What's Our Goal? (Stay on Track; Don't Get Side-Tracked)

[0:00] In that black Bible, 1 Timothy, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy, chapter 1.

[0:11] We jump in here, told the new members class yesterday, I'm so comfortable, I'm much more comfortable being in a book, preaching through a book. It's just, I like doing that, it's just safer for me, to put it bluntly.

[0:27] Okay, so, and I was working on this since September, so this is great, finally starting on this book, 1 Timothy.

[0:39] We're going to do the first 11 verses, and my plan is that we be in Timothy for 15 weeks. So it'll take us into February, I think it's end of February, so that's the plan.

[0:50] I could spread it out, but then it'd have to be like 16 or 17, it just doesn't go well, it's either 15 or 20. It has to be like that. Okay, I'm sorry, I'm just kidding.

[1:03] No, I'm not, I'm not kidding, I have to have to. Anyway, 1 Timothy, chapter 1, 1 through 11. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, according to the command of God our Savior, of Christ Jesus our hope.

[1:20] To Timothy, true child in faith, grace, mercy, peace from God the Father. Christ Jesus our Lord. As I urge you to remain on an emphasis as I go for Macedonia, nor that you may instruct certain ones not to teach strange doctrines.

[1:39] Lord, pay attention to the myths and endless genealogies which give rise to mere speculation that the administration of God which is by faith. Verse 5. But the goal of our instruction is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith.

[1:55] Of these, some, straying from them, they've turned aside to fruitless discussion. Wanting to be teachers of the law, that they don't understand what they're saying or about which they make confident assertions.

[2:09] Verse 8. But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. Only this. The law is not given to righteous.

[2:22] But to the lawless and rebellious. To the ungodly and sinners. To the unholy and profane. To those who kill their fathers and mothers.

[2:34] To murderers. To fornicators. To homosexuals. To kidnappers. To liars. To perjurers. And whatever else is contrary to sound teaching.

[2:46] According to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God. And this gospel with which I've been entrusted. My son Isaiah loves to take things apart.

[3:07] To find out how they work. I think he gets that from his grandpa. My father, he would do the same thing when he was young. Actually, he would still do it if he could.

[3:19] And actually, he still does. Many times. So he did it with at least one Nerf gun. He unscrewed the screws. He opened it up. Looking inside. He's showing. He's like, you know, this thing.

[3:30] He's like, you know, this thing. You know, this thing. This thing. You know, this. And it's like, you know, that spring. And then it fires. He's like, I'm excited about it. He loves doing that. He wants to see how it works.

[3:42] How does it all go together? He loves it. That's what 1 Timothy's about. We open up the Nerf gun to find out how this thing called church functions.

[4:05] How do we do church life? What does it look like? What are the specifics?

[4:21] So you can think of. You can think of 1 Timothy as like the manual. How to. You know, you get that new product from Amazon you've been waiting for.

[4:33] And it comes and then. It's got 5,000 steps to put it together. And the book is about like that. This is a how-to manual.

[4:45] For church life. I'd like to give you a theme for a book. So that way you know where I'm going. And frankly, I know where I'm going. So the title for this book.

[4:59] If you miss anything. In 1 Timothy, don't miss this. The theme of 1 Timothy. God's manual for church life. 1 Timothy is God's manual for church life.

[5:14] And you actually get this. From chapter 3, verse 14 and 15. Which we'll look at in a few weeks. Paul says, How do you do this?

[5:40] What's it all about? This is 1 Timothy. This is God's manual for church life. And what was Timothy called to do?

[5:55] What was he commanded to do? Refute, safeguard, organize, develop, teach, and lead. His purpose was to stand against false teaching.

[6:09] And you'll see how these are instructions to Christians through Timothy concerning their conduct in church life. Normally, you used to have Paul writing a letter to the churches, right?

[6:21] Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. This is different. This is part of what's called the pastoral epistles. 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and then Titus.

[6:34] So it reads differently. It's not necessarily to the church directly. It's indirectly to the church. So it's like if Timothy, or excuse me, Paul was writing to me to give to you.

[6:49] That's the idea. So it's to encourage him to fulfill his responsibility as the church's pastor. To teach and apply the truths about which Paul wrote.

[7:01] Charging him. Warning him. The Christian community is dealt with indirectly through Timothy. Not directly.

