1 Timothy 1:1-2 Introduction to 1 Timothy

[0:01] We'll be starting a series in the book of 1 Timothy. So today will be an introduction to the book of 1 Timothy.! And as an introduction to the introduction of 1 Timothy, I want to pose to you a question to think about, to have this thought in your mind, as we consider the reason why 1 Timothy was written and what Timothy was charged with.

[0:24] And that question is, what would the church look like if the church's standard of doctrine was according to what was right in everyone's own eyes? Now, not everybody has a uniform interpretation of Scripture.

[0:42] And not every interpretation of Scripture is right. And there's a method which I'm going to be picking on areas here just because it's easy and something that's been dealt with a long time ago.

[0:59] But what false teachers do, what Arius, for example, did. So Arius, he taught that there was a time that the sun was not. And out of that is what we have as the Nicene Creed.

[1:11] So if you remember, it would have been a couple weeks ago where we read through the Nicene Creed. And then year 325 to address this heresy by Arius, who claimed that there was a time when the sun was not.

[1:23] Here's the problem. Here's the challenge is that Arius pointed to Scripture. He pointed to Scripture and said, this is why he believes what he does. Now, there's even today, there's this train of thought of a form of biblicism, which sounds good at first.

[1:41] It's where they'll say, if you want to say something, if you want to establish something of doctrine, you have to show me the chapter and verse. You have to have a proof text with the chapter and verse, which does sound good because we do want Scripture to speak to a doctrine in which we believe.

[1:58] And this thinking is typically against creeds and confessions and asserting that it's adding to Scripture or bringing up tradition to be equal with Scripture, which is actually quite false.

[2:12] The confessions, when they were written, they were written to refute the Roman Catholic Church's perspective that tradition was higher than Scripture.

[2:24] So the confessions were written to say that these traditions of the Roman Catholic Church that are contrary to Scripture do not have equal weight with Scripture. In fact, they're against Scripture. So that was the intent and the spirit behind these confessions.

[2:37] And there's something else about the confessions, which are very helpful. So with this cherry-picking method of having a thought and taking a single verse and isolating it from all of Scripture to prove that thought, this Biblicism of show me chapter and verse, it's actually not the spirit of the Reformation.

[2:58] It's not the spirit of sola scriptura. So out of the Reformation, particularly the five solas against the Catholic Church, one of them, the first one, would have been sola scriptura.

[3:08] That Scripture alone is the final authority and it's the supreme court of justice, if you will. It's the final court of decision and disputes in the matters of the faith.

[3:21] So what sola scriptura was not saying, they weren't saying, you have to show me chapter and verse. What they were saying, the spirit of Scripture being the final and sole authority, is what does all of Scripture say to it?

[3:36] So the problem with these false teachers such as Arius, who would cherry-pick a verse to the isolation of all of Scripture to try to prove their false teaching, is that it ignores the rest of Scripture.

[3:48] And the heart of the Reformation, the sola scriptura, that Scripture is the final authority for the Church.

[3:59] It doesn't say, show me a chapter and verse. It says, what does all of Scripture say to the matter? So this is why it's so helpful and why there is so much safety in churches holding to creeds, confessions, and catechisms.

[4:14] It sets up guardrails that have already been established over the centuries where true doctrine has already been defined when false teachers have pointed to a single verse and wrenched it out of its context and said, this is what it means, but it doesn't actually harmonize with all of Scripture.

[4:40] So that's the difficult thing. If we were all to have a standard of doctrine according to what is right in our own eyes, then we would all have to thoroughly investigate all of Scripture, not by the light of nature, but by the light of faith, understand how each part harmonizes with all the rest of it, with a method of interpretation that takes the unity of all of Scripture.

[5:03] So if I were to use a method to interpret, as Arius did, one passage, does that harmonize with the rest of Scripture? What does the rest of Scripture say? If I was to take my understanding of justification, but my understanding of it contradicted what Scripture says about who God is, then I've gone wrong somewhere.

[5:21] So that's where there's much safety in holding to a robust historical confession. Whereas if a church could not have a standard of doctrine except to that which is what everyone deems to be right in their own eyes, there will be every wind of doctrine within the church.

[5:43] And that's what happens in non-denominational churches. They say anything that's a standard of doctrine that's denominational, we won't hold that as our confession, but merely what is the minimum amount that we can agree on to be considered evangelical, which compromises everything so much that really it's just, do you know the letters that spell Jesus?

[6:05] And as a result, all sorts of other doctrine comes in which that doctrine in itself may not be heresy, but what's the thinking behind it? What's, how did you come to that conclusion?

[6:17] What's, what thinking led you to that conclusion? Or where does that conclusion further lead to when you use that, that approach? So, does these creeds and confessions and catechisms divide?

