The Aim of Our Charge Is Love
First B Jackson
2018-03-04

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Good morning, everybody. How are you? Good. Alright. Made it over the hill.

I see some of you. And I don't I mean that in the literal sense, not the figurative sense.

Y'all

have made it over from the picture tricks area. Welcome and I'm glad you're here. Some of you are here from the Southeast. I can hear it in your accent and tone and my brother is visiting me if you haven't met him yet. So, my accent maybe stronger today than it usually is and if you don't believe me, talk to him after the service is over but if y'all would stand with me, we're going to sing.

Scott, would you come up and help out with this? In my heart, there rings a melody, hymn number.

Oh.

Five zero two. Yeah, about to get to start off with.

Is there a song in your heart this morning? I hope so. Here we go.

I have a song that Jesus gave me. It was sent from heaven rings a melody with heaven's harmony in my heart there rings a melody there rings a melody I love the Christ who died on Calvary for he washed my sins away he put within my heart a melody

Amen. How about since that that's been ringing since Jesus came into my heart. How about that?

How? This is similar.

Cross the page. Hymn number five zero three and we do still have hymnals. I know we're singing off the wall but if you want to, you can read out of the hymnal and that's what we're playing out of. Alright.

He means that in a nice way.

We're just singing off the wall. Yes. What a wonderful change. Alright.

I love this song too.

There we go.

I have lied in my soul for which long I had sought since Jesus came into my heart since Jesus came into heart since Jesus came into my heart floods of joy over my soul like the sea Jesus came into my heart and my sins which were many are all washed away since Jesus came into my since Jesus came into my heart since Jesus came into my heart floats of joy over my soul like the sea billows since Jesus came into my heart. Shall go there and dwell in that city I know since Jesus came into my heart and I'm happy so happy as onward I go since Jesus came into my heart since Jesus came into came into my heart since Jesus came into my heart my heart floods of joy o'er my soul like the sea since Jesus came into my heart Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I think

we time and a half, our population right there singing like that. So, we have Monday nights at First B. That's going on every week. We do Monday nights at First B and it's an alternative service time. Carl is the preacher for that service.

It's kind of a church plant on training wheels but they are up to or we are up to about 50 to 70. Every Monday night, we have meal together, we play music, and then we have a message. Meal, music, and message. Tomorrow night, Carl said the sermon dovetails very nicely. It's from Luke, but it dovetails very nicely with the sermon you're going to hear today here.

So Monday nights at first B, happening at the same time as Awana in this room. There are lot of y'all who are volunteers in Awana pouring scripture into the minds and the hearts of these children, and there are a lot of kids in Awana and a lot of volunteers, and I can't encourage you enough to be a part of that. That's tomorrow at six. Tuesday night at 06:30, we have youth group that is both the middle school and the high school youth group meeting on Tuesday night at 06:30 going to eight. Next week, on Saturday, there's a daddy daughter dance that's happening on March 10.

That's Saturday evening from five to eight. That's actually Mark Upton and one of his daughters right there in the picture. It'll be here at First Baptist right here. You know this is a multipurpose room, don't you? We break down the chairs after Sunday service, and we have everything going on in this room throughout the rest of the week, but the daddy daughter dance will be here Saturday five to eight.

It's $12 and that'll be fun. The baby bottle campaign is still going on for Turning Point and there are, there's a bassinet full of empty baby bottles out there. What they do is collect funds by filling those bottles and take bringing them back. You can bring them here and we'll turn them into Turning Point. Guatemala.

We are sending First Baptist is sending a team. We have 34 people registered to go, and we're going to Guatemala the last week of March, beginning of April. I will be here for Easter Sunday service on April 1, but I'm going to leave as soon as the service is over and fly down and catch up with them. We're doing mission trip to Hope of Life International. We have been doing fundraising quite a bit lately and y'all know that.

We have a Mangelson photograph that's being raffled off at the end of the hall if you want to see that, and there's somebody that'll be selling tickets out there for that, dollars 20 apiece, and then there is a snowmobile parked in front of the church, and if it keeps on snowing like this, this really ought to be a hot ticket, right? But that is that is something that somebody donated for us to be able to raffle off. It didn't cost the church anything, but it could make this team quite a bit of money to make a house for someone down in Guatemala, Hope of Life International. We're also doing a spaghetti dinner March 16, so that's next week, not this week, but I think that's the last of the planned fundraisers for that Guatemala trip. I'm gonna invite Ann Stalker up.

Scott, would you hand her the microphone? You already did. She's got an announcement.

So good morning. My name is Ann Stalker, and ladies, this message is for you because I wanted to invite you to a study of the book of Job. We are gonna start tomorrow morning at 09:30 in Fellowship Hall just right down the way. So listen, Martin Luther, that German monk who sparked the Protestant Reformation five hundred years ago said of Job, most magnificent and sublime than any other book of scripture. The English poet Lord Alfred Tennyson said of it, the greatest poem whether of ancient or modern literature.