[7:13] One writer says this. Here, 1 Timothy is the most explicit directions for church leadership and organization in the whole Bible. It's how to oversee church life.

[7:26] But not just in Ephesus. Because it's now Scripture. So this is not just relegated to first century culture. It's what one called transcultural.

[7:40] It shoots through culture from the first century to the 21st century. It's a manual for all churches on church life. This is vital for you to understand this.

[7:55] It's vital to understand this because you have difficult things that are brought up in chapter 2 regarding women. And lots of people have danced around this passage.

[8:09] But it's pretty clear. So it's vital for us to understand this is God's manual for church life. Not just for first century Ephesus. But for churches as a whole. From the first century to the 21st century.

[8:22] Even to the 31st century. Oh boy. If that were to happen. You never know. But this was Timothy's task. Erase false doctrine.

[8:33] Safeguard corporate worship. Development toward leaders. As a faithful minister of God. Organize and oversee God's church in Ephesus. So here I'm giving you the main emphasis in different statements about 1 Timothy.

[8:49] As a whole. It's a leadership manual for Paul's protege. Refuse error. Teach truth. Be a strong leader.

[9:00] But yet be a gentle leader. Combat false doctrine. With sound. Excuse me. Combat false teaching with sound doctrine.

[9:12] Develop qualified leaders for God's church. Teach God's word faithfully. And encourage sound Christian conduct. This is Paul's charge of Timothy. And apparently. Timothy's temperament was very timid.

[9:27] He needed this encouragement. So as I said earlier. This is why this book reads different. Than say Ephesians.

[9:40] Or Galatians. It reads so much differently than these other epistles. These are letters. This is two leaders talking together. One who's been.

[9:53] Who's in higher command. It reminded me. Not that I advocate this movie. But it reminded me of the movie. Saving Private Ryan. And the lieutenant was talking to the sergeant.

[10:06] And when they were with all the men. He would call them sergeant. But we'd pull him aside. Those of you who've been in the military. You know what I'm talking about. He pulls him aside. He says Mike. I need to talk to you. And he would talk.

[10:16] And it would be different. They would have a conversation differently. Between the lieutenant and sergeant. All the other guys. They were around. But he's talking to them in a different way. Mike. What's. This is what we got to do. You have some thinking.

[10:26] This is the nuance here. It's two leaders talking together. With one in higher command. This poem. And yet.

[10:41] Since the early part of the 19th century. The pastoral epistles. As it's called. As I told you. They've been attacked. For its authenticity.

[10:53] They say that this was written in the 2nd century. Paul generally write it. Blah blah blah blah blah. Look it up on Wikipedia. And that's what Wikipedia will probably tell you. First thing is not written in the 1st century.

[11:06] Not by Paul. That's ridiculous. So just as you know. We. Will take the view. It was truly written by Paul. Just after it was released from this first imprisonment.

[11:18] Around 62, 63 AD. That's what we're looking at. And notice. As we start reading. Right at the outset. Paul told Timothy.

[11:29] The purpose of church life. What's our goal? What should be our focus? So now I'm giving you the title.

[11:43] Of what we're going to be looking at this morning. The first 11 verses. The 1st Timothy. Title here is. Timothy. I'm thinking about 1st Timothy. God's mail for church life. What's our goal?

[11:54] Question mark. For the disease. Don't get sidetracked. Stay on track. What's our goal?

[12:06] What's our purpose? What's the end result supposed to look like? Example. Here.

[12:18] I had to borrow this from my children. This is Boba Fett's. Spaceship. So when you build it. This is what it's supposed to look like. If it doesn't look like that. I think you need help.

[12:30] Okay. Now what it does. Is it gives you a step by step process. Step one. Step two. Step three. And it shows you. Put this piece here. Now. Five. Now. Now. Now.

[12:40] Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. First Timothy.

[12:53] And Timothy. Excuse me. Paul's going to tell Timothy. This is what it's supposed to look like. What is church life? What's our goal? What's our purpose?

[13:05] What is the end result? Right at the outset he tells him this. And he doesn't purpose. Because false teachers are trying to get the church.

[13:21] Sidetracked. And notice how Paul begins this. Purpose and goal. With backing.

[13:33] He gives authority and gospel backing. This. This is the backing that you get for the goal that you're trying to accomplish. This is. I'm going to back you up in two ways.

