Teach The Truth

Good morning, everybody. Glad you're here this morning. Man, I'm glad that we don't have to deal with life and our own strength. Like that last line said, man, we just be failing. It was just our own strength, but I'm thankful that we have a God that's good. Are you thankful for a good God? I mean, really, do you think about that sometimes? I know sometimes life is hard, we think about that, right? We always think about that and how hard it is, how painful it is, how frustrating it is, however, overwhelming it is, but do you really think about God? Do you think about God when life gets hard? Do you realize that there is a savior?

Realize that there's a victor, realize that there's one that's sufficient for you that will see you through and walk you through and bless you. I mean, sometimes I think it's fashionable to just moan, fashionable, to lament, fashionable, to complain, fashionable, right to feel sorry for ourselves. It's really, it's very fashionable. It probably always has been for a long time, that just go, you know, I'm going through a hard time, so then I, I just ought to act like there's no hope because it's hard, right? We even encourage each other to do that. Oh, you're going through such a hard time. So, you know, you should probably feel bad. I understand it. You understand it. Well, listen, man, I feel bad sometimes.

I do. I feel bad a lot of times. I like to sometimes feel bad, but you can't stay there. You just can't. We have a savior. And we ought to live like we have a savior. There's truths that we need to live with in our lives that transform how we respond to problems and trials and heartaches and hurts, you know, even death, right? Even death. If you know a Christ as your Lord and Savior, man, you can't die. That's what it says. You should go read John chapter 11. Can't die. Right? Jesus is the resurrection and the life he who believes in me shall live even if he dies and he who believes in me shall never die.

Do you believe that? dancers, yes, we believe that because of the resurrection. So, you know, we need to be a people that continually correct the response that we have to this world. And part of that is, is really understanding what the word of God says. And so this morning we're going to start a walk through, first Timothy, you can turn over there, first Timothy chapter 1, 1 through 11, the kind of the overall message if you will, a first Timothy is just really life in the church. Life in the church, how we relate to one another in the church, and we're gonna speak this morning, though, about teaching the truth, and how important that is according to the Word of God, and how important that is in our lives, and how we respond to the troubles

On the trials that we have in our lives. So first Timothy chapter one, beginning in verse one, It says, Paul in a possible of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope. To Timothy, my true son in the faith, Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remained in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach false doctrine, or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, these promote empty speculations rather than God's plan which operates by faith. Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith.

Some have departed from these and turned aside the fruitless discussion. They want to be teachers of the law, although they don't understand what they're saying or what they're insisting on. But we know that the law is good, provided one uses it legitimately. We know that the law is not meant for a righteous person, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and irreverent, for those who kill their fathers and mothers, for murders, for the sexually immoral, and males who have sex with males, for slave traders, liars, perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which was entrusted to me.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we're grateful to be here today. It's so good to be able to come together and to worship. And I don't mean just singing songs, Lord. I mean worship, worship with pure heart, giving you the glory that you deserve in the way we respond to you, in the way we respond to circumstances, the way we respond to one another. you're worthy of our responses. And that response is hope and love, faith that responses forgiveness and just encouragement. That response is perseverance. That response, Lord God is knowing that you're sufficient for us. And we want to respond the right way. We want to sing because we have hope. We want to sing because we have a savior.

We want to pray because you are God who hears and you're God who answers. We want to have a response to you that brings you glory. So Lord, as we look into your Word today, reveal yourself to us. We want to know you more. We need to know you more. Teach us truth from your Word, Lord, that we might adjust to it. And we pray that you would draw the loss to salvation and strengthen and encourage those who believe. And Lord, I love you. And I pray in Jesus' name, amen. So first Timothy, it's a pretty simple book but it's an important book. I mean, one of the things that is necessary in our individual lives and one of the things that's necessary in our church life is for us to continually be drawing back to the truth, the truth of what God has for us as a church or as individuals.

I mean, It's easy to kind of get off sometimes. Get off in your own direction. Get off doing your own thing. Get off thinking your own way. Sometimes you get convinced that your thinking is correct when you get to God's word and God's word says, that's not. It's not what is needed. It's not what is one. It's not what God wants. It's not God's ways. and coming back to God's word and being corrected as a blessing, right? Well, as a church, first Timothy is really about how we should conduct ourselves in the church, in the body of Christ. And it says so, 1 Timothy chapter 3, verses 14 and 15, just to kind of set the stage for our study.