So ladies, please come and personally discover the beauty of Job in our six week Bible study. We're gonna meet three times before spring break and three times afterwards. So let's journey together as we work in God's eternal truth and work out our salvation. Young moms are invited to bring their kids as we're gonna provide babysitting. If you are an older grandmother well, no, a grandmother, and you take care of your kids, bring those kids and and come.

So, in this Job study, we will examine some age old questions such as, what can we say to God if he allows bad things to happen to good people? Is it okay to ask why? Will he forgive us if we're angry with him? We will use a study guide called Engaging God's Word published by Community Bible Study. This study helps guide us through to discover the peace of meeting the God in the Bible.

We'll go through verse by verse into the richness of scripture in ways that impact our heart and illumine our minds as we learn how to apply God's eternal truths to our everyday 2018 Teton County lives. Community Bible studies started about forty five years ago, and now there are 700 interdenominational American classes, as well as classes in a 100 countries in 75 different languages, and a lot of them in Romania. CBS offers structure, consistency, excellent live teaching, all within a caring community. And I had the privilege of doing CBS for fifteen years where I used to live before I moved here eleven years ago. Since last fall, we've been pressing on to becoming an official CBS class because we have started as one of 65 community Bible study prayer groups in The United States.

And as we all know, all good Christian movements start with prayer. Someone once asked Billy Graham what the keys of his successful crusades and outreaches were. His answer was that there are three very critical keys. Prayer, prayer, and prayer. So each Monday morning, we will include a time for prayer.

Prayers of praise and confession and thanksgiving as well as prayers such as for Christian revival, to come to Teton County, for our government, for the persecuted church, for our loved ones. And this is the perfect follow-up study for the one that just concluded here, the women's study, forty Days of Prayer. So, my contact information is in the bulletin, or just come tomorrow morning at 09:30. Thank you.

Thank you, Anne. This morning, Dave Kaufman made an announcement. Is Dave here? Dave asked if the guys would come out in force to help make breakfast on Easter morning, so that's still a few weeks out, but he said, as Dave only can say, you know, he kind of made a charge for all the guys to come out and help to prepare breakfast for the community on Easter morning. So I'm gonna lay that out but talk to Dave Kaufman about it.

He's the sourdough pancake expert since Seal Lamb passed. Alright? This is the way that this goes. If y'all would, look for any other announcements. They're gonna be in your bulletin.

The paper bulletins should have everything written down. Did I miss anything? Have I forgotten anything? Monday nights? He really I think I hit Monday nights, but we'll hit it again.

Monday nights. It's usually potluck. Is it potluck this week, Carl? First first Monday of the month? Yes.

Okay. First Monday of the month, it is potluck. So, if you come bring something with you, that'd be great and if you would, stand up and greet one another. There are visitors here. Don't overwhelm em.

It's just filler. But with Jesus thank God

be Now, I belong to Jesus. Hymn number five zero one.

Hope them words are speaking to your heart this morning. I go.

I remember that that there's a slight change in what was on the wall. I remember it being, oh, don't turn him away and so I start to sing that one every time but I try to sing with y'all. So, I sing what's up there on the wall but the it is an earnest appeal from someone who knows Jesus and feels his comfort to those who have not yet trusted him. Amen. Oh, don't turn him away.

Amen. More later.

Now, I belong. There we go. Jesus, my lord, will love me forever From him, no power of evil can ever. He gave his life to ransom my soul. Now, I belong to him.

Now I belong to Jesus Jesus belongs to me not for the years of time alone eternity once I was lost in sins degradation Jesus came down to bring me salvation lifted me up from sorrow and shame now I belong to belong now I belong joy floods my soul for Jesus has saved me freed me from sin that long had enslaved me his precious blood he gave to redeem now I belong to him now I belong to Jesus belongs to not for the but for eternity

Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I'm going to invite the frontline team to come forward and would you pray with me? God, we thank you for the beauty of this morning, for the whiteness of the snow. I drive a white car some of the time and seeing the whiteness of that snow against that white car just makes it look ugly.

And you say in your word, Lord, that though our sins be as crimson, they shall be as white as snow. I pray Lord that you would purify hearts today. That you would purify our hearts, that you would cleanse us, and give us a good conscience, and that lord, our faith would be sincere. God, I I pray that the gospel of Jesus Christ being the only one who has ever lived a perfect life would be imputed, lord, because of people believing the good old gospel message. I pray lord that you would extend that message through our resources and as we take up offering this morning, lord, it is saying that we trust you to give but lord, what we want is for others to trust you and so, would you extend your kingdom?

Would you advance the kingdom of God and the gospel with what we place in these plates whether it's here in Teton County or it's to the ends of the Earth. Would you do lord as you will with these funds? We trust you to multiply them to do your kingdom's work. Amen.