[13:44] My authority. And the gospel. This is what you see in verse 1 and 2. Notice how Paul begins. Paul. An apostle. And it says you guys all know.

[13:57] I'm an apostle. Apostle of Christ Jesus. And he's emphasizing. He says Christ Jesus emphasizes heavenly position as Messiah.

[14:09] According to the command of God or Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope. Notice what he's trying to say. Right at the outset. Christ. Appointed. Authorized.

[14:20] And empowered Paul. And made him a foundation stone of the church. Dot dot dot. Listen to what I'm about to tell you. I have the authority.

[14:35] Not because I came over there on my own. I'm an apostle. Christ Jesus. So what we're about to read.

[14:48] Is God's revelation to us. God is speaking. Not in mystical visions. Not in dreams. But from his word. You need to listen.

[15:00] So. Timothy. He's writing Mr. Timothy. Timothy had. Apostolic authorization.

[15:11] In the church. To instruct. Teach. Lead. And discipline. Dealing with false teachers. And he's going to need it. Because.

[15:22] Of the difficult instructions. Of all these difficult instructions. That Paul gives. Some of these instructions. Paul gives. And. And. And. And. And.

[15:34] It's going to be like. Oh what. And the people are going to be like. Oh what. And Paul's going to be like. Oh. Hmm. I'm serious. Yes. That's why he's given the authority.

[15:46] And notice. According. He says. According to the command of God. Our Savior. And of Christ Jesus. Our hope. The origin. Of Paul's. Apositor. In case you're wondering. Is both God.

[15:56] The Father. Who is our Savior. And Christ Jesus. Who is our hope. It was their command. It was their order.

[16:09] So. Paul has the right to say. What he's about to say. And Timothy has a right. To lead in that way. And Timothy was called.

[16:21] To. Carry out this mandate. And he's got the authority. To back him up. So. So. The goal. What's going to be the goal.

[16:32] First Paul says. At the outset. The authority. Gives him the backing. He ain't speaking on a whim. He ain't speaking on.

[16:44] Oh. This sounds really good. For petition. No. The only authority he has. Is from God. The only authority I have.

[16:56] Is the word. That's the authority. I have. As your pastor. Is the revealed revelation. Which is the written word of God. And nothing else. I lead you through this.

[17:08] Does that make sense? So Paul had authority. And Paul was under authority. God was his master. God was his commander.

[17:19] God was his hope. This undergirds the whole matter. You realize that. Right? This undergirds everything. That Paul is about to tell Timothy.

[17:30] About to tell the church. Through Timothy. Notice how he said. He doesn't say Jesus is my savior. He says God. Our savior.

[17:41] Do you see that? God. Our savior. You see this numerous times. In the old testament. In the septuagint. Numerous times.

[17:52] Is. What God is called. Savior. A Jewish flavor. Then. Maybe. Because he saw his teachers. There's Jewish. Nature.

[18:05] And notice. He calls Christ Jesus. Our hope. Hope. Hope. Meaning. The confident. Expectation. Excuse me. Of factual.

[18:16] Truth. Found in Christ alone. Only he is. Our object. Of hope. My hope. Is only Jesus. You just sang that. Remember that? Only him.

[18:29] Do we have hope. The confident. Expectation. Of factual. Truth. Not. Well I hope Jesus. Comes back. Or I hope so and so. Gets elected. No.

[18:42] It's. The confident. Expectation. Of factual. Truth. And notice. Next. Verse. Verse two. To Timothy. True child.

[18:53] And faith. Who is Timothy? Who is this guy? He's. Brought up. First. Acts chapter 16. Verses 1 and 2. He'd become a Christian.

[19:05] His father was a Greek. His father was a Jew. But he had. Strong religious heritage. And family. He had biblical training. From his youth. And he became.

[19:17] Paul actually had him circumcised. And he became. A close associate of Paul. I mean Timothy. He was. Faithful. Faithful. It's a co-worker of Paul.

[19:28] Who regarded Timothy. As one of his most. Trustworthy. And dedicated associates. Probably a guy in his 40s. He trusted Timothy.

[19:42] And notice. Notice what he calls him. True child. In faith. Paul had a spiritual kinship. With Timothy. As one who had.