It says, I write these things to you, hoping to come to you soon. But if I should be delayed, I've written so that you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar. and foundation of the truth. And so Paul, though he writes some before chapter three, comes to chapter three and says look the whole purpose of this letter is so that you will help this church at Ephesus know how to conduct themselves within the body of Christ. And that's significant to us. That's important to us because Really today, when it comes down to the church, we struggle at some pretty deep levels to even understand the function of the church, to even understand the power of the church, to understand what God has designed for the church to be, because we

Live in such an individualistic world today, society today, that for the most part, People have become consumers of the church. Not walking in the ways that God has called us to. We think, well, there's all kinds of different churches. We have these needs. We have these desires. We have these expectations. And so the church ought to be about what we need and what we expect. And if the church isn't that, then we'll find a different church. It's not what the Bible teaches, as a matter of fact, at all. There is no version of that in the Bible at all. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 that God adds to his body as he sees fit.

And he gives people gifts in the body. I have a different spiritual gift than you have and you have different spiritual gifts than they have and you have all these spiritual gifts that God puts in the body so that they can work together so that they can glorify the Lord God Almighty and Jesus Christ together with other believers. That's how that works. And so the church is actually built by Christ. It's equipped by Christ. It's enabled by Christ and it's enabled by Christ for his glory. So therefore when God's working, it's not about the church is not about what you want or what I want specifically, it is about what God desires to do in us and through us that brings worship to him.

So then we have to know how we should conduct our lives within the church. It's got to start, first of all, by being committed to the church. If you are a believer, you should be a part of a church because God says so, not because I say so, not because the church says so, but because God says so. You should be committed to a church, involved in a church because God says so, not because I think so. Then it's a gift to you and a gift to the church. So how do we then do that? We're going to see some of those things here in 1 Timothy and it begins with just kind of a simple greeting from the apostle Paul to this young man Timothy.

The Paul says in verse 1, in a apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope. Even in this, the apostle Paul is revealing that God has done a work in his life that wasn't of his choosing and was a command by God. So Paul says, I'm an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that's a really important thing for us to understand that an apostle would have been I believe these apostles, Paul and the other 11 apostles, other than Judas, who was a betrayer of Christ, these men were chosen by God for a very specific role, and as we'll read in just a few minutes out of Ephesians chapter three or chapter two, about the apostles are part of building the foundation of the church.

And so Paul says, meant I was chosen by God to be an apostle. I was chosen by God to be sent out to establish the church by the equipping that God has given me. That's what he's saying. And it's really important for us to read this because Timothy was a young man who Paul said is a true son of mine in the faith. He's not writing to some stranger. He's not really trying to have to convince Timothy about who he is, but as he writes this letter, he wants to remind Timothy and he wants to remind us that he has an authority from God to speak this way that then Timothy should pay attention to.

The church there in Ephesus should pay attention to. And the church here today should pay attention to because it's by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope. You know, one of the things that I love about serving the Lord is that when I'm serving the Lord, I don't have 10

Different options. You know, when God's leading me and someone disagrees with the way God's leading me, I'm like, well, sorry, I have a Lord, I have a Savior, and you're not it. And I'm not it. But when the Lord is leading me, I don't have options. I have one way. And that's the walk his way. And if people don't like it, well, I can't do anything about that, right? Well, the same is true with you. You don't have options when you're following the Lord Jesus Christ. You become what God creates you to be by command of the Lord God Almighty and by the Son Jesus Christ. That's where you walk is His ways. And Paul's telling Timothy, man, God's commanded me to do this.

You need to pay attention to what God's doing. And then he greets Timothy, you know, to Timothy, my true Son in the faith. Now that's a sweet little statement about Timothy. He's not just saying, hey, You know, you've become my son in the faith because I've loved you and I've walked with you some. He's saying, you're

My true son in the faith because you're walking the way I walk. You live the way I live. You think the way I think. You do what I do. You've become a follower, not just of Paul, but you've become a follower of Christ Jesus. And therefore, you've let me lead you and become dear to me in who you are. So he's really encouraging Timothy and then he just basically says, grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. And I love that too because Paul's basically saying what I want for you is the best. Grace, mercy and peace. He doesn't say what I want for you is an easy life. He doesn't say what I want for you is a worldly life.

He doesn't say what I want for you is life without cost. He doesn't say any of that. What I want for you is the very best it got has for you is grace and mercy and peace, right? Great, great intro, great greeting, if you will. But then I find the rest of this passage really interesting because if the goal is to teach us how to conduct ourselves within the household of God, within the church, which is the pillar of truth, wouldn't you think that the first thing he would address is something like, you need to love one another?

That'd be pretty good, wouldn't it? Because Jesus actually said, if they will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another, that'd be pretty good to say, let me talk to you about how to conduct ourselves within the house of God and let's be loving. He could say, let's be faithful. He could say, let's be forgiving. He could say, let's be gracious. He could say, let's persevere. He could say a lot of things to introduce this conduct within the body of Christ. but the first thing that God addresses, not the Apostle Paul, that the Holy Spirit's leading him to address, is false doctrine.