Don't sing a song while y'all are passing around the money and whatnot. This song is a is a kind of an old traditional song. We don't sing it a whole lot in this in this church, but it's got a it's got a neat message. You know, the one thing we have that that people that don't know the word don't know Jesus. They they don't have a lot of hope sometimes or if they do have hope, put it in things of this world and those things usually end up not taking them anywhere.

This song talks a little bit about the hope we have on the other side of glory when the the storms of this world are behind us. Sometimes we stand on one shore of the bank looking across and thinking about the hope we have in glory. Alright. Here comes. You can sing the chorus with me if you know it.

On Jordan's stormy banks I stand and cast a wishful eye to Canaan's fair and happy land where my possessions lie. I am bound for the promised land. I'm bound for the promised promised land. Oh, who will come and go with me? I am bound for the promised land.

No chilling winds, no poisonous breath can reach that healthful shore. Sickness and sorrow, pain and death are felt and feared no more. Bound for the promised land, I am bound for the When shall I reach that happy place and be forever blessed when shall I see my father's face and in his bosom rest I am bound for the promised land. I am bound the promised land. Oh, who will come and go with me.

I am bound for promised land. I am bound for the promised land. I am bound for the promised land.

Alright. We're going to we're going to sing the chorus together, darling. You gotta sing with me because I don't sing well by myself. Yeah, just do the, yeah, do the chorus with me. Come on.

You don't have to stand and sing but I

am bound for the promise land I am bound for the promise land who will come and go with me? I am bound for the promised land. I am bound for the promised I am bound for the promised land.

Thank

you. Thank you. Rosemary is an instigator. If you all don't know that, she has been leaning on Scott who is normally a harmony singer, you know that, and she's been leaning on him pretty good to let him sing and I'm glad she did. It's a great melody.

It's good but well, the other day, she said, I'd like for you to sing something too and I was like, oh, okay. Okay. I said, but my brother's in town and I was using that as an excuse. I was saying, my brother's in town. She said, so it's going be

a duet. Just that quick.

I'm like, doggone it. That's not what I meant by that but anyway, thank you very much. I really appreciate the music. Judy's here getting to enjoy it this morning. Rosemary, thank you very much.

I really appreciate it. It is a good, it's good to be in God's house. It's good to hear his praises sung and we are getting to this. First Timothy one three through 20. So, you know how we do.

We have been going through a chronological study of scripture. We did the life of Jesus in the book of John then we did the life of the early church in the book of Acts and since then, four years ago, more than four years ago, we have been going forward and stepping through scripture in the order that it was written. Now, Timothy was written to Timothy by the apostle Paul after he's freed from his Roman, his first Roman imprisonment. I covered verses three through seven last week. You look at three through 20 and you go, woah, that's 18 verses.

I don't know about this. This is going to be a long one this morning. You look at the back of your program, you see it's written there, but I already covered three through seven, so I'm gonna give them a light touch this morning and go forward from there. It's kind of a second coat of paint over that part, alright? I do want to start with this little analogy.

We are shooting for the center of truth, God's truth. That's what we're shooting for and there are at least four ways we can go wrong, at least four, but I've enumerated four of them up here on these crosshairs. Everybody who shoots like at targets knows that you have a natural tendency to pull one way or another. Most people pull down into the right. That's the norm.

But other people have compensated and so they go further out, you know, and I wanted to say, I'm shooting for the center. Now you can be. It's possible to be too dogmatic. Do you agree? Too legalistic, too dogmatic.

If this is the way we do things, what we do is the right way or you can be too touchy feely, well, I don't really know what it says, but it feels great. Experience based. I had this burning to do X, Y, Z, and therefore it's right. Well, scripture says it's wrong. So these balance one another.

Dogma and experience based balance one another, and you can, it is possible to be too supernaturalistic. Would you agree with me? Yeah. You can be too supernaturalistic where everything, everything, everything is, well, just let go and let God. He'll do it.

Well, that's true but how do you do that in this naturalistic world? Let go and let God. It's like, can you give me a way to do that in real time, in real life? How do I let go? Because I understand what I can see and I know that I've gotta let go but I don't know how.

God can take care of things and he does and naturalistic is also pull yourself up by your bootstraps, boy. You've been told what's right. Do it. Without the help of almighty God, it's really easy to be too naturalistic. Right?

He extends a supernatural help. He is the higher power, and when it's outside of our realm of being able to do anything about it. So I thought of that crosshairs because of this. Last week's main focal point of the message was right in the middle of three through seven. It's five and it is the aim of our charge and so, hence, I thought of the crosshairs.