[19:53] Brought Timothy along. In the faith. A spiritually. Genuine child. Of Paul. True. Genuine child. Of Paul. So.

[20:04] Given this relationship. And then Paul's authority. Instruct. Instruct. Instruct. And I told you this earlier.

[20:15] Given Timothy's personality. And his temperament. He was timid. He needed this encouragement. He needed this charge. Go get him boy.

[20:28] Go. And notice what Paul says here. This is where we move into how. Not only do you have the authority. That's backing Timothy up.

[20:38] But then you have the gospel. In both aspects. Authority and gospel. God our savior. Christ our hope. And then he says. Grace. Mercy. Peace. From God the father.

[20:49] In Christ Jesus our Lord. Grace. Unmerited. Or undeserved favor from God. It brings relief. Mercy.

[21:02] The compassion of God. To the needy. He pardons. Peace. Tranquility. Harmony. Peace with God. Through Christ.

[21:14] And peace with each other. Because of Christ. Two writers kind of. Pulled them all together. These two together. They said this. Which I thought was wonderful. I'll share it with you.

[21:25] Grace. Is God's ongoing forgiveness. And enabling. Dealing with the guilt from sin. Mercy. Is a sympathy. And concern. For the misery. And pain. That sin creates. Peace.

[21:36] And peace. Is tranquility. And stability. With Christ. Reordering the chaos. It's sin. Leads behind. That's exactly. What this is. So the backing.

[21:48] Of this. The goal. Of what. This thing. Called church. Is supposed to look like. The backing. Is the authority of Paul. And the very gospel.

[22:00] That we proclaim. That's the backing. And these essential aspects. Of the gospel. Grace. Mercy. And peace. They enable the Christian church.

[22:11] To show grace. And mercy. To each other. And to live at peace. With each other. Notice what he says. At the end of verse 2. From God the Father.

[22:21] Christ Jesus. Our Lord. The source. Of grace. Mercy. And peace. Is God the Father. Christ Jesus. Our Lord. Our relationship to God. Is now through Christ. Jesus.

[22:32] Jesus is Lord. Being both God. And he is sovereign. These verses. They are the basis. For what Paul is about to say.

[22:43] In the rest of the letter. So don't miss this. Part. Okay. So you have. The backing. Authority. Is backing him up.

[22:54] The gospel. Backs him up. But notice. Paul doesn't start with. The goal. He starts with. Don't get sidetracked.

[23:09] Stay on track. Don't get sidetracked. Parentheses. Deal with these false teachers. Verse 3 and 4. Notice. And I.

[23:20] And that's. By the way. When I read to you. From the English. I'm. I'm pulling together. Both numeric and standard. And my translating of Greeks. That's why it kind of. Sounds weird. So I do some translating. During the week of Greek.

[23:32] And then I'm also reading the English. Like. I pull those two together. I merge those two. So just in case you're wondering why. He doesn't read. He reads kind of differently. That's why I'm doing that. I'm doing that on purpose.

[23:42] For you. And for me. As I urge you to remain on Ephesus. As I left for Macedonia. As I went to Macedonia. Nor that you may instruct certain men.

[23:53] Not to teach strange doctrines. As he was leaving. Or he just left. Paul charged his young associate. Here's the authority.

[24:03] But then it's the personal aspect. And what do you tell them to do? That you would instruct. Command. Direct. You have not the stalled authority to do this.

[24:15] Remember that? Command. Direct. Certain ones. Not to teach strange or different doctrines. And that strange or different means. Another of a different kind. It's contrary to what Paul taught.

[24:28] Him. And them. For us. In the 21st century. Is anything. Contrary to New Testament teaching. Or doctrine. Interesting too.

[24:42] Maybe. Maybe something was happening with the elders. The church. Maybe some of the elders. A couple of the elders were going down this road.

[24:53] Or the leadership. Paul doesn't tell us who it was. Necessarily. But they were bringing up these strange doctrines. Verse 4.

[25:04] In order to pay attention to myths. Endless. Endless genealogies. There was an interest in myths. These genealogies. So there was a Jewish flavor to this. There was a concern with the law.

[25:18] Which you'll see later on. And it tended toward controversy. Arguing. Speculation. And then. You're going to see this later on in the letter.

[25:29] Deception. Immorality. A desire for money. And then a harsh asceticism. This is what I'm going to be leading to. He says.