[6:32] Absolutely they do. And that was, so with confessions, they're meant to both show unity as well as divide and creeds are absolutely meant to divide. Creeds are the ecumenical, creeds, the ecumenical councils, which is uniting all who are in the universal faith, but they do also divide because those, like Arius, who could not agree with the Nicene Creed were false teachers.

[6:58] So the creeds divide the wolves from the sheep. It is a division that the church wants and it's a unity that the church wants. So these guardrails are very important and it is also holding to historic orthodoxy.

[7:15] It's, it's a system that harmonizes all of scripture to the unity of scripture and it also, it also brings us into a, a culture in, if we were to think, and this is really the era of, of the enlightenment period.

[7:34] The enlightenment period wanted to dismiss all that is traditional and all that is historical and have a clean slate and what that, what that does is it neglects the fact that we have the promise in scripture of the presence of Christ with the church throughout the ages, which means that a hundred years ago or four hundred years ago or seventeen hundred years ago or the time of Council of Nicaea or the time of the drafting of the confession, whatever it may be, Christ is present with the true church.

[8:04] Christ is present by his spiritual presence, is spiritually present with the church by his word and spirit and we also know from Ephesians 4 of Christ's victory gifts.

[8:15] Christ's victory gifts is he gives the gifts of pastors and teachers to the church. So to neglect all of historic orthodoxy is to, to neglect and underappreciate the fact of the presence of Christ with the church throughout all of history.

[8:32] When Christ ascended, he didn't leave the church on its own to figure out things out on its own. He's spiritually present by his word and spirit and gives victory gifts of pastors and teachers to the church.

[8:45] Now that does not make man's or these confessions or creeds infallible, but it's, it's uniting us to a culture which includes the universal church and all of Christianity in the era of the church, which far surpasses this day and all those who are living and all those who are on this earth.

[9:12] So, all that to say is that the reality of false teachers is real. the threat of false teachers is real and that was something that the church of Ephesus was facing and that is why Paul left Timothy in Ephesus and Paul now writes this letter.

[9:38] So, let's read the first chapter of 1 Timothy. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ our hope.

[9:54] To Timothy, a true sign in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith.

[10:20] Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith from which some having strayed have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.

[10:39] But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous person but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.

[11:14] And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. Although, I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man.

[11:26] But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

[11:37] This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. However, for this reason, I obtained mercy that in me, first, Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on him for everlasting life.

[12:01] Now, to the King Eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, the honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some, having rejected concerning the faith, have suffered shipwreck, of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

[12:37] Lord, we thank you again for your word. We pray that you would illuminate your word to us and lead us into all truth. We pray that you would attend the preaching of your word by your spirit and make it effectual to the hearers.

[12:48] You would help us to look to you, to anticipate, to hear from you, and that you would help us to free our minds from all the distractions from throughout the week and that which lies in the week ahead.

[13:00] Lord, and I pray, Lord, that you would bless this time. I pray that you would use even me in the articulation of your word, that you would bless your people, that you would feed us and nourish us. We pray this in Jesus' name.

[13:12] Amen. Amen. Now, today we'll be looking at verses 1 to 2. As an introduction to the book of Timothy, we'll be unfolding verses 1 and 2 and what's going on in these two verses is this, that the apostle writes to fortify orderly administration of the church in the face of opposition.

[13:36] So that introduces all of Timothy as we look at the introduction to the book of Timothy, that the apostle Paul writes to fortify orderly administration of the church in the face of opposition.

[13:49] So we're going to divide it into the authorship, which is listed in verse 1, the reception, which is identified in verse 2, and the greeting also in verse 2.

[14:01] So the authorship, the reception of the letter, and the greeting. So first of all, the authorship, which starts off by saying, Paul. Now, Paul used to be Saul of Tarsus.

[14:15] Saul of Tarsus is the one which we read already in Acts 8. If you recall, in 1 Timothy 1.13, Paul refers to his time before conversion and he says, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man, and we read that he even oversaw the martyrdom of Stephen and continued to enter into houses and dragging out men and women to cast them into prison because of the faith, because of being followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[14:54] This is who Paul used to be. This is Saul of Tarsus. But Saul of Tarsus was converted. And actually, let's flip over to Acts.

[15:04] Keep your finger here in 1 Timothy 1 and flip over to Acts chapter 9. I'll highlight a couple things about his conversion.

[15:16] Now, what occurred here in Acts chapter 9 of Paul's conversion is extraordinary. If we read this and you think, I did not have that experience, what happened here is extraordinary because there is extraordinary gifting given to Paul as an apostle.

[15:37] But sometimes we metaphorically speak of a conversion as being a road to Damascus type of conversion in that there was a direct moment where light shone in darkness and there was a 180 turn and followed after Christ without looking back.