The aim of our charge, Timothy, from Paul and from me to you, the aim of our charge, church, is love, agape love, godly love that issues out of a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Now, I have grown up in church my whole life. I know how I'm supposed to act. I know it but am I going to walk it out from a sincerity of heart or am I just going to walk it out because I know that's the way you're supposed to do. I want for my faith to be sincere, a direct faith that is reliable and based on the truth of God's word and therefore, that's why I'm shooting for the sinner.

A real faith in the real good and loving and almighty God. I want to walk with a good conscience knowing that I have done what I could do and I am letting God do what only he can do and I'm praying that God would continually purify my heart. As I yield my will to his, I know that he will sanctify and purify me. Christ hit the absolute sinner every time, always. He wept.

He had experience that was deep. He sweat drops of blood. Says that's a pretty deep experience but he never got away from scripture or the prophets and the law that was laid down when he stood up in his very first sermon and read that he came to set the captives free and he said, this has been fulfilled in your hearing. He was right in the center right there. Being fully man and fully God, he was balancing out that naturalistic and supernaturalistic.

He did tell people to repent. He did, but he also said, take my yoke upon you for my burden is light. Alright. So we're aiming for the center. If I miss it, forgive me.

That's what Jesus does, right? But that's what my aim is. I don't want to say anything that he would not have me say and I don't want to lead you astray. Being a teacher and preacher is not a not an enviable task. In that way, it'll come up again, but let not many of you be teachers because you'll incur a harsher judgment.

So here we go. This is the sermon. No, not really. This is just the background of the sermon. I want you to see how much of it there is, first of all, in that small type, but I'm going to go through it.

This is background from Acts 20 and this is when Paul was on his missionary journey and stopped at Miletus. I think it was his third missionary journey. He stops at Miletus which is walking distance. Everywhere was walking distance in those days, but anyway, he stops at Miletus and it's close to Ephesus and he calls for the elders to come over and so here we go. Now, from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and he called the elders of the church, the church at Ephesus, right?

To come to him and when they came to him, he said to them, you yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials. There was a lot of experience there. Can you see that? That happened to me through the plots of the Jews. He always started in the synagogue when he was teaching trying to reason with them from the scriptures of the Old Testament and after they rejected it, some always accepted it, I think, but after they rejected it, he would go on to the Gentiles and he suffered greatly through the plots of the Jews.

He says, you know how I did not shrink from declaring to you, leaders at Ephesus, anything that was profitable and teaching you in public and from house to house. I didn't shy away from it whether it was in front of everybody or just in your house. I was testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and now behold, I am going to Jerusalem. He had just stopped on his way back to Jerusalem to tell them this. He stops at Miletus and he says this, behold, I'm going to Jerusalem constrained by the spirit.

Not knowing what will happen to me there except this, that the Holy Spirit testifies to me that in every city, imprisonment and affliction await me. But I do not account my life as of any value nor as precious to myself. If only I may finish my course in the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of grace. Now, when he was knocked down on his way to Damascus, he was going to persecute Christians, had riots in his hands where he could bring him back to Jerusalem, kill them if they wouldn't come back, right? Heretics.

Yet, he was stopped midway by Jesus and Jesus said, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Jesus equated persecuting the church, those who believe in Jesus and trust in him that persecuting the church was persecuting him and so he said, I don't account my life of any value nor as precious to myself. If only I may finish the course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, Jesus directly told him, you are going to be my apostle to the Gentiles. You're going to be my messenger, the one I'm sending out. So, I want to finish the course of ministry I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel that is the good news, unmerited favor of the grace.

That's unmerited favor of God and now behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. He is confident that when he goes, he's going to be persecuted. He's going to be hurt in a lot of different ways and he does not ever expect to see the Ephesians elders again. He stopped there specifically to bring this message. He lived there for three years.

He's just popping back through, invited him out to the beach just to say this. Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of y'all. For I didn't shrink from declaring to you the whole council of God. Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Y'all are the elders of this church and it's a big responsibility.

Pay careful attention to yourselves, how you live, and to all of the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you the overseers to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock, and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore, be alert. Now he's talking to the elders. Do you understand this?

He's gonna say some folks are gonna come in from the outside and they're wolves. They're not to be trusted or believed, but then he said, from among your own selves, the people who are here with me on this beach talking, from among your own selves, some men will arise speaking twisted things, drawing away disciples after them. Therefore, be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears. He's admonishing using scripture and dogma, right, the right way, good way, but he has an experience. He's feeling the weight of what it is that he's doing.

He's serving a supernatural God, but he's doing it in the context of a church made up of people on Earth. Therefore, be alert remembering that for three years, I didn't cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears and now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, his unmerited favor, which is able to build you up and it's able to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. He's got a clean conscience is what he's saying. Did you hear that?

I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. In all things, I have shown you that by working hard in this way, we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus. How he himself said it's more blessed to give than to receive and when he had said these things, he knelt down and he prayed with them all. Pray, pray, pray like Anne said a minute ago, right?