[25:43] Give rise to mere speculations. Fanciful and fictitious stories. It had nothing to do with the gospel. So it had some Jewish background.

[25:58] Rabbinic speculations. And some. Might read. They say this is Gnosticism. Or pre-Gnosticism. No, no, no, no, no. It's too early for that. Gnosticism.

[26:08] It comes to like the late 80s. Into the early 90s. Pre-Gnosticism. In the first century. By the second century. It just blew up. And just went everywhere. So there's not Gnosticism here.

[26:20] But a Jewish flavor. Well. What were these myths? What were these energyologies? We don't know. We're unsure. But they gave rise to. Speculate. It was devoid of truth. There was no good results at all.

[26:32] And I put this up here. It's like a. Like a subtitle. There was devotion to ridiculousness. Versus devotion to truth. The phrase.

[26:43] Mere speculation. I also called this. Aimless arguing. No point to it at all. And you know what's striking?

[26:56] It's striking that already. Only after. What? 35 years. Did Jesus resurrect it? From the dead. False doctrine was circulating in the church.

[27:10] Maybe even a prosperity gospel. Chapter 6. For the love of money. Is the root of all sorts of evil. 35 years. Only three decades.

[27:23] It's easy to get caught into these non-edifying discussions. For example.

[27:35] Are you a sublapsarian? Infalapsarian? Or superlapsarian? Huh? Well tell me. Which one are you? Come, come. Well.

[27:47] Well. Everybody knows you're supposed to be a superlapsarian. No, no. It's infralapsarian. No. You can have a discussion if you want afterwards about what is lapsarianism anymore.

[28:02] Superlapsarianism. Sub. Those are three categories. The dead. What? You're going to argue with that? How many angels can you fit on a needle? I say 5,000.

[28:14] I think you're wrong. I think it's 10. You're going to argue about that? A scholasticist of a Roman Catholic church says that's what they would argue. You would arguably argue about how many angels you can fit on a pen.

[28:30] One writer says this. Quote. God's word is to bring us to a specific end by a specific means. Not to incite us to endless theological tail chasing.

[28:42] End quote. Don't get sidetracked church. Don't get sidetracked into traditions. Don't get sidetracked into social justice.

[28:55] Don't get sidetracked into politics. Don't get sidetracked that we're supposed to be all out that Joe Biden does not get elected. Shame on you. You should not be thinking that.

[29:06] I'm serious. You should be thinking about how we're going to further the kingdom of God. Because you know what? If Christians can weather the storm with Nero, Joe Biden's nothing.

[29:20] Kamala Harris is nothing. Nero was an insane psychomaniac who beheaded the person who wrote this letter that we're reading.

[29:33] You know what I'm saying? Don't get sidetracked. And I'm saying this to myself. Because I can get sidetracked. I get so angry over what we see.

[29:45] And just the wrong is being done. Help us, God, not to get sidetracked. And notice, Paul says this. The very end here of verse 4.

[29:56] What does he mean by administration? The outworking. The stewardship of God. His plan of salvation through the gospel.

[30:08] Which is by faith. We trust in God and His truth. Not in speculations. Not in some mystical revelation.

[30:18] Not in nonsense. No. It's God's redemptive plan. Worked out by faith. Not speculations.

[30:30] And notice, this last part of verse 4 leads us into what's our goal? What's our focus?

[30:42] What's it supposed to look like? What's the end result? What's it supposed to look like? Verse 5. But the goal and purpose outcome of our instruction.

[30:57] Okay. So stop there. Instruction. It's the same word he uses from verse 3. The command of the whole Christian life. What is Christianity all about?

[31:09] What should be our focus? What production does appropriate teaching bring? Remember, this is God's manual for church life. This letter from Paul to Timothy.

[31:21] One writer puts it like this. What's the goal of a, quote, truly Christian teaching ministry? Love. The goal of our instruction is love.

[31:38] Self-sacrifice. The goal of our instruction is love out of a pure heart, out of a good conscience, and out of a sincere faith. One writer says this.

[31:50] True doctrine and genuine ministry aim at and find their fulfillment in the production of love. With of this Christ loved us and gave himself for us. The summary of the law is love.

[32:03] The ultimate goodness of God is human is love. The cross. And notice the three-part base of this love.