[15:53] But don't think that because this didn't happen to you that you are not saved. Anyways, chapter 9, verse 1. Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters for him to the synagogues of Damascus so that if he found any who were of the way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

[16:18] As he journeyed, he came near Damascus and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. And as I said, metaphorically, what conversion is, what salvation is, is lost sinners are blinded and in darkness and by the light of faith, light shines in darkness.

[16:38] The illumination of the Holy Spirit, light shines in darkness but in the case of Saul of Tarsus, it was literally light shining around him. Light shone around him from heaven.

[16:51] Then he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Isn't that interesting? The resurrected Christ says to Saul who is persecuting the church, he so closely associates himself with the church which is his body that the persecuting of the church is persecuting of Christ.

[17:12] He says, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you, Lord? Then the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.

[17:23] That's an interesting saying, isn't it? What does that mean to kick against the goads? Well, what is an ox goad? Probably have a pretty good understanding if you were here when we considered Shamgar.

[17:35] An ox goad is a pointy stick that's used with an ox, a beast of burden while they're plowing to prick it, to persuade it in the way in which it should go.

[17:46] It wants to go a different way. So a prick with an ox goad persuades it to go in the right way. Now, if the beast of burden was particularly stubborn and really did not want to go the right way and wanted to go its own way, it would perhaps kick against the goad.

[18:02] But kicking against the ox goad wouldn't hurt the ox goad. It would only further inflict pain and the beast which is, the beast of burden which is being pricked. So when he says here to Saul, why do you kick against the goads?

[18:17] His kicking against the goads, he does not want to go in the right way but it's only to his own affliction in which he is resisting the right way and light shines in darkness and then as the narrative continues, he follows Christ.

[18:36] And I want to read verse 15 too where the Lord is speaking to Ananias about Paul because they are afraid of Paul because he has been persecuting the church.

[18:51] Anyways, the Lord says to Ananias about Paul in verse 15, but the Lord said to him, go for he is, notice this, he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles, kings and the children of Israel for I shall show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake.

[19:08] Paul is a chosen vessel of Christ's to bear Christ's name. So this is who Paul was, Paul's conversion and Paul here, so understanding who Paul, the name Paul, what that means, if you want to flip back to 1 Timothy, starting off with Paul, he then says, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God, our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ.

[19:37] Now three particular things there, he says he's an apostle, so we want to understand what an apostle is and he says he's an apostle of Jesus Christ. Now really, an apostle, the meaning is a messenger, somebody who is sent by somebody of authority and that messenger comes with the authority of the one who sends them.

[19:57] So if Paul is an apostle, he is one who is commissioned and sent by someone of authority, who is that one who sends him and by what authority does he come with? An apostle of Jesus Christ.

[20:08] So he is a messenger of Jesus Christ and he comes with the authority of Jesus Christ and it is not by his own commissioning but as we see by the command of God.

[20:20] Which means that Paul's authority is not self-appointed. Paul does not self-appoint himself as being a messenger of Christ, as an apostle of Christ. Now this is interesting, isn't it?

[20:32] Because we see that this is 2 Timothy and if you know the history of Paul and Timothy is they are close friends and they were missionary companions on Paul's second missionary trip.

[20:43] So why would Paul say such a statement like this to somebody who knows this? If you think about it, if you were to write a letter to your wife, would you say to my beloved bride according to the public covenant to which we vowed before God and by the witness of our friends and families and according to the certificate under the law?

[21:07] You wouldn't go through all that because your wife would say, I know, I was there, I know who you are, get on with the letter. So why is Paul saying this? Why is Paul establishing this at the beginning of his letter?

[21:19] There's a couple of reasons. One of them is the reception of the letter, which we're going to get to more in the second point. The other one is the reason behind why this is being written, the opposition in which is being faced.

[21:34] Timothy does already know this, but this letter is for the church. This letter is to be read to the church. It's to be read to the church which has false teaching and false teachers and opposition within it.

[21:51] I'm kind of getting ahead of myself here, but the reception, the end of the book in 1 Timothy 6, verse 21, it says, to you, and you is in plural.

[22:05] It's second person plural. The book of Timothy is to be read to the church. We'll get more into that into the reception. But Timothy knows this, but the church needs to know this.

[22:17] The church needs to know this because there is going to be a conflict of authority and it needs to be established who has the true authority. So what he's doing here is he's establishing his authority.

[22:30] And by establishing his authority, he's also establishing the authority of his teaching and the authority of his message because the false teaching is contrary to the message which he has taught.

[22:44] So why establish all this? Because of the false teacher's dispute. It's establishing who has the authority. There's two conflicting views.

[22:55] So who's to say one interpretation is more right than the other one? Who has the authority in this dispute? So Paul, also in his other letters, more elaborates on his authority in Romans 1.1 as well as 1 Corinthians 1.1 he says other things such as that he is a servant of Christ called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ set apart for the gospel of God.