He prayed with them all, all of them, even though he said some of y'all are going to be speaking twisted things. He prayed with them all and there was much weeping on the part of all and they embraced Paul and they kissed him being sorrowful most of all because of the word that he had spoken that they would not see his face again and they accompanied him to the ship. They put him back on the boat and he went on to Jerusalem and we know from there, all that happened was he ended up in Rome. Now, he's free again from Rome. First Timothy three twenty, we already know that he has written a letter to Timothy.

He's given a seal of approval. I'm the apostle Paul, commandment of God. He made me that apostle, made me the messenger, and I am sending you out Timothy. Now, I told you last week for those of you who are theologians or amateur theologians that this is a keyastic construction, meaning that it goes A, B, C, C, B, A, and the most important part, the crux of the message is usually right in the center and on the edges, okay? So it's a way, it's a Hebrew way of thinking that transmitted the chi, the X right there is saying.

It goes to the main central point and then comes back. I'll let you follow along where we are in the message with these green lines. Okay? The first is a charge to Timothy to oppose false teachers. As I urge you when I was going to Macedonia that you should remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons, he says, certain persons.

I call them false teachers. At this point, Paul is calling them certain persons. It's fairly anonymous right here. As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia that you remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, heterodifferent doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths. Myths are made up things to explain how stuff happened or it's a made up story to control or manipulate how you want someone to act.

Myths, which are complete fabrications, or endless genealogies. Endless genealogies could be scripture and it could be a genealogy from the Old Testament, and then people quibble over them and quibble over them and quibble over them ad infinitum. He's saying that to do either of those myths or endless genealogies is to promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. It's not to be right in an argument.

Do you understand that? It's not to quibble over those details and it's not to just make something up because it feels good. As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesians. Oh, sorry, that's the same thing. Phew, we're already to the second point.

False teachers. He says certain persons. Again, this is the second time he's called them that. Certain persons by swerving from these, what are they swerving from? Pure heart, good conscience, sincere faith.

Certain persons by swerving from these have wandered away into vain discussion. Let me ask you a question. Have you watched or heard any vain discussion in religious circles lately? Yes. There's a lot of vain discussion that goes on.

He says, they've wandered into vain discussion desiring to be teachers of the law without understanding neither what they're saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. They don't get it, yet they're proclaiming it. This was where last week I said weak point, pound pulpit. Okay? There are a lot of weak points being made with a lot of emphasis being put on them, but he's saying that these certain persons don't understand what they're saying nor the things about which they make confident assertions.

That's first Timothy six and seven. We're up to the central part here, and this is the hinge upon which it turns, this chiastic construction, and there are other ways to look at this obviously too. This is our superimposed over what it says. The law has been mishandled by these false teachers. Now in what way have they mishandled it?

We are reconstructing how they mishandled it by Paul's admonition. Does that make sense? We don't know exactly how Ephesus had twisted the law, but he gives the authorized doctrine of how it should be handled in this section and that's the turnaround. So here we go. The law that's mishandled by those certain persons and authorized doctrine.

Now we know that the law is good. Apparently, they were using the law for something that it was not intended for and we hear in other places in scripture that the law reveals our sin. It reveals our need, our lack, and our need of a savior. Now we know that the law of good, if one uses it lawfully and that's a pun in Greek, but it is a little bit of a play on words, even in English it is. We know the law is good if you use it lawfully.

Understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and the sinners, and for the unholy and profane. Now that he gives us three general pairs to start off with and these general pairs, I'm going to argue, these three up against the 10 commandments. If you put em there, those three general pairs cover those four of the 10 commandments. The first four ten commandments are about your relationship with God and to be lawless and disobedient before God is to break those commandments. The ungodly and sinners, the unholy and profane and how do we all start off?

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, we all fall into the category of sinner. So those first general pairs there cover those first four and if you don't believe me about that and you're sitting there and you kind of crossed your arms and you said, I don't know about that, Ray. That sounds like you're just kind of going off. That's not exactly the same thing. Well, it's not exactly the same thing, but it's pretty close and I think I can make the argument because what he follows it up with is this, for those unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, for sexually immoral, for men who practice homosexuality, for enslavers, for liars, for perjurers.

In order, he says, for those who strike their parents. Well, the next commandment is honor your father and mother. First commandment with a promise that your days may be long upon the earth. Those who strike their parents is the next type of sinner he mentions. All of us are sinners, but that's the next type.

For murderers, you shall not murder is next. For the sexually immoral, and he does specifically mention men who practice homosexuality, that's specifically in this place, you shall not commit adultery. Now adultery is any expression of sexuality that is outside of the marriage covenant of a husband and wife. So both of those types of sinners are breaking that, one. Enslavers.