Verse three, as I urged you, when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach false doctrine. Isn't that interesting to you? It's interesting to me today because there's a lot of Christians that even will say out loud, I don't want you to teach me doctrine.

I don't want you to teach me truth. I want you to teach me about the Lord. I want you to teach me how to live my life or how to have peace. And first of all, there is no teaching for those things apart from doctrine. None. Everything that we teach, that we need to teach from the Word of God, is doctrine, truth from God's Word. And we need that in our lives. But the crazy thing is, is that

We kind of miss the importance of doctrine. Or we wouldn't even be saying things like that. The apostle Paul had been to Ephesus. He'd share the gospel in Ephesus. You can see this better in Acts chapter 19. I don't encourage you not to turn there right now, but you can turn there later on. And you can read about how as he shared the gospel in Ephesus, how the gospel had such an impact on the city that the men that were making idols, goldsmiths, silversmiths, guys that were craftsmen, they began to lose business. because people were turning from idol worship to turning to worshiping Jesus Christ. And so these craftsmen that made idols began this great uproar, they called the city together, they looked to bring Paul before the city, and if they had brought him, he might have been Stone to death, potentially, it was a very dangerous situation.

By the fact, he wanted to go and the other believers said, don't go, stay away. He actually ended up leaving Ephesus because of this great uproar. And so it says in chapter 20 of Acts, I think it's verse 1, he says that he went on to Macedonia. Now, I don't know for sure, but it's real possible that when Paul was having to leave Ephesus because it was too dangerous for him to be there, that he said to Timothy, rather than Going with me, stay here. Stay here because this church needs your presence, your teaching to help them be all that they need to be in the face of this broken city in the face of this very worldly idol worshiping city.

And in the face of a church that's obviously being infiltrated by false doctrine, false teachers, right? Now, that's really important for us to see because Man, when false doctrine comes into a church, it is not innocuous, it's not insignificant, it's not inconsequential, it's actually devastating. I want you to think about that for a minute. Why would Paul, why would the Holy Spirit first thing address Timothy, stay there and teach certain men not to teach false doctrine? Why would he say that? Well, the reason is is because false doctrine impacts negatively every aspect of the church, every aspect. I mean, this is such an important thing for us to see because we live in such a

Pluralistic world today that people are trying to convince us that we should be able to believe anything we want to believe, any way we want to believe it, any time we want to believe it, we can pick our own truth, you have your truth, I have my truth, blah, blah, blah, and it's not going to impact anybody in any way. Well, that's not what God sees. as truth. God knows that if you teach false doctrine within His church, the first it's going to impact every single individual believer.

If I begin to teach false doctrine, that I'm going to be a stumbling block to every single person that sits in this church. And here's what I have to say. It's gonna impact how you live your life for Christ. It's gonna view how you see God in your life. It's gonna twist how you see God in your life. It's gonna twist how you respond to God in your life. It's gonna twist how you love God in your life. It's gonna twist how you go out and live your life for Christ. There's no way that false doctrine can't just actually If you will, ruin every individual believer.

For instance, the false doctrine that's out there today that says everybody's going to go to heaven. That's a huge false doctrine today. And many churches preach it. Many churches preach it. Because it's too hard to preach that there's judgment from God. It's too hard to preach that there's hell that's destined for those who reject Jesus too hard. It's too costly. People don't like it. They get offended. They don't like the person's preaching. It's too hard, right?

But if I preach that everybody's gonna go to heaven, first of all, I'm lying to you. And those that are here that don't know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior don't need to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. And they'll never need to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. And they're gonna go to hell. That's a big lie. But if I preach it to the church, why would you ever go tell somebody about Jesus? Why would you ever do what God says? Why would you ever do that? It's a false doctrine that impacts every single person. Well guess what, it doesn't just impact you and impact your family, right? If you working inside your family have a false doctrine taught to you that you buy into, you then respond differently to your family.

Then your family responds differently to their friends and family. It impacts a huge, huge part, right, of what we do. Well, false doctrine also impacts ministry, churches for ministry. A church exists for ministry. A church is here to impact the world. The Bible teaches that Christ is the head of the church, and we are his body. That means he's working through us to carry out his will in this world. And what did Jesus do while he was on this earth? He went around preaching the gospel, preaching the gospel, healing the sick, touching lives, making a difference, right? It's the church exists for ministry. And so let's go back to that same false doctrine that everybody's going to go to heaven.

