn't it? They can't be quick-tempered. They've got to have a good reputation. They have to love hospitality, love people, able to teach and so on. And holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine to exhort those who contradict. He's got to be a good man. He's got to be a strong man. He's got to be a strong teacher. Why? Because, verse 10, there's a lot of unruly people there in Crete, and of course in many places. Idle talkers, deceivers, Jewish circumcision pushers who are trying to get people back under the law. We need a strong man there. There's no woman that could do this. No woman that could do what this man would have to do. Women today seem to qualify for the ministry because they're not engaged in this kind of warfare. Well, I won't say what they're doing, but I've seen a couple things up close and realized why the Apostle said, we need men to do this. He even starts talking publicly here about the Cretans and how the reputation about the Cretans was so bad that we're going to have to have strong men. These Cretans are liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. Whoa! I wonder what would happen If Paul would come to Chicago, where I live, what would he say about the folks that I deal with every day in the public schools? What should I be saying about them? He said, this is a true testimony, so rebuke them sharply. And sometimes that needs to happen in the church. There's just too much that's out of control in the church, and there needs to be some rebuking going on, that they can be sound in the faith. Not listen to all this Jewish stuff that's coming through the church, no. To the pure, all things are pure. But to those who are defiled, and we're talking about these men, these bad men in the church, to these undefiled, to these defiled men, nothing is pure. Their mind is just totally ugly. They say they know God, but really, look at their lives! Look at their lives! They're not living for God at all. They're abominable. They're disobedient. They're disqualified. You can't use them in the church to do anything. Tell them. Tell them what I'm saying to you. As for you, verse 1, chapter 2, speak sound doctrine. The pastors are being told. These are not pastors. But the men who are looking for the pastors are being told, you've got to have sound teaching. It's so important. Don't let anybody today tell you that it's not important anymore. Some of that sound teaching has to do with these older men. They need to be serious men. They need to be reverent. They need to be self-controlled. Sound in every way. Women too. Reverent. Not slanders. Not drunks. And teachers. Women teachers? Paul? Oh yes. Verse 4, that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet and chaste. There is a teaching ministry for women and it's found right there in their own home or in the church with the women, with the women only. Women to women. Yes, they do need to hear from godly women. But men need to hear from godly men, and so do the women. So exhort the young men also, verse 6, to be serious-minded. And since you're a young man, probably too, verse 7, you've got to be a good example to them. So, you know, tell the young men to be good, but you live that serious-minded life too. It's not going to be easy for Timothy's and Titus's in our day to live seriously in front of the people, but that's what they're called to do. We don't want people condemning your speech, saying that you're talking like the world. No, just give it a lot of thought, be careful what you say. And then tell the servants also, not just the old men, young men, old women, young women, the servants. He's following a pattern here, just like in Timothy. Tell the servants to be obedient, too. To be well-pleasing to everyone. Not answering back. Not stealing. That's a temptation when you're a servant. You don't have anything and you feel like you've got to steal a little bit. The Master's so rich, he won't miss anything. Tell him not to do that. Because everything they do that's good will adorn the doctrine of God. It will make God look so much better in the eyes of men. You see, the grace of this God, verse 11, that brings salvation has appeared to all men. There He is again, saying it's everywhere. Three times I find Him saying this, that this Gospel had really made major progress in Paul's day. And it teaches us that denying all of these things around us we ought to live Godly and keep our eyes focused on heaven because Jesus is coming this Jesus that died for us But he might take us away from all this evil thing if Jesus gave his life that we would be Taken away from evil. Why are we gonna go back and just give ourselves back to evil? It makes sense, doesn't it? remind them chapter 3 verse 1 to listen to rulers to obey rulers to obey their authorities, to be ready for everything, not to speak evil to anybody, to be peaceful. Now, this is going to be a lot of hard work for Titus, because these people were obviously totally out of it, out of control. And he's got to tell them not to be foolish anymore, not to be disobedient, not to be deceived, not to serve their lust anymore, not to live in