[23:25] Paul is an apostle. He is a messenger commissioned and sent with the authority of the one who sent him. He is an apostle who is sent with the authority of the one who sent him which is Jesus Christ.

[23:39] Paul was sent by the resurrected Christ. When we read in Acts 9 he witnessed the resurrected and in 9.15 he was commissioned by we see that he was commissioned by Christ.

[23:59] So what is exactly what is an apostle? We see generically that an apostle is a messenger someone who is sent commissioned and sent by someone with authority sent with the authority but in the terms of the Bible an apostle of Jesus Christ and the victory gifts in Ephesians 4 that Christ gives the church the gifts it starts off by saying apostle prophet evangelist pastor and teacher what is this apostle which scripture speaks of?

[24:28] and subsequently in understanding what an apostle is because it's certainly asserted we want to ask the question are there apostles today? But what is an apostle?

[24:41] If you recall in Acts when in the beginning of Acts when the apostles are seeking to find a replacement for Judas there's criteria that they set out which must be met of who is to take Judas' place and there's also what what scripture speaks to apostleship to understand what an apostle is the function of an apostle and therefore helping to understand the end of that function so what is an apostle?

[25:17] An apostle must be an eyewitness of the resurrected Christ commissioned by Christ and sent by the resurrected Christ an apostle has the authority from Christ for a purpose what was the purpose of having the authority from Christ is for the authority for the establishment of the foundation of the church remember the the era in which this occurred so the establishment of the foundation of the church through apostolic teaching or through apostolic doctrine and the apostles were the primary leaders in the church according to Christ's extraordinary victory gifts so if we recall there's the extraordinary victory gifts of apostle and prophet and there's the ordinary gifts such as pastor and teacher and they were also primary leaders in the inscripturation of the written word of God this is a big one and we don't have time to exhaust that but the apostles had the authority from Christ to inscripturate the word of God according to what Christ had taught them and as they were carried along by the spirit of God inspired by God which means that apostle has the authority for the scripture to inscripturate scripture when that weight is carried with the title of an apostle so if somebody claims to be an apostle today they are claiming to not only have witnessed the resurrected

[26:56] Christ but also to be commissioned by Christ and sent by Christ to have been taught by Christ and to have the authority to inscripturate that which is authoritative over the church but as we see in scripture the final apostle to the final apostle's death was John after John died there ceased to be apostles and we have the close of the canon there is no further divine revelation but rather we stand on the sufficiency and infallibility of the scripture so what authority do the false teachers have Paul is establishing the authority which he has according to the authority of the message which he has taught so it's like now over to you false teachers what authority do you have who commissioned them who sent them so then the question are there apostles and prophets today a few years ago when we began our study in the book of

[28:09] Ephesians I told you about they called themselves a theological seminary I highly doubt that their credits would be transferable to a credible seminary but this seminary claims to equip and to activate the offices of apostles and prophets which is interesting that they would assume the authority and power to activate such gifts but anyways it's really an infatuation obsession of spiritual gifts of what was extraordinary and claiming it for themselves today and I told you about one of the professors I perused the faculty and staff and one of the professors was the apostle Janine and what the apostle

[29:10] Janine taught was prophetic painting and dance interpretation by demonstration so is Janine an apostle according to the criteria of scripture is Janine an apostle what is she claiming and is this true and there's a lot today that claims apostolic office there's a lot of movements particularly charismatic movements and there's a lot where they don't even necessarily advertise it in the ways in which we see it such as through music popular contemporary music and then they also have these institutes that are very much focused on prosperity gospel and deliverance ministries which sound good but they are quite heretical!

[30:02] So you might see a church that says the apostolic church or a movement like the whatever these movements that claim to be apostles are there apostles today?

[30:15] Is there prophecy today? Is there divine revelation from God today which is new and which is authoritative over the church? Is Janine an apostle?

[30:26] Well in remembering about the apostle Janine I wanted to look it up and see is this seminary still around? Are they still claiming these things? Does Janine still instruct in prophetic painting and dance interpretation?

[30:41] It's still there and she is still on faculty and staff but she's been promoted to a doctor apostle. I didn't even know there was a higher rank of apostle as a doctor apostle.

[30:55] All that to say O. Palmer Robertson speaks to the issue very well so I'll quote him he says it can be expected that the historical completion of the work of redemption by Christ in his death and resurrection will be accompanied by a rounding out of revelation as the significance of those events is fully interpreted.

[31:15] If certain offices and functions such as apostle and prophet are treated in scripture as foundational for the establishment of the church it should come as no surprise that the extraordinary gifts associated with these offices should cease once the historical foundation of the church has been laid.