So is that going to impact our ministries? Oh, you better believe it. You know, if we do ministry like Oasis or our food pantry, well, it's great. And this is a lot of way a lot of churches do it too. We can hand out food and we can help people in need. We should help people in need. We should hand out food, right? Jesus said that men, one of the signs of being a follower of Christ is that, you know, you went and saw the sick, you went and saw those in jail, you gave a cup of cold water, you fed the hungry, you closed the naked, right? We should do those things. But if the false doctrine is, everybody's gonna go to heaven,

Then all you do is give out food and you don't talk to anybody about the greatest need, which is salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. So you feed their bellies and they die and go to hell. Do you see how false doctrine works? It impacts the way we do ministry.

Then I had a guy tell me, you know, pastor, you do a really good job preaching the gospel. But you do a lot of things really poorly. And one of the things they told me I do really poorly is I call us to specific ministries, and I shouldn't do that. That should be up to whoever they are to decide what ministries we should do, right? And I didn't say much because there wasn't a lot of wisdom, and there certainly wasn't any grace kind of in what this person was saying to me. So you can't say too much.

But here's what the Bible says, and you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the utmost parts of the world. Is that a specific call by God on how we do ministry? Is that pretty specific? That when you get saved, the Holy Spirit comes on you, you're going to be my witnesses and everywhere you go. Listen, false doctrines. impact the ministry of the church and ultimately false doctrines impact our city because false doctrines keep us from going into our city with the good news of Jesus Christ, under the calling of God, sharing that with lost people that they might come to know Christ.

False doctrines are a huge issue in our world today. And it's not really surprising to me when we look at this, that the first thing that Paul, the Holy Spirit wants to address, that the church in Ephesus through Timothy, is don't let people teach false doctrines. Don't let them. They're so destructive. Man, it's not like we can walk around here thinking, you know, I don't want to do the hard stuff. I don't want to take a stance. I don't want to stand opposed to some other teaching. I don't want to stand opposed to some other person. I don't want to have to do these things because I don't want to be offensive. I don't want to be a jerk.

I don't want to be hurtful. I don't want to be dogmatic. All those things are negative things today. Anybody with me? Just be dogmatic about something and all of a sudden you are just crushing people and hurting people and destroying people because they don't want people to take stances anymore. Well guess what?

The Bible calls us to take a stance on the truth of God's word. And so Paul says, you know, remain in Ephesus so you can instruct certain people not to teach false doctrine. Now, false doctrine is simply this. It is to teach anything different. That's what the word false means. It means different. Anything different. Anything different than what Christ has taught us to teach. because here's how this works with the apostles, right? They were taught by Christ, and if you want to read about the apostle Paul and how he was taught and how God worked, go to the book of Galatians until you can read about it and how he wasn't trained by anybody else and he went off by himself

And Christ taught him and how he equipped him to be an apostle. And those apostles then taught what Christ taught them and they taught this stuff so the church would be stable and secure for the years to come. Over any Ephesians 2, 19 through 22 that I mentioned earlier, let me read this. It says, so then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household.

Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself as a cornerstone. In him, the whole building being put together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him, you are also being built together for God's dwelling in the Spirit. So the center focus of this passage is the church. The center focus of the church is Christ Jesus. He's the cornerstone. He's the one that through him, all things are being built up in the church. We are being built together as a church. I mean, it's this beautiful picture of what God wants. But in this it also says, not only is Christ the cornerstone, which would be a very large square stone that they would go this way from or this way from and they'd square up the building and everything would be from him.

But he says, but it's being built up and I love this on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. The apostles are these 12 men, the 11 original without Judas and Paul. These 12 men that have been personally taught by the resurrected Savior to go out and establish the church, they've been taught by him, they're teaching what he has taught them and they're establishing the foundation of the church so that for the next 2,000 plus years we can stand here today and say this is what God has taught us. And the way this looks from that point on is they established a foundation, and they taught truth, and then they taught that to the next generation, the Timothy's, if you will.

And then Timothy taught somebody else, and they taught somebody else until somebody taught me, and I've taught you, and others of you have taught others from what we have taught you. And that's the way the church is established by the truth. So anywhere along the line, if they teach false doctrine, you begin to bring a destruction to the church. It's not strong, it's not what God designed her to be. It's not, it's filled with compromise, it's filled with mistakes, it's filled with opinions. And so he tells Timothy, You don't get to let these false doctrines go in the church. You've got to teach these guys not to teach them. And so then he says, now I might say false doctrine is anything different.

There's all kinds of those kind of things going on. Any given day, you might get a knock on the door by somebody that says, hey, we're from such and such a group. And we want you to join our group. We believe in Jesus. but they don't. And what they actually teach you is that you can become your own God and you can be married to your wife or whoever and then you can have God babies and then you'll have your own world like God and his wife have now. There's a lot of, they believe that stuff. They don't tell you that when they knock on your door, but they believe that stuff. Others will knock on your door and tell you, hey, we also are a Christian group, which they didn't say that.