Now you might say about this too. Enslave ers, like a slave trader, is not the same thing as a thief, but it is. An enslaver is one who steals away from someone their very freedom and autonomy and sells it, Profits buy it. It takes something that belongs to someone else and makes money off of it. For those who think that Paul was in favor of slavery, he was not.

He certainly lived in a place where slavery was common, but he did not believe slavery was a good thing. He lists enslavers specifically up against stealing. For liars and perjurers, both of those are that you shall not lie of the 10 commandments. Can you see how these things line up? So if you look at that, I'm going to say, the last one he leaves out covet and if elsewhere in scripture, you see Paul saying, all of these things I kept and he was able to keep the law as Saul pretty well.

He did not do any of those other thing to his knowledge but this one coveting How do you not covet Because it's internal. Murdering, killing someone, and Jesus further expanded that to hating someone. But Paul, Saul, let's say, he hit up against covet, and he could not deal with that, an internal process. Now how do you not covet, Jackson? Right?

Do we live in a place where you look around and go, man, look at that. I'd love to have that. Well Paul adds to this list a general duty clause. Whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, wanting what someone else has is contrary to sound doctrine. For Paul, when he lists that general duty clause, it makes me think of, I used to work for a safety program, safety company.

It was called Bonner Safety Service. We were not the OSHA man, but we tried to protect sawmills and factories from the OSHA man, and so we went in and made recommendations and the OSHA regulations read like this. Any machinery that has a belt or a guard, it must be, I mean a belt or a pulley must be guarded in this way, and then at the end of the paragraph it'd say, and anything else that we deem appropriate for safety. Now that's very general. So if anybody hurt themselves, I could say, well, anything else.

It's a general duty clause. This one is pretty general. Whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine. This reminded me of another list, and I'm gonna read these lists, not that I relish this fact at all, but it's the truth of scripture. That is the center of what we're aiming to hit.

My goal is to say what it says, what it means, and give us the opportunity to attempt to live it out with God's help. So, it made me think of this list, very similar, especially the general duty, the and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine made me think of Galatians five nineteen through 23. Now, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control but the works plural of the flesh are these, sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. So he adds that. Now I'm going to add another list, and there are multiple lists in scripture of the vices, and not all of them are complete lists.

I'm gonna give you the complete list. Alright? We're going through them. Starts off again, sexual immorality. Often that is the first one.

Adultery, homosexual activity, idolatry, thievery, greed, drunkenness, reviling, swindling. That's from first Corinthians. Add Ephesians four, Lying, evil talking, fornication, obscene, silly, vulgar, talk, empty words, disobedience. Add five, wrath, malice, slander, abusive language, quenching the spirit, despising the words of the prophets, being self indulgent, double tongue, conceited, filled with a morbid craving for controversy. Have you watched the news lately?

Bits of anger Things, what does this say? Eagerness to be angry. Overtaken with stupid and senseless controversies, quarrelsome, wicked, evil, covetousness, malice, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, gossips, slanderers, God haters, insolent, which means rude or arrogant. You getting the point? I'm gonna keep going, but are you getting the point?

Foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless, rebellious toward parents, lovers of themselves, this is Adam second Timothy, lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderous, profligates, brutes, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, and lovers of pleasure, and Romans hypocrisy. Actually, there are more there but I can't see them. Do you get the point? Does are there maybe just let me face this way for a little while. Is there anybody in here who feels like you made it through that list, through that filter, and you feel, I am completely justified before God.

Outside of the blood of Jesus, I can tell you that you are not Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control is the gift of God. It is the fruit of having received cleansing from Jesus and his sanctifying presence of his Holy Spirit. This is all of the different ways that we might go wrong and not all of us are drawn into every single one of these sins but we are all drawn into sin. So, the authorized doctrine, this is where it turns right here. Whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine that is in accordance with the gospel.

Now, the gospel is that Christ came and he did live a perfect life. He had no sin debt and he gave his life voluntarily as a ransom for whoever would believe Place their faith in him. What is it in accordance with the gospel of glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted and Paul carried that pure message of the gospel to everywhere he went. In accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I've been entrusted. Now, when he says that, it immediately takes him to a place of testimony where he's going to tell his story and here it is.

Now, he told a story recently for those of y'all who hear every Sunday in Philippians where he talked about being a Hebrew of Hebrews born right? The testimony of a faithful teacher is this, now I thank him who has given me strength. Remember in Philippians four, where he says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. He says it again, I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus, the Lord our lord because he judged me as faithful where he wasn't, right? Where he wasn't Christ Jesus imputed his righteousness to him, changed him, and made him his faithful servant He made me faithful He judged me faithful appointing me to his service though formally I was a blasphemer.

Formerly, I was. In the past, that's where I used to be. Formerly, I was a blasphemer. Now, he was Saul and he was brought up as a good religious Jew, pharisaically trained, and he recognizes now in Philippians, he says all that is rubbish, and here he says that all that I was proclaiming was blasphemy. I was a blasphemer.