malice. God the Holy Spirit has come into them But they still need to be taught to understand what all these new feelings and new directions are in their life. People need to be carefully taught and reminded. Sure, they got something wonderful that one day. They didn't want to do anything but just revel in their new salvation. But the old man is still there. He was dead for those moments and days. But the old man wants to resurrect. That's where the teacher is so important. to remind them, to stir it up, stir up that salvation, that gift that God's put into them. And He reminds them of that gift in verse 5. Because it wasn't by any work that we did that we got saved, but His mercy when He washed us. Remember, guys. Remember the washing. Remember the renewing. Remember what the Holy Spirit did in you. And let Him keep doing it. Remember. That's what the teacher's for, the exhorter and the pastor. To remind people of what they already have. We can't give them anything. Only God can give them these things, but God's raised up teachers to remind them what they already have. It's a faithful saying, verse 8. These things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. Nice when you get that new car, isn't it? Oh man, nothing can go wrong with that new car, but things do go wrong with it, and you better maintain it, or things are going to go wrong-er, much more wrong, if you don't correct the problems of your new car, and your new salvation that's come in. Nothing can happen now, nothing can go wrong, but problems do come because we have a real enemy, and we need to maintain, maintain the good works. We're not saved by works. Everything that happens through us happens because of grace. But that grace creates good works inside of us. You know what you're supposed to do. Then whatever it is that God's told you to do, go do those works. Maintain it. Keep it going. But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions. A lot of people just want to argue. to show how intellectual they are. Will you just stay away from those kind of people? Stay away from them. They're not going to help anything. In fact, if a man just wants to fight all the time, verse 10, reject him. Reject him one time, warn him. Reject him a second time, warn him. There's not going to be a third time. Stay away from him after that. Stay away from that. That person is warped. That's what it says in My New King James, verse 11. A person like that is warped and sinning. He's self-condemned. He was warned, but he wouldn't listen. Now he's condemned himself. We don't need fights in the church. We do need defense of the truth. We do need people to stand up and say, this is right and this is wrong. But we don't need people nitpicking at every little thing and causing division. Also, this kind of division, now be careful, this kind of division is also having to do with false teachers. people striving about the law, people who wanted to bring the church under the bondage of the old covenant again. I think that's an even greater and a better interpretation of these verses is that people who are trying to bring people into false teaching, they are the divisive ones, not the ones who want the Bible to be the Bible. Tychicus will be coming to you, or Artemis, and when that happens, verse 12, You can send, you can come to me yourself. You see how temporary this position is? I'm going to send you a relief man here soon. He'll come in and take over for you for a while and I want you to come and visit me. I'm going to spend the winter over in Nicopolis and I need you to be there with me, okay? Send Zenos, the lawyer. See how personal Paul can be. Was this all from the Holy Ghost? Well, yeah, in that moment he needed that particular thing done and it was done. It was definitely a command to Titus I don't have to send Zenos, the lawyer, and Apollos back. That's already been done. We need to know what part of the Word is for us and what part is not. Verse 14, he says the same thing as he does in verse 8 about maintaining good works. He says, this is a faithful saying and I want you to affirm it constantly. He says that in verse 8 and he affirms it constantly too. He says it again too in verse 14. Maintain good works. Keep the good works flowing. because there are so many needs in your congregation. So, let the works be worked so that the needs will be met. We want people to bear fruit, and you got people there in need, put those two things together. Notice there are no names. He puts his whole goodbye in one verse, which is rare, at least in the books we've read so far. He says, everybody that's with me, says hi to all of you. And grace be with you. Amen. Looks like he was in a hurry. Now, I haven't studied this carefully, but it would seem to me like Timothy and Titus might have been written at the same time. He just didn't want to put all those names in there again. But anyway, Titus got the message that he needed to get. Let's go to the questions. Number one, what relationship does Paul claim with Titus? It's like a father-son, same as Timothy. Number two, what two words does Paul use to describe the future leaders