[31:35] So is there post apostolic era revelation? You might hear phrases as people saying things like I received a word from the Lord and it may be intentional in trying to assert that they have divine revelation or maybe we might hear somebody say things such as God told me and again it may be intentional trying to say that they have this new divine revelation or it may be well intentioned Christians who just chose an unfortunate way to explain that by the providence of God this happened but unless you're reading scripture out loud God didn't tell you something that he hasn't told you in scripture and our confession speaks to this we have that guard rail set up in our confession in chapter one paragraph one it says the holy scriptures the holy scripture is the only sufficient certain and infallible rule of all saving knowledge faith and obedience those former ways of God's revealing his will unto his people being now ceased this is a guard rail in which confessionally reformed churches have set in place that if somebody comes into the church and they claim that they have divine revelation from God or that they hold the office of apostle or of prophet that we already know and we have those guard rails in place and we can say not today

[33:05] Janine there won't be any prophetic painting or dance interpretation in this place not today so moving on a question are the pastoral epistles authoritative over every church we've established the authority of the apostle Paul as he writes to the church in Ephesus where Timothy is so there is authority in this letter to that church but I've heard it literally been argued that these are written to specific churches and are only authoritative over those churches in that day when it was written and not to any other church today so we must truly understand the question do the pastoral epistles so the pastoral epistles namely first and second Timothy and Titus are they authoritative or is all of scripture authoritative over every church and if it's authoritative over every church does that include today over every church today 2,000 years later approximately 2,000 years later and is it therefore authoritative over this church over us today 1 Timothy 6 21 says and this is the last verse the one that I the Greek is a plural says grace be with you all and that word you it actually says grace be with you it's probably translated in your

[34:41] Bible as grace be with you it may say with you all but the Greek word is a second person plural which means you all so he wouldn't be saying to Timothy you all if I wrote to just my wife I wouldn't say you all it refers plural second person plural more more than just Timothy the reception of of this letter is to more than just Timothy grace be with you all so the pastoral epistle is authoritative in a plural sense also in first Timothy 3 15 it says I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God which is the church of the living God the pillar and the ground of truth so any true church is the house of God and there is a way in which you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God so any true church this applies I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God and one final point on whether the pastoral epistles are authoritative over every church is the inscripturation of scripture all of scripture is inspired by God there is the distinctiveness the distinction of the human authors so Paul penned first

[36:08] Timothy but there's also the unity of the divine author over all of scripture so we'll see the distinctiveness of the personalities in the ones penning the letters or whom the letters were penned through but because of the inspiration of scripture every letter every book and scripture that we read is inspired by God not just in thought but in word word and thought is inspired by inspired judgments so that all of scripture we can be confident there is no lie there is no inconsistency but that it is infallible and because of the divine authority of the divine inspiration it is infallible and it is authoritative so because it is the word of God because of the inspiration of scripture all of scripture is authoritative over every church even today now remember the context if you're familiar with what's going on remember the context or the occasion in which this letter was written and this is actually encouraging as we look back there must have been some difficulties in the time but this is in the wake of

[37:26] Paul's dismissing his companion of John Mark he had to dismiss his companion John Mark because John Mark he deemed to be unreliable which would have been no doubt painful there would have been disappointments so in terms of relationship there was failures there was sharp disagreements there was torn relationships and there was disappointments but in looking back we can see God's providence and it's a good reminder for us in these times when we find ourselves in these situations to trust in God's providence because in the wake of Paul's dismissing of John Mark Timothy then emerges on the scene for Paul's second missionary scene so that brings us to our second point I have a question to consider which I'm sure you probably already have the answer to it but is the letter for Timothy or is it also for us nearly 2,000 years later is this letter just for

[38:34] Timothy or is it also for us nearly 2,000 years later so our second point is the reception the reception of the letter it starts off in verse 2 by saying to Timothy so first of all let's understand who is Timothy Acts 16 tells us a little bit about Timothy Timothy was a young man from Lystra and he had a believing Jewish mother Eunice but his father was a Greek which because it says a believing mother but his father was a Greek it implies his father was an unbeliever and we also know that Timothy was brought up in the scriptures and that it's likely that God opened his eyes through Paul's gospel preaching and teaching on his first missionary journey and I think this brings us much encouragement as parents that Timothy was brought up in the teaching of the scripture and that scripture wasn't for nothing and if our children if we see in our children that perhaps the bringing them up in the scripture doesn't have immediate fruit hopefully this brings encouragement because there is a moment when under

[39:55] Paul's preaching that scripture was brought to light it was illuminated and light shone in darkness and he was saved so God opened his eyes and then Timothy was well spoken of by the brothers in Lystra and Iconium and he being well spoken of Paul on his second missionary journey wanted Timothy to go with him Paul wanted to take Timothy with him on his second missionary journey and it says here to Timothy a true son in the faith now we know from Acts that his mother was a believing Jewish mother Eunice but his father was a Greek so what does it mean when it says to Timothy a true son it's that he was a spiritual son again likely converted under Paul's preaching on his first missionary journey and now Timothy here serves under