I was a persecutor. He was radically persecuting the church and he was insolent. He was rude and arrogant about it. I thank him who has given me the strength, Christ Jesus our lord, because he judged me faithful, appointed me to his service, though formerly, in the past, I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and an insolent opponent. Now, Paul had these things from a legalistic background.

He was in this ditch right here, the legalistic ditch. Now, there's another ditch and it's the license ditch where you feel like I can pursue whatever I want to. Wine, women, and song, right? Whatever I want to. I can do whatever I want to, and you can go wrong in this ditch too.

Though formerly I was a blasphemed, persecutor, and insular opponent, but I received mercy. Paul says, because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief. Now I want you to think about this. Do you know of anybody, whether they're celebrities or whether they're local, whether they're family or whether they're distant, Do you know anybody who blasphemes regularly against God? Do you know anybody who persecutes his church?

Do you know anybody who does so in such a rude and arrogant manner? Yes. We all know people like that. Whether they're in that ditch or in this ditch. Paul says that he received mercy because he had acted ignorantly in unbelief.

You know what? Paul's carrying a message that carries content. It's knowledge. You can carry content of the gospel and you can shed light on that ignorance. Some people will accept it.

Some people reject it. Some people await and hear more later but I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief and the grace of our Lord God's unmerited favor. What did Paul deserve when he was on his way to Damascus? What was it that he deserved from Jesus When he was on his way to Damascus to persecute Christian bring him back to Jerusalem, kill him if they wouldn't come. What did he deserve?

I want you to tell me seriously, yell it out. Death, hell, and the grave. Right But the grace, the unmerited favor of our lord overflowed for me with the faith and the love that are in Christ Jesus and it made sense to him and he saw everything he had been living out in a completely different light. Flip the script completely and he is now overflowing himself with the love of God. This saying is trustworthy and it's deserving of full acceptance.

Now, when I saw that, this saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. He's kind of saying, whether you believe it or not, right? Whether you believe this or not, this is trustworthy. It's deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and that reminds me of the message of the cross. Now, I've already mentioned the gospel in general.

I've already mentioned the gospel in specific multiple times in this message. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. What is the death of a first century Jew have to do with me? That is crazy. So, they say that it's foolishness but first Corinthians one eighteen and nineteen says, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to those who believe, to those who are being saved, it's the very power of God.

It's the same gospel that he was preaching in Corinth. It's the same gospel he's promoting to Ephesus through Timothy. This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He makes it very clear that he is the only way. Paul says, but I receive mercy for this reason, that in me, in me, Paul, the foremost sinner.

He never got over the fact that he was a blasphemer and a persecutor of the church He felt like he was the chief of sinners and he saw that in a healthy and good way because as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him. If Paul says, I'm the foremost of sinners. If he can save me, he could save anybody and he carried that message with joy in his heart. Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. God had purpose even in his profligacy.

To the king of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, the honor, and glory forever and ever. Do you all know that hymn? This is kind of, think of

it as a Presbyterian hymn as immortal, invisible, God only wise, in light, inaccessible, hid from our eyes, most gracious, most glorious, the ancient of days.

Yeah, like that.

We'll sing it next week maybe. To the king of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God. That's a doxology. He just can't help it. When he tells his story, it's linked to the glory of God.

To the king of the ages, immortal and visible, the only God be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen and now we are here at the charge to Timothy that's repeated. At the beginning, he said, I'm setting a seal on you, Timothy. You're the guy that knows sound doctrine, has a pure heart, has a good conscience, has a sincere faith, and I'm trusting you to carry this message and he's going to do it again. He also said certain persons a couple of times up there.

Now, at the end, he's going to repeat the charge to Timothy. There's no doubt about it. Timothy has the apostolic seal. He is the apostle's emissary, carries some authority with that. So he's going to repeat the charge and here it is.

This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies that were previously made about you and apparently, I don't we don't see those. I don't see those anywhere else in scripture. I don't know exactly what they are but they knew each other and they didn't have to write down everything they did. My child, in accordance with the prophecies that were previously made about you, that by them, you may fight the good fight. Wage the good warfare.

Holding faith and a good conscience. Remember this from that first part that he's repeating this message again. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith and he says right here, you, Timothy, by holding fast to that faith and having a good conscience, doing what you believe. And then he goes on to say, by rejecting this, some have made a shipwreck of their faith. If you reject the truth of the gospel, if you add to the gospel, and that's what was happening here, we'll see later on in the text what kind of heresies were popping up, but again, we're only hearing one side of a conversation, right?

We're hearing Paul's side, but we don't know exactly what was going on in Ephesus. We can only tell because we're hearing one side of a conversation. He's saying specifically by rejecting this, good old gospel message, pure heart, good conscience, and sincere faith. By rejecting this, some have made a shipwreck of their faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion.