[32:14] It's out of a pure heart. Out of a good conscience. Out of a sincere faith. So what are we trying to build?

[32:26] What's the end result? Go to the end. That's what Paul does. Right at the outset. This is the end. This is what you're trying to build. This is our goal. This is what we're supposed to look like.

[32:40] Love. And it's not this whole John Lennon thing. All you need is love. Do you mean he got it from this verse?

[32:51] No. Notice. Love manifests itself in our lives through three channels. Out of a pure heart. Out of a good conscience.

[33:01] Out of a sincere faith. That from or out of is connected to those three phrases. Grammatically. This is the essence of Christianity.

[33:12] This is what we should be all about as a body. It's this. This is why I'm doing this. This is why I'm saying these things to you.

[33:25] Because of this. This is our goal. So out of a pure heart. Heart. Heart is a seat.

[33:37] Of mind. Emotions. And will. When he says pure heart. It means. The cleansed status by forgiveness of sins. That's happened to us as Christians. We admit our failure.

[33:50] And our need for constant cleansing. Which only comes from the gospel of Christ. Out of a pure heart. Good conscience.

[34:00] What does he mean by that? Good conscience. A life of obedience. You're aware of your culpability before God. You're conscious of what's right and wrong before God. I'm conscious of it. And my attitude and my actions.

[34:13] I keep the faith of the good conscience. Chapter 1 verse 19. An honest evaluation of who I am. Pure heart to be forgiven. Good conscience of life obedience.

[34:25] And sincere faith. Total trust and reliance upon God. Without any kind of hypocrisy. Our trust in God is real.

[34:36] And genuine. We throw ourselves on Christ. We put our trust in Christ. Remember he just said. Christ's our hope. So what's the primary goal.

[34:49] Of all preaching and teaching. It's not to impart information to you. It's not to increase your knowledge. It's not for you to be an advocate of social justice.

[35:02] It's not for you to become a Republican. The goal is to produce love in you. Get this.

[35:15] If you're sleeping right now. You should wake up for this. And go back to sleep. The goal is to produce love in you. That looks outward with purity. Inward with self-judgment.

[35:25] And upward to God with genuine love. That kind of love. That's our goal. That's our purpose.

[35:40] That's what we should look like. If you miss anything. Don't miss that. So here's God's manual for church life. Here's our goal.

[35:51] This is our manual for how we do this thing called church. What's our goal? Right here. Love.

[36:05] Not law. Because what Paul does here. He starts out. Don't get sidetracked. He gives a goal. He goes right back to.

[36:19] Don't get sidetracked. Love. Not law. He goes right back to these false teachers. Notice it says. From some men strain from these things. Literally from the Greek.

[36:29] It's like this. From these things. These strain from them. They've turned aside. From these things. The hearts. Good conscience. It's your faith. Between these things and love.

[36:41] They've wandered away. They're going. They get sidetracked. They've turned aside.

[36:51] They've become twisted. They took themselves off the right path to discussions. Which were. He says. Fruitless. Idle. Useless.

[37:03] Strangely. These things have turned aside to fruitless discussions. They're talked about nothing. Devoid of content. And then verse 7. He says. Wanted to be teachers of the law.

[37:14] Law. It was all about law. And not love. You got the wrong L word buddy. You got the wrong L word pal. It's love.

[37:27] No. And they're talking about the mosaic law. And all its aspects. Because. Paul's not only talking about morality. But he's even talking about. The things that are profane. And not holy. In verse 9. And think.

[37:38] Think of what Paul says. In verse 7. Again. Wanting to be teachers of the law. Even though. They have no idea what they're saying. Or what they make.

[37:49] These covenant assertions. Why they're making these covenant assertions. They're not only speaking here. But they're like. They're speaking. Confidently. About these things. And Paul's like. They have no idea what they're even talking about.

[38:01] They're clueless. They're so incompetent. And you guys. Listening to that. Really. Timothy. No. No. No.

[38:15] Confident assertions. They're speaking confidence. In confidence. With confidence. Of error. Not of truth. Don't get sidetracked.

[38:26] It's not about law. It's about love. And then. Notice what Paul does here. Speaking about the law. PTW.

[38:38] He's doing a text message. PTW. By the way. Let me tell you about the character of the law. And his purpose. By the way. Let me tell you about the character of the law. And his purpose. Look at verse 8.