[40:55] Paul as a son would serve under his father as a son to a father and Timothy was faithful Timothy was faithful in doctrine and Timothy was faithful in being sent to confront false doctrine and that's the issue at hand of why this was written and Timothy he was theologically solid but Timothy was lacking courage Timothy was timid so Paul writes to him to fortify him so Timothy joins Paul on his second missionary journey Paul leaves Timothy in Ephesus to pastor there and Timothy is faced with the infiltration of false teachers into the church now in 1st Timothy 3 15 Paul tells him why he writes to him and that is so that the church may operate in all decency and order so

[42:03] Timothy is instructed to withstand false teachers these false teachers are self exalting and their teaching is chaos and Paul offers pastoral encouragement and instruction to Timothy and in writing to Timothy the church as a whole is instructed the church as a whole is instructed through the reading of this letter to the church and the church as a whole is instructed through Timothy's charge in what he is to do with the church and in the church and so also individual believers who are constituent components of the church are also instructed through the letter to Timothy now Timothy was charged to stand against false teaching he was to confront error he was to confront false doctrine and we know that Timothy was timid he was solid but he was timid and he was charged to confront false doctrine which we see is a matter of truth and of love and discernment discernment isn't just knowing what is right and what is wrong false teaching doesn't show up with a label of false teaching it's not like somebody would come into the back of the church acting all creepy and open up a trench coat and hear display all these false teachings that he has available to show you there is much good and truth which is delivered with false teaching smuggled in with it it is deceptive and it needed to be confronted and it probably came from within the church not only probably came from the church but from the very eldership of the church if you recall a few years just before this in

[44:02] Acts 20 when Paul was in Ephesus on his first missionary journey he found some believers he discipled them and he stayed and taught for three years and then afterwards he called elders together and he said this in Acts 20 29 he said for for I know this that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock also from among yourselves men will rise up did you catch that men will rise up from among yourselves men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves therefore watch and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears when Paul taught and preached he taught on the full counsel of God there was no insufficiency in his teaching so the fact that there's this opposition is because these wolves have risen up from within from among yourselves and there needs to be a rejection of the opponents different interpretation it's not that false doctrine comes in labeled as false!

[45:19] doctrine it's not that it comes! as being some wild and very clearly identifiable foreign thing it's a different interpretation and that's how I should remember life with Arius Arius would point to scripture he would point to chapter and verse and he would say scripture says this but yet it's false it's false teaching it's false doctrine so that needs to be identified and it needs to be rejected and the the emerging church and non denominational churches will say that every person's interpretation is their own interpretation and who are you to say that your interpretation is the right one and that theirs is wrong which is very problematic thinking which actually argues against the very sufficiency authority of scripture leaving the church open to every wind of doctrine it there needs to be as timothy was sound in theology sound in doctrine there needs to be the rejection the discernment of what is a different interpretation what is a heterodox versus orthodoxy what is a different interpretation a different interpretation from what

[46:35] Paul taught and from what he has entrusted to Timothy rejecting the inserting of doctrine between the lines and for example it talks about genealogy it's not that genealogy is wrong we have genealogy in scripture and it serves a purpose and teaches us many things but to to insert doctrine that's not there between the lines as though there's some sort of code for some new doctrine amongst the genealogy the inserting!

[47:02] doctrine between the lines or division division where there shouldn't be division division because of false doctrine where there should be division is the division that divides the sheep from the wolves and those the teaching of the wolves needs to be rejected and the confronting and opposing of error as we see is love is love for truth is love of God is love for the brethren is love for the church that's why it goes on to speak of love which we will more look at next week which brings us now to our third point that the apostle opens the letter with an introductory exhortation in the Lord so our third point then is the greeting the greeting that is given and three particular things are mentioned grace mercy and peace and then the source is provided for those things so I want to quickly explain what grace is what mercy is and what peace is grace is unmerited favor it is undeserved love it is gratuitous it is free grace is free gratuitous unmerited grace is opposed to the payment of a price and the recompense of wages grace is not arising from any worth whether foreseen or existing rather grace is independent of all worth and merit of the creature if it was a result of works faith or something foreseen that it would cease to be of grace it would cease to be unmerited gratuitous undeserved it would cease to be of grace and it would be earned and deserved wages receiving what is deserved receiving what is earned there's grace so looking at mercy then whereas grace is the freely giving of undeserved!