Among whom, and now he tells us who some of the certain persons were, are Hymenaeus and Alexander whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. Now Paul was formerly a blasphemer and he had pleaded with him and he said so with many tears admonishing day and night. He knew when he left whether it was supernatural that the Holy Spirit had said, hey, some folks are going to rise up against this good old gospel message, or whether he could see it in their eyes naturally, and he knew he had opponents there, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander whom they all knew. The folks in Ephesus knew him. Whom I've handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

Paul trusted that God would do God's work. He wanted to be faithful to the message, and Hymenaeus and Alexander were not faithful to the message. Holiness matters to God. What we teach, what we preach has got to be gospel centered. It has to be.

If it's not, then it's not of any value. It's vain discussion. So as weird as this sounds, that's the last verse that I'm going to. I like to end on a happy note, but he turned them over to Satan. That's where it ends.

That's the thought right there. Now, chapter two picks back up and says, now pray. Now, think about these things and I I would have you go ahead of me and be reading it and start to process it before I start to try to explain it. Holiness matters to God. Fidelity to the text or fidelity to the gospel especially is very very important and when they wander away, I want you to see this.

Paul is still hoping that they'd learn not to blaspheme even if it had to be Satan, the one that was doing the lesson. You remember when Satan I mean, when Jesus spoke to Peter and he said, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat. The devil is God's devil. He is not as powerful as God but if we willingly go against what we know to be true and right, God have mercy on us. So I'll go back one more thing about the safety job.

So my safety training job. If you have any infraction as an employer, OSHA can charge you up to a certain amount. It's by statute. Code of Federal Regulation says that they can do that. I used to write people write the company managers, you know, and say this is what I noted in the mill today.

This cover was off, that electric electrical thing was off. I saw two guys riding on one forklift. Now if there's one seat on it, there needs to be one behind on it, not two behind, so if there's two behinds on this, somebody's breaking the rules, you know. Two behinds riding on a forklift, nobody had on ear protection, nobody had on glasses, you know, safety glasses, Both of them were smoking in a sawmill, sawdust everywhere, crazy, you know. And so I'm writing it up.

For each one of those infractions, OSHA says they can charge up to $7,000 So it's 7,000 for the ear on both of them, 7,000 for the glasses on both of them, 7,000 for the two behinds on the tractor, you know, and so I sent my report in, the boss said this is unacceptable, got on to the guys, tried to straighten them out, but the reason he got so upset about it is because they had already been cited for all of those infractions in the past, the recent past. And so the the Code of Federal Regulations puts this in, and it's the case in a lot of different laws. If it can be proved that it was a willful violation, you knew that it was wrong and you did it anyway, it's 10 times as bad. So 70,000 for each one of those infractions. Paul says, I did what I did.

I was acting ignorantly in unbelief. I had not yet been saved and did not know any better. But God gave me grace and he gave me mercy and now he's using me. I pray that that's where we are. Willful for God instead of willfully against him and he gives us clear lists.

You saw them while my back was turned. You saw the list and if you didn't see yourself in that list somewhere, you weren't looking. I said in the first service, I said, if you're sitting here and you're going, oh, I hope so and so's listening, I'm talking to you, okay? Let me make that clear. I'm not talking to them, I'm talking to you and them, all right?

So I wanna get back to this because this is gonna be the aim of my charge, the aim of our charge, church, is godly love that issues from a pure heart, good conscience, and sincere faith. I think that's the last slide. That's the end of this message, but please be praying with me about first Timothy because it looks very different than our world, and what we're here to do is carry that message that is trustworthy and deserving of our every cell and every part of our being, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners in Jesus name. Alright. Miss Rosemary, would you come up and play something?

Just as I am. Perfect. That's good. He wants you just as you are but he doesn't want to leave you just as you are. By saving you and sanctifying you, he hopes to transform you.

I pray that God would renew and transform you, transform you by the renewing of your mind. Would you stand with us and sing this? Thank you, Scott. Amen. So, for the southerners here, I'm giving an invitation right now, okay?

At the end of church, it's the way it's always been done where I'm from is we always sing a song and everybody comes forward if they want to accept Christ, join the church, and that sort of thing. So the invitation is wide open. Culturally speaking, it does not happen here, so I just want to explain that to my southern friends, alright? But the invitation is this, I'm here all the time and I'm very available to talk with you about whatever it is that God is dealing with you on, personal as it is. Now, would you put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the devil's schemes?

In Jesus name, lord, would you purify our hearts? Would you allow us to walk in victory, lord, so that we can walk and lay down our heads at night with a good conscience and lord, may that all grow out of a sincere faith in the God who changes and transforms lives. In Jesus name, lord. That's my prayer. Amen.