[38:50] But we know. Christians. We have the true complete understanding of the law. We know the true purpose of the law. With our.

[39:01] Gospel glasses on. Do you have your gospel glasses on this morning? Do you have your gospel glasses? No. No. Not those glasses. No. Not those glasses. Travis. Do you have your gospel glasses on?

[39:13] Put your gospel glasses on. And then you will be able to see the purpose of the law. If you don't have your gospel glasses on. You're not going to see.

[39:24] You're going to be blind. Put your gospel glasses on. Notice what Paul says. We know that the law. Is. Good. Says this again.

[39:36] Romans 7 verse 12. Why is it good? Well. Just give him my God. Give you a bunch of reasons up there. Just give him my God. It's a reflection of God.

[39:47] No. It's holiness and moral purity. The purpose of the law. It restrains evil. And reveals to sinners. Which he's going to bring up in chapter 15.

[39:57] In verse 15. Their desperate situation. Before a holy God. As well as their need for grace. Mercy. Peace. And hope to be found. Only in Christ. That's the purpose of the law.

[40:11] That's what the law still said to you. Notice he says. If it's used lawfully. It's good. If it's used lawfully. In other words. With it's intended use.

[40:24] How are they using it? For their myths and endless genealogies. That's how they're using it. Oh. Look at what he says here. Verse 9.

[40:36] Knowing this. That the law is given. Not given. To righteous. What does Paul mean by. To righteous. Or to the righteous one. Or to the righteous man.

[40:46] What does he mean by that? Well. Lots of different answers to that. That people come up with. That's what I think in my study. Righteous. What does Paul mean? Seems best that Paul was talking about.

[40:58] A Jesus follower. One who's justified. Or reckoned righteous. Through faith in Christ alone. You're not under law. You're under grace. You're not bound to the law.

[41:11] The law is not for the righteous. It's not for God's people. It's not law. It's love. Have a pure heart. Good conscience. Conscious your faith. You've been cleansed.

[41:23] You've been cleansed. You've been given obedience. You've been given peace. You've been given hope in Jesus. This is nonsense. These teachers are trying to use the law. Upon the church. To wrangle about nonsensical things.

[41:36] the law was not given to us or justified before God through faith alone. Boom! It's not. The main function of the law, he says, is to condemn lawbreakers.

[41:53] To condemn lawbreakers. That's the function of the law. Notice, he says, verse 9, realizing this, the law is not given to the righteous, but, as he lists them out, to lawless and rebellious, those who reject and throw off any law or authority.

[42:16] To the ungodly and sinners, those who are irreverent. I just want to point out to you, Paul's going to call himself the worst of sinners. Verse 15, because he was a blasphemer, a persecutor, an aggressor.

[42:29] To the unholy and profane, those who are unclean, it just screams at us, the book of Leviticus.

[42:42] To those who kill their fathers or mothers, all kinds of violence towards their parents. He says, to the immoral here, verse 10, and immoral men, literally, it's fornicators, those who commit sexual immorality.

[42:57] And notice, it's black and white, you cannot get past this. Two homosexuals. A perversion of God-ordained orientation of sex. One who lies in bed with a man is one with the eye of the woman.

[43:10] Friends, there's no such thing as a gay Christian. It's just, it's not in the Bible. The law is meant to show that they are lawbreakers.

[43:23] It's an abomination. To kidnappers, those who traffic human slaves. Notice he says that there, towards the end of verse, middle part of verse 10, to liars and perjurers, liars to them, to those who go against the oath, and they speak falsely.

[43:43] And he says, just to end of verse 10, whatever else is contrary to sound teaching. It's all those who do what is forbidden by God.

[43:55] The law was given, friends, to identify, deal with, and point out sin. And as Paul said in Galatians, it's the tutor to drive us to Christ Jesus, who is our only hope, peace, mercy, and grace before God.

[44:12] It drives us to Christ. That's why he preached the law, the two lawbreakers. Because you show them they need Christ. Anything else is contrary to what was taught by Paul.

[44:25] Sound meaning healthy. Correct. True. Contrast with the other teaching of the false teachers, which was unhealthy. Notice that's why he makes this connection, verse 11, according to, what is it connected to?