[49:04] favor mercy is the withholding of what is deserved grace is the freely giving of what is undeserved mercy is the withholding of what is deserved so grace is the undeserved favor of God mercy is the deserved judgment of God that is mercy is the withholding of God's avenging justice now mercy is not opposed to justice it's not that God ceases to be just or that God does violence to his justice for the sake of mercy mercy is not opposed to justice or contrary to it rather mercy exceeds justice as God's avenging justice is satisfied God does not cease to be just he satisfies divine justice on a substitute namely our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Jesus who came to save his people from their sins the Lamb of God who was slain mercy furthermore is communicated to us in our misery now mercy it it's driven out of misery it's not that

[50:21] God is in misery God is not in heaven thinking oh no what has happened what am I going to do with this mess it's not that God is in misery it's that we are in misery and God's mercy to us is mercy communicated to us in our misery and as such it affects liberation and consolation that us in our misery God's mercy communicates to us liberation and consolation and mercy is not the reaction of a miserable God God is not miserable mercy is God's grace communicated to those who are in misery we who are in misery and God's grace is communicated towards us so grace and mercy then peace and there's a flow of thought and I hope you start to it pieces together here but peace now God's grace and mercy are the operative communication of his love and goodness to sinful humanity

[51:25] God by his very essence is his perfections God is love God is good and according to God's love and according to God's goodness he communicates his essence to us operatively through grace and mercy and it is not according to the worth of the sinner so God's grace and mercy when God's grace and mercy rests on a sinner it's not what has that sinner done to deserve God's grace and mercy the focus is not on that of the sinner the focus is on that of a God that the focus of God's essence of God's goodness of God's love and communicating grace and mercy on not not because of what we deserve but because of who God is because of God's essence because of God's love because of God's goodness and this is entirely according!

[52:23] to the good pleasure of God's infinitely wise and eternally immutable will and this is great news for us for Christians for believers because this means that we cannot undeserve what we did not deserve in the first place God operates according to his eternal and independent will which gives us great peace because God's favor to us is according to his unchanging essence and is not according to our constantly changing inadequacies and demerit Matthew Poole on this verse he wrote by peace he signifies principally the peace of God that divine calm of conscience that tranquility and rest of soul which proceeds from the assurance that God is reconciled to us in Christ and our freedom by the sanctifying spirit from the tyranny of carnal lusts so grace mercy and peace what is this peace this peace is not a trouble free life this peace is an informed application of grace and mercy it is an informed application of the apprehension of grace and mercy in the gospel it's an informed application of the word of

[53:48] God resulting in us a calmness of the soul and resolute stability grounded in confidence in the Lord's trustworthiness in essence works word and promises grace mercy and peace he exhorts towards Timothy and he gives the source of grace mercy and peace which as you see says from God our father and Jesus Christ our Lord now why is that division or that not division but why is that distinction made of God the father and Jesus Christ our Lord is he referring to two separate entities is he referring to two separate gods absolutely not but according to the doctrine of the trinity which we have been going over the ecumenical creeds we understand that God is one in essence subsisting in three persons and there is unity in that essence but we can understand God's works of redemptions according to how he reveals himself by attributing particular works to a person of the

[54:56] Godhead but it's not that redemption or salvation is to the exclusion of others but to the one divine essence so when we praise God the father for authoring redemption we're praising the whole trinity when we praise Jesus Christ our Lord for purchasing redemption we're praising the whole trinity but we can also pray to each person as works are attributed to them as one divine essence and peace is grounded in is from God our father and Jesus Christ our Lord and we can understand this one divine essence as revealed to us in the three persons now what is I've questioned for you what is the fruit or a sign of a blessed church this is based on the understanding that there is the pure preaching of the gospel that there is the pure preaching of truth that the church is indeed standing as the pillar and the ground of the truth so if a church is not preaching the gospel if there's not the pure preaching it is not the church if it's not standing as the pillar and ground of truth that's not what we are looking at in the equation but that which is a true church based on the pure preaching of the is is the fruit and sign of a blessed church an increase of grace mercy and peace a church with the primacy of preaching and the pure preaching of the word standing as the pillar and the ground of truth it may have various difficulties it could have financial difficulties it could have attendance difficulties it might not have very much of a social media presence and a lot of likes it may not have all the contemporary programs which attract those seeker friendly churches but in these trials is there an increase of grace and mercy and peace because it is blessed now

[57:45] I mentioned about guardrails about creeds confessions and catechisms being guardrails think about the purpose of a guardrail first of by seeing it you probably know I don't want to run into that I'm going to avoid it and maybe just by seeing it but should somebody stray from the road somebody stray from the right way and the guardrail stops them from going off the road there is going to be some collision there's going to be a little bit of grinding against the guardrail there's going to be probably a little bit of damage and for the church to stand on the pillar on the ground of truth there's going to be some colliding and grinding against the guardrails but a blessed church will increase in grace mercy and peace despite this and this is what's going on in Ephesus is that there is going to be opposition there is going to be opposing the opposition and

[58:48] Paul exhorts Timothy and the church by saying grace mercy and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord now there's the imagery and scripture of the church being spiritual temple and as believers being living stones as constituent components of the wall of this temple built on the foundation of the apostles with Christ as the cornerstone 1st Timothy 2 5 says you also as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house Ephesians 2 19 it says fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone in whom the whole building being fitted together grows in a holy temple in the Lord in whom you also are being built together for dwelling place in the of God in the spirit so picture this a spiritual!