They didn't use to say that. Neither one of these places used to say that, but they do now. But what they believe is that there's no hell. They believe that if you are a select one, well, they used to, now they're too full. They used to say if you're a select one, you'd be part of the 144,000. But now they've realized they've said that too long, and there's too many to be 144,000. So I don't say that anymore. And just crazy stuff. If you don't think there's not false doctrine around this infiltrating the church at different levels, there is. So then you go on, and so he says, don't teach false doctrine. And he says, and don't pay attention to myths and endless genealogies.

Let me just say this. When we talk about true doctrine, true doctrine comes from for us this, right? You know that? This Bible. And it's always interesting to me because sometimes people say to me, well, how do you know the Bible is true? Well, there's a lot of different reasons that we know the Bible is true. Number one, they're always continually excavating in the in Israel and various places where the Bible took place and they're finding more and more proofs of the Bible's true. It's a physical way sometimes. But quite honestly, the best way to know the Bible's true is to read it. Just read it. It is amazing to me what is in the Bible.

And if you've never read it cover to cover, get started. Find out. Instead of walking around wondering if you know the Bible's true or not, you should just read it. The wisdom that's in it, the grace that's in it, the way of salvation that's in it, it's contrary to any other thing that you could ever read. It's so miraculous, it's so perfect, it's so true. It resonates so deeply in who we are and how we relate to one another. It's just so powerful. It's unlike anything else you're going to read. But the Bible also says about itself in 2 Timothy 3, 16, and 17. It says, all scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training and righteousness

So that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. And that awesome. The Bible is not a work of man. It's inspired by God. And it's powerful. it can correct us, it can rebuke us, times when we need it, it certainly can train us in righteousness so that we're equipped. So then we come to what he says, don't teach false doctrine and don't pay attention to myths or endless genealogies. Myths basically refer to fables, right? Fables are things that are made up by men Things that maybe sound good to men, but there's no substance to them. There's plenty of fables around. I mean, I might get in trouble for saying these things, but reincarnation.

Come on. Prove that one. You go, well, prove Christianity. Okay. I can prove there's life after death. I can prove there's life for those who are in Christ. I prove it through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus died and rose again and quite honestly, there's too many witnesses. For us to even say you can't prove that, no, it's provable. It happened. So my faith is built on truth, not on conjecture, not on a myth. I love the theory of reincarnation, the myth of reincarnation. If you live a really good life, you'll come back as something better. To Hindus, that could be a cow.

I don't find cows to be better. Do you ever think about cows? I mean, I'm serious. I mean, for years I've driven past, heard a cattle and went, why would they decide to move from there to there? Have you ever asked that question of a cow? What made you move? Okay, it's time to feed them. I get that. They have a time where their rancher is going to feed them. They get it. They get up and go get some meat. My dog. Not the brightest dog in the world.

Not even close. But even my dog knows that at seven o'clock in the morning Beth is gonna feed him, and at four o'clock in the afternoon Beth is gonna feed him. From about 2.30 in the afternoon, my dog with his freaky eyes go like this, they don't really match, sits in front of Beth and goes, are you gonna feed me it?

That's not impressive. Why would I wanna come back as a cow? Maybe a higher level than my dog, I don't know. Point is, Are you kidding me? If you're good, which we're not, if you live a really, really, really good life, you come back like a cow, which we don't. So what does that say? I'm gonna come back to that as a rock.

I mean, it's a myth, but people buy into it because people are more concerned about what they can do than they are about trusting Jesus Christ. See, the Bible is true because it tells us we cannot achieve righteousness on our own. We need a Savior. That's the great thing about the Bible. So, we tell them, don't focus on mis, don't focus on genealogy. Genealogy is talking about going back to who you were, who your ancestor was, and claiming to be something because of your genealogy. So, it's talking about focusing on self and focusing on pride and he tells them don't let them teach those things in the church. They promote empty speculations rather than God's plan which operates by faith.

He tells them, man, people are speculating about truth. When false doctrines come into the truth, it's just guessing about what's going to happen. And it's not focusing on God's plan, which operates by faith. I mean, it's impossible to please God without faith, but our faith is not simply empty faith. It's not guessing about reincarnation. It's about faith and a savior who is historically true. He's historically lived. He was historically different, completely radically different than anybody else. Man, he knew the future and told him what was going to happen. He raised the dead. He healed the sick. He made the blind to see. He made the lame to walk. He made the death to hear. He taught things that no one had ever heard before because he was God in the flesh and then he willingly died on the cross as the savior from our sins because he loves us and on the third day rose again.

That faith in Him is true and powerful and secure and everything else is speculation. It takes away from the plan of God to save sinful men and women like you and me. You think it's important to teach truth and to shut down false doctrine. It certainly is. It's a gift from God. So then he says verse 5 now, the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. The false teacher's goal was about self, was about, and we'll see that here in a minute. But the goal of truth is love. Now again, what does that mean? I mean, for most of us love is some sort of fuzzy emotion.