[44:42] It seems best to verse 8. One who uses it lawfully, the law, according to the gospel. As we proclaim the gospel, we tell people that they've fallen short of God and His glory, pointing out the law to them.

[44:59] It's not about saying to them, hey, homosexuals go to hell. Guess what? Everyone should go to hell. Every one of us deserve it. Because we're all lawbreakers. That's why we say, God, give me mercy.

[45:12] According to, he says, according to the gospel. The gospel is the saving news about the person and work of Jesus Christ who came into the world to do what?

[45:26] What was Paul going to say? To save sinners. He came to save you. Are you here and you are a sinner?

[45:37] You haven't trusted Christ? You should trust Christ. God will forgive you. God will show you mercy. God will show you grace.

[45:47] Jesus is your only hope. So what are you waiting for? Trust Christ. He'll be forgiven. That's what the gospel is about.

[46:01] According to, literally, I read to you from the Greek, according to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God. The gospel of the glory.

[46:12] The gospel tells about the glory of God, which is found in Christ, the one who saves sinners. And the cross is the greatest display of his glory. The gospel of the glory of the blessed God, or you can think of it as the happy God.

[46:30] The happy God. The gospel depicts God's glory as well as his great joy, whereby he shows himself to be a God who graciously saves sinners. You know what God loves to show?

[46:41] He loves to show mercy and grace to sinners. He's not, God, God, I'm saying, I don't want to do that. That's not God. If you think God's like that, you're wrong.

[46:54] God's like, come, come, come, come, come, come, come, come, come. Yes, come. I love to show mercy and grace to sinners to show that I forgive sinners and I justify them.

[47:05] He loves to show them. And it's this gospel that Paul's been entrusted. Which leads to the last part of verse 11, Paul's task, keep the church on track.

[47:25] Don't get sidetracked. Verse 11, with which, it's about this gospel, I have been entrusted. Paul's task was to keep the church on track. So that's why he's saying this to Timothy, to the church.

[47:39] Stay on track. Don't get sidetracked. Stay focused. Stay on the goal. This very gospel was entrusted to Paul and he'll later speak about how unbelievably gracious God was to him to entrust him in such amazing news.

[47:57] We'll see that next week. He showed him mercy. So this letter to Timothy is God's manual for church life.

[48:12] How do we function as a church? What should we look like? What's the end zone? This is God's manual for church life. So this next, now 14 weeks, be paying attention.

[48:28] Be on top of it. This is God's manual for us, for church life. How we function. And we saw how Paul started out with our goal. Love.

[48:40] Out of a pure heart, good conscience, sincere faith. Stay on track. Don't get sidetracked. You know what? I think this is perfect for us.

[48:53] I was thinking about that last night or this morning. You know what, Lord? This is so perfect. Everything happened with this election. This is so perfect. Because the media want you to put them on.

[49:07] They want you to get sidetracked. They want me to be sidetracked. Off gospel kingdom living. Off of establishing the kingdom of God.

[49:18] And remember, the essence of the presence of the kingdom of God is you.

[49:29] It's us. It's the church. Don't get sidetracked. What's our goal? Love. Pure heart. Good conscience.

[49:42] Sincere faith. Stay on track. And let's help each other do that. I need your help in that. You need my help in that. You need each other's help in that. Let's pray to that end.

[49:54] Let's do that. Father, we need your grace in this. Our culture is just throwing everything they have at us to get us off track, off kingdom, building, proclaiming gospel, and showing grace, mercy, peace with our hope in Christ.

[50:15] They do want us off track. Help us. Stay on the goal. We need your grace to do that. Spirit, please. Work in us as your people, we pray.

[50:27] We submit ourselves to you. You've spoken from your word. We submit ourselves to you. And we're going to submit ourselves to you these next 14 weeks as you speak.

[50:38] from this manual. Help us to listen, to take in, and drink deeply as your people. I encourage you as we do each week just take a few moments between you and the Lord.

[50:56] Maybe walk back through your notes. Maybe read the passage again. Recite the gospel to yourself. Just a few moments between you and the Lord.

[51:07] A few moments of silence. A few moments. And you know, we'll see. We'll pray. I want to encourage you to do this. A few moments between you and the Lord. Let your mind fill with these things.

[51:20] Okay? Do that now, please. you're welcome.

[51:40] Thanks. All right. Thank you.