[59:42] temple a spiritual house stone of the walls of this spiritual house now if you picture a stone wall of a building they need to be stacked but if you go and collect a whole bunch of stones for them to be fit to be stacked to compose a wall of a house are they naturally shaped in a way in which they are well balanced to fit together no you can't take rocks that are all!

[60:11] rounded stone wall precision fitting involves the painstakingly either grinding stones against each other so that they fit or pounding them flat with other stones or them being chiseled down in order that they may fit more correctly and be able to fit more strongly believers as living stones are being built into a spiritual house now Timothy needed this exhortation the church needed this exhortation pastors need this exhortation pastors today need this exhortation churches today need this exhortation and our church needs this exhortation and believers believers in the churches need this exhortation so again the exhortation of grace, mercy, and peace.

[61:20] Grace, mercy, and peace, need to understand, is the effect of the indwelling Holy Spirit. And that those who are in this world that are not united to Christ, those in this world who are not saved, have a vanity of peace or a vain comfort and consolation.

[61:39] Again, John Owen lists vain principles of this peace, those being darkness, treachery of conscience, self-righteousness, and vain hope.

[61:53] So understanding the place of the apprehension of grace, mercy, and peace in the church. Think about what John Owen wrote about these vain principles of peace, of how the world without Christ, those without Christ who reject Christ, in vain, seek to find comfort and consolation in this world.

[62:13] First one he says is darkness, or ignorance. Consider the saying, it was ignorance is bliss. To be sitting in darkness. I don't want to know the Word of God. I don't want to know the law of God.

[62:24] I don't want to know how I'm offending the law of God. I don't want to know how I'm sinning against God. I don't want to know how holy and just and righteous God is. I certainly don't want to know about how unchanging God's justice is.

[62:38] I don't want to know about the condemnation, which hangs over me for my sinning against God. Blissfully in ignorance. Thinking in vain that they are in comfort and peace and consolation.

[62:52] Or treachery of conscience. To be so given over to sin that the conscience is seared. So normal, sin becomes so normalized that the conscience is seared.

[63:04] So that the person would say, well, I don't have a guilty conscience about it, so it must be okay. But a seared conscience does not trump the commands of God. Or self-righteousness.

[63:16] If I was to compare myself to other people, the people that I don't like in this world, then truly I'm a good person. Truly, I'm more on the side of the good guys.

[63:27] If I think about my self-righteousness or all the good things that I do, truly God would be delighted in all these good things that I've done, that he would just be tickled to welcome me into heaven.

[63:39] God is holy and righteous and just. And it requires a perfect, exact, entire, perpetual obedience. There is no self-righteousness aside from the righteousness of Christ, his righteousness imputed to us.

[63:52] And then finally, vain hope. To have a vain hope. Just to hope based on any of these things that we may be reconciled to God while rejecting the Lord's Christ.

[64:03] And unbelievers, while they may find a vain form of comfort and consolation while sitting in darkness, in ignorance, or in treachery of conscience, or self-righteousness, or in vain hope, they may sit in that and they may still, by common grace, eat good food and drink good drink and be merry.

[64:24] And they may live a life of laughter, but in their eating and drinking and being merry, in their laughing and their laughter, they're still dying.

[64:35] And dying, they will still be accountable before a holy, righteous, and just God. And God is immutable. He does not change. And he will, by no means, clear the guilty.

[64:47] So without true grace, mercy, and peace from the indwelling Spirit of God, you can have no true consolation, comfort, peace, or security.

[64:59] In Ephesians 1, we see that redemption is purposed by the Father, purchased by the Son, and applied by the Spirit. And that those whom are redeemed upon their conversion, upon regeneration, are sealed with the Spirit, with the indwelling Holy Spirit.

[65:17] And it is only by the indwelling Holy Spirit, based on the work of redemption applied to the sinner, that we can have true consolation, comfort, peace, or security.

[65:28] Again, back to John Owen. And he speaks on the condition of men not interested in the promises of God. He says, Their hearts are eaten up and devoured with troubles and anxiety of mind.

[65:42] Their thoughts are perplexed, and they are still striving, but never come to a conquest. Every new trouble, every little alteration in their trials, puts them to new vexation.

[65:55] It is ungrounded resolution that bears them up, and they are easily shaken. So I ask this question today, is this you? Does this describe you today?

[66:08] The only true peace, the only true consolation, comfort, peace, or security, comes from an apprehension of the grace, mercy, and peace that comes in Christ, by receiving Christ, by resting on Christ alone for salvation.

[66:23] Thank you.