When really love is really a commitment. It is an enduring, overcoming commitment to choose to walk with and care for and forgive and encourage and bless those that we claim to love. Love is powerful. Love is seen by God, in God. So what's he talking about here, though? What does it mean that the goal of our instruction is love? Well, the goal from God all along has been for us to love him. Even the Garden of Eden. In the Garden of Eden, he said, you can eat off any tree you want to. Man, it's going to produce abundantly. Life's going to be good. I'm going to walk in your presence, but there's one tree you can't eat off of that tree.

The knowledge of good and evil. If you do, you'll surely die. People say, why did God even do that? Man, why would He do that? Why would He put that there as a way of temptation for us? Simple answer is because He wanted them to love Him more, to love Him more than they love Himself, to love Him more than they love that temptation, to love Him more. And all throughout the Bible, from Deuteronomy over here to Mark 12, 29 to 31, the Bible says this. The most important commandment is to listen to Israel. The Lord our God is one Lord. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your minds, with all your strength.

The second is love your neighbor as yourself. There's no other greater command than these. In other words, what he's saying is the goal of our true teaching is to teach people to love the Lord God with everything that they have. and secondary and right next to us to love each other like we love ourselves.

Now if you want to see true doctrine, true doctrine, emphasizes the goodness and the glory and the grace and the mercy and the salvation of God. True doctrine is about God being worshiped and God being followed and God being obeyed and God being central to our life. True doctrine teaches about God and about his Son Jesus Christ. Not about man and not about self and not about works.

True doctrine when taught. says we're going to love our neighbor like we love ourselves and it's going to be hard. It's going to be about loving them when they're not likable. It's going to be about loving them when they've heard us. It's going to be about loving them when they're rebellious. It's going to be loving them when they're out of control. It's going to be loving them when it makes no sense. It's going to be a love that God has demonstrated towards us in Christ Jesus.

Bible says, but God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The goal of true doctrine is love, loving the Father, loving one another. Like I said earlier, in the church, the goal ought to be loving one another. That does not mean you're not going to deal with problems. The Bible tells us that we are to correct and reprove and rebuke. The Bible tells us that if we see one of our brothers sinning, we're to go to them and to call them to repentance. And if they don't come when we go, take somebody else and call them to repentance. If they don't turn them, bring them before the church.

I mean, there's some hard things about love. But the great thing about love is it always wants the best for the other person, which is a relationship with God. So here we are, the sweet understanding that man, false doctrine destroys and separates. It brings division and hurt and pain and

True doctrine. This goal is love. True doctrine, when you're sharing it and this goal is love, it comes from a pure heart. It comes from a good conscience and a sincere faith. Man, when you have an impure heart,

When you smile and say you love but you don't, first Corinthians says, if you speak without love, you're like a noisy gong or a clinging symbol. You're just annoying because you're not sincere. If you don't have a good conscience, that means you're manipulating somebody and you know it. then men, that's not love and that's not true doctrine. What that is is selfish, right? You're trying to get something out of what you're teaching rather than trying to bless people and point them to Christ and then from a

Sincere faith. And if we are going to be men and women that not only teach true doctrine but point people to love God and love one another, it's got to be based on a sincere faith in Jesus Christ. It's Christ, right? It's Christ that changes people. It's Christ that enables us. It's Christ. And so he's showing Timothy and reminding Timothy that man, false doctrines never sincere. It's never genuine. It's never based on faith. But man, true doctrine always leads to love of God and love of others. And man, we don't care for that too much today. So many people today would rather judge than love. And I'm not just talking to unbelievers, I'm talking Christians.

There's not a lot of forgiveness, there's not a lot of grace. The part that I really love about those that really love to judge is they'll tell others there's no grace when they're not showing grace to them. It's a ridiculous thing. True doctrine cuts through all that nonsense. All of us come to the cross the same way. All of us walk after Christ in much the same way because Christ is one, and we are one in Him. And man, how powerful is that when we come to that recognition? Well, he goes on.

He says, some have departed from these and turned aside to fruitless discussions. I said a little more about this than I should have this morning. Pastor Max is going to fill you in on how to not have fruitless discussions as he teaches next Sunday, so I don't have to. But we had some of my Sunday school classes this morning, some fruitless discussions. And, you know, not very beneficial. Not very beneficial, but that's what happens when you turn away from true doctrine and talk about speculations. And then he says, I

Love this, they want to be teachers of the law, although they don't understand what they're saying or what they are insisting on. Now, here's a little deeper revelation of what's taking place in these false teachers. They want to be teachers of the law although they don't understand what they're saying. All that really means is that they want to be these teachers that sit back and teach you the Old Testament law and how God did this and what we should be doing, but they don't understand what they're saying. The reason they don't understand what they're saying is because the Old Testament law was never designed to bring somebody to salvation. It was never designed to be the answer for a person's life.