of the Cretan church? Bishops? and elders, bishops and elders they're called here, the same people. Number three, what requirement is here given for a leader's children? They must be submissive. Number four, how is an obedient child an asset in the work of God? He's an example to the world. Number five, what was the motivation of Crete's false teachers? Well, dishonest gain, money. just like in Timothy. Number six, what was to be the job of the older women of the church? They were to lead a holy life and they were to teach the younger women and bear children during their younger years. Number seven, why should we keep our speech in line? To keep the enemies ashamed? To be sure that no argument can be raised against you and your life and against God? Number eight, what instruction to servants or employees in our day? Be obedient. Don't steal, and don't steal time either, hello, and be faithful. Number nine, what is our teacher in righteousness? According to verses 11 and 12, it's the grace of God that is our teacher. Number ten, what does it teach us? It teaches us to deny ungodliness. It teaches us to deny lusts. to live right and to look for Jesus. That's pretty good teaching, isn't it? Number 11, what are the two aspects of our salvation? Well, the washing and the renewing, which means the sins coming out and God coming in. The washing, taking away sins, and the renewing, putting God in place of that sin. Number 12, what is the difference between the works of 3.5 and those of 3.8? not by works of righteousness which we have done. In 3.8, I want our people to maintain good works. One has to do with earning, trying to earn salvation by doing good things, buying salvation. The other is maintaining what you already have, working it out. That's a theme that you'll find many times in the letters of Paul. We are saved by grace without a doubt, but we work that grace out through our works, to be saved, but because we are saved. Number 13. How are we to treat those who start problems over worthless subjects? Well, we avoid dispute. If it's the same person, we reject them officially. Just say to them, you're out. You're not a part of this anymore. And number 14. Who delivered this letter? It was Zenos and Apollos are mentioned as the messengers this time. a lawyer. Was that a Jewish lawyer or just a regular lawyer? Not sure there. Well, there we have Lesson 47 finished. Still got a couple minutes left. I want you to at least look at Lesson 48, which is the Book of Hebrews. My, we're going to dig deep now. This is one for adults. Adults only on this one, okay? Well, I'm teasing a little bit, but we We're in for it now. Some of you want to go deeper into the Lord. Here's a chance to do it. It's very difficult stuff, so stay with me when you can. It's the whole lesson, by the way. The whole lesson is just one book this time, whereas we had four books in Lesson 47. Hebrews was an appeal for Jewish or Hebrew believers, that's the same idea, Jewish and Hebrew, to continue on in Christ. Who is better in every category? Who is it? Who's better than Judaism? Who's better than the angels? Who's better than Moses? Who is better than the priesthood? Who is better than the sacrifices? Who is better than the law? Well, they were to continue on in Christ who was better in every category. Jesus Christ is the answer to all those questions. It seems the Judaizers were attacking these Christians, and the letter seeks to avert the danger. Here was their answer against the Judaizers, the ones who wanted to bring them back under the law. The authorship of this letter has been debated through the centuries, though its original readers knew who it was. Chapter 13, verses 18 to 25, mentioning Timothy, reminds us of Paul. I would guess the majority of people down through the years have said Paul wrote this. Some of the style and some of the theology point the same direction. But they've wondered, and I will wonder aloud with them, in Hebrews 2, 3, it says, let me see, How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him?" They want to know if Paul, the eyewitness, the apostle, would have said verse 3. Would Paul have said that? You think about that. For those of you who are swearing that Paul had to write this, Where is Paul's customary greeting also? Well, you say this is a special letter for special people, and that may be true. Nobody has the answer to this, but just giving you a little of the interesting speculation. The where and the when are also uncertain about this letter, since we don't know the who. Evidence points to a time between 64 and 68 AD, and in Rome, And there we have chapter 13, verse 24. Greet all those who rule over you and all the saints, those from Italy greet you. So it's probably from Rome, probably 64 to 68. That's why we're covering it now. It's after most of Paul's epistles, but not all of them. There's still one more we have to study. His last to Timothy. So, we've got 74 questions to cover next time. Trust that the Lord will bring you back, and let's dig in together. Meanwhile, go with God today, and may His Word do something wonderful for you. In Jesus' name, Amen.