It is God's standard. There's some greatness about the Old Testament law. My effect is going to tell us in the next verse that the law is good if used appropriately. So the law is not the problem. The problem is that these teachers, these false doctrine teachers, they want to tell you the rules of how you're supposed to live your life, even if it's from God's rules, if you will, or their rules, whatever you want. But man, that's not ever what God wanted the law to be because none of us can live up to the standard of the law. Matter of fact, let me read out of Romans 319 through 22. It says, now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are subject to the law so that every mouth may be shut and the whole world may become subject to God's judgment.

For no one will be justified in his sight by the works of the law, because the knowledge of sin comes through the law. In other words, what he's saying is those that want to be teachers of the law that try to point people to keeping the law, they completely missed what the law was given for. The law was given, first of all, that every mouth might be shut. In other words, every mouth that says, I'm not that bad, I'm not a sinner, I don't deserve God's judgment. Whatever they've been saying or claiming, when you read the law, the law says, Sorry, you're without excuse. Shut your mouth, right? Then it says, not only does it say that, but it says that by the works of the law no one will be justified because the knowledge of sin comes through the law.

You can't be justified by keeping the law because the law points you the fact that you are a sinner. So it says it twice. And then it says, as we go on in that little passage I started, verse 21, it says, but now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed attested by the law and the prophets. The righteousness of God through faith is through faith in Jesus Christ, all who believe, since there's no distinction. So even in Romans chapter three, he's making this great argument that again, tells Timothy here in chapter one, the problem with false teachers is they're focused on the wrong thing. They're pointing you to try to work your way to heaven.

You're not gonna work your way to heaven. It's not possible. If you try to, all you're gonna see in the law is that you have fallen short over and over and over again. And the Bible says so for all of sin, it falls short of the glory of God. So then in Romans chapter three says, but compared to that, and contrast of that. And stark contrast of that is this gospel of Christ, which is the righteousness established apart from the law through faith in Jesus Christ. So Paul's telling Timothy back here, and these chapter 1 verse 7 of 1 Timothy, they claim to be teachers of the law, but they don't understand what they're teaching.

They claim to be teachers of the law, but they don't understand what they're insisting on. They're insisting for people to be good in their flesh and it's impossible. There's none who are righteous, not even one. Romans chapter three tells us not one. So okay, false teachers that point men and women away from Jesus Christ, right? They don't know what they're talking about. They shouldn't be allowed to talk. They don't know what they're insisting on. They shouldn't be allowed to insist on that, because they're causing destruction, not just within the church, but within life and families. He goes on, verse 8 says, but we know that the law is good. Provided one uses it legitimately. So he says, look, the law is not the problem.

The law is not the problem. The problem is sinful men. So the law is good if you use it legitimately. And then he says, we know that the law is not meant for a righteous person, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and irreverent. In other words, what he says is just what Romans chapter three just told us. that the law came in so that we would know we're sinful. The law was given for these descriptive people, and they're tough. They're kind of general. These first ones,

The law was given for the lawless and rebellious. The person that has no concern for God's righteousness or God's ways, the person that is just happy to rebel against God, the law was given so they would know they were rebellious, and they should repent. The law was given for the ungodly and the sinful. For those again, very similar, that have no God in their life, and so therefore they're sinning, and they may even say, well, I don't know God, so I don't need to know God, and I don't really care about knowing God, but there's still a God that they are accountable to, and when they see the law, they again know they're sinful.

And then he says, for the unholy and irreverent, The unholy and the irreverent are those that, man, they may have some inkling of who God is, but they're still living in a disrespectful, dishonoring way to God.

It's an interesting world that we live in. I was at a briefing the other day. One of the officers was going off about something pretty rough. And so one of the other guys says, hey, chap, you need to ride with that officer today, which I don't always appreciate, by the way.

But when they said that, the other officer said, the one that was going off said, me and Jesus are good.

I'm like, well, apparently not. If you and Jesus had been good, you wouldn't have been doing that.

Because if you read the law, what you just did, would be very sinful, right? So here we have these false teachings again that somehow say, hey, I can be a Christian, anybody can be a Christian, everybody's gonna go to heaven. Me and Jesus are good. When they don't really know why Jesus came and what happens when Jesus saves and the transformation that comes from the salvation that we have, that is not the way the Bible teaches us to live once we're saved. Amen. So then he

Goes on with quite the list here, more specific for those who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral. That means heterosexuals that are living outside God's law of only having sex and marriage. Let's just be specific. And then it's for those males who have sex with males, homosexual immorality. The law shows us that they're wrong. And then it says for slave traders. I mean, those first several, they're pretty rough. Those are rough sins. But then it says liars and perjurers.

Not nearly as rough sins. And yet the law still shuts us up under sin whether it's just a white lie or perjuring herself. And then it goes on, gives a bigger broader one, it says in for whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching. Whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching from the word of God, the law shuts us up under those sins.

And then it says in that teaching that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which was entrusted to me. Now here's the conclusion, here's the important part. As he goes down and shows how important it is to teach truth and to oppose false doctrine, he says that these laws that God has given us that shut us up under sin, they're not contrary to the blessed gospel. They conform to the blessed gospel. In other words, part of the gospel that God has given us is this truth that says that men and women are sinful, have offended God and are accountable to God,

Whether that be through salvation in Jesus Christ or through God's judgment and hell. It's not contrary to, it conforms to the blessed gospel. And here's the sweet thing about the gospel. I mean, we are sinful, We're sinful. It's not unclear. All of us have fallen short and we can prove it. But the blessed gospel says, even though God knows that we have sinned and fallen short of his glory, even though the wage is the same as death, God says the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. God has demonstrated His love for us, like I said earlier, in that why don't we read sinners Christ dying for us? So when we talk about true gospel that says, yes, men and women are sinners.

Yes, there is accountability. Yes, there is judgment from God. Yes, there is a hell for those who reject God, even though that's offensive for us to teach today. That is true doctrine. And it's glorious because then when we see Christ step on that cross, when we see Him lay down His life for our sins, when we see Him take the punishment that we deserve for our sins, it makes God look more glorious and more loving and more amazing because He would give us that love, that sacrifice. Man, there's no shame in the gospel. Romans 116 says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it's the power of God unto salvation, to all who believe, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, all who believe.

The man we live in today, today, where we are so nervous about teaching the truth of God's word, because people don't want to hear it. people get offended by it. Well, I'm telling you, I'd be far more offended by the person who won't tell you the truth about salvation or about hell than I would be about the person that would actually care enough for you to tell you. And I'm not saying that to my own horn. It's tough to do, and it's costly to do. It's hard to do, and it's a battle to do. There's nothing necessarily easy about it. But man, if Christ Jesus has changed our life, why would we not stand on the truth?

Why would we not share the truth? Why would we not preach or teach or go into our workplaces or our neighborhoods and tell them the truth? Man, yes, you're a sinner. I'm a sinner. We've both fallen short, but there's a savior. who delivers us from that wretched sin and makes us a child of God and keeps us in His presence forevermore. Hallelujah. What part about that isn't glorious?

It's glorious. Then you and I. We've got to do some adjusting. If we're going to walk together within the body of Christ, within the Church of Christ, man, one of the first things we've got to do is we've got to take a greater commitment on the truth of God's Word and not be sorry about it.

Not step back because people don't like it and get offended. Not step back because we lose friends. Not step back because we lose family. Even Christ said that, right? I didn't come to bring peace. I came to bring a sword to divide a father from a son, a mother, from a daughter, etc. That truth, that truth that's worth standing for. Yeah. And it can bring some separation.

But Manic can also bring eternal life, right? It's eternal life. It's worth it. But we're gonna have to figure that out. If we're gonna continue to walk together as a church and serve the Lord for His glory, we gotta stand firm on the truth. So here's truth. And if you're here today and you've never trusted Jesus Christ, you are still in your sin, and you're still condemned by God because you've not trusted in His Savior. But you can, the Bible says today is the day of salvation. You can today. You can say, yes Lord, I'm a sinner, and I'm sorry, and I believe Lord Jesus, you died for me and rose again. Will you forgive me?

Will you make me your child? And He's going to say today, yes. He will, yes. That's why He gave His life for you. The UNI is followers of Christ. We have to make some decisions too. Our decision has to be, all right, Lord, let me be more committed to spend time in your word and let me be more committed to the truth of your word, even if it's costly in my life. I want to be honoring to you. Let's pray. Father, I love you and I thank you for your word. It's sweet. It's gracious. It's beautiful. It's demanding. It is A call to sacrifice and a call to love. The Lord, your Word is life.

And it gives life to all who believe in Christ, gives life to all who walk in your way. It's good. And I pray, Lord, that we as a church would be continually committed to speaking truth in love for your glory. Without being ashamed, without being apologetic, I pray, Lord, you help us. I pray that as a church, we would come together through your Word and continue to encourage each other to do that. But I also pray, Lord, for those that are here this morning that have never trusted Jesus as their Savior, that today would be the day that they'd put their faith in you, that they would be saved and given eternal life. Bless them, Lord God, move in their hearts and we'll give you praise for what you do.

And I pray in Jesus